Form Analytics: How to Find Out Where People Stop Filling In Your Form

By Emily Redmond, Data Analyst at Emilytics · April 2026

TL;DR: Track form-started, field-focused, and form-submitted events in GA4 to pinpoint which field causes abandonment. Then test removing or simplifying that field.

I watched a company track "form submitted" conversions but never looked at form abandonment.

They had a 5-field form with 20% submission rate. They assumed their traffic was bad.

Then I added analytics to each field and found:

• 80% started the form
• 60% filled "name" and moved on
• 40% reached "company"
• Only 20% made it to "phone"

The problem wasn't traffic. The problem was a form that bled people at every step.

They removed the phone field. Submissions doubled.

Why Form Analytics Matters

A form is a funnel. People drop off at every field.

Your job: identify which field has the steepest drop. That's your optimization target.

Formula for form abandonment: (Form starts - Form submissions) / Form starts = abandonment rate

Example:

• 1,000 people start form
• 150 people submit
• Abandonment rate = 85%

That's bad. Most people bail.

Now the question: where do they bail?

How to Track Form Abandonment

You need to track these events:

To set up in Google Tag Manager:

1. Create a trigger for "Focus on element" → select your form fields
2. Create an event tag: "field_focused" with parameter "field_name = [element name]"
3. Create a trigger for "Click" on your submit button
4. Create an event tag: "form_submitted"

Or use a form analytics tool like HotJar, Contentsquare, or Clarity. They do this automatically.

Reading Your Form Data

Once you're tracking, build a report in GA4:

Step 1: Go to Explore → Blank Exploration

Step 2: Dimensions

• Event name

Step 3: Metrics

• User count
• Event count

Step 4: Filter

• Event name = form_started OR form_submitted OR field_focused

Now you'll see:

Analysis:

• After name field: 150 people left (15% drop)
• After email field: 300 people left (30% drop)
• After company field: 250 people left (63% drop) ← BIG DROP
• After phone field: 30 people left (20% drop)

The problem: company field. Half the people who see it abandon the form.

What Causes Form Abandonment

Common reasons people bail:

💡 Emily's take: A B2B SaaS company had a "Company Size" field. 45% of users abandoned there. Turns out, freelancers and solo entrepreneurs felt excluded by the options (the smallest was "2-10 employees"). They changed it to "number of team members" and added a "solo" option. Abandonment dropped from 45% to 20%. Same field, different framing.

The Form Reduction Experiment

Testing form length is one of the highest-ROI CRO experiments you can run.

Test: Reduce from 5 fields to 3 fields

What to remove:

• Company size (usually not needed immediately)
• Phone number (email is enough for follow-up)
• Comments field (make optional)

What to keep:

• Email (required for follow-up)
• Name (nice-to-have but usually converted)
• Company name (if B2B)

Measure:

• Form completion rate (submissions / starts)
• Lead quality (downstream conversion, email bounce rate, etc.)

A test reducing form length by 40% typically increases submission rate by 20–50%.

A/B Testing GA4: Measure the Winner walks through how to measure if the test works.

Multi-Step Forms vs. Single-Step Forms

Single-step form: all fields visible at once (higher abandonment because it looks long) Multi-step form: one field per screen (lower abandonment because it feels manageable)

Which should you use?

For 1–3 fields: single-step For 4+ fields: multi-step

Why? Cognitive load. More fields = more intimidating.

If you go multi-step:

• Show progress: "Step 1 of 3"
• Allow back button: let people revise
• Save progress: don't lose data on refresh
• Keep steps short: 1–2 fields per step max

Mobile vs. Desktop Forms

Mobile forms abandon at 2x the rate of desktop. Reasons:

1. Tiny screen = form looks huge
2. Mobile keyboard = hard to type
3. Small touch targets = easy to mis-tap
4. Auto-fill doesn't always work

If your mobile abandonment is 20+ percentage points higher than desktop:

• Reduce form fields for mobile
• Use mobile-optimized inputs (email picker, number pad)
• Use autofill fields (email, name from profile)
• Test single-step on mobile, multi-step on desktop

Heatmap Analysis for Forms

GA4 doesn't show where people click on forms. You need a heatmap tool (HotJar, Contentsquare, Microsoft Clarity).

A heatmap will show:

• Which fields get clicked the most
• Where people get stuck
• Which buttons are ignored
• Mobile usability issues

If your heatmap shows the submit button barely gets clicked, people aren't reaching it (form is too long, or device issue).

How to Use Heatmap Data Alongside GA4 covers this in more depth.

Optional vs. Required Fields

Rule: Make as few fields required as possible.

Why? Because "required" = friction.

Better approach: Mark only 1–2 fields as required (usually email + name). Make the rest optional or defer them.

Example:

• Required: Email
• Optional: Company name
• Defer: Phone number (ask during onboarding)

Then measure:

• Do optional fields get filled? (If yes, they're important. If no, remove them.)
• Do deferred fields get filled? (If yes, they're worth asking. If no, don't ask.)

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What's a good form completion rate? A: Depends on the form:

• 1-field form: 50%+ completion typical
• 3-field form: 30–50% completion typical
• 5-field form: 20–30% completion typical

Longer forms naturally abandon more. Reduce form length or test multi-step.

Q: Should I test removing a field that's important for my business? A: Yes, but measure quality too. Remove "phone number" → submissions double, but do they actually convert to customers? Track downstream metrics.

Q: How do I reduce form abandonment without reducing fields? A: Add progress indicator ("Step 1 of 3"), use multi-step form, improve field labels, use autofill, add trust signals ("We never spam"), simplify copy.

Q: Does form design (colors, layout) affect abandonment? A: Yes, but much less than form length. A 5-field form with great design still abandons more than a 2-field form with mediocre design.

Q: How long should my form be? A: For lead gen: 2–3 fields. For checkout: 4–6 fields (spread across multiple steps). For user profile: 8–10 fields (multi-step).

The Form Optimization Roadmap

Week 1: Track form events (form_started, field_focused, form_submitted) Week 2–4: Identify biggest abandonment field Week 4–6: Test reducing form length by removing low-impact fields Week 6–8: If test wins, test further reduction or multi-step format Week 8+: Test other optimizations (copy, design, autofill)

The Bottom Line

Forms are funnels. Your job is to find where people bail and reduce friction there.

Most of the time, it's form length.

Reduce your form from 5 fields to 3. Measure. It probably works. Do it.

Emily Redmond is a data analyst at Emilytics — AI analytics agent watching your GA4, Search Console, and Bing data around the clock. 8 years experience. Say hi →