Progress tracker added to a multi-step inquiry form: +35% conversions
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsHomEquity Bank added a progress tracker to its multi-step inquiry form and saw a 35% lift in conversions.
The bank's digital team ran the test in late 2016, and it was published as a MarketingSherpa case study.
HomEquity Bank sells the CHIP reverse mortgage to Canadian homeowners aged 55 and older.
- Conversions: +35% compared with the form without a tracker.
- No sample size, duration or confidence level was shared.
- A later test that changed the tracker to show next steps added another 20%.
The change
A progress tracker is added above the form steps.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The multi-step inquiry form with no sign of how far along the visitor was.
Variant
The same form with a progress tracker showing which step the visitor was on and how many were left.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Knowing how many steps remain removes the worry that the form will go on forever.
- Seeing progress fill up gives people a reason to finish what they started.
- The bank found its older visitors responded to anything that made the process clearer.
Caveats: The source does not describe the test setup, sample size or duration. The audience is Canadians aged 55 and older.
Who ran it
HomEquity Bank ran this test and published the results (MarketingSherpa case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on HomEquity Bank →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we show a progress tracker on our multi-step form, then more visitors will finish because they can see how close they are to the end.
- Primary metric
- Form completion rate
- Guardrails
- Drop-off at each step
- Lead quality
- Mobile completion rate
- Who should test it
- Any lead-gen business with a form of three or more steps. A tracker can hurt if the form is long, since showing 1 of 12 may scare people off.
Questions
Do progress bars increase form conversions?
They often help on multi-step forms. HomEquity Bank saw a 35% lift after adding one.
Can a progress bar hurt conversions?
It can if it shows a long road ahead, such as many steps left early on.
Keep the form short before adding a tracker.