A form designer decides whether people finish your form. Field order, labels, length, layout on a phone and what happens after the submit button all change how many completed submissions you get from the same traffic. This article answers one question: how do you design a form that people complete, using the Forms builder and its styling options on the levelpartner.ai platform? Building the form is quick. Designing it well is where the gains are.
The design decisions that matter most
Four choices account for most of the difference between a form that converts and one that does not.
Length comes first. Every field is a small reason to leave. Ask only for what the next step needs, and collect the rest later in a follow-up.
Order comes second. Start with the easiest question, usually a first name, and put the hardest one, often a phone number or budget, near the end. Once someone has answered three questions, they tend to finish.
Labels come third. "Company size" invites a guess. "How many people work at your company?" invites an answer. Write labels as the question a person would ask in conversation.
The fourth is the button. "Submit" says nothing. "Send my request" or "Check availability" tells the visitor what happens next.
Layout and style
Design for a phone first. Most enquiry forms are opened on one, and a two-column layout that looks tidy on a laptop becomes cramped on a small screen. Use one column, large tap targets and enough space between fields that a thumb hits the right one.
Match your brand colours and font, but keep the contrast high. Pale grey text on a white field looks elegant and is hard to read. Placeholder text should never replace a label, because it disappears as soon as someone starts typing.
For longer forms, split the questions into steps with a progress indicator. Seeing "step 2 of 3" tells the visitor the end is close.
Before you start
You need edit access to Sites. Gather your brand colours, your logo if the form will be shared as a standalone link, and the list of questions agreed with the person who acts on the answers. Decide where the form will live: embedded on a page, in a popup, or as its own link.
How to set it up
- Go to Sites, then Forms, and click + Create New Form.
- Add your questions in order of difficulty, easiest first.
- Rewrite each label as a plain question.
- Mark only the essential fields as required.
- Open Styles & Options to set layout, colours, spacing and buttons.
- Rename the button to say what the visitor gets.
- Click Conditional Logic in the top bar, then Add New Condition.
- Choose Show/Hide and select the fields that apply to some visitors.
- Build the rule with Select Field, Select Field State and Provide a Value.
- Save the condition.
- Set the post-submission behaviour to a message or a redirect.
- Save, preview on a phone and submit a test entry.
What good design is worth
Take an enquiry form with 14 fields over two columns and a button that says "Submit". Say it is viewed 1,000 times a month and completed 30 times, a 3% completion rate. A redesign would cut it to six fields in one column, explain why the phone number is needed and rename the button "Get my proposal call". If completion reached 5.5% on the same traffic, that would be 55 a month, 25 more enquiries with no extra advertising spend.
The time cost is small. A redesign of an existing form takes two to three hours. After that, review completion numbers monthly and change one thing at a time so you know what made the difference.
Redesigning by taste. A form that looks better is not always one that converts better. Change one element, wait until you have enough submissions to compare, and keep what works.
When the designer is not the problem
If a well-designed form still gets few submissions, the problem is usually upstream: the page around it does not make a strong enough offer, or the traffic is wrong. Our guide to building a website that captures leads deals with the page. If you are deciding what to ask on an enquiry form, choosing the fields on a lead capture form covers that. For long questionnaires that work better one question at a time, see building an online survey.
Troubleshooting
The form looks different on the website than in the preview. Your website's own styles are overriding the form. Embed the form in a section with no extra styling, or adjust the form colours to match the page.
Visitors abandon on one particular field. That field asks too much too early. Move it later in the form, make it optional, or explain why you need it.
Conditional fields do not appear. The logic depends on an exact answer. Check that the condition matches the option text precisely, including capital letters.
Buttons are hard to see on a phone. The button colour does not contrast with the background. Pick a darker or bolder colour and test it outdoors on a phone.
Frequently asked questions
How many fields should a form have?
As few as the next step needs. For an enquiry, three to six is usually enough. For onboarding, more is fine because the client is already committed.
Should I use a multi-step form?
Use steps when a form has more than about eight questions or when later questions depend on earlier answers. For short forms, a single step is faster to complete.
Can I change the form design after it is live?
Yes. Changes apply to the live form when you save, and past submissions are kept. Change one thing at a time so you can see the effect.
Does form design affect search rankings?
Not directly. It affects how many visitors become enquiries, which is what the traffic is for.