OpGen Media: Marketing Ops & Demand Generation Insights

Using HubSpot Forms To Generate Leads

Aug 5, 2020 11:17:02 PM / by Brandon Pindulic

What Are HubSpot Forms?

A big part of B2B sales is making sure you have leads to convert. You may have built nice landing pages with HubSpot and have plenty of traffic coming in but it means nothing if leads aren’t being collected. This is where HubSpot’s forms come into the picture.

The forms you create can be used on your HubSpot website or any external site to get the information you need from site visitors. Whether you want users to subscribe to your email newsletter or drop you an email, HubSpot forms provide a quick and easy way to create forms to achieve those goals without any technical expertise.

Let us start by looking at why you need to be using HubSpot forms.

Why you need HubSpot forms

Using HubSpot forms comes with a lot of advantages. As you have probably guessed, one of the biggest advantages of HubSpot forms is that you can create online forms for capturing new leads. Once a visitor fills a HubSpot form, they become a lead – one of your new contacts in your CRM.

This allows you to further nurture and develop the relationship until you convert them into a paying customer. For example, once they become a lead, you can start sending them automated follow-up emails or give them a follow-up call. You can send them emails on discounts, promotions, special offers and any free content that might be of interest to them.

Other than using them as a lead capture tool, here are a few more reasons why you need to be using HubSpot forms.

Free and easy to use

While other form builders have a free plan and a number of premium plans, HubSpot’s form builder is 100% free. It is available to use as part of HubSpot’s Free CRM, which is a tool you can use to see a lead's entire conversion history with your business or brand. This means you also have the advantage of powerful analytics on your side, as well as a form builder.

Furthermore, HubSpot forms have drag-and-drop functionality, meaning you don’t need any technical expertise to create the forms you need. Need to create a contact form? Just drag and drop the name field, email field, message field and submit button and your form is ready to go on the frontend.

Endless customization options

Hubspot’s forms have dozens of fields and field types (dropdown, file, checkbox, date, and more). This gives you a plethora of elements to build the form you truly want. You are only limited by your imagination.

Allows you to get the information you need

When you wish to control the type of information you want from your visitors, forms are a handy tool. You can select the fields with the information you wish to collect and mark the important ones as required. You can even make sure customers are entering the right type of information by validating the input before submission.

Convenient for visitors

Some websites only provide visitors with an email address for them to send information or queries. This is a bad idea because it takes them away from the website, and some of them might not appreciate the extra steps involved. By providing a form right there on your website, you ensure that customers aren’t taken away from the website experience and can leave their information or queries with no additional steps.

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HubSpot Form Examples

With HubSpot forms, you will be creating different types of forms for specific needs. Here are a few examples:

  • Contact forms: These are a marketer’s favorite tool because they are used for lead generation. It is a great way to capture a potential lead’s important contact information for the sales team to follow up and build a relationship with them.
  • Registration forms: If your website is a membership site, then you can request the information needed to register a member with registration forms. They will be able to create a username and password, which they can use to sign in to the site in order to access members-only content.
  • Newsletter sign-up forms: If you have prepared some newsletters or other types of opt-in content, then use these forms. Users are usually required to just enter their email with these forms, but you can include other fields like name, location and phone number.
  • User feedback forms: How do your customers rate your customer service? Do they find your response times satisfactory? You can collect this type of information with feedback forms.
  • Payment forms: You can also create forms that integrate with payment platforms such as Stripe and PayPal using HubSpot forms. You can use third-party tools like DepositFix to perform this integration.

How to Create HubSpot forms

Creating a form in HubSpot forms can seem daunting at first. When you log into your HubSpot account, follow the steps below.

Create a form

  • Go to Marketing then Lead Capture then click on Forms
  • Click Create form, select Regular form and then click Next.
  • Select either Blank template or Pre-made template and then click Start.
  • Click the pencil icon at the top of the form editor to rename the form.

Add and edit form fields

  • Search for a field using the search bar in the left panel.
  • Drag and drop fields into the form you’re creating.
  • Click on a field on the form to open it’s display options in the left panel.
  • Edit the options as needed.

Create a follow-up email (Optional)

  • Click on the Follow-up tab at the top and click Create follow-up email.
  • Edit the email’s details, such as Subscription type, From user, Subject line and Body, in the right panel and click Save.

Customize your form options

  • Click on the Options tab at the top and change the settings to your liking.

Style and preview your form

  • Click on the Style & Preview tab at the top to bring up a preview form in the right panel. Any changes made will be reflected in the preview form in real-time.
  • Here, you can select different themes, change the style (font, width and colors) and test the form.

Publish your form

  • Click Publish on the top right to make the form usable in your HubSpot websites. You can also make it a standalone form and share it or embed it in non-HubSpot websites.

HubSpot Form Design Tips

Forms are extremely important when it comes to getting your users to perform the desired action. It could be setting up an account, leaving their contact details or making payments. But if you don’t follow some of the best practices for designing forms, the form can’t do its job effectively.

Here are a few form design tips to consider, whether you’re using HubSpot or other form builders:

  • Less information is better: Only request information you need and leave out anything unnecessary.
  • Stick to single-column designs: Let users fill information from top to bottom, as this is much easier on the eyes. Avoid multi-column forms where their eyes have to zig-zag around the form.
  • Keep mobile in mind: With the rise of mobile device usage, many of your visitors will probably finish filling the form on their smartphones. So make sure your forms are mobile responsive.
  • Explain why you’re requesting specific information: Your user is subscribing to a newsletter, but you’re asking them to enter their date of birth. Maybe you’re planning to send them a free gift on their birthday. They won’t know unless you explain it to them.
  • Take advantage of autofill in browsers: Always save the user some steps when you can. All modern browsers have auto-fill capabilities and already know important information about their users such as name, address, email, phone number, country and credit card information. Name your fields in a way that triggers the browsers to autofill the fields.
  • Use in-line validation: Don’t wait until someone finishes filling the form to tell them they made a mistake. Validate the input in real-time and tell them to make corrections before they move on.
  • Make error messages positive: People make mistakes when filling forms, but you shouldn’t make them feel bad about it. When they do, explain the mistake clearly and concisely, direct them to the mistake and tell them how they can fix it.

Optimize HubSpot with OpGen Media

OpGen Media is a Platinum HubSpot Solutions Partner Agency. As a HubSpot Solutions Partner, we can handle everything HubSpot for you, from onboarding/setup (you don’t pay any fees with OpGen Media) to optimizing HubSpot to drive growth and profitability for your company. 

So if you’re looking for the perfect way to leverage the power of HubSpot, and its forms, contact us below to learn how we can help. We offer a free HubSpot audit as well.

 

Get a Free HubSpot Audit

Topics: Lead Generation, Marketing Automation, HubSpot, Digital Marketing

Brandon Pindulic

Written by Brandon Pindulic