Increase form conversion rates

Sprocket's marketing team is driving steady website traffic, but page views aren't converting into the leads their sales reps need. With AI-driven search impacting web traffic volume, converting existing visitors is essential. However, the team's traditional lead generation forms are static and complex, leading to high visitor drop-off.

By leveraging form features, such as multi-step forms, form shortening, and conditional logic, the team can transform their forms into low-friction, high-converting visitor experiences.

In this guide, learn how to optimize HubSpot forms to increase conversion rates and build a custom report to measure performance.

Example configuration: optimize forms to increase conversions

This practical example outlines how Sprocket’s marketing team optimizes their form experience to convert more website visitors into CRM contacts.

Create a multi-step form

Complex forms can lead to information fatigue, causing visitors to abandon the page. Dividing the form into short, manageable steps reduces friction and increases the likelihood of conversion. 

To add form steps:

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Forms. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Forms directly.

2. Create a new form or hover over an existing form and click Edit.
3. In the form editor, click the + add icon on the side of your form to add a step to the left or right.
4. Drag and drop new or existing form fields and elements to rearrange content on the new step.
5. To add a progress bar across all steps (Marketing Hub Starter, Professional, or Enterprise only), click the file step icon at the top right of a step.
6. In the Edit step panel, toggle the Progress bar switch on.
7. In the Format section, select the progress indicator (i.e., percentage or number of steps).
8. To publish your form, in the top right, click Review and update. Then, click Update.

Turn on form shortening with enrichment data

Long forms often increase visitor drop-off. Using form shortening powered by Breeze, HubSpot’s AI, alongside data enrichment, automatically hides form fields that can be filled with enriched data. This creates a shorter experience for the visitor while still collecting a complete form submission in the CRM.

To turn on form shortening:

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Forms. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Forms directly.

2. Create a new form or hover over an existing form and click Edit.
3. In the left sidebar menu, click the settings settings icon > General.
4. Toggle the Forms shortening switch on.
5. To publish your form, in the top right, click Review and update. Then, click Update.

Tip: contacts must have a business email address to be enriched. In your form’s default email field, toggle on the Block free email providers switch or manually block free email domains, such as Gmail and Yahoo. When the visitor fills out the form, they will be prompted to enter a business email address, which is eligible for data enrichment.

Create conditional form paths based on visitor responses

Static, one-size-fits-all forms present the same content to all visitors, missing an opportunity to tailor the experience to the visitor. Adding conditional logic to the form dynamically updates your form based on a visitor's real-time responses. For example, in Sprocket’s Demo Request form, the team routes qualified leads to a meeting scheduling page and funnels cold leads to a marketing nurture page.

To add conditional logic:

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Marketing > Forms. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Marketing > Forms directly.

2. Create a new form or hover over an existing form and click Edit.
3. In the left sidebar menu, click the workflows logic icon.
4. Click Add logic.
5. In the Logic panel, click the dropdown menus to set the rule’s form field and criteria.
6. Click the Then dropdown menu and select the action that occurs when the criteria are met.

7. To apply the rule, click Save and Activate.

8. Click Add logic to add additional rules.
9. Each form supports up to 100 rules and up to 10 conditions per rule.
10. To publish your form, in the top right, click Review and update. Then, click Update.

Example configuration: track form conversion rates

This practical example outlines how Sprocket’s marketing team uses custom reporting to track form conversion rates over time for their optimized forms.

Create a custom form conversion report

Sprocket’s marketing team needs data to learn whether their form optimizations are increasing lead generation. Creating a custom report provides conversion rate tracking to measure the impact of their changes.

To create a custom report for a form’s conversion rate:

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Reporting > Reports. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Reporting > Reports directly.

2. In the upper right, click Create and select Create report.

3. Click Next.

4. Click the Primary data source dropdown menu and select Form analytics.

5. Toggle the Add more data sources switch on.

6. In the Marketing section, select Forms as a secondary data source.

7. In the upper right, click Next.

8. Click and drag fields from the left sidebar into the Configure tab to build your report. Below is an example report configuration for tracking the conversion rate of specific forms over time:

   • Chart type: KPI

   • Group by: Name

   • Values: Form conversion rate

   • Compare by: Occurred date (this month to last month)

   • Filters: Name or Marketing Campaign

9. In the upper right, click Save report.