If you’ve ever been responsible for building a form or analyzing form submission data, you may have asked yourself, “What makes someone complete a form – or abandon it halfway through?”
To understand the answer to that question, we analyzed 1.6 billion user interactions across nearly two decades of FormAssembly usage — spanning industries, form types, and devices. This analysis resulted in a report that shows a clear pattern: when forms are thoughtfully designed and continuously refined, they convert more users, reduce friction, and build trust. When they’re not, they quietly leak value.
It’s important to remember that FormAssembly forms convert at a rate of 33%. While that’s well above the industry average of 4%, there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
Let’s take a look at what might be causing your users to drop off—and what you can do to fix it.
Nearly a third of users abandon forms before completion
Form abandonment doesn’t just create delays, it breaks down the flow of business. Whether it is a lost lead, a stalled application, or an incomplete intake, each drop-off interrupts a critical moment in the user journey.
Our analysis shows that nearly 1 in 3 forms experience a drop-off in completions. What is perhaps most interesting about this statistic, is that this drop-off is not random.
Form drop-off is linked to consistent friction points in the UX
Form abandonment tends to cluster around consistent friction points in the user experience, such as when forms are:
- Too long
- Too confusing
- Don’t provide the right feedback
These friction points are big enough roadblocks that they prevent a user from wanting to complete a form.
It’s worth noting that many FormAssembly forms support high-intent interactions – such as college applications, clinical intakes, and government registrations. Users who engage with these forms are more likely to complete them because they have a specific motivation to do so.
But for less high-intent forms – such as surveys and certain types of registration forms – these friction points can make the difference between being able to collect enough data to make an informed decision, or not.
Here’s the good news
Our research shows that making simple changes to your forms can boost form performance and conversions by up to 43%.
Here are some examples of what you can do to improve form performance within your organization:
- Shorten. Aim to collect only the information you absolutely need, and nothing more.
- Simplify. Opt for one word, drop-down option, or select all fields when you can, and avoid open text fields as much as possible.
- Guide. Provide prompts and examples that demonstrate how to fill out your form correctly.
Making these small changes can have a huge impact on your form completion rate by clarifying what you’re asking for and speeding up the time it takes to fill out your form. Ultimately, this will help you collect more meaningful data that you can actually use to make business decisions.
When it comes to forms, see what works and what doesn’t
Want to learn more? Access the full report with benchmarks, strategies, and data-backed fixes to improve form performance today.
Download “From Drop-Off to Conversion: A Data-Driven Look at Form Performance.”
