MURETA INSIGHTS WEBSITES
How to build a website enquiry form people will finish
Make it easier for people to ask for a quote, and easier for your team to reply.
01 / WEBSITES
Ask only what changes your first reply
A form that asks for a phone number, a budget and a deadline before it accepts a simple question can lose people who are still working out what they need. Start with a name, one way to reply and a question about the job. Add a field only if the answer changes what your team does next. A suburb is useful to a builder who travels to jobs. A company size field is less useful if every enquiry goes to the same person.
For a Melbourne cake studio, the event date, number of servings and pickup location can rule a job in or out. The exact buttercream shade can wait. An Auckland electrician might need the suburb and a short description of the problem. An Austin design studio might ask about the launch month and leave budget optional. If you ask for money or a date, give an example in the format your customers use.
02 / WEBSITES
Write the form for someone holding a phone
Keep a visible label above each field. A hint like “For example, 40 guests on 15 June” can make a question easier to answer, but the hint should not be the only label. Let people paste their email address. Avoid making them enter it twice. If a submission fails, keep their answers and say which field needs attention.
Try it yourself on a phone with one hand. Use an incomplete email address, leave an optional field blank and submit once on a slow connection. You should be able to see what went wrong without searching around the page. A visible confirmation should say what happens next, such as “We’ll reply by email within two business days,” if your team can meet that promise.
03 / WEBSITES
Check that the enquiry reaches a person
A success message only tells the visitor what the site displayed. Send a test to the real inbox, look for it in spam and reply from the message you received. Check who sees it when the usual contact is away. If your team needs to look in three places to find an enquiry, fix the handover before adding more form fields.
Track enquiries your team can actually act on. If lots of messages arrive without a location, ask for one. If people often call to check whether their message went through, improve the confirmation. The best next change usually comes from a real enquiry your team has struggled to answer.