How to Use Multistep Forms to get More Leads!

Lead forms are the perfect way to capture leads that come from your website and social ads. They let you gather contact info from every person who's interested in your business and enter them into your sales funnel. Lead forms may be the missing piece that will increase the effectiveness of your marketing!

Long Forms, Short Forms, or Multistep Forms?

When you're creating lead forms, you may think it's best to have a lot of questions on the form so you can get all the information you need from leads. With information like budget, type of project or event, and location, you can give leads an accurate quote and guide them through your sales funnel quickly.

However, many studies show that the longer your form is, the more easily your audience will get bored, click away, and never finish it. Even though you may get a high click-through rate, you won't get the submissions you need. More importantly, you don't get leads' basic contact info so you can follow up with them!

Using shorter lead forms may be the obvious solution to this problem. But other studies have shown that longer lead forms qualify leads more and actually increase conversions. Because longer forms require more time and effort, the people who take that time will be more serious leads.

So which studies should you believe? Is there a way to get the best of both worlds? The good news is YES, you can get the best of both worlds - with multistep forms!

Multistep forms let you create multiple steps in the sign-up process so you can keep leads engaged, get the basic info you need to follow up in case leads click away, and ultimately increase conversions. The proof is in the pudding - other studies have shown that multistep forms get the best results, balancing the need for qualifying leads and getting higher conversions. 

Best practices for using Multistep Forms in Your Marketing

• Require only the name, email, and phone number of leads in the first step of the form. Save all other questions like zip code, project type, budget, etc., for the second step of the form.
• Use only 3-4 questions in each step of the form, but use at least 6-7 questions in the entire lead form.
• Promote multistep lead forms through Facebook or Google ads.
• Follow up with customers who fill out the multistep lead form to give them a quote, send them a promotional, and/or maintain an ongoing relationship with them. 
• Send the second part of the form to leads who only fill out their name, email, and phone number. You can put a link to the form in the email - just add the link to the webpage where the sign-up box is housed and add this extension to the end of the link: ?APWTformchain={EMAIL} .

AllProWebTools has given you the tools to create multistep lead forms, as well as the tools to organize, follow up, convert, and maintain an ongoing relationship with leads. AllProWebTools really is your Swiss Army Knife of business management!

How to Create a Multistep Lead Form

Step 1 - Create a Sign-up Box (for the second step of the multistep form).

Let's get started! The first thing you'll do is create the second part of the multistep form.

1. Go to Contacts  Sign-up Boxes.

From the dashboard, click on contacts, then sign-up boxes.

2. Create a new sign-up box and name it.

This sign-up box will be the second part of the multistep form - leads will see it after they click submit on the first part of the form (that sign-up box will be created later).
Use the same name for both sign-up boxes you create and use 1 and 2 to differentiate between the first step and second step. Add "2" to the name of this sign-up box to set it apart as step 2.

3. Add a tag to the sign-up box.

The tag you choose will be added to any contacts who fill out this sign-up box. For example, if you choose the tag "Leads," then every contact who fills out this sign-up box will tagged "Leads" and will receive any emails or texts you have designated to be sent to the "Leads" tag.

4. Choose the Thank-you page to connect to this sign-up box.

The thank-you page you choose will show up after this sign-up box is filled out and submitted. Having a thank-you page helps leads know their information was successfully submitted and helps you track conversions and leads. You can create your own custom thank-you page by creating a new webpage and customizing it as you like.

5. Select the default inputs and custom fields you'd like to appear on the sign-up box.

These fields will be the questions that show up on the sign-up box. Your leads will have to fill these out before clicking submit. We recommend using the default inputs of name, email, and phone number in the first sign-up box that appears in the multistep form (NOT the sign-up box you're currently working on). So for the second sign-up box in the multistep form (the one you're currently working on), select additional information you'd like to gather, like project type, special dates, budget, etc. You can add or edit custom fields by clicking the "Add/Edit Fields" button below the custom fields.

6. Write your own message in the box that says, "Text."

This step is optional, but it's usually nice to give customers a little guidance as they fill out this second step in the multistep form. Remember, this is the second sign-up box your lead will see, so you can add explanation or encourage them to finish the form by reminding them this is the last step.

