Floating labels on a quote form: +16.93% completed requests
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsShowing each field label above the box only once a visitor clicked into it, in a clearer font and size, raised visits to Qualicorp's request-received page by 16.93%.
Wingify Services, the consulting team at VWO, ran the test on step two of the Brazilian health plan administrator's quote form.
It was published as a VWO case study.
- Visits to the request-received page, the main goal: +16.93%, reported at 100% significance.
- The test ran for 12 days with all traffic included and a 50/50 split. Sample size was not shared.
- Qualicorp made the variant live for all visitors.
The change
The variant shows clearer labels above each field only once it is clicked.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Step two of the quote form showed field labels at all times. Form analysis showed many visitors dropped off here, and the labels were hard to read.
Variant
Each label appeared above its field only after the visitor clicked into it. The label font and size were also changed to make them easier to read.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- A less cluttered step looks shorter and easier, which can reduce drop-off.
- Clearer labels help visitors know what each field wants, so fewer get stuck or make errors.
- The test changed two things at once, label behavior and legibility, so we cannot say which mattered more.
Caveats: The variant changed both when labels appear and how they look, so the lift cannot be split between the two. Sample size was not shared, and the result is reported in a vendor case study.
Who ran it
VWO 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 VWO →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we make form labels easier to read and show them only when a field is active, then more visitors will finish the step, because the form looks less cluttered and each field is clear when it matters.
- Primary metric
- Completed form submissions
- Guardrails
- Field error rate
- Time to complete the form
- Accessibility checks, such as screen reader labels
- Who should test it
- Lead-gen businesses with longer forms where analytics show drop-off on one step. Keep labels accessible: placeholder-only designs can confuse people once they start typing, so test a pattern that keeps the label visible after focus.
Questions
Do floating labels improve form conversion?
They can. In Qualicorp's test, labels that appeared above a field on click, with a clearer font, raised completed requests by 16.93%.
Results depend on how cluttered your form was before.
Are floating labels accessible?
They can be, if the label stays visible once the visitor starts typing and is properly linked to the field in the code. Avoid labels that disappear entirely.