One of my pet peeves is poorly designed forms. If I’m fortunate enough to make it to the checkout process as a guest without having to register on a site, I’ll often be hit with annoying or confusing form design.

The saying ‘It’s the little things’ was never more true than when it comes to online forms. Addressing these three points can make your form easier to fill out, thereby removing unnecessary barriers to conversion:

            * Arrange the form fields vertically instead of horizontally so people can scan more easily

            * Create one field for the person’s name, instead of First Name, Last Name fields

            * Put an asterisk next to required fields and have as few required fields as possible

Great form design depends on many other factors as well. There are a number of fantastic resources on this subject; here are two that I highly recommend:

Baymard Institute: Form Field Usability: Avoid Multi-Column Layouts  Also order their outstanding and seminal report:
E-Commerce Checkout Usability

Smashing Magazine: Useful Ideas And Guidelines For Good Web Form Design