Radio Buttons vs. DropdownsHow knowing the right way to collect customer information led to a 15% lift in orders

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Jon PowellSenior Manager Research and StrategyMECLABS@jonpowell31

Today’s speakers

Lauren PitchfordOptimization Manager MECLABS

Austin McCrawDirectorContent ProductionMECLABS@McOptimize

Experiment: Background

Background: A large people search company catering to customers searching for military personnel.

Goal: To significantly increase the total number of subscriptions.

Research Question: Which subscription option format will produce the highest subscription rate: a dropdown or radio button?

Test Design: A/B single factorial split test

Experiment ID: TP1774Record Location: MECLABS Research LibraryResearch Partner: [Protected]

Experiment: Treatment 1

Treatment 1

Experiment: Treatment 2

Treatment 2

Experiment: Side-by-side

Treatment 2

Treatment 1

Which treatment won?

Experiment: Results

Design Order Rate Stat. Significance

Treatment 1 – Radio Buttons 11.73% -

Treatment 2 – Dropdown 10.69% -

% Relative Change: 14.6% 92%

Relative increase in orders15%In this case, the radio button field outperformed the dropdown field by 15% in order rate.

Experiment analysis

Treatment 2

Treatment 1

15%Order Rate

Shouldn’t the shorter form produce better results?

What we discovered

FKey Principles

1. One of the most effective ways to improve the performance of the webpage is to reduce friction (psychological resistance).

What is friction?

Definition: Friction

Physics: A force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact.

Marketing: Psychological resistance to a given element in the sales process.

For more on friction: MECLABS.com/LPO

What is friction?

To this

40%Revenue per Visit

From this

Protocol ID: TP1267

What is friction?

To this

From this

189%In Conversion

Protocol ID: TP1341

What is friction?

201%Capture Rate

To thisFrom this

• Treatment asks for one less piece of information

Protocol ID: TP1291

What we discovered

FKey Principles

1. One of the most effective ways to improve the performance of the webpage is to reduce friction (psychological resistance).

2. However, in our attempts to minimize friction (length-oriented), we must beware of undermining the conversation with the customer in 2 ways:

i. Intensifying difficulty-oriented friction

Danger #1. Increasing difficulty

Wherein:fSC = Friction of sales conversion

lT = Length (time)

dT = Difficulty

fSC = lT + dT©

For more on friction: MECLABS.com/LPO

Design Elements

• Eye Path

• Options Selection

• Button Design

• Organization

• Flash Video

Danger #1. Increasing difficulty

Radio Dropdown • By moving from a

radio to dropdown field, we significantly reduced the perceived length of the form.

Danger #1. Increasing difficulty

Dropdown• However, length is only one form of friction. By reducing the length, we inadvertently increased difficulty.

• Now, instead of clearly seeing all of the options available to the customer, they have to click and squint to examine the options.

Danger #1. Increasing difficulty

Page 1 Page 2

Page 3

Version A• Version A is a 3-step cart

checkout process. The length of the process is significant.

• Our analysts hypothesized that by shortening the steps into a one-page accordion checkout process, we could reduce length-oriented friction.

Protocol ID: TP1666

Example

Danger #1. Increasing difficulty

Page 1

Version B

Page 1 Page 2

Page 3

Version A

29%Conversion Rate

Protocol ID: TP1666

Example

Danger #1. Increasing difficulty

Page 1

Version B

29%Conversion Rate

! What You Need to Understand: While we may have reduced length, we increased the perceived difficulty of the checkout. As a result, the conversion rate dropped.

Example

Danger #1. Increasing difficulty

TreatmentControl

60%In Revenue

! What You Need to Understand: By not suggesting donation amounts, we made the form shorter, but the value of the donation was undermined by 60%.

Protocol ID: TP1055

Example

What we discovered

FKey Principles

1. One of the most effective ways to improve the performance of the webpage is to reduce friction (psychological resistance).

2. However, in our attempts to minimize friction (length-oriented), we must beware of undermining the conversation with the customer in 2 ways:

i. Intensifying difficulty-oriented friction

ii. Eliminating necessary value force

Danger #2. Undermining value

ValueForce

CostForce

VfAc - CfAc = Nf

Danger #2. Undermining value

Treatment 2Treatment 1

How might Treatment 2 be undermining the value in Treatment 1?

?

Danger #2. Undermining value

Treatment 1

Which price format do you see first in Treatment 1?

a. Per monthb. Total

?

Danger #2. Undermining value

Treatment 2Which price format do you see first in Treatment 2?

a. Per monthb. Total

?

Danger #2. Undermining value

Treatment 2

• By de-emphasizing the savings and/or placing the total price before the monthly price in Treatment 2, we undermined the value.

• Between the lack of emphasis or and/or the point-first structure of the price, the savings are clearly bolded and easier to understand in Treatment 1.

Treatment 1

Experiment IDs: TP1662Record Location: MECLABS Research LibraryResearch Partner: (Protected)

Background: An addiction and mental health rehabilitation facility.

Goal: Increase the total number of leads captured.

Primary Research Question: Which page will obtain the most form submissions?

Approach: A/B multifactor split

Experiment - Background

Danger #2. Undermining value

• Version A is long copy information on the treatment centers.

• The call-to-action is at the bottom of the page.

Version A

Danger #2. Undermining valueExperiment - Treatment

Version B

• Version B short-form page template with a rotating banner.

• Call-to-action is on the right-hand side above the fold.

Danger #2. Undermining valueExperiment - Control

Design Capture Rate

Version A 2.48%

Version B 0.78%

% Relative Change: 68.5%

Relative decrease in capture rate69%The shorter version B decreased capture rate by 69%.

Danger #2. Undermining value

! What You Need to Understand: The shorter length of the page made it more difficult for the right customers to gain the information they needed. By decreasing the length, conversions decreased by 69%.

Experiment - Results

Experiment - TreatmentTreatment

Control

36%In Total Sales

Danger #2. Undermining value

Protocol ID: 1700

Danger #2. Undermining value

TreatmentControl

16%In Conversions

Example

Protocol ID: TP1362

Danger #2. Undermining value

Not thisBut this

24%Purchase Rate

Protocol ID: TP1740

! What You Need to Understand: By adding two fields (start date and number of copies per day) we also added clarity and value to the form. The control form was undermining the value by 24%.

Example

Radio buttons vs. dropdowns?

Dropdown

Radio Buttons

Which capture technique should you use??

Summary: Putting it all together

FKey Principles

1. One of the most effective ways to improve the performance of the webpage is to reduce friction (psychological resistance).

2. However, in our attempts to minimize friction (length-oriented), we must beware of undermining the conversation with the customer in 2 ways:

i. Intensifying difficulty-oriented friction

ii. Eliminating necessary value force

3. In the end, increasing conversion is less about the technique (dropdowns vs. radio buttons), and more about understanding the entire mental impact (value vs. cost).

Live Optimization

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Primary Audience: Prospective studentsPrimary Objective: Recruitment

Background: A large global media company seeking to sell premium software to businesses.

Goal: To move visitors to the next step in the funnel.

Research Question: Which call-to-action will result in a significant increase in clicks and leads captured?

Test Design: Single factorial A/B split

Experiment ID: TP1785Record Location: MarketingExperiments Research LibraryResearch Partner: (Protected)

Next Clinic: Background

Next Clinic: Side-by-side

Treatment A Treatment B Treatment C

Treatment D Treatment E

Which treatment won?

Live March 12 at 4:00 p.m. EST

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MECLABS conducts rigorous experiments in the new science of optimization. We apply our discoveries to help leaders optimize the financial performance of their sales and marketing programs.

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