Does cutting vertical space above the checkout form lift conversion?

Our desktop checkout showed vehicle details and urgency notes above the form, which pushed it down the page. We removed them to bring the form closer to the heading. Over 15 days, conversion rose 0.3%, short of our confidence bar.

Not significant Desktop 15 days Not called

SURFACE

Checkout

DEVICE

Desktop

VERTICAL

Ecommerce (B2C)

PRIMARY METRIC

Conversion rate

VARIATIONS

1

The hypothesis

By bringing the checkout form closer to the heading and reducing vertical space, we will make the form easier to reach, resulting in more conversions.

The vehicle details and urgency notes repeated information and took up space above the form. Removing them would let visitors see the form as soon as the page loaded.

What we changed

Vehicle details and urgency notes removed from above the form

We removed the vehicle information and urgency notes above the desktop checkout form. To keep a way to fix mistakes, we added a link under the vehicle details in the checkout card so visitors could go back if something was incorrect.

VAR A: VERTICAL SPACING

Vehicle details removed above the form
Urgency notes removed above the form
Go back link added under vehicle details

The result

Conversion rose 0.3%, short of our confidence bar

CONVERSION RATE

+0.3%

Over 15 days, the tighter checkout converted 0.3% better than the original, far from our confidence bar. Results switched direction several times during the test. It did no harm, so we implemented it along with the matching mobile checkout change.

What we would do next

Space above the form was not what held visitors back

Pulling the form up the page made no real difference to desktop visitors. The change kept checkout simpler without hurting results, which made it a safe base for the next round of checkout tests.