7. Click "Save" and copy the widget code for the sign-up box.

After you click "Save," a new page will appear with a box that contains a widget code - it will start and end with a #, and should look something like this: |-SignUpBox|1-|
Click the box to copy the entire widget code.

Now you're ready for the next step!

Step 2 - Add the sign-up box to a new website.

In order for your sign-up box to function, it needs to be added to a website.

1. Go to Website > My Webpages.

From the dashboard, click on Website, then My Webpages.

2. Create a new webpage.

Add the name of the sign-up box in the "New Page Name" and click "Create." Once you click create, you must choose TinyMCE Editor as the tool you want to use to create this page.  

3. Customize the webpage as desired.

This step is optional - you can add text or images to customize the webpage if you'd like. 

4. Paste the widget code for the sign-up box in the body of the webpage.

Put your cursor where you'd like the sign-up box to appear. Paste the widget code you copied at the end of Step 2 into the webpage.

5. Click "Save."

Step 3 - Create another Sign-up Box (for the first step of the multistep form).

Now that you have the second part of the multistep form created, you'll create the first part of the multistep form. This step is very similar to step 1, except for one important part - linking step 2 to step 1!

1. Go to Contacts  Sign-up Boxes.

From the dashboard, click on contacts, then sign-up boxes.

2. Create a new sign-up box and name it.

This sign-up box will be the first part of the multistep form - leads will see it first, and will click submit to see the second part of the form (the sign-up box you created in steps 1 and 2).
Use the same name for both sign-up boxes you create and use 1 and 2 to differentiate between the first step and second step. Add "1" to the name of this sign-up box to set it apart as step 1.

3. Add a tag to the sign-up box.

Use the same tag for this sign-up box that you used for the other sign-up box. The tag you choose will be added to any contacts who fill out the sign-up box. 

4. Link the two sign-up boxes via the Thank-you page.

Here's the really important part! Now that you've created the second sign-up box and added it to a webpage, you can link this first sign-up box to the second one to create the multistep form.
To do this, you'll choose the webpage you just created under the drop down menu titled "thank-you page." Because the "thank-you page" shows up after this sign-up box is filled out and submitted, leads who click submit on this first sign-up box will automatically be taken to the second sign-up box. 

5. Select the default inputs you'd like to appear on the sign-up box.

These fields will be the questions that show up on the sign-up box. Your leads will have to fill these out before clicking submit. For this first step of the multistep form field, we recommend using the default inputs of name, email, and phone number. You can always include more if you like, but it's important to keep this step simple so it's easy and quick for leads to submit their contact info.

6. Write your own message in the box that says, "Text."

This step is optional, but it's nice to welcome leads and give them a few basic instructions as they start the form.

7. Click "Save" and copy the widget code for the sign-up box.

After you click "Save," a new page will appear with a box that contains a widget code - it will start and end with a #, and should look something like this: |-SignUpBox|1-|
Click the box to copy the entire widget code. Now you're ready for the next step!

Step 4 - Add this sign-up box to another website.

At this point, you're almost done! You'll go through the same process for adding this sign-up box to a webpage that you did for the original one you created. Your sign-up box won't be live until you finish this step!

1. Go to Website > My Webpages.

From the dashboard, click on Website, then My Webpages.

2. Create a new webpage.

Add the name of the sign-up box in the "New Page Name" and click "Create." Once you click create, you must choose TinyMCE Editor as the tool you want to use to create this page.  

3. Customize the webpage as desired.

This step is optional - you can add text or images to customize the webpage if you'd like. 

4. Paste the widget code for the sign-up box in the body of the webpage.

Put your cursor where you'd like the sign-up box to appear. Paste the widget code you copied at the end of Step 3 into the webpage.

5. Click "Save."

And there you have it! You've created your first multistep form! Now you can start capturing more leads and better leads through your online forms!

What if I Want to Create a Multistep Form with 3 or More Parts?

Great question! All you have to do to create a form with more than two parts is duplicate Step 1 above for as many parts as you want. 

But you'll always need to start with the last sign-up box in the multistep form and work backwards toward the beginning of the multistep form, just like we describe in the how-to above.