What Is Form Abandonment, and How Do You Measure It?

Short answer: form abandonment is when a visitor begins a form and leaves without submitting it. The abandonment rate is the number who started but did not submit, divided by the number who started. It differs from people who saw the form and never touched it.

Table of Contents

1. Definition and Formula
2. Three Groups You Should Separate
3. Why People Abandon Forms
4. How to Measure It
5. Finding the Field That Causes It
6. Quick Fixes
7. Key Takeaways

Definition and Formula

Form abandonment rate = (form starts − form submissions) ÷ form starts

If 400 people begin your signup form and 240 submit it, 160 abandoned. The rate is 40%.

A "start" is the first interaction with any field: a click, a tap, or typing.

Three Groups You Should Separate

Lumping these together hides the cause. The third group is the most valuable: these people wanted to finish, and something stopped them.

Why People Abandon Forms

1. Too many fields. Each extra field is another reason to stop.
2. Asking for sensitive information early. Phone numbers and company revenue before any value is delivered.
3. Unclear errors. A message that says "invalid input" without saying which field or why.
4. Errors that appear only after submit. The visitor has to hunt for what went wrong.
5. Strict formats. Rejecting a phone number because of a space.
6. Password rules revealed one at a time.
7. Mobile problems. The wrong keyboard, a submit button under the keyboard, fields too small to tap.
8. Lost progress. A refresh or an error clears everything.
9. Forced account creation before checkout.
10. Silent failure. The button does nothing because of a JavaScript error.
11. Trust. No explanation of why the information is needed.

How to Measure It

You need three events: the form was seen, the form was started, the form was submitted.

1. Build a funnel. Page with form → first field interaction → successful submission.
2. Use a success signal you trust. A thank-you page, or a custom event fired after the server accepts the submission. A click on the submit button is not a success.
3. Segment by device. Mobile abandonment is usually higher, and for different reasons.
4. Segment by source. Cold paid traffic tolerates far fewer fields.

In DeepSync, a submission can be tracked with one call and used as a goal or funnel step:

deepsync("track", "signup_form_submitted");

A step-by-step version is in how to track form abandonment.

Finding the Field That Causes It

Rates tell you a form leaks. Recordings tell you where.

1. Filter sessions to people who reached the form and did not complete the goal.
2. Watch fifteen.
3. Note the last field each person touched and what happened just before they left.
4. Look for repeats: the same field corrected several times, the same error message, the same long pause.

Text typed into inputs is masked in DeepSync recordings by default, so you see that a field was filled and corrected without seeing what was entered (PII masking).

Quick Fixes

• Remove every field you do not use within a week of receiving it.
• Mark optional fields, or delete them.
• Validate as the person types, next to the field.
• Accept phone numbers and dates in the formats people naturally use.
• Show all password rules up front.
• Use the right input type so phones show the right keyboard.
• Keep entered values when an error occurs.
• Say why you need anything sensitive.

More detail in how to improve form conversion rates.

Key Takeaways

• Abandonment counts people who started and did not submit.
• Separate never started, abandoned, and failed to submit.
• Measure with a funnel and a trustworthy success event.
• Use recordings to find the field, and check for errors first.

Conclusion

Everyone who starts your form has already decided they are interested. Abandonment is the cost of making it harder than it needs to be.

Start free with DeepSync.