Your enquiry form asks for too much

The enquiry form on a venue website asks for fourteen things on average. Name, company, email, phone, date, alternative date, number of people, type of event, budget, preferred room, catering, technical requirements, how you found us, and comments.

Most visitors don't know half of that yet. So they don't fill it in.

What a form actually has to do

The goal isn't to collect a complete file. It's to start a conversation with someone who is serious. Anything you can still ask afterwards doesn't need to be in there now.

Four fields are enough to judge whether you can and want to deliver:

• Date (or a window — "somewhere in March" is usable)
• Number of people (a range will do)
• Type of gathering (meeting, party, conference, dinner)
• Email address

With those four you can check availability and give a first indication. The rest follows naturally from the contact you now have.

The fields that cost the most

Budget. The most honest field on your form and the most expensive. People who don't know drop out; people who do know enter a low figure to avoid committing. Ask in conversation, where you can give context.

Phone number, required. A share of your visitors don't want to be called at this stage. Make it optional and you keep them.

Alternative date. Useful, but not now. Ask once the first date turns out to be taken.

How did you find us. That's for your marketing, not their enquiry. Ask in the confirmation email or measure it in your analytics.

What you gain by asking less

Fewer fields produce more enquiries, and some of them will be less prepared than the ones you get now. That isn't a downside: a half-filled enquiry from someone genuinely looking is worth more than a complete form that was never sent.