MadLib form increases conversion
25 Feb 2010 - 1:08pm
14 replies
1290 reads
Peter Becker
2010
I loved this and that it produced the results it did was really cool.
I'm an orderly kinda guy and give me good clean lines, designs and
forms any day of the week.....but I loved the conversational and
informal feel that this provides.
In short, my eye hated it, but my heart welcomed it - the results
seems to bear out who wins in that match up.
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Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49660
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Conversation vs. barking orders.
Two thumbs up.
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Oleh Kovalchuke
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Skype: tangospring
On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Brandon E.B. Ward <brandonebward at gmail.com
> wrote:
> I thought this was an interesting (i.e. more fun) take on the traditional
> web form. I also find it compelling that using the MadLib format increased
> conversion by quite a bit.
>
> http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1007
>
> B
>
On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Brandon E.B.Ward
<brandonebward at gmail.com> wrote:
> I thought this was an interesting (i.e. more fun) take on the traditional
> web form. I also find it compelling that using the MadLib format increased
> conversion by quite a bit.
I'm about to begin redesign for an online version of a large and
complex form for a government department here in Australia. I have
litle to zero chance of using this approach (and it might not work for
the form, anyway), but I wonder how much of the overall *idea and
feel* I can sneak in?
Maybe in some A/B... :)
Clever work!
Steve
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Stephen Collins
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What's funny is that this is a lot like 'Cloze' activities I used when I taught 3rd grade: http://www.learnnc.org/reference/cloze activity
I also appreciate it for its literal/actual implementation. And, as Stephen
says, for its idea and feel--it's engaging, respectful, low-key, and
evocative of play!
It's also gently, radical, which I *love*. It is completely user-centric
rather than "corporate data collection"-centric.
I'm thrilled in addition to be all the above: it's effective.
NICE work!
Susan
note: if this posts to the IxDA list I'm very sorry! I meant only to edit this post not send to the list but there does not seem to be an option solely to edit not edit & post.
love it in that it bridges data (collection) with story and context
(with a potential dash of surveyMonkey)- and YOU are the main
character so naturally you get drawn in. Not sure it would work for
all types of DC but things that involve some kind of service or a way
to personalize the mundane with humor. good stuff!
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Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49660
Counterpoint:
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/02/27/lesson-from-madlibs-signup-fad-do-your-own-tests/
(found via hacker news)
There are several issues with this test.
Just to name one
On the "before" form address doesn't appear to be optional. It is on the "after" form and then the increase is obvious and the "before" form exeptionally badly done.
I wasn't exactly sure what you guys were talking about so I did a little research and am finding quite the level of information.
At first sighting, I seriously saw huge benefits with the, "Geez, why haven't we been doing this already?" feeling, but then it hit me - the over-use alongside the mis-use could make this go from "very cool" to "Am I filling out a form at a lawyer office?" In addition to this potential, I also feel that there are severe ways to - not - implement something of this nature.
The 4th or 5th site I came across which was talking about the application of this, shows the perfect example of how to NOT implement a change like this.
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/02/27/lesson-from-madlibs-signup-fad-do-your-own-tests/
Had he changed the general layout itself to allow for this design change I think he'd have seen different results than he did, but instead, his mode of implementation just made everything cluttered and took away from the white space which clearly outlined the signup information. He likely confused his users as well as made them feel stupid because they couldn't differentiate between one area and another.
Poor test imo.
I fear too many trying to take up this "new" method, and just killing its shiny by implementing it with poor design insight.
I took it as a given that no one would run forward implementing Mad Libs without thoughtful consideration of their own users, business goals, and context. That naturally we'd be doing the necessary research and testing legwork, cuz...that's what we do.
The result of seeing design innovation like this, for me, isn't to copy literally, but about being inspired, reflecting on what underlying design, interaction, and engagement principles might make this successful in other contexts.
On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 3:50 PM, Ariel Leroux <contact@ixda.org> wrote:
I'm sold, but playing devil's advocate, and thinking about the boundaries of this:
I sent this via email soon after Ariel's yesterday's post but it didn't seem to "take." Not that it's profound or anything, but I am going to try submitting it directly via ixda.org
..............................
The result of seeing design innovation like this, for me, isn't to copy literally, but about being inspired, reflecting on what underlying design, interaction, and engagement principles might make this successful in other contexts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Susan Doran
Portland, Maine
/susandoran (facebook)
@susandoran (twitter)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Who is this and how did you get my email????
Stop emailing me.
-----Original Message----- From: ixdaor@host.ixda.org [mailto:ixdaor@host.ixda.org] On Behalf Of Susan Doran Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 3:02 PM To: Jamie Cain Subject: Re: [IxDA] MadLib form increases conversion
I sent this via email soon after Ariel's yesterday's post but it didn't seem
to "take." Not that it's profound or anything, but I am going to try
submitting it directly via ixda.org
..............................
I took it as a given that no one would run forward implementing Mad Libs without thoughtful consideration of their own users, business goals, and context. That naturally we'd be doing the necessary research and testing legwork, cuz...that's what we do. The result of seeing design innovation like this, for me, isn't to copy literally, but about being inspired, reflecting on what underlying design, interaction, and engagement principles might make this successful in other contexts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Susan DoranPortland, Maine/susandoran
(facebook)@susandoran (twitter) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(((Plea
Does anyone realize that non-internal people are receiving tons of
emails about this launch?? Are you testing something? Because I've
literally received like 50 emails over the last 3 days...
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 2, 2010, at 3:03 PM, Susan Doran wrote:
> I sent this via email soon after Ariel's yesterday's post but it
> didn't seem to "take." Not that it's profound or anything, but I am
> going to try submitting it directly via ixda.org > > .............................. > > I took it as a given that no one would run forward implementing > Mad Libs without thoughtful consideration of their own users, business > goals, and context. That naturally we'd be doing the necessary > research and testing legwork, cuz...that's what we do. > The result of seeing design innovation like this, for me, isn't to > copy literally, but about being inspired, reflecting on what
> underlying > design, interaction, and engagement principles might make this > successful in other contexts. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Susan DoranPortland, Maine/susandoran
> (facebook)@susandoran (twitter) > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >
The big thing to consider here is that the new version changes SEVERAL items, not just the layout. He essentially removed the big, ugly comment box and also changed the phone number field from a really annoying group of 3 text boxes to a nice, simple single text box. These are not the only changes, either, but I think that those two changes alone would increase conversion rates. A true test of the success of this form would be to go back to the old style, but keep the same set of fields and functionality as the new form. Then compare the results of that with the mad-libs form. That is the only way that you could (semi-)accurately determine if the mad-libs form increases conversions or if it is just the fact that the fields on the form are now more user-friendly as-is.
I like the mad-libs idea, but I really think that it is very flawed to say that switching to this style did ANYTHING in increasing conversion rates because there really is no proof of that.