Does a service type dropdown or tabs lift desktop form conversion?
Our desktop homepage form asked for the service type partway through. We tested asking for it first, as a dropdown or as tabs above the form. The result was -6.4% over 26 days and never settled, so we did not call it.
Not significant Desktop 26 days Not called
The hypothesis
By reordering the form so visitors choose the service type first, as a dropdown or as tabs, we will make the form easier to move through, resulting in more submissions.
The homepage form covers several types of registration service. Asking visitors to name their service up front could set up the rest of the form and make each field feel like a natural next step.
The same idea had just run on the mobile homepage, where the dropdown version came out ahead. We tested both formats on desktop to see if that result carried over.
What we changed
We moved the service type to the start of the form, as a dropdown or tabs.
Var A asked for the service type first, with a dropdown at the top of the form. Var B showed each service type as a tab above the form, so the choice was made before any field. The fields that followed did not change.
- Service type asked first
- Shown as a dropdown at the top of the form
- Service types shown as tabs
- Tabs sit above the form fields
The result
The reordered forms ended 6.4% below the control after 26 days.
After 26 days, conversion was 6.4% lower than the control, and the result did not reach our confidence bar. Early on the tabbed version looked strong, then the gap closed. By the end the control and the tabs had leveled out, though the tabs never got back to their early lead.
We paused both variations and kept the original form order on desktop.
What we would do next
Desktop needs its own form test, not a copy of the mobile winner.
The same change helped on mobile but not on desktop, where the form has more room and the service choice was already easy to see. Next we would look at what slows desktop visitors down in this form, rather than reusing a fix that solved a small screen problem.