Forms Erase All Work: AI Forgot Autosave

The conversion killer

Users spend 20 minutes filling out your application form, then lose everything when their session expires. Form abandonment is 90% because people are afraid to lose their work. Your support team is flooded with "I lost everything" complaints. Multi-step forms are conversion death traps that drive away qualified leads.

How AI built user-hostile forms

AI tools generated forms with zero persistence. Sessions expire after 30 minutes, wiping all user input. They never implemented autosave, treating forms like simple contact fields instead of complex user journeys. The AI ignored the reality that users get interrupted, switch tabs, or need time to gather information.

The autosave rescue

1. Added real-time autosave every 10 seconds
2. Implemented local storage backup
3. Created visual save indicators
4. Added session extension warnings

// Auto-save form data every 10 seconds
setInterval(() => {
  const formData = new FormData(document.getElementById('mainForm'));
  const data = Object.fromEntries(formData);
  localStorage.setItem('formDraft', JSON.stringify(data));
  showSaveIndicator();
}, 10000);

// Restore on page load
window.addEventListener('load', () => {
  const saved = localStorage.getItem('formDraft');
  if (saved) {
    const data = JSON.parse(saved);
    Object.keys(data).forEach(key => {
      const field = document.querySelector(`[name="${key}"]`);
      if (field) field.value = data[key];
    });
  }
});

The retention revolution

Form completion rates jumped from 10% to 78% after implementing autosave. User frustration disappeared as people could safely leave and return to their work. Lead quality improved because users had time to provide thoughtful, complete responses. Support tickets about lost data dropped to zero.