If there’s one thing that’s always really fun in website design, it’s the testing of your site. And one of the most common aspects to test on a website, whether it’s at the build stage or during regular maintenance, is testing forms.
The testing of website forms is not the most interesting or challenging job for a website designer or developer, but it has to be done. Having fully functioning forms is a really critical part of the reason behind your website’s existence, and I cannot emphasise this enough – your website forms must always work, all the time.
Why Website Forms Need to Work
If you’re running a digital marketing campaign, it’s likely that you’ll have both SEO and PPC in your mix.
Having successfully optimised your website, and you get an organic visitor who then goes on to make an enquiry or a purchase – then your forms need to work otherwise you’ve just lost a lead or a sale.
And if your digital campaigns have Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, or a paid social media platform like Meta or LinkedIn driving visits to your website, then you really need to make sure your forms work otherwise you can lose leads, sales, AND you’ve paid for that click. If your Cost Per Click (CPC) is particularly expensive because you’re in a highly competitive industry, then that really is money down the drain.
So, make sure your website forms work!
How Often Should You Test Your Forms?
As with all things in SEO, it depends.
For a high-traffic, PPC-led, expensive CPC campaign, then you should test your forms as often as you get traffic and leads. I’d say check every day. You can do so more often if you have a particularly busy campaign with a website that changes, or is updated often.
Other than that, you should test your forms once a week.
In fact, if you’ve set up your website to be inspected regularly, i.e. you have a maintenance schedule, then make testing forms part of this procedure.
Cases Where Forms Haven’t Worked
I’ve just written this post because I checked the contact page on my personal website and the form was not showing. The reason for this was that I’d deactivated all the WordPress plugins in order to update and migrate the website to WordPress multisite, and the Contact Form 7 plugin hadn’t been reactivated. So I was lucky I spotted that and restored it. I then tested the form and checked that it has been delivered correctly.
Another case where I saw a form not working was in a website for a business where two web design agencies had built and then worked on the website, and neither of them could get the contact forms working. I tasked my SEO guy with the job of ensuring that the form worked, and after a lot of effort and persistence, he finally got it working. The client was really pleased because they hadn’t had an enquiry from their website in a couple of years!
Best Practice in Testing Website Forms
If there’s one thing that I really don’t like to see in testing forms is when the web designer or developer fills in a load of junk. You know the sort of thing – it’s a thankless task, so they just tap in random keys for the name, any old email address and a gibberish message. It’s tempting to do this, especially when it’s frustrating trying to get a form to work and they’ve tried multiple times.
What I say is this: test the form as if you were a real world professional client. Fill it in with the correct details.
And the most important part is that if there’s a field for a message, and/or a subject line, then one of the most helpful things you can to is fill in the date and the time that you sent the message. I tend to type in, for instance:
Test 20250218 @ 13:36
This makes it very clear that the message is a test.
You also have the exact timestamp of the time that you filled in and hit send on the form. This means that, if there’s any issue with the sending or relaying of the messages, and there’s a deluge of test forms sent out, then you can see when you sent them and not the system.
Additionally, by filling in forms as if you were a customer, if your client sees enquiries that are not filled with random text, then the experience is just so much more professional.
Other things you may wish to do are:
Functionality Testing
- Input Fields and Buttons: Verify that all the fields (text boxes, dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons) and buttons (submit/reset) work as expected.
- Validation Rules: Ensure that the required fields are marked as such and enforce the correct input formats (e.g., email or phone numbers). Test the error messages for invalid inputs.
- Conditional Logic: Check that conditional fields appear in your forms or hide them based on user responses.
Usability Testing (User Acceptance Testing)
- Readability: Ensure that labels and instructions are clear, concise, and legible. Use contrasting colours for text and background for passing accessibility tests.
- User Flow: Evaluate the ease of completing the form and identify any points of friction. Go back and iron out any issues, then test again.
- Mobile Responsiveness: Test the form on various devices to ensure it adapts well to different screen sizes.
Performance Testing
- Load Handling: Test how the form performs under high traffic or simultaneous submissions if at all possible.
- Submission Process: Verify that the form data is captured accurately in the database or CRM system and users receive confirmation messages or are redirected to a standalone “thank you” page.
Security Testing
- Data Protection: Ensure the web form is protected against SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other vulnerabilities.
- Spam Prevention: Implement CAPTCHA or other anti-spam measures to prevent bot submissions.
Accessibility Testing
- Keyboard Navigation: Confirm that your users can navigate the form using only a keyboard (e.g., using just the TAB key).
- Screen Reader Compatibility: Test the form with screen readers to ensure it is accessible to visually impaired users.
- Error Feedback: Provide clear error messages that are easy to understand and actionable.
Advanced Techniques
- A/B Testing: Compare different versions of the form to identify which design yields higher completion rates.
- Heatmaps and Field Analytics: Use tools like Hotjar or Clarity to track user interactions and identify problematic fields or areas of abandonment.
- Multi-Step Forms: Break long forms into smaller sections to improve completion rates.
Cross-Browser and Device Testing
- Browser Testing: Test the form across multiple browsers (e.g., Chrome, Safari, Edge) and operating systems to ensure compatibility and consistent behaviour.
- Device Testing: Then test your forms on mobile devices – actual mobile devices because sometimes simulated mobile isn’t accurate. Test your forms on tablets too.
Conclusion
With all this information you should be able to robustly test your website’s forms and ensure that they’re getting through correctly. Remember that you should do the bulk of this testing at the build and development stage, then ensure that you’re testing forms regularly to make sure that they continue to work.
If you need any additional audits or testing, or even to just get your forms right in the first place, you can call us on 01252 692 765
