do optional form fields help (or hurt) conversion?

Do Optional Form Fields Help (or Hurt) Conversion? How one required form field was hindering a 275% lift in conversion

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TODAY’S TEAM

Austin McCraw Senior Editorial Analyst MECLABS

Jon Powell Senior Manager Research and Strategy MECLABS

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REDUCING FORM FIELD LENGTH Original (20 fields)

Optimized (4 fields)

189% Increase in Leads

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REDUCING FORM FIELD LENGTH Optimized (3 fields)

Original (6 fields)


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REDUCING FORM FIELD LENGTH Original (13 fields)

Optimized (2 fields)


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TODAY’S QUESTION

How does making a form field optional/required impact conversion?

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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]

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EXPERIMENT: CONTROL

In the control, all of the form fields were required in order to download the PDF.

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EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT

In the treatment, we tested making the “Phone” field optional.

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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

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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

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Value Force

Cost Force

VfAc - CfAc = Nf


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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

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Name

Email

Phone Number

Company

Title

Address

Social Security #

High Cost Low Cost

OPTIMIZING FORM FIELDS Nature of Information Cost Scale

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Value Force Cost

Force

• For instance, making the “First Name” field optional would not reduce the cost force enough to tip the balance.

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Cost Force Value

Force

• However, due to its nature, the “Phone” field reduces cost drastically when made optional.

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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.

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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

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KEY QUESTION

But what about business objectives? What about lead quality?

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WHAT ABOUT QUALITY?

Didn’t making a form field optional hurt the

lead quality?

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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


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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

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Field 1

Field 2

Field 1

Field 2

Field 3

Field 4

Field 3

Field 4

Increase

Output: More leads, lower quality


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Field 1

Field 2

Field 3

Field 4

Field 1

Field 2

Field 3

Field 4

Decrease


Output: Less leads, higher quality


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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

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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

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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

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LOGO

LOGO

Treatment – 2 steps LOGO

Control – 1 step

AN EXPERIMENT: SIDE-BY-SIDE

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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

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A FINAL EXPERIMENT

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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:

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EXPERIMENT: CONTROL Top of Page

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EXPERIMENT: CONTROL Bottom of Page

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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.

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EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT Top of Page

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EXPERIMENT: TREATMENT Bottom of Page

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Control

EXPERIMENT: SIDE-BY-SIDE Treatment

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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%

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SUMMARY


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

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SUMMARY

Key Principles

3. Marketers can leverage costs (both amount and nature) in order to determine the optimal number of required form fields.



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