Does a shorter lead form with a percent progress bar lift conversion?
A shorter lead form had won on another tax relief funnel, so we tested it here. The variations added a percentage progress bar and dropped a question in steps. Conversion moved just 1.2% over 14 days, short of our confidence bar.
Not significant Responsive 14 days Not called
The hypothesis
By shortening the lead form and showing progress as a percentage, we will make the form feel quicker to finish, resulting in more completed leads.
On another tax relief funnel, moving the email and phone fields onto an earlier step cut the number of steps and lifted conversion. A progress bar showing the percentage done had also won on a third funnel.
This test checked whether those results would hold for a different audience.
What we changed
We tested a shorter form, then added a progress bar and dropped a question.
Var A shortened the form by combining questions onto fewer steps. Var B added a progress bar showing the percentage done. Var C did the same and also removed the state question. Each variation built on the previous variation, so we could see what each change added.
- Questions combined onto fewer steps
- Var A plus a percentage progress bar
- Var B plus the state question removed
The result
Conversion moved just 1.2% over 14 days, short of our confidence bar.
Traffic on this funnel was low, so results swung from week to week. After 14 days, the best variation was up 1.2% and none reached our confidence bar. The same changes had won on other funnels, which showed how differently each audience can respond.
What we would do next
We would test the progress bar on its own next.
With 3 changes stacked together, it was hard to tell which change helped or hurt. In the next round we tested only the updated progress bar against the control, a simpler test that can reach a result faster on low traffic.