Clean Forms

Forms can put a damper on the day – especially when they are poorly organized and confusing. Yet businesses daily, even hourly, have to fill out some sort of a form. It may be a purchase order form, an invoice, or an application for a lease. Although filling out forms can be tedious, your forms don’t have to be.

Make sure that the forms you make for your business are organized and straightforward. This will always help the user to complete the form without headaches. Some ways to keep your form organized are:

1. Have your logo, address, phone number, e-mail, and/or website in a clear and readable place. Usually the top is the best.
2. Make it very clear as to what they are filling out. Make sure all titles are not to lengthy in words. Also make them stand out from the rest of the text by making it larger, bolder, or underlined.
3. Have all your fields line up in one place. If you are making it have more than one column, then make sure that the form field is clear and does not get lost.
4. Give the user a sense of where they are – especially with an online form. If the form is more than one page, you can have “You are here” cues. They usually consist of steps in the form process. This is most used when signing up on a web site or completing a purchase on an e-commerce site.

Doing these few tips can really help your forms, business, and your customers.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.