Do you want to ensure that your form functions properly before publishing it on your website? The best method to ensure a smooth experience for you and your users is to test your form.
In this article, we’ll go through the most critical questions to ask before putting a form on your website, as well as strategies for dealing with issues and improving user experience.
Table of Contents
Previewing Your Form
Nelio Forms makes it easy to test your form before adding it to a page or post on your site. To do so, go to Nelio Forms » All Forms. Then hover over the form title to display an additional menu of options. Once the options appear, click Preview.
We recommend using this form preview as you check through the questions below.
Testing Your Form’s Functionality
Once you’ve opened your form’s preview, ask the following questions to determine if it’s functioning as expected.
Is Form Validation Working Properly?
Validation messages make it easy for users to identify if they skipped a mandatory field or provided a value in the wrong format.
Try submitting your form without filling out the needed fields to see if validation is working. Any needed fields that are empty should display a red warning that says, “This field is required.”
Next, try entering an incorrect format into any field that has format rules, such as the Email field. When you try to submit the form, it should display a red message asking you to enter your input using the proper format.
If validation messages aren’t displaying properly, the next step is to check for a code conflict.
Does the Form Email Notification Deliver Successfully?
When enabled and properly configured, email notifications will be delivered automatically whenever a user submits your form.
However, due to server configuration issues or spam filtering by the recipient’s email provider, emails are not always effectively delivered.
Go ahead and submit your form to test your notifications. Then, double-check that the email landed in your inbox (or that of the intended recipient).
If your form’s notice email did not arrive or was tagged as spam, or if you want to avoid future delivery troubles, the next step is to configure SMTP on your site. This will verify your emails and ensure that they always deliver successfully.
Testing Your Form’s User Experience
In addition to ensuring that your form’s functionality works as intended, it’s critical to ensure that your forms are simple and pleasant to complete. Running through the questions below will help you improve the user experience of your form and reduce form abandonment.
Does Your Form Have a Clear Purpose/Instructions?
If a user understands why they are being asked to fill out a form, they are considerably more likely to fill it out correctly and submit it. These criteria might help you determine whether the instructions on your form are clear and simple to understand.
Would User Instructions Be Helpful? Have You Helped Set User Expectations?
If you need users to fill out your form in a particular way, it can be helpful to add detailed instructions for them. It’s also good to set realistic expectations for users, such as telling them how long they can expect to wait for a response from you or if they should check their email inbox for more information after submitting their data.
For example, you might add something like, “Please share any questions in the form below. We’ll be in touch within 1 business day.” to your contact form.
Does the Form Name Indicate a Clear Purpose?
Users will fill out your form more willingly if you give it a name that expresses the reason for which it is being used. Good examples include titles like “Place Your Order” or “Get in Touch.”
Is It Clear Exactly What Content and Format You’d Like for Each Field?
Some fields, such as the Phone and Email fields, require users to input text in a specific format.
If you have a field in your form that needs to be filled out using a certain format, you can show users how the input should look using the field label, description, or placeholder text.
Is Your Form Too Long?
Users can fill shorter forms with ease. There are various ways to make a form that requires more than a few fields less intimidating for users.
Your form may appear shorter to users by taking up less space on the page if your fields are divided into many columns. Multi-column layouts are ideal for short content fields like Email, Phone, and Name fields.
Is the Form Confirmation Helpful for Users?
After a user submits your form, the confirmation message or page will display.
A confirmation message or thank you page is a great place to show appreciation for the submission, set expectations for response time, and guide the user to the next steps they should take.
Does Your Form Work Well on Mobile Devices?
Nelio Forms is designed to use your theme styles. Make sure your theme includes responsive styles for forms so that any form look great on devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Additional modifications might be required to guarantee that visitors can fill out your forms regardless of the device they’re using, depending on your customizations and site layout.
Filling out and submitting the form in your phone’s browser will allow you to test your form’s responsiveness.
What to Do If You Have Questions
Have you located an issue with your form that you’re not sure how to fix? Do not hesitate to contact us.
That’s it! You can now use this checklist to test your forms before adding them to your site.