Your quote form asks fourteen questions before it asks for a phone number
Long moving quote forms lose most of the people who start them. The common mistake on mover websites, why it happens, and how to fix it in an afternoon.
Someone is planning a move, finds your website on her phone, taps "Get a Free Quote," and sees a form. Move date. Origin address. Destination address. Number of bedrooms. Floor. Elevator. Stairs. Number of boxes. Large items. Piano. Packing. Storage. Then, finally, name and phone. Most people quit around question five. You never find out they were there.
This is one of the most common mistakes we see on moving company websites. The form was built to give the estimator everything they need. It was not built for the person filling it out.
Why movers build long forms
The reason is understandable. A good moving quote needs a lot of information. Inventory, access, distance, stairs and special items all change the price. Estimators get tired of calling back to ask "how many bedrooms" and "is there an elevator." So the form grows.
The problem is that the form is now doing two jobs: collecting a lead and collecting an inventory. Those should be separate. The lead is the hard part. Once you have a name and a phone number, you can get the inventory in a two-minute call, a video walk-through or a follow-up form.
What a long form costs you
Think about who abandons it. Not the tire kickers. Often it is the busy person who is serious about moving, standing in her kitchen, trying to get three quotes during a lunch break. She does not know how many boxes she will have. She does not want to guess at cubic feet. She just wants a call.
A hypothetical example: if 100 people a month tap your quote button and a 14-question form loses most of them, you might end up with a small handful of leads. A short form will not keep all of them, but even a modest improvement in completion can put several more real moves in front of your estimator every month, from the same traffic and the same ad budget. The calculator helps put a dollar value on each lost lead.
The fix
Cut the first form to four or five fields
- Name
- Phone
- Move date (or "not sure yet")
- Moving from (zip or city)
- Moving to (zip or city)
That is it. Everything else comes after. Put an optional notes box at the end for people who want to add more.
Ask for the details on the next screen, optionally
After they submit, show a thank-you page that says: "Got it. We will call or text you shortly. Want a faster quote? Answer a few more questions here." Then show the longer form. People who are already committed will fill it in. People who are not still left you their number.
Offer a video walk-through
Many movers now quote from a short video. Add a line to the thank-you page: "Prefer to show us? Reply to our text with a quick video walking through each room." For local moves, that can replace most of the inventory questions. If you quote from video, the post on binding quotes from a video covers where the limits are.
Make the phone number just as easy
A lot of people would rather call than fill out anything. Put a tap-to-call button at the top of every page and next to the form. If you text, say so: "Call or text." The website essentials guide covers the rest of what the page needs.
Respond fast
A short form only works if someone responds quickly. A lead who submitted a five-field form at lunch will often take the first mover who calls back. Set up an automatic text that goes out within a minute, then call within the hour. The missed calls and speed to lead guide covers the setup.
Check your Google profile too
The same mistake shows up on Google Business Profiles in a different form: no clear way to get a quote fast. If your profile has a website link that drops people on the long form, you are losing Google traffic too. Make sure the link goes to a page with the short form and a phone number above the fold.
While you are there, look at the basics. In our data on 75,599 moving company listings, 29.6% list no hours, and 22.3% have no website. Movers with a website have a median of 58 reviews, compared with 1 for those without. The benchmark report has the full breakdown.
An afternoon of work
Here is the order:
- Cut your quote form to five fields.
- Move the detailed questions to an optional second step.
- Add "call or text" with a tap-to-call button next to the form.
- Set up an instant text reply to every form submission.
- Point your Google profile link at the page with the short form.
None of this needs a new website. Most form builders let you change it in an hour. The hard part is letting go of the idea that the form has to do the estimator's job.
If you want the short form and instant text reply set up for you, the free 14-day trial covers any one service, no card: text or call (385) 396-5586.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, moving companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor