Ever wondered why some online forms spread like wildfire while others get ignored? There are a lot of reasons for this- How your words feel, how the design looks, and the emotions you are able to bring up in the people filling out the form.

Whether you want to collect customer feedback, generate leads using marketing materials, or giveaways to create brand awareness, you need forms that people love enough to share. So, how do you create these forms that achieve your business goals and perfectly engage your target audience?

By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how to craft an online form that people love to share.

What Makes an Online Form ‘Viral’?

Your going viral is not just about having a high completion rate; it’s about being able to create a form that people can connect and engage with. Your form going viral means its completion rate is exceptionally high with equally high social shares that will boost your brand awareness and visibility.

Key Characteristics of Viral Forms.

If your form has the following qualities, it has the potential to be viral:

• Intrinsically Engaging: Your form has to tap into people’s curiosity and desire for them to find them engaging. Viral forms always resonate with who the users are and their needs such as personality tests, friendship quizzes, etc.

• Emotional Resonance: You need to evoke strong emotions, whether humor, nostalgia, inspiration, or even a sense of urgency to make people find your form worthy of sharing. Your form should connect with your target audience on a personal level and make their experience feel unique.
• Visual Appeal and User Experience (UX): You have less than 5 seconds to impress your respondents, so even if your words are great but your designs are poor, most people will abandon your forms. So you need to create a form that’s visually appealing and easy to navigate across all devices.
• Social Integration: People will only share your form if they can. So, your form should have easy and accessible sharing options for different social media platforms.
• Relevance and Timeliness: People are also more likely to share your form if it’s around current trends, popular topics, or events. For example, a personality quiz asking people “What kind of voter are you?” is more likely to go viral during election season.
• Clear Value Proposition: People are more likely to complete and share a form if they have something to gain from it. For example, taking a personality test means you now know why you behave the way you do.
• Conciseness and Simplicity: Viral forms are typically short and easy to complete. Users are less likely to abandon a form that requires minimal effort.

Why Do People Share Online Forms? (Psychology Behind Virality)

There are reasons why viral forms resonate with people so much that they think other people should fill them out too. Here’s why:

1. Social Currency

Your forms aren’t just forms to people. People share forms or other information with people they feel have similar values and would appreciate the form. For example, people in a relationship would effortlessly share a love language quiz with their partners because they want to confirm their intuition or discover new information about their partner.

2. Emotional Triggers

Great forms that go viral also evoke strong emotions in people. Your form should strike an emotional response from people like humor, curiosity, urgency, etc. For example, a petition would create a sense of urgency in the people responding because they want to inspire action for an event or cause.

3. Practical Value

People are more likely to share forms that provide tangible benefits or useful insights. For example, friends would easily share a beauty pageant competition form with their model friends because they want them to win.

4. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

The fear of missing out on something popular or exclusive can be a powerful motivator for sharing. For example, a scholarship or job application with a deadline would motivate people to share. Nobody would want to pass up a good opportunity or see their friend who qualifies miss out on one.

Common Problems with Form Virality & Scenarios (Personas and Pain Points)

Our Persona 1: The Digital Marketer

• Solution: Interactive, gamified forms that collect leads while engaging users.

Persona 2: The Startup Founder

• Solution: Quizzes, contests, and referral-based forms that encourage sharing.

Persona 3: The HR Recruiter

• Solution: Mobile-friendly, AI-assisted forms that simplify application processes.

How to Design a Shareable & Engaging Online Form

Creating an online form that people love to complete and share requires a blend of psychology, design, and strategic implementation. Here’s a breakdown of how to make your forms go viral:

Step 1: Start with a Hook (Compelling Headline & Description)

You don’t have a lot of time to impress people, you actually have less than five seconds, so make sure your form’s headline and description instantly grab attention and pique their curiosity. Your hook has to promise a valuable outcome, whether it’s entertainment, information, or a reward:

• Examples:
  • “Are You in the Right Occupation? Take This Quick Quiz!” (Curiosity and self-discovery)
  • “Get a Free Personalized Report—Answer 5 Quick Questions!” (Value proposition and exclusivity)

Step 2: Keep It Short & Sweet

Most people don’t like to fill out lengthy forms, so keep it as short as possible. The ideal form length is 3–7 questions. Stick to the essential questions that directly contribute to your form’s goal.

