Does a shorter form with a progress bar lift a smaller funnel?
A shorter form and a progress bar had won on 2 of our other tax relief funnels. We tested 3 versions of those ideas on a smaller funnel. Conversion fell 17.2% over 14 days, so we paused.
Lost Responsive 14 days Called at 90%
The hypothesis
By shortening the form and adding a progress percentage, we will make the form feel faster, resulting in a higher completion rate, as it did on 2 sister funnels.
A shorter form and a progress bar had both lifted conversion on 2 other funnels we test. This round checked if those wins would hold on a funnel with a different audience.
Var C went further and also removed the enrollment and state questions, to see how far the form could be cut.
What we changed
We shortened the form, added a progress bar, then cut 2 questions.
Var A used the shorter form that had won on the sister funnels. Var B added a progress bar showing percent complete. Var C built on Var B and removed the enrollment and state questions. The consent checkbox stayed on the same step as the email field in every version.
- Shorter form from the sister funnel wins
- Shorter form from Var A
- Progress bar shows percent complete
- Fewer steps and a progress bar
- Enrollment question removed
- State question removed
The result
Conversion fell 17.2% on this funnel over 14 days.
Results varied across the 3 variations, and conversion was 17.2% lower than the control after 14 days. The same changes had won on 2 sister funnels, so the loss points to a different audience and intent here. We paused the test.
What we took from it
Wins from sister funnels did not carry over to this 1.
Each funnel draws a different visitor with a different intent. Changes that cut effort on 2 funnels did not help this audience, and the mixed results across versions pointed to testing 1 change at a time. We planned the next round to test the progress bar on its own.