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A form is a conversation opener, not a database entry screen. What to ask, what to leave out, and why fewer fields get better answers.
Every field has a price
A customer facing a long form does one of three things: fills it in carefully, fills it in carelessly, or gives up and emails you instead. Only the first is useful, and it becomes less likely with every field you add.
The careless case is the one people underestimate. A required category field that a customer does not understand gets whatever is first in the list, and now your reports are confidently wrong.
Ask what only they can tell you
Good questions are the ones whose answers you cannot work out yourself.
- Ask: what happened, which order it concerns, which device, what they have already tried.
- Do not ask: which team should handle it, how urgent it is, what category it falls under. Those are your judgements, and customers guess.
Priority is the classic mistake
A priority field on a public form produces tickets that are all urgent. That is not customers being difficult; it is a rational answer to a question about their own problem. Set priority yourself, from what they told you.
Use conditions instead of length
Three visible fields that expand to six for the people who need them beats six for everyone. Most customers see a short form; the ones with a complicated case get the extra questions.
A test worth running. Take your form to somebody who does not work in support and watch them fill it in for a real problem. Every hesitation is a field that needs rewording or removing.
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