Paint cost calculator cut from 5 steps to 3: +40% leads
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsCutting a paint cost calculator lead form from five steps to three, and grouping paints into Economy, Premium and Luxury tiers, lifted leads by 40%.
Performics India ran this split URL test for Aapka Painter, a home painting service backed by Pidilite, and it was published as a VWO case study.
Several form changes shipped together, so the result belongs to the whole new flow.
- Leads: +40% overall versus the original form. This was the primary goal.
- Drop-offs: -30%, so fewer people abandoned the form partway.
- Average engagement time per session rose 1.4x.
- The test ran for one week. Sample size and confidence level were not shared.
The change
Five steps become three, and paints are grouped into three preselected tiers.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The paint cost calculator took visitors through five steps and asked them to pick from a complex mix of paint products.
Variant
The form was cut to three steps. Paints were grouped into Economy, Premium and Luxury, and the Economy tier came first with a default selection.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Fewer steps means fewer points where a visitor can give up.
- Three named price tiers are easier to choose from than a long product list, especially for people who don't know paint brands.
- A preselected default lets visitors move forward without making a decision they feel unsure about.
- framing choices by budget fits how homeowners think about a painting job.
Caveats: Bundled test: step count, product grouping and the default selection all changed at once, so no single change can take the credit. It ran for only one week.
Who ran it
Performics India ran this test and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Performics India →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we cut our quote calculator to fewer steps and group complex product options into a few simple tiers, then more visitors will finish the form because each step asks for less effort and knowledge.
- Primary metric
- Completed lead form submissions
- Guardrails
- Lead quality or quote-to-job rate
- Share of leads picking the default tier
- Step-by-step drop-off rate
- Who should test it
- Home services and other lead-gen businesses with multi-step quote or cost calculators. It may not help if your steps are already short, or if sales needs the detailed answers you would remove.
Questions
Do fewer form steps always mean more leads?
Often, but not always. Here cutting from five steps to three lifted leads 40%.
Some multi-step forms do better than short ones when each step feels easy, so test your own flow.
Should I preselect an option in a lead form?
A sensible default can speed people up, as with the Economy tier here.
Watch whether it skews leads toward a lower-value choice.
How do I simplify a complex product choice in a form?
Group options into a few clear tiers based on how customers think, such as budget.
Visitors then pick a level instead of a specific product they may not know.