If Your Forms Are Good, Your Product Is Good

We like to think of our designs in high-minded terms, but let’s be real with each other: most apps are really just forms. Complex forms that let you order food, date people, or buy a house—but forms, nonetheless.

Almost every kind of software product features a form (a page with inputs for text, numbers, and other data that the user has to fill in). They are often the source of major frustration, but if you make your forms and data entry work well, your customers will thank you and your conversion rates will improve.

People generally hate filling in forms—it’s slow and can be clunky and cumbersome—so let’s make users’ lives easier by streamlining and optimizing the data entry process.

The first rule of Form Club is: don’t ask for more information than you need. Time and again, users are asked to sign up to sites that ask for:

• First name
• Last name
...