Sales & Conversion
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Everyone told me to simplify contact forms. Remove friction. Make it easier to convert. The usual advice, right?
Then I worked with a B2B startup that was drowning in unqualified leads. Their contact form was getting plenty of submissions, but sales was wasting hours on tire-kickers who weren't even close to their ideal customer profile.
So I did something that made my client nervous: I made their contact form harder to fill out. I added more fields, more qualifying questions, more friction. The result? Same volume of leads, but dramatically higher quality.
Here's what you'll learn from this counter-intuitive approach:
Why friction can actually improve your conversion quality
The specific qualifying questions that pre-screen serious prospects
How to balance form length with completion rates
The psychology behind why harder-to-complete forms attract better leads
When to use this strategy (and when to avoid it)
This approach works especially well for SaaS businesses and service providers who need to filter out low-intent prospects early in the funnel.
Industry Reality
What every conversion expert recommends
Walk into any conversion optimization discussion and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel:
"Reduce friction at all costs." Remove form fields. Ask for just name and email. Make everything one-click. The fewer barriers, the better.
The logic seems sound: fewer fields = higher completion rates = more leads = more revenue. This thinking has dominated the industry for years, and for good reason—it works for many businesses.
Here's what the conventional wisdom tells you to do:
Keep contact forms to 3 fields maximum
Use progressive profiling to gather info over time
Remove optional fields entirely
A/B test shorter vs. longer forms (shorter always wins)
Focus on quantity of leads first, qualify them later
This approach works brilliantly for e-commerce, content downloads, and high-volume businesses where you can afford to cast a wide net and filter later. The problem? It falls apart when your sales process is high-touch and every unqualified lead costs you real time and money.
Most B2B businesses follow this playbook religiously, then wonder why their sales teams are burning out on discovery calls with prospects who were never going to buy. The industry has optimized for the wrong metric.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The challenge landed on my desk during a B2B startup website revamp. The company provided workflow automation software for mid-market businesses, and their contact form was textbook "best practice"—just three fields: name, email, and company.
The problem became clear during my first conversation with their sales team. They were drowning in low-quality leads. Out of 100 monthly form submissions, maybe 10 were worth a discovery call, and only 2-3 would ever convert to paid customers.
The rest were a mix of students working on school projects, competitors doing research, job seekers hoping to network, and small businesses with budgets way below their minimum deal size. Sales was spending 80% of their time on leads that would never buy.
My client was frustrated. "We're getting plenty of leads," they said, "but our sales team is wasting time on calls that go nowhere."
The marketing team pushed back when I suggested adding more form fields. "We'll tank our conversion rates," they argued. They'd been trained to believe that any additional friction would kill their lead flow.
But here's what they were missing: they were optimizing for the wrong conversion. They were measuring form submissions instead of qualified opportunities. They were treating their contact form like an e-commerce checkout when it should have been a sales qualification tool.
This is the classic mistake I see with B2B companies—they apply e-commerce conversion tactics to enterprise sales processes. The two couldn't be more different.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of fighting for more form submissions, I decided to fight for better form submissions. My hypothesis was simple: people willing to spend extra time filling out a detailed form are inherently more serious about finding a solution.
The Strategic Redesign
I restructured their contact form around qualification, not conversion. Instead of three generic fields, I created a form that functioned like a mini-discovery call:
Company type dropdown (Enterprise, Mid-market, Small business, Agency, Other)
Job title selection (C-level, VP/Director, Manager, Individual contributor)
Budget range indicator ($5K-$15K, $15K-$50K, $50K+, Not sure)
Project timeline (Immediate need, Next 30 days, Next quarter, Just researching)
Current solution (Manual processes, Competitor tool, Custom solution, Nothing)
But here's the crucial part—I didn't just add fields randomly. Each question served a specific qualification purpose:
The company type dropdown immediately filtered out individual users and tiny businesses. The budget indicator separated serious buyers from price shoppers. The timeline question identified hot leads versus long-term researchers.
The Psychology Behind It
The genius of this approach isn't just the information gathered—it's the self-selection it creates. When someone sees a detailed form, they make a split-second decision: "Is this worth my time?"
Casual browsers bail out immediately. But prospects with a real problem stick around because they recognize the value exchange: "These guys are asking good questions. They probably understand my situation."
Implementation Details
I made sure the longer form didn't feel overwhelming by using smart design choices:
Grouped related fields visually
Used dropdown menus instead of text fields where possible
Added progress indicators to show completion status
Included helpful tooltips explaining why each question mattered
The copy above the form was crucial too. Instead of generic "Contact Us," I used: "Tell us about your workflow challenges so we can provide specific recommendations."
This framing positioned the form as a valuable consultation intake rather than a barrier to access.
Self-Selection
Serious prospects self-identify by completing detailed forms, while casual browsers filter themselves out automatically.
Pre-Qualification
Each form field serves as a mini-discovery question, gathering sales intel before the first conversation.
Quality Metrics
Track qualified leads per submission rather than total submissions to measure true form performance.
Strategic Friction
Intentional friction acts as a filter mechanism, improving lead quality without sophisticated scoring systems.
The results spoke for themselves. Yes, total form submissions dropped by about 30%—but the quality transformation was dramatic.
Before the change: 100 monthly submissions, 10 discovery calls, 2-3 qualified opportunities.
After the change: 70 monthly submissions, 35 discovery calls, 12-15 qualified opportunities.
The math was simple: same total qualified leads, but sales was spending 3x less time on unqualified prospects. Their close rate improved because they were talking to better-fit prospects from day one.
The sales team's feedback was immediate: "These leads actually understand what we do before they book a call."
But the real win was unexpected—the longer form actually improved the sales conversation quality. Prospects who filled out detailed forms came to discovery calls better prepared and more engaged. They'd already thought through their budget, timeline, and current challenges.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
The biggest lesson? Don't optimize for vanity metrics. Total form submissions mean nothing if they don't convert to revenue.
Here are the key insights I gained:
Friction filters - The right friction attracts serious buyers and repels time-wasters
Context matters - E-commerce tactics don't translate to enterprise sales
Self-selection works - Let prospects qualify themselves instead of doing it later
Quality over quantity - Better to have 10 qualified leads than 100 unqualified ones
Sales alignment - Form design should support sales process, not fight it
Progressive disclosure - Frame additional questions as value, not barriers
Test the right metrics - Measure qualified opportunities, not form completions
This strategy works best for high-ticket B2B services, complex solutions, and anywhere sales time is expensive. Avoid it for low-touch, self-serve, or impulse purchases.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups, focus on these qualifying questions:
Team size and growth stage
Current tools and integration needs
Budget range and decision timeline
Technical complexity requirements
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce businesses, add friction only for:
B2B wholesale inquiries
Custom product requests
Partnership opportunities
High-value consultation services