A mate of mine posted this pic of the “Personal details” form on match.com. A clear example of communication that hasn't entirely been thought out, and a reminder to most that the details are important. Personally, I find hamsters to be quite tasty. ;-)

Image Credit: Match.com  

In their defense, Match.com have at least tried to make the form content more conversational. However, they haven’t carried the concept through on all of the category headings. Consider their use of “I eat:”, but then instead of saying “I have these animals:” or “My pets are:” they have simply said “Animals”, which breaks the conversation and introduces ambiguity into the form. So, having seen the above example, what could be done to prevent this type of miscommunication from happening? Here are some best practices to keep in mind when designing your forms:

• Take the time to evaluate every question you are adding to your forms.
• Strive for succinctness in all the questions (labels) you ask in your forms.
• When succinct labels may be misinterpreted, look for opportunities to use natural language to clarify the questions your forms ask people to answer.
• Ensure your forms speak with one voice and that your choice of 1st or 3rd person is used consistently.
• Organise the content on your forms into logical groups to aid scanning and completion. This will also help to avoid the type of miscommunication seen in the example above.
• When possible, structure your forms as a conversation. Natural breaks between topics will emerge that can help you organise your form. Additionally if using a conversational approach in your labels, ensure that the options presented are phrased as a continuation of the conversation, e.g. the option “I eat everything” does not follow on from the label “I eat”, instead the option in the dropdown should simply say “everything”.

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