Form Restraint
Forms are the worst leak point in a product. Every field you add, ask: is this information really needed right now?
- 注册转化很低，但说不清卡在哪一个字段
- 用户填到一半退出，回来全没了要重填
- 提交后一次性弹出五条错误，还不告诉你哪个框错了
A good form has only three demands: collect only what's necessary, let people know what to do next, and make mistakes easy to undo.
Cut Fields First
- Ask each field: what happens if we don't ask? If the answer is "sales wants to know" or "might be useful later," cut it or push it later in the flow.
- Don't ask what you can derive. City can be guessed from IP, industry from company name, source from link params.
- Defer what you can. Let people start using the product first; ask for that piece of info at the step where it's actually needed. Conversion looks completely different.
- Fewer required fields, always. Optional fields are candidates for deletion — a field everyone skips is just visual noise.
Where Labels Go
Label position and alignment directly affect fill-in speed — each of the four has its own place.
| 形式 | 优点 | 代价与适用 |
|---|---|---|
| 左标签 | 表意明确，省纵向空间 | 在移动端这类狭长空间里不好用。多用于 web |
| 顶标签 | 对齐舒适，省横向空间 | 纵向空间利用率不高。多用于移动端 |
| 行内标签 | 最省空间 | 一开始输入标签就消失了，用户容易忘了这个框是填什么的。只适合注册登录这类字段极少的场景 |
| 左对齐 / 右对齐 | 左对齐读得快，右对齐填得快 | 视线从右对齐标签移到输入框更短。表单填写用右对齐，信息陈列用左对齐 |
What to Do on Error
Error tolerance has to be handled at three moments — miss any one and the user gets stuck.
Watch the timing of live validation: showing a red error while the user is still typing is annoying — usually validate after they leave the input.
Five Shortcuts
- 给默认值。最常见的那个选项预先选中，多数人直接过。
- 自动填充和建议。输地址时给下拉建议，输公司名时联想。
- 长表单分步。超过十个字段就分步骤，配步骤条，别让人一屏看到底。
- 分组。把相关字段放一组，加个小标题。个人信息、账号信息、联系方式各一组。
- 手机上调对键盘。填手机号弹数字键盘，填邮箱弹带 @ 的键盘。这一条几乎零成本，但很多产品没做。
After building, three metrics tell you how good it is: completion rate, error rate, fill-in time. Read them together — high completion but long fill-in time means people are grinding through it.