Step 3: Use Gamification & Interactivity

Gamification and interactivity can make all the difference in your forms. For example, quizzes and personality tests are highly shareable because they tap into users’ desire for self-discovery and entertainment. Also, adding visual cues like progress bars and tangible rewards (e.g., badges, and points) keeps users engaged and makes the form more enjoyable.

Step 4: Add Share Triggers

People are more likely to share your form when you tell them to. So, make sure you strategically place your social share buttons so users can’t miss it. You can also offer rewards (e.g., discounts, freebies, exclusive content) for sharing the form with friends or colleagues.

Step 5: Optimize for Mobile & Speed

Most people access online forms on their smartphones, so your form must be mobile-friendly. Ensure your form is responsive and displays correctly on all devices. You should also ensure that your form loads fast; if people have to wait 2 full seconds before your form loads, you can be sure that most people will abandon the form.

How To Promote Your Viral Form for Maximum Reach

Your content going viral is a mix of both paid and organic promotions. We’ve covered how to design a viral form, what’s next is to promote your form so it gets the attention it deserves:

1. Leverage Social Media

Identify niche Facebook groups, LinkedIn communities, and relevant Twitter threads with your target audience and organically introduce your forms. 

You can also create social media content like reels, threads, and carousels around the main theme of the form and add a call-to-action that tells respondents to complete the form. If you are on a time crunch and need fast results, use targeted social media ad campaigns to boost content visibility and reach.

2. Use Email Marketing

If you already have an existing email list, leverage it to promote your form. Design a personalized email campaign to get people to understand why they need to fill out the form and a compelling call-to-action (CTA) that will get them to share the form. 

You can also segment your email list and use a workflow so your subscribers only get personalized emails that are relevant to them.

3. Embed in Blogs & Landing Pages

Embed the form within relevant blog posts or landing pages with clear and visible CTA to provide context and drive engagement. You should also add compelling text, images, or videos to the blog or landing page so it clearly communicates the form’s purpose and benefits.

4. Influencer & Partner Outreach

You can also leverage influencer marketing and brand partnerships to promote your forms. For example, if your form is a ticket to a fashion opening, you can partner with a fashion influencer to promote the event on their page.

Examples of Viral Forms in Action

Let’s look at two examples of forms that achieved significant virality:

1. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Forms/Donation Pages

Image Credit: CNBC Make It Blog

Why It Went Viral:

• Emotional Appeal & Social Cause: The challenge triggered a powerful emotional response because its main theme is around generating empathy and action for a serious disease.
• Social Currency & Participation: Participating in the challenge and sharing videos became a social trend, with celebrities and everyday people participating with a common goal- raising support for people with ALS.
• Visual & Shareable Content: The videos of people getting drenched in ice water were inherently visually engaging and shareable, providing entertaining content while raising awareness.
• Simple Action & Clear Call to Action: The challenge had a clear and simple action: dump ice water on yourself and donate or challenge others. Online forms streamlined the donation process, making it easy to contribute.
• Network Effect: The challenge encouraged participants to nominate others, creating a viral chain reaction that amplified its reach.

2. Buzzfeed Quizzes

Image credit: BuzzFeed Quizzes

Why They Go Viral:

• • Personality Test Format: Buzzfeed excels at creating quizzes that tap into users’ desire for self-discovery. People love to learn about themselves and share those results.
  • Pop Culture Relevance: Tying their quizzes to a highly popular show like “Stranger Things” helps them engage an already interested audience.
  • Shareable Results: Their quizzes have results such as personalized character assignments. This makes their quizzes exciting for users because users are eager to share their results on social media or with friends to spark conversations.

• Emotional Engagement: The quizzes create an emotional connection by focusing on nostalgia or curiosity.

Wrapping Up

Viral forms go viral because they are designed and strategically positioned to engage and drive action. If you want your form to go viral you have to deliberate about building a theme around it that resonates with your target audience; people will only share your form if they feel connected to it or stand to gain something from it.

We hope this guide helps you create more engaging forms that go viral and here is our form template bank to get you started.