Instead of, or maybe as well as, an email link, most websites now contain some sort of contact or enquiry form. However, there is always a question of whether this form should be short and concise or long and detailed.

The short form will contain few fields, requesting basic information. The most common I have seen asks the user for her name, contact email address and telephone number, and then has a <textarea> where the user puts their questions or comments. It can take any thing from a few seconds, to a couple of minutes to complete. Quick and to the point. Useful if one needs to make a generic enquiry, such as ‘What time are you open on Friday?’

Example short form

A large form asks for a lot more details – well over ten fields – and will normally take many minutes to complete in its entirety. As well as asking for more information about the user, it will often require detailed information about the product or service you are enquiring about. For example, asking for size, colour, style, amount, weight, etc. (example here)

Most of us would assume that the shorter enquiry form is going to get the responses we want, which can then be converted into sales. Afterall, it is shorter and takes less of the users time to complete. The table below shows the results of research carried out by PRWD.

It appears that, not only do the vast majority of those who complete enquiry forms prefer the detailed comprehensive form, but the conversion to sales rate of the detailed form is over three times that of the short form. This flys in the face on conventional thinking and if anyone knows the reasons for this, I would love to hear them.

These figures are justification for those of us developing e-commerce or lead generating websites, to give serious consideration to including a detailed enquiry form.

More information available from http://www.prwd.co.uk/