Form Analytics: 8 Key Metrics You Should Be Tracking

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Yet most businesses create forms and never look at the data again.

Form analytics tell you exactly what’s working, what’s broken, and where you’re losing potential leads or customers.

In this guide, you’ll learn the 8 essential form metrics to track and how to use them to optimize performance.

Why Form Analytics Matter

Consider this scenario:

• Your landing page gets 10,000 visitors per month
• Your form conversion rate is 2%
• You get 200 leads per month

By analyzing and optimizing your form, you might improve conversions to 4%. Same traffic, now 400 leads. That’s a 100% increase in results with zero additional marketing spend.

Form analytics reveal exactly where these opportunities exist.

Metric 1: Conversion Rate

What it is: The percentage of form viewers who complete a submission.

Formula: (Form Submissions ÷ Form Views) × 100

Example: 500 submissions ÷ 10,000 views = 5% conversion rate

Benchmarks

Form Type	Poor	Average	Good	Excellent
Contact forms	<2%	2-5%	5-10%	>10%
Lead magnets	<10%	10-20%	20-35%	>35%
Checkout forms	<50%	50-65%	65-75%	>75%
Survey forms	<20%	20-40%	40-60%	>60%

How to Improve

• Reduce form fields
• Improve page load speed
• Strengthen your value proposition
• Add social proof near the form

Metric 2: Completion Rate

What it is: The percentage of people who start your form and finish it.

Formula: (Form Submissions ÷ Form Starts) × 100

Different from conversion rate: Conversion rate measures all viewers. Completion rate measures only those who began filling out the form.

Why It Matters

A low completion rate (high abandonment) signals problems with the form itself:

• Too many fields
• Confusing questions
• Technical issues
• Poor mobile experience

Benchmarks

• Below 60%: Serious problems — investigate immediately
• 60-75%: Room for improvement
• 75-85%: Good performance
• Above 85%: Excellent

How to Improve

• Add progress indicators
• Use inline validation
• Simplify complex questions
• Ensure mobile responsiveness

Metric 3: Field-Level Drop-Off

What it is: Which specific fields cause people to abandon your form.

How to track: Form analytics tools show where users leave mid-form.

Common Problem Fields

Field Type	Why Users Abandon
Phone number	Privacy concerns, unexpected request
Company size	Feels like qualification
Address	Too much effort for the value
Open-ended text	Requires too much thought
Budget questions	Users aren’t ready to commit

How to Use This Data

1. Identify fields with high drop-off
2. Ask: Is this field essential?
3. If yes: Reposition or reframe it
4. If no: Remove it entirely

Metric 4: Time to Complete

What it is: How long it takes users to complete your form.

Why it matters: Unusually long completion times indicate confusion or friction.

Benchmarks

Form Length	Expected Time
3-5 fields	30-60 seconds
6-10 fields	1-2 minutes
11-20 fields	2-4 minutes
20+ fields	4+ minutes

Warning Signs

• Much longer than expected: Users are confused or distracted
• Much shorter than expected: Users may be submitting without reading (or bots)
• High variance: Some questions may be unclear

How to Improve

• Clarify confusing questions
• Provide helpful placeholder text
• Add instructional copy where needed
• Consider breaking long forms into steps

Metric 5: Submission by Device

What it is: Breakdown of form submissions by device type (desktop, mobile, tablet).

Why it matters: If most traffic is mobile but conversions skew desktop, your mobile form experience needs work.

How to Analyze

Compare:

• Traffic by device (from your website analytics)
• Form submissions by device (from form analytics)

If 60% of traffic is mobile but only 30% of submissions are mobile, you’re losing mobile conversions.

Mobile Optimization Priorities

• Test on actual devices (not just browser simulators)
• Ensure touch targets are large enough
• Eliminate horizontal scrolling
• Use appropriate keyboard types

Metric 6: Submission by Source

What it is: Where your form submissions originate (organic search, paid ads, social, email, etc.).

Why it matters: Helps you understand which channels drive quality leads.

Example Analysis

Source	Submissions	Conversion Rate	Cost/Submission
Organic search	150	4.2%	$0
Google Ads	200	2.8%	$25
Facebook Ads	100	1.5%	$40
Email	50	12%	$2

This data shows email has the highest conversion rate, Facebook Ads the lowest. You might optimize the Facebook landing page or reallocate budget.

How to Track

• Use UTM parameters on links
• Configure analytics to pass source data
• Integrate form data with your analytics platform

Metric 7: Error Rate

What it is: How often users encounter validation errors.

Why it matters: High error rates frustrate users and cause abandonment.

Types of Errors to Track

• Validation errors: Invalid email format, required field empty
• Submission errors: Technical failures, timeout issues
• Duplicate errors: User already exists in system

Benchmarks

• Below 5%: Good
• 5-15%: Investigate specific fields
• Above 15%: Serious UX problem

How to Reduce Errors

• Add inline validation (check fields before submission)
• Provide clear format requirements
• Use input masks for phone numbers, dates
• Offer helpful error messages (not just “Invalid input”)

Metric 8: Post-Submission Behavior

What it is: What users do after submitting your form.

Why it matters: The form is often just the first step. What happens next affects overall conversion.

Key Post-Submission Metrics

• Thank you page engagement: Do users read it?
• Email open rates: Are confirmation emails opened?
• Next action taken: Did they book a demo, start a trial?
• Time to next action: How quickly do they engage further?

Optimization Opportunities

• Use the thank you page strategically (not just “Thanks!”)
• Include relevant next steps
• Add calendar booking for demos
• Promote related content or offers

Building a Form Analytics Dashboard

Bring all metrics together in one view:

Essential Dashboard Elements

1. Headline metrics: Conversion rate, completion rate, total submissions
2. Trend charts: Performance over time
3. Field-level data: Drop-off points
4. Device breakdown: Desktop vs. mobile
5. Source attribution: Where submissions come from

Review Cadence

• Weekly: Check headline metrics, spot anomalies
• Monthly: Deep-dive into field-level and device data
• Quarterly: Comprehensive analysis, compare to benchmarks

Tools for Form Analytics

Built-in Analytics (Recommended)

Many form builders include analytics. Pixelform, for example, provides:

• Real-time submission tracking
• Conversion funnel visualization
• Field-level drop-off analysis
• Device and source breakdowns

Third-Party Integration

For advanced analysis:

• Google Analytics (with event tracking)
• Mixpanel or Amplitude (for product analytics)
• Hotjar or FullStory (for session recordings)

Taking Action on Your Data

Data without action is useless. Here’s a framework:

1. Identify the Biggest Problem

Look for:

• Lowest-performing metric vs. benchmark
• Highest drop-off field
• Largest device gap

2. Hypothesize a Solution

Example: “If we remove the phone number field, completion rate will increase.”

3. Test the Change

Run an A/B test or implement and measure.

4. Measure the Impact

Did the metric improve? By how much?

5. Iterate

Move to the next opportunity.

Start Tracking Your Form Performance

You can’t optimize what you don’t measure. With proper form analytics, you’ll:

• Identify exactly where you’re losing leads
• Make data-driven improvements
• Prove the ROI of your optimization efforts

Create your first form with Pixelform and get built-in analytics from day one.