When making web forms for our web sites (i.e: registration forms, contact forms, post-a-new-thread forms…etc), we tend to populate some fields with default values. It’s usually either a random value or the first value in a drop-down list for example.

However, there’s a better way to utilize default values to reduce users’ efforts in filling forms as much as possible, which is using smart default values (not an official term). These values would mostly be at least close to what a user would choose, so that he could do minimal adjustments and fill forms faster.

How do you do that? it’s simple: you just use forms’ data that your users have previously submitted and site statistics to determine what a user would most likely choose (the average). Here are some examples to elaborate this:

• If most of your site’s visitors are from the US, then always make the US the default country in any form that has a “country” drop down list.
• If most of your site’s visitors are between 15 and 25 years old (for example), then make the “age” default value something in between (as opposed to the current year, “1900″ or “1″).
• If you have a support form that most people use to report bugs, then make “bug report” the default value in the “Category” field.

This might not make a significant difference in forms that are used once - like sign-up forms (although still helpful), but it will definitely make a difference in forms that are used frequently.