As you probably heard, Apple has decided to kill the headphone jack.

By the end of the year, Google wants to kill the password.

And what should be next to go the way of the dodo?

My vote is for the contact form.

Yes, the good ole’ contact form – the gateway between buyer and businesses in pretty much every lead generation campaign.

But in a day and age when you can pay with a mobile phone or purchase with a “like”, do we really still need to be typing in our name, email address, company, phone number, company size, and number of employees just to access a white paper?

I think not.

In a move in the right direction, LinkedIn has recently offered a button with an “autofill” feature:

However, not everyone is on LinkedIn (or logged into LinkedIn), and it probably won’t be around forever.

I think a better option is to forgo the form altogether, and when a business needs your contact info it asks for permission to take it from your browser.

Kind of like an API request:

“To download this White Paper, ABC company asks for:

Your name, email address, business name, and location – do you give permission to share this info”

Then it’s simply a button that you click to allow.

No fields, no forms, no fuss.

Easier for the user, better for the business.

What are your thoughts?