I love form design so much. And I’m not being sarcastic; I really love designing forms. I like the challenge of figuring out both sides of the equation. How is the person filling this out going to work their way through it? How is the person collecting the information going to use it?

There are tons of different forms that you may need for your business: client intakes, invoices, quotes, questionnaires, etc and everyone is an opportunity to reinforce your brand. 

The Form Design Problem

We’ve all filled out a bad form. One where we didn’t quite know where they wanted our name. Above the line? Or is this a box and it should go below? Or we’ve missed a spot, or we’ve had to write something out that could’ve been checked off.

Keeping Your Customers in Mind

Think carefully about your client process and how best to collect information from them.

Think about the person filling it out. Are you asking them to write out their gender? Or simply check a box? If there are only so many options to choose from for items like marital status, gender, etc then a check box makes it faster for your customer to fill it out and prevents any ambiguity. 

Group any and all related information together. Personal information like name and address can go together but keep that separate from questions asking whether they strongly agree or disagree, or separate from their medical history. 

Also, think about the person that needs the information from the form. If you have a staff member that does data entry, what do they need first and frequently? If it’s always the customer’s name and address then those items should be clear, easy to read and at the top of the form. 

The best thing about custom form design, whether they are customer-facing or internal-use is that you can create them to exactly how your brain works and processes information!

Are you a fan of DIY to-do lists? Get one custom-made and branded that fits your thought process!

How Do You Want The Form To Be Used?

There are a lot of options for producing and using forms. NCR (No carbon required) forms are a type of coated paper that leaves a transfer on sheets beneath. You can get 2, 3, and 4-part NCR forms which are great if you’re a mobile business, especially in trades. 

This allows you to have one form for the customer, one form for you and one form for the office/accountant without having to write it out a bunch of times! Yes, forms are going digital, but if you need the flexibility to write a lot, and need a copy for your customer, then an NCR is a good option. 

Digital forms are always a great option, especially for short, finite questions and answers. Have you been sick in the last two weeks? Check Yes or No. Fillable PDFs are wonderful because they can be printed and filled out if you’re old-school like my parents, or they can be filled out on a computer or tablet, saved and sent.

Fillable PDFs have become far more common after the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers now have the expectation that forms are fillable rather than having to print and scan. 

Review your client process and assess which is better for your customer. It may be surprising, but I use an NCR booklet for my client intake. I do this because I don’t like bringing technology (ie. my laptop) into discovery sessions. I feel like it becomes a barrier to an open and expansive conversation.

That being said, I do want my clients to take away the notes I have made because I feel that what we discover together is valuable to their business. I’m going to take the info and design a brand for them, but how great is it that they can take it to their web designer, social media marketer, promo broker and more and say “THIS is who I am targeting!’

Creating a Brand Experience

At a minimum, your form design should have a logo, contact information or social media, especially if it’s a form your customer will keep. A well-designed and good-looking form can be something that a customer takes note of and shows attention to detail in your business.

If a form is easy to fill out, your customer may not think twice about it, but if it’s difficult to fill out or confusing, now your customer has had a bad experience with your brand. Forms are the forgotten marketing tool because we forget that it’s an interaction with our customers.

We’ve greeted them at the front desk, offered them coffee, have great music playing… and then hand them a bad form. Make your life easier, your customer experience better, and put your brand out in an impactful way by reviewing and improving your forms!

Need Better Form Design?

Ready to get that generic old form updated? Reach out to us today for your quote!