Imagewise (formerly MarketingExperiments), HubSpot, and the Baymard Institute have all published research on form length and conversion rate. The pattern is consistent across studies: each additional required field reduces completion rate, and the marginal cost is steepest between five and ten fields. HubSpot's analysis of more than 40,000 forms reported that reducing fields from four to three could lift conversions by around 50% in some categories.
Source: Book the call; Baymard Institute, Checkout form usability research.
The four fields, in order
Field order matters because the buyer makes a stay or leave decision at every field.
1. First name
Not 'name' or 'full name'. First name only. Less commitment, less hesitation.
2. Mobile number
Not email first. New Zealand service business buyers expect a phone call back, so leading with the mobile signals that they will get one. Asking for email first frames the interaction as transactional.
3. What do you need help with? (one line, free text)
Open ended. Lets the buyer describe the job in their own words: 'leaking tap', 'quote on roof', 'broken garage door'. Replaces the dropdown of services that costs a click without adding much information.
4. Suburb (optional)
Optional with autocomplete if you can manage it. Helps with triage but does not block conversion if skipped.
What to remove
Email address. Date of birth. How did you hear about us. Preferred contact method. Postcode. Best time to call. Marketing consent. Each one of these has been shown to reduce completion rate without proportional benefit. The exceptions are industries with a hard regulatory or operational requirement to capture them.
The button copy
Not 'submit'. Not 'send'. The button names the value the user will receive. 'Get a callback' or 'Send my quote request' tend to outperform generic copy. ConversionXL and Unbounce have both published case studies on button copy where first person value oriented language outperformed generic action verbs.
Source: Unbounce conversion research library.
If you want a hand auditing and rebuilding your contact form, this is one of the simplest engagement first wins to ship.
Edited by a human.