In this context (a call-back/enquiry form) I think it's possible to keep the form short and usable whilst also giving your sales team the opportunity to capture more information.
I think name (single field) and contact number should be mandatory. Nearly everyone has a phone number of some sort and a conversation over the phone is a more personal way to begin than an email. Then ask for company name and email address but make them optional. Some people don't work for a company (or may not be inquiring on behalf of a company). And some people don't have an email address (this applies more to front-line retail situations in my experience - I'd guess nearly all business people will have an email address). I don't think address is necessary - the sales team can probably Google it later. If your sales team is still keen for more information, you could include a few extra fields, all optional, in a final section of the form. But I think it would be useful to introduce this section with a sentence explaining why you're asking for the information and how it will benefit them if they complete it - be really open and up-front about it. I think most clients will appreciate that your sales team wants background information so they can do some research before they call. Making all fields mandatory leads to unreliable, unclean data. I'm sure I'm not the only one who responds to nosy, unrelated questions on forms by deliberately giving daft and inaccurate answers. Chris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41431 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
