Terminology Matters: "Create and Fill" vs "Create Form" or "Create new form" or "Start New Form"

Question

Brief: I am working on a screen where a Sales Manager creates a new Customer Activation Form(business to business). He selects few criteria before creating the form. Based on his selections the form is generated. The Sales manager can either fill the form himself or he can choose to send it to the customer to fill the same. It is a very long form, users can save the form in draft and can continue editing for 4-5days before submitting. Once the form is filled, submitted and then accepted by stakeholders, the customer is actually created in the system.

Problem: This is how I created the criteria selection page:

My client feels that "Create and fill" will be confusing for Sales Managers. They suggested "Create Form" or "Create new form" or "Start New Form" instead of "Create and Fill".

My Views on the term 'Create Form' and "Create New Form: I don't think this make sense. The form is created no matter what the Sales Manager choose, what matters is wether he choose to fill himself or send it over to the customer

My Views on the term 'Start New form': I don't get this at all, am I missing something? Is this a race? Why start, something that starts has an end. When does the user ends the form, while submitting?

Please let me know what will be the best terminology:"Create and fill" or "Create Form" or "Create New Form" or "Start New Form". New suggestions are welcome.

Answer 1

Language is so important to shaping the mental model—it shapes that users believe the software is doing.

You said it yourself: it can take 4-5 days to complete a form. So when the sales manager clicks the Start new form button, that's the beginning of that form-filling process. Start does not convey the idea of a race to a native speaker of English; it conveys the idea of initiating or beginning, but in a clear, one-syllable word. Similarly, Create new form signals to a native speaker of English that an object or an instance of an object is being set up.

As for when this process ends, if would be when filled form is submitted.

Assuming the majority of users are native speakers of English, I recommend you choose Start new form or Create new form and let your customer know that you appreciate this suggestion. Also, when the team conducts usability testing, pay attention to the wording of that button, and see if there's any confusion. If there is, then you can revisit the wording. If there isn't, then you'll have other things to fix—because usability testing always identifies something. :)

If you're dealing with a multi-lingual audience, then other choices may be needed. Consult a translation team that can help you not just translate but localize the button labels.

I hope that helps.

Answer 2

You say in your original statement that "The Sales manager can either fill the form himself or he can choose to send it to the customer to fill the same.". So the key action here is that the form is to be completed, and the differentiator is whether it is done internally or by the customer (if I read your message correctly). The other detail (start, complete, new form) is largely immaterial here. So I would suggest labels that focus on the key differentiators:

• Request customer completion
• Complete internally

However - I would also consider having just a single call to action and making 'who completes it' a paired radio button.

Answer 3

Apply new --> after tapping a new page with details of form as a header

New user --> after tapping a new page with details of form as a header

new user Registration --> after tapping a new page with details of form as a header

i think above options are better

as it applicable to new user activation so