Does a program explainer on the first form step lift leads?

The first page of our lead form opened with its first question. We tested adding a sentence above the form explaining how the program helps people pay back what they owe. Over 15 days, conversion fell 21.4% and lead value per visitor fell 16.1%.

Lost Responsive 15 days Called at 90%

SURFACE

Lead form

DEVICE

Responsive

VERTICAL

Lead Gen (CPL)

PRIMARY METRIC

Conversion rate

VARIATIONS

1

The hypothesis

By adding a short explanation of the program to the first page of the form, we will build visitors' confidence early, resulting in more visitors moving through the form.

Earlier winning tests on this form showed that a little added context could reassure visitors without distracting them.

We brought that idea to the first page, where visitors decide whether to start.

What we changed

A short program explainer added above the first question

Var A added a sentence above the form explaining that the program helps people who owe pay back what they owe and avoid liens. The question and answers below it stayed the same.

VAR A: ADDITIONAL COPY

Program explainer above the first question

The result

The program explainer cut conversion 21.4%

CONVERSION RATE

-21.4%

LEAD VALUE PER VISITOR

-16.1%

Over 15 days, the explainer converted 21.4% worse than the original, and lead value per visitor fell 16.1%. The loss cleared our confidence bar, so we paused the test. Early on, a tracking issue counted some Var A visitors as control, and we fixed it before the final read.

What we took from it

Users preferred the first page without the program explainer

Visitors on the first page were ready to answer a question, and the extra sentence stood in their way. Added context had helped elsewhere in this form, but here it came before the first step, where visitors decide whether to start at all.