A Second Step on the Quote Form

Sixteen questions on one screen

A quote form for a building job asks for everything at once: name, phone, email, address, the type of project, measurements, materials, timing, budget, how you heard about us, photographs and a message.

On a phone, that is a long scroll before the send button appears. Visitors see the length before they have answered a single question, and many decide it can wait.

The business never knows. A form nobody finishes sends nothing.

Every question on it was added for a reason. Together they form a wall.

Why two steps work better

People decide whether to start a form by how long it looks. A first screen with a handful of easy questions looks like a minute's work, and it usually is.

Once somebody has answered those, they have begun, and finishing feels like the natural next move rather than a new decision.

The second step can also be shaped by the first. Somebody who chose a single garage never sees the questions about a workshop's electrical service.

The total does not change. The same questions get asked, in an order that does not ask for effort before it has earned it.

What goes in the first step

• The kind of job, chosen from a short list.
• Where it is, as a town or a postal code.
• A name, and how they prefer to be contacted.
• A phone number or email, whichever they choose.
• Rough timing, such as this fall or next spring.

The fourth is the one businesses argue about. Asking for contact details early can feel forward, but it is what lets a half-finished request reach you at all, and after two easy choices it feels like a fair exchange.

What goes in the second step

The second step holds the questions that need thought: measurements, materials, access to the site, budget, photographs, anything unusual.

Make as much of it optional as you can, and give every question a not sure answer. A visitor who has not decided the size yet should not be stopped by a required size field.

Say briefly why each question is asked, so it reads as preparation rather than paperwork: the access question is there so the right equipment arrives.

And let photographs follow later by email. A large file uploading over mobile data is where many phone visitors give up.

Saving the first step

When the visitor presses next, save the first step on the server straight away and send it to the office, marked as incomplete.

If they then stop, the business still has a name, a job type, a town and a way to reach them. Without saving, a request abandoned on step two is as lost as one never started.

Tell visitors plainly, beside the next button, that the details are saved when they continue so somebody can follow up. Nobody should find out afterwards that a form they never finished was sent.

A worked example

A company that builds detached garages and workshops across the Fraser Valley had a quote form with sixteen questions on one page, from roof style and foundation to electrical service and permit status.

Every question had been added because the estimator needed the answer eventually. Together, on a phone, they made a scroll that ended in a send button few people reached.

The second question asked for the building's dimensions in feet, which most people had not yet decided. Analytics had been showing far more visits to the form page than requests arriving, but nobody had looked.

The form was split. Step one asks what they have in mind, single, double or workshop, plus the town, a name and a way to reply by phone or email.

A line beside the button says the details are saved when they continue.

Step two holds everything else, each question with a not sure option, and photographs can follow by email.

Half-finished requests now reach the office marked as such, and the estimator calls each one the next morning.

Following up a half-finished request

Call within a day, while the person still remembers starting. Mention what they told you, the double garage in their town, and ask whether it is a good time to fill in the rest together.

One call and one email are enough. If neither gets a reply, record it and stop.

The follow-up is a reply to an enquiry they began, not permission to add them to a newsletter. That needs its own clear yes.

The back button and the progress line

Show where the visitor is: step 1 of 2, with a word about what the second step covers. Label the button with what comes next, such as next: the project details.

The back button must return to step one with every answer intact. A form that forgets the first step when somebody goes back to check an answer undoes the whole idea.

Each step should fit on a phone screen or two, with the button reachable without a long hunt.

Measuring where people stop

Set up Analytics to record three moments: step one viewed, step two viewed, and the request sent. A goal with a funnel then shows how many people pass each point.

Many stopping at step one means it is still too long. Many stopping at step two means one of its questions is the problem, and the optional fields that completed requests leave blank are a good clue to which.

Compare phones with desktops, since the two often stop in different places.

The counter-case

A short contact form gains nothing from being split. Three fields and a message belong on one screen, and a second step there is only an extra tap.

Some customers will always prefer to phone, whatever the form looks like, so the number belongs beside it. A business with few requests can start smaller, by removing questions it never uses and replying faster.

For a long quote form, though: two steps, easy questions first, with the first step saved and the visitor told.

Splitting the form

1. List every question the form asks now.
2. Delete the ones nobody ever uses.
3. Move easy questions and contact details to step one.
4. Make step two optional wherever possible.
5. Save step one when next is pressed.
6. Say so beside the button.
7. Call each half-finished request within a day.

Step five is what changes the arithmetic of the form. Without it, every visitor who stops on step two is lost exactly as before; with it, they leave a name and a number behind.

Once the request becomes a visit, the next practical question is covered in directions for customers who cannot find you.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.