# Progress tracker added to a multi-step inquiry form: +35% conversions

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Lead form (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Progress bar
- Date shared: 2016
- Test run by: [HomEquity Bank](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/homequity-bank/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/how-homequity-caters-to-seniors
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/homequity-form-progress-tracker/

HomEquity 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.

## Result

**+35% conversions**

- 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%.

## 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)

- 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.

## How to run this test

- 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
- Guardrail: Drop-off at each step
- Guardrail: Lead quality
- Guardrail: 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.

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Credit: HomEquity Bank ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/homequity-form-progress-tracker/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.