A form is a negotiation. Every field is you asking for something before you've given anything, and every one of them loses you people who would otherwise have said yes.
Rules that hold up
- Ask for what you'll act on this week. If nobody will read the answer, delete the field.
- One question per screen beats a wall of inputs on mobile — where most of your responses come from.
- Never ask for something you can look up. You don't need their company name if you have their work email.
- Say what happens next. 'We reply within a day' converts better than a bare Submit.
The one exception
Long forms are fine when the person has already decided — a job application, an onboarding questionnaire, a booking they're keen on. Length hurts at the top of the funnel, not the bottom.
