The benefits of using a Conversational Form versus a regular form

Online forms are not a revolution; they never were. I can fairly say that every adult person filled at least a couple dozen forms during his life. With paper forms still a thing in many areas of our lives, we are as a society fully accustomed since generations to fill the given space with content in the required format. The digital version of that experience is still very similar. Thus online forms are a natural evolution, not a revolution.

In the past, online forms have been a tedious and monotonous task for any user. However, a new conversational format has emerged in recent years, a variation of traditional online forms. This conversation form places more emphasis on one specific topic. In addition, it allows both sides of the exchange to be more personal.
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Deciding between conversational and traditional form types without understanding their purpose can affect the quality and number of your responses. Here is a quick summary of each to help you make the right decision.

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Traditional - All of the questions are located on the same page.

PROS

• Most people are familiar with this format.
• Gives a realistic option to skip questions and get back to them later. 
• Offers a chance to effortlessly validate all the data before submitting it.

CONS

• Changes made by logic rules are visible to users. Based on user interactions with fields, some of the questions disappear, appear, or are replaced. The form that constantly changes its shape can, in extreme cases, discourage users from going further.
• Some required questions might be skipped by mistake. Pointing out that some questions are still required to fill after clicking the "submit" button can make users feel irritable or tired.

Conversational - Each question presents itself individually.

PROS

• Close to a natural way of communicating.
• Easy to create a truly personal experience with answer piping.
• Ideal for getting leads on mobile devices.
• Interactive and fun.
• It quickly grabs user attention with a clear call to action.
• Perfect for forms with enhanced logic (adjusting questions based on the answers).
• Higher completion rate when the average time needed for each question is low.

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CONS

• It doesn't perform that well if your questions rely on the previous responses. It is not difficult to lose the bigger picture without seeing the full form.
• Lack of information to determine the time needed to fill the form.
• Some people might stop filling the form even when the question discouraging them from continuing is not required.
• Difficult to detect and correct mistakes.

Summary

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Tools with only a single type of form can close doors to some groups of clients. Meaningless if they have only traditional or conversational kind of forms. Choose a form builder that will let you decide on the best approach to your clients.

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In QuestionScout, we give you a choice to use all of the modern forms types. Combined with our robust theme builder, you are equipped with all that is required to create a highly converting and beautiful experience for your business clients.