do optional form fields help (or hurt) conversion?
Post on 08-May-2015
6.011 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Do Optional Form Fields Help (or Hurt) Conversion? How one required form field was hindering a 275% lift in conversion
#webclinic
Market leaders including American Express, LinkedIn, HP, and hundreds more rely on Eloqua to ensure every component of their marketing works harder. Our goal is to help our customers become the fastest growing companies in their categories. Eloqua provides Modern Marketers with the Expertise, Education and Technology needed to help drive revenue
• The most powerful marketing automation platform available
• Dedicated modern marketing expertise and services
• Comprehensive education and training to maximize your investment
For more information visit www.eloqua.com call 866-327-8764 or email demand@eloqua.com
#webclinic
#webclinic
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON TWITTER
#webclinic
#webclinic
TODAY’S TEAM
Austin McCraw Senior Editorial Analyst MECLABS
Jon Powell Senior Manager Research and Strategy MECLABS
#webclinic
REDUCING FORM FIELD LENGTH Original (20 fields)
Optimized (4 fields)
189% Increase in Leads
#webclinic
6
REDUCING FORM FIELD LENGTH Optimized (3 fields)
Original (6 fields)
262% Increase in Leads
#webclinic
7
REDUCING FORM FIELD LENGTH Original (13 fields)
Optimized (2 fields)
816% Increase in Leads
#webclinic
8
TODAY’S QUESTION
How does making a form field optional/required impact conversion?
#webclinic
Background: A large luxury-home builder seeking to attract high-end home buyers. Goal: To increase the number of leads. Primary research question: Which from page will generate the most leads? Approach: A/B single factorial split
Research Notes:
EXPERIMENT: BACKGROUND
Experiment ID: TP1416 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
#webclinic
10
EXPERIMENT: CONTROL
In the control, all of the form fields were required in order to download the PDF.
#webclinic
11
EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT
In the treatment, we tested making the “Phone” field optional.
#webclinic
Design Conversion Rate
Control 1.96%
Treatment 7.35%
Relative Difference 275%
275% Increase in lead rate The new form page increased lead rate by 275%
What you need to understand: By simply making one of the form fields optional, the treatment was able to increase conversion by 275%.
EXPERIMENT: RESULTS
#webclinic
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
1. Cost doesn’t just exist where monetary transaction exists. Any time you ask a prospect to give up something (material or mental), there will be an implicit/explicit cost.
Key Principles
#webclinic
Value Force
Cost Force
VfAc - CfAc = Nf
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
#webclinic
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
1. Cost doesn’t just exist where monetary transaction exists. Any time you ask a prospect to give up something (material or mental), there will be an implicit/explicit cost.
2. There are two factors that impact the cost as it relates to requesting a prospect to give up information.
• The amount of information required
• The nature of the information required
Key Principles
#webclinic
Name
Phone Number
Company
Title
Address
Social Security #
High Cost Low Cost
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS Nature of Information Cost Scale
#webclinic
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
Value Force Cost
Force
• For instance, making the “First Name” field optional would not reduce the cost force enough to tip the balance.
#webclinic
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
Cost Force Value
Force
• However, due to its nature, the “Phone” field reduces cost drastically when made optional.
#webclinic
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
Cost Force Value
Force
• However, due to its nature, the “Phone” field reduces cost drastically when made optional.
We are not optimizing form fields; we are optimizing thought sequences.
#webclinic
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
Have you eliminated (or made optional) as many unnecessary fields as possible? Are the forms organized to reduce friction? Are they sequenced to the visitor’s thought-sequence. Is your value proposition being expressed throughout the entire conversion process? Have you provided clear justification for all the high-anxiety producing form fields? Do you have security seals? Privacy policy? Does your error messaging clearly lead your visitor to completing the form?
Form Field Checklist
#webclinic
21
KEY QUESTION
But what about business objectives? What about lead quality?
#webclinic
22
WHAT ABOUT QUALITY?
Didn’t making a form field optional hurt the
lead quality?
#webclinic
3. Marketers can leverage costs (both amount and nature) in order to determine the optimal number of required form fields.
