5 Essential Field Types for Forms That Convert

Your contact form is often the first point of contact between your company and your prospects. Yet, 81% of users abandon a form before completing it. The main reason? Poorly chosen or too many fields.

Which essential field types should you include to maximize conversions without sacrificing the quality of collected information? Here are the 5 must-haves.

Why Field Choice Directly Impacts Your Conversions

Each additional field in a form reduces the conversion rate by 4% on average. This figure, from a HubSpot study, demonstrates the importance of carefully choosing the information requested.

A high-performing form relies on balance:

• Enough fields to qualify the lead
• Not too many to avoid abandonment
• The right types to facilitate input

Companies that optimize their forms see a 25 to 50% increase in conversions. Let’s see which fields to include to achieve these results.

1. The Email Field: The Essential Foundation

The email address remains the most important field in any B2B form. Without it, impossible to recontact your prospect.

Best Practices for the Email Field

• Use real-time validation to avoid input errors
• Display a clear message if the format is incorrect
• Offer autocomplete to smooth the experience

A well-configured email field reduces input errors by 30%. On Skedox, built-in validation automatically detects common typos like “gmial.com” or “hotmal.fr”.

What to Avoid

• Don’t ask to confirm the email (unnecessary friction)
• Don’t mask the entered content
• Avoid aggressive error messages

2. The Name Field: Identify Without Complicating

The name allows you to personalize your exchanges. An email starting with “Hello Marie” converts 26% better than a simple “Hello”.

Should You Separate First and Last Name?

The answer depends on your use:

Configuration	Advantages	Disadvantages
Single “Full Name” field	Less friction, faster	Difficult to personalize emails
Separate First + Last	Precise personalization	2 fields instead of 1

For short forms (newsletter, download), prefer the single field. For quote requests or commercial contacts, separate them.

3. The Message Field: Understanding the Need

A free text field allows the prospect to express their need. This information is valuable for qualifying and prioritizing requests.

Optimizing the Message Field

• Define an explicit placeholder: “Describe your project or question…”
• Limit the minimum character count (50-100 max)
• Avoid overly restrictive maximum limits

Forms with a well-designed message field generate 40% more qualified leads. Why? Because prospects who take time to write are more engaged.

The Skedox Tip

With Skedox, you can configure conditional fields. For example, display an “Estimated Budget” field only if the message contains certain keywords. This approach reduces friction while collecting relevant information.

4. The Selection Field: Guiding the Prospect

Dropdown menus and radio buttons simplify input and structure collected data.

When to Use a Selection Field

• Type of request (quote, support, partnership)
• Industry sector
• Company size
• Discovery source

A well-thought-out selection field serves two purposes:

1. Facilitate sorting and routing of requests
2. Reduce input time for the user

Golden Rules

• Maximum 7 visible options (beyond that, use a dropdown menu)
• Always include an “Other” option
• Order choices from most frequent to least frequent

Companies using relevant selection fields reduce their processing time by 35%.

5. The Phone Field: Optional But Strategic

The phone number is divisive. Some prospects refuse to share it, others prefer to be called back.

The Solution: The Smart Optional Field

Make the phone optional but valued:

• “Phone number (optional) - for a callback within 24h”
• Offer to choose the preferred callback time slot

This approach increases the completion rate by 60% compared to a classic required field.

Format and Validation

• Accept all formats (with or without country code)
• Use an input mask adapted to the country
• Validate the format without blocking submission

Fields to Avoid in Your Forms

Some fields literally kill your conversions:

• Intrusive CAPTCHA: puzzles and images reduce conversions by 12%
• Full postal address: unless essential (delivery)
• Date of birth: intrusive and rarely useful in B2B
• Redundant questions: if you have the professional email, don’t require the company name

How to Structure Your Fields to Maximize Conversions

The order of fields influences completion rate. Here’s the optimal structure:

1. Start easy: name, email (familiar fields)
2. Progress toward value: message, request type selection
3. End with optional: phone, additional information

This approach exploits the “foot in the door” effect. Once the first fields are filled, the user is more inclined to finish.

Testing and Optimizing Your Field Types

Creating the perfect form on the first try is unrealistic. A/B testing identifies the most effective configurations.

What You Can Test

• Number of fields (5 vs 7)
• Required vs optional fields
• Label wording
• Field order

With Skedox, you access detailed statistics on each form: completion rate, average fill time, most abandoned fields. This data guides your optimizations.

Create your first optimized form on Skedox and test different configurations in a few clicks.

Checklist: The 5 Essential Field Types

Before publishing your form, verify it contains:

• An email field with real-time validation
• A name field (single or first/last depending on context)
• A message field with explicit placeholder
• One or two selection fields to qualify the request
• An optional but valued phone field

Conclusion: Fewer Fields, More Conversions

The essential field types for forms that convert can be counted on one hand. Email, name, message, selection, and optional phone: that’s the foundation of a high-performing form.

Each additional field must justify its presence. If you don’t know why you’re asking for information, remove it.

Companies that apply these principles see their conversion rates increase by 25 to 50%. The math is simple: less friction, more qualified leads.

Ready to optimize your forms? Try Skedox for free and discover how to create forms that convert in minutes.