Lead Gen Form Placement Test
| VERSION B | |
How site visitors voted:
VERSION A (25%)
VERSION B (75%)
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Actual Test Results:
For this particular test, the creative version with a right-side form worked best, generating 24.6% more form submissions than the left-side form did. However, please don’t jump to conclusions that right-side forms always work best…. This was only one of more than 20 tests that direct marketing firm Location3 Media, Inc. ran using Google Website Optimizer on behalf of their clients Westwood College, Redstone College, and Westwood College Online. The colleges had different PPC landing pages for different degree programs, ranging from “right brain” programs such as graphic design and fashion merchandising to “left brain” programs such as MBAs, airframes and powerplants. The team wondered, would typically left-brain people respond differently to a left-vs-right form test than typically right brain people would? They hypothesized that left brain people would prefer right-side forms and vice versa. The hypothesis worked for a few niches. For example, potential “left brain” airframe and powerplant students were definitely more likely to submit right-side forms. But, the brain-side theory didn’t always hold true for other programs. So the team decided they couldn’t make a hard rule about which form side was best for any particular psychographic – or for all human beings as a whole. You never know until you test. So, some degree programs worked best with left-side forms and others with right-side forms. These discoveries helped the team increase the colleges’ PPC landing page lead gen rates by an average of 39.87%. Great work! Sponsor Message: Click here to apply for your FREE landing page evaluation from WhichTestWon’s sponsor WiderFunnel. Takes 20 seconds! |
The photo probably has some effect as well – the person is facing to the right, which draws your eye towards the right-side form.
Funny. My impulse was right side. But then I argued with myself and debated about it being PPC. For me, a good PPC campaign begins the sale and a REALLY good landing page nails it. An impatient person, like me, would want the form on the left side (less hassle).
I also didn’t like the jumping around of elements on the page. In fact, the form itself bothered me because the fields were not all flush left. It jumbles around and drove me nuts. Again, I decided the left side was emotionally more pleasant to use but the impulse was the right side.
Signed,
Hyper Brain
Got this one right. And I made my decision based on Mr. Duffy’s hypothesis, which I think is spot on.
Really interesting that different degree programs yielded different results, though would need to see other elements on the page to see if location was sole determinent of variance. With this one, the form on the left would hit the visitor first with text telling the to fill out the form so a sales person can call them doesn’t seem like a good way to gain a conversion.
What a fascinating result! My website page forms run down the centre so I’d be curious to know if a landing page form justified to the left would work better for right-brain people purchasing a gift which is emotionally appealing (not necessarily logical and left-brain)?
Also, I wonder if you get different results for men and women?
Could another reason for the right-sided form’s success be that (for most!) the user’s mouse and hand-position match that side – so it becomes easier (I think!) to actually navigate to that area (as you are already there). I think we tend to read online with our cursor poised to the right of the page – probably from a traditional scrolling point of view….
Somehow it does read more easily with the form on the right.
So to me it seemed a logical outcome.
Not that that makes any difference of course
I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the fact that people need more information before they submit a form. Landing page optimization isn’t just about making the action simple. It is about persuading people to take the action. Since people generally read left to right in the USA, it is going to work best to first provide the content that speaks to the user’s need/challenge, provides a solution with credibility builders and then leads the user to take action (i.e. the form). This is a highly proven landing page technique. Of course, nothing seems to work 100% of the time so tests like this one are always good to validate your approach.
What a terrible design by the way. There is absolutely no logical coherence between the visual and the form.
I got it right!
I agree with Kayden. My first impression when I looked at it was that people start at the top and read from left to right and why would I begin to fill out a form without some basis of understanding first. Not that I wouldn’t read the whole page first, but the brief presentation seems to be a better intro into the page.
@Kayden,
I agree, which is why I pointed out the power of a well written lead-in to the landing page and immediate follow up to the call to action on the left side.
The test apparently did not include the call to action, just the point of conversion.
Not only is placing the form on the left a premature call to action (as Kayden – mentioned because people need to know more before taking action) but people also tend to pay attention to text to the right of a prominent image. When text is to the left, the eye keeps being drawn to the more prominent image on the right and it is actually ‘uncomfortable’ trying to backtrack to info on the left – another phenomenon for cultures reading left to right.