You will be able to design a form that asks for only what you need and handles personal data properly under the PDPA.
Mei Ling's order form used to ask for twelve things: name, email, phone, address, postal code, date of birth, how you heard about us, cake size, flavour, design notes, delivery date and a box to tick for the newsletter. She wanted to know her customers, and her customers wanted a cake. Many of them opened the form on their phone, saw how long it was, and sent a WhatsApp message instead, or did not get in touch at all.
The form is the last thing between an interested visitor and the action you wrote the whole page for. It is also where you collect personal data, which brings legal duties with it.
Each field you add is one more thing the visitor has to think about and type, often on a phone. Some visitors will stop at each extra field. You will not see them leave, because the only sign is a smaller number of completed forms than you could have had.
So ask only for what you need for the next step. Not what might be useful one day, not what you would like for your records, but what you must have to do the thing the visitor asked for.
For a free trial lesson, Priya needs four fields: the parent's name, a phone number to confirm the slot, the child's level and the preferred Saturday. She does not need the child's school, the parent's email, or how they heard about the centre to book a trial. She can ask for anything else later, once the family has come in and decided to stay.
Mei Ling cut her form to name, phone number, delivery date, cake size and one box for design notes. She asks for the delivery address when she confirms the order, because she only needs it if she can take the booking. How they heard about her became a question she asks in the confirmation message, where answering is optional.
The Personal Data Protection Act, the PDPA, governs how organisations in Singapore collect, use and disclose personal data. For a form, the main points are consent and purpose. You generally need the person's consent to collect their personal data, and you must tell them why you are collecting it and how you will use and disclose it. You should then use it only for those purposes.
In practice, put a short, plain consent line next to the submit button that says what you will use the data for. For example: "We'll use your name and number to confirm your trial lesson and to contact you about it. See our privacy notice for how we handle your data." Link the words "privacy notice" to a page that explains the details and tells people how to contact you about their data.
If you also want to send marketing messages, such as news of upcoming classes, that is a separate purpose. Ask for it separately, with a box the person ticks themselves, rather than bundling it into the consent to book a trial, and leave that box unticked.
The Personal Data Protection Commission, the PDPC, publishes guides for small businesses on its website. Read the current guidance, because this lesson is a summary and the details matter.
If you plan to send marketing messages to Singapore phone numbers, the PDPA's Do Not Call provisions apply to calls and text messages, and you should check the PDPC's current guidance before using a messaging app for marketing. Broadly, there is a national register where people can list their numbers to opt out of marketing messages, and businesses have duties to check it or hold the right kind of consent before sending. The rules have specific conditions and exceptions, so check the PDPC's guidance on the Do Not Call provisions before you send marketing messages to the numbers your form collects.
Replying to the person about the trial they asked for is different from sending them promotions later. Keep the two clearly separate in your form and in your follow-up.
When someone presses submit, they should see a clear message straight away: what happens now, and when. "Thanks, Mrs Lim. We've got your request for a trial on Saturday. We'll confirm by WhatsApp within one working day." A blank screen or a vague "Submitted" leaves people wondering whether it worked, and some will submit again or give up.
Then send a confirmation by the channel you promised, so the visitor has a record. The confirmation should repeat what they asked for, say what happens next, and tell them how to change or cancel.
Here is Priya's finished form.
Fields: parent's name, mobile number, child's level (P5 or P6), preferred Saturday slot. Button: "Book my free trial". Under the button: "No payment needed. We'll use your details to confirm your trial and contact you about it. Privacy notice." A separate, unticked box: "Send me news of upcoming classes by WhatsApp." Thank-you message: "Thanks. We'll confirm your Saturday slot by WhatsApp within one working day. If you need to change it, just reply to that message."
For the activity, start by writing down the one thing the visitor is asking for, then list only the fields you need to do it. Write the consent line in plain words, and write the confirmation message as if you were sending it to a real parent tonight.
Design the form for your landing page with the fewest fields possible, a consent line, and the confirmation message people will receive.
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