Key Principles
Quantity of emails obtained
Quality of emails obtained
OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS
#webclinic
Quantity of emails obtained
Quality of emails obtained
Form Page 1 Form Page 2
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
Field 4
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
Field 4
TWO-PAGE DIAL METHOD
#webclinic
Form Page 1 Form Page 2
Field 1
Field 2
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
Field 4
Field 3
Field 4
Increase
Output: More leads, lower quality
TWO-PAGE DIAL METHOD
#webclinic
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
Field 4
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
Field 4
Decrease
Form Page 1 Form Page 2
Output: Less leads, higher quality
TWO-PAGE DIAL METHOD
#webclinic
Experiment ID: (Protected) Location: MECLABS Research Library Test Protocol Number: TP1148
Background: This partner has an email capture process that offers downloadable reports in exchange for information. They were not only trying to capture emails, but also qualify them. Goal: The company sought to increase its number of form submissions. Primary Research Question: Which process will obtain the most form submissions? Approach: A/B multifactorial (variable cluster) split
Research Notes:
AN EXPERIMENT: BACKGROUND
#webclinic
LOGO
• In this test, when a visitor clicked “Register,” they were then directed fill out a form.
• The control featured a single page to collect the registration information all at once, in a single step.
Control – STEP 1 AN EXPERIMENT: CONTROL
#webclinic
LOGO
• A treatment was created that broke the single step into two parts.
• The first page captured name and email only.
• The second page captured the rest of the information needed for the lead.
Treatment - STEP 1
Treatment - STEP 2
AN EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT
#webclinic
LOGO
LOGO
Treatment – 2 steps LOGO
Control – 1 step
AN EXPERIMENT: SIDE-BY-SIDE
#webclinic
48% Increase in Total Leads The new capture process increased lead rate by 47.7%
Capture Stages Relative Difference
Control (Stage 1) 0
(Stage 2) 157
(Total) 157 Treatment (Stage 1) 77
(Stage 2) 155
(Total) 232
Relative Difference 47.7%
AN EXPERIMENT: RESULTS
#webclinic
32
A FINAL EXPERIMENT
#webclinic
EXPERIMENT: BACKGROUND
Background: A large media company seeking to generate high-quality leads on a form Goal: To increase the amount and quality of leads Primary Research Question: Which lead generation page will generate a higher completion rate? Approach: A/B multifactorial (variable cluster) split
Experiment ID: TP1636 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: Protected
Research Notes:
#webclinic
EXPERIMENT: CONTROL Top of Page
#webclinic
EXPERIMENT: CONTROL Bottom of Page
#webclinic
EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT Treatment (Form)
• We increased the total number of fields increase by four (5 new fields were made optional)
• We added copy that clearly explains
value for filling out the form
• We added a testimonial and security image added to reduce anxiety
• We grouped the form fields visually and provided explanation text for each.
• We infused value into the call-to-action itself.
#webclinic
EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT Top of Page
#webclinic
EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT Bottom of Page
#webclinic
Control
EXPERIMENT: SIDE-BY-SIDE Treatment
#webclinic
Form Page Clickthrough Rate (%)
Relative Difference
Statistical Level of Confidence
Control 6.49% -
Treatment 13.54% 109%
109% Increase in Total Leads The treatment form generated a 109% increase in lead rate
What you need to understand: By identifying the proper balance of required and optional fields, the treatment was able to not only increase the total number of leads but the overall quality of the leads.
EXPERIMENT: RESULTS
93%
#webclinic
41
SUMMARY
1. Cost doesn’t just exist where monetary transaction exists. Any time you ask a prospect to give up something (material or mental), there will be an implicit/explicit cost.
2. There are two factors that impact the cost as it relates to requesting a prospect to give up information.
• The amount of information required
• The nature of the information required
Key Principles
#webclinic
42
SUMMARY
Key Principles
3. Marketers can leverage costs (both amount and nature) in order to determine the optimal number of required form fields.
Quantity of emails obtained
Quality of emails obtained
#webclinic
43
LIVE OPTIMIZATION
MarketingSherpa.com/Optimization Amelia Showalter
Director of Digital Analytics Toby Fallsgraff
Email Director Obama for America Obama for America
VIP SAVINGS $700 Before February 28
Discover how to apply the science of optimization to your specific marketing needs.
Reserve your seat today:
#webclinic
LIVE OPTIMIZATION
Cox Media Group Target audience: Businesses who want to advertise their products/services in metro Atlanta Primary traffic sources: PPC and Organic Page URL: http://bit.ly/Y2uFew
#webclinic
LIVE OPTIMIZATION Dell Appassure
Target audience: B2B customers looking for server backup solutions Primary traffic sources: SEO, organic and banner ads Page URL: http://bit.ly/Y2SRNR
#webclinic
MarketingExperiments.com/subscribe
MarketingExperiments Optimization Newsletter Free subscription to more than $20 million in marketing research
Join 89,000 of the top marketers from around the world as we work together to discover what really works.
#webclinic
top related