We‘ve all been there – you‘re trying to fill out a simple form online to make a purchase or sign up for something, and you get stuck. Maybe the form has unreasonable requirements like a limited number of characters for your city name. Or the fields are hard to tap on your smartphone screen. Before you know it, you‘ve abandoned the form in frustration, muttering to yourself about bad user experiences.
As digital marketers, we work hard to get people to our landing pages and interested in what we‘re offering. The last thing we want is to lose them at the very end because of a poor form experience. That‘s why it‘s absolutely critical to not just implement online forms, but test them thoroughly for usability and conversion potential.
By running A/B tests on your web forms, you can identify friction points, optimize the user experience, and ultimately get more of your hard-earned visitors to complete your forms and convert. But what exactly should you be testing? How do you run effective form A/B tests?
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to know about forms A/B testing, including:
- What elements of your forms to test
- Web form testing best practices
- How to analyze your test results
- Real-world case studies and examples
By the end, you‘ll be equipped to start finding and fixing conversion leaks in your own forms. Let‘s dive in!
The Two Key Categories of Form Elements to Test
When it comes to A/B testing your web forms, there are two main buckets of elements you‘ll want to look at:
1. Functionality
The first priority is to make sure your forms actually work as intended from a technical perspective. There‘s no point in testing design or copy if the form is fundamentally broken. Here are the functional form elements to test:
Validation – Are you requiring certain formats for fields like email address and phone number? If so, test that the validation is working and the error messages make sense.
Notifications – When someone submits your form, you should be notified, usually by email. Double check that you‘re receiving those notifications. Also make sure the submitter is getting a confirmation message if you have that set up.
Thank You Page – Test the full flow of going from your landing page to your form to the thank you page. It should be a seamless process.
Payments – If your form includes a payment, thoroughly test the payment process with a small transaction. Make sure payments are securely processed and you‘re notified.
Mobile Experience – Always check your forms on a few different mobile devices. Is everything readable and easy to tap? Avoid problems like required fields being hidden or buttons too small to easily click.
2. Effectiveness
Once you know your form is in good working order, you can start testing the more strategic and subjective elements that can impact conversion rates, like:
Design – Try testing different form lengths, layouts, colors, and overall designs to see what performs best. But avoid getting too cute or clever – simpler is often better with forms.
Copy – Play with your field labels, help text, and microcopy. Set clear expectations about what info you need and why. Make sure your copy doesn‘t sound too demanding or legalistic.
Call-to-Action (CTA) – Your form button copy and design can make a big difference. Test different CTA variations, but make sure the copy clearly states what will happen when the user clicks.
Requirements – Be very cautious about having too many required fields. In general, the less info you ask for, the better. Test to see what required fields perform best for your audience.
3 Web Form A/B Testing Best Practices
Now that you know what to test, here are a few best practices to get the most out of your form A/B tests:
1. Shorter is usually better.
There‘s no magic number of form fields that always converts best – it depends on your unique offer and audience. That said, keeping forms as short as you can while still getting the info you need is a good rule of thumb. Scrutinize every field for necessity before adding it.
2. Don‘t go overboard with validations.
Having some light validation, like requiring an @ symbol in the email field, can help screen out junk submissions. But if you have too many strict requirements, or god forbid a character limit on something like a city name, you‘ll just create frustration. Only add validations that meaningfully improve data quality.
3. Your CTA should clearly state the value.
Generic form button copy like "Submit" doesn‘t add any information. Your CTA copy is valuable real estate for spelling out what the user gets in exchange for their info. Try benefit-oriented button copy like "Get My Free Ebook" or "Start My Free Trial".
Of course, these best practices aren‘t hard and fast rules. The whole point of A/B testing is to find out what works best for YOUR unique forms and audience. Let the data tell you what to do.
How to Analyze Your Form A/B Test Results
To figure out which version of your form performed best, you need to carefully look at a few key metrics:
Form Views – How many people saw each version of your form? Double check that your A/B testing tool is splitting traffic evenly between variations.
Submissions – The number of submissions is your core success metric. But be sure to look at the quality of those submissions too. If one variation gets more submissions but they‘re mostly junk, that‘s not really a win.
Conversion Rate – Conversion rate is submissions divided by views. This lets you compare form performance even if the sample sizes aren‘t identical.
Time to Submit – Do certain variations take much longer for users to complete? This could signal confusion or friction. Aim for a reasonable time to submit.
Drop Off Rate – What percentage of people abandon the form before submitting? A high drop off rate indicates issues to solve.
To easily track and analyze these metrics, you‘ll want a dedicated form analytics tool. Some strong options include:
- HubSpot Forms
- Google Analytics
- Formisimo
- Hotjar
- Mouseflow
These tools will give you in-depth data and visualizations to draw insights from your form A/B tests. Use them in conjunction with your A/B testing software for best results.
Form A/B Testing Examples and Case Studies
Feeling inspired to go test your own forms? To help spark A/B test ideas, here are a few real-world examples of form tests and their results:
Case Study 1: Fewer Form Fields
HubSpot had a contact form that asked for a visitor‘s website URL. They tested removing that field entirely, resulting in a 10 field form vs. an 11 field form. The version with 10 fields generated 15.7% more submissions.
Case Study 2: Form Button Copy
The digital agency KlientBoost tested their free quote request form. The original button said "Click For A Free Proposal". They tested changing it to "Tell Us About Your Project". The new, benefit-focused button copy boosted submissions by 51%.
Case Study 3: Two-Step Form
Sometimes, "shorter" forms can be achieved with a two-step process. ContentVerve tested a one-page form against a two-step form that split the fields across two pages. The two-step version increased conversions by 200%! Users found it less intimidating.
Go Forth and Test Your Forms!
Phew, that was a lot of information. I hope you‘re walking away from this post with a solid understanding of how to A/B test web forms for usability and conversions. To recap, here are the key takeaways:
- Test both functionality and design/copy/CTA variations
- Keep forms as short as possible, but let your audience guide you
- Set up your analytics to track key form metrics
- Use dedicated form analytics tools for deeper insights
- Draw inspiration from real case studies
Remember, A/B testing isn‘t just something you do once. Make form optimization an ongoing process, and never stop experimenting. You never know when you might find your next big conversion win.
Now go audit your own web forms and start planning your next A/B test! If you‘re feeling overwhelmed, start small with just one element, like your form button copy. Over time, making iterative improvements to your forms can add up to major gains in conversions and revenue.
Of course, always keep user experience at the forefront. Don‘t just blindly chase higher conversion rates at the expense of usability. The best form optimizations find a balance between conversion and experience.
I hope you found this guide helpful. If you did, I‘d appreciate if you‘d share it with your network. Together, we can put an end to form fields that only allow 20 characters for your city name!
