# Simpler date-of-birth field on energy sign-up form: +16.3% sign-ups

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Signup page (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Form fields, Input formatting
- Test run by: [Vandebron](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/vandebron/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/vandebron/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/vandebron-date-of-birth-field-fix/

Replacing a clumsy calendar picker on the date-of-birth field with a plain, auto-formatted text input lifted sign-ups by 16.3%. Vandebron, a Dutch green energy supplier, ran this A/B test on the last step of its contract sign-up form, and it was published as a VWO case study. Drop-offs on the date field fell by 80%.

## Result

**+16.3% sign-ups**

- Sign-ups: +16.3%. This was the main goal.
- Exit rate on the final registration step: -8.5%.
- Drop-offs on the date-of-birth field: -80%.
- Time spent on the date-of-birth field: -77%, so people got through it much faster.
- Sample size and test length were not shared.

## Control

The final registration step asked for date of birth with a calendar dropdown that opened on the year 2000 and could only move one month at a time. The typed input gave no help with formatting, so people had to add the slashes themselves.

## Variant

The calendar dropdown was removed. The placeholder showed the expected date format, and slashes were inserted automatically as people typed.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Before the test, form analytics showed the field had a 42% drop-off rate and a 98% refill rate, so it was clearly the main point of friction.
- Someone born in the 1950s would have had to click back through hundreds of months to reach their birth date in the old picker.
- Typing a familiar date is quick, and auto-inserted slashes remove the guesswork about format.
- The visitors on this step were already close to signing, so removing one obstacle saved a lot of high-intent leads.

## Caveats

Sample size, test length and confidence level were not shared. The three fixes to the field shipped together, so they can't be credited separately.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace the date-picker on our date-of-birth field with a plain text input that formats itself, then more people will finish the form because entering a familiar date will take seconds instead of many clicks.
- Primary metric: Completed sign-ups or form submissions
- Guardrail: Invalid or mistyped date entries
- Guardrail: Field-level drop-off rate
- Guardrail: Downstream contract or lead approval rate
- Who should test it: Lead-gen and sign-up forms that ask for a birth date, such as energy, insurance, finance or health services. It matters less if your date field already accepts typed input with clear formatting, or if you don't need the birth date at all.

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Credit: Vandebron ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/vandebron-date-of-birth-field-fix/).
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.