The form factors of the nucleon are quantities of wide use in the forefront of nuclear physics research. Its calculation from first principles approaches is still an open problem that limits our knowledge of the nucleon. In this talk I will show how, using constrains from unitarity, one can find a representation for the spectral functions much better suited for chiral effective field theory. This new approach, that we called Dispersively Improved Chiral Effective Field Theory, overcomes the known limitations of previous chiral calculations, and becomes competitive with other ab initio determinations of the nucleon form factors. Finally, I will comment on the impact of our results in the current hadron and nuclear physics research programs.