How does having multiple stages of a form affect conversion rate?

Say I have membership and donation forms on the website of a not-for-profit organisation. The form is split into multiple stages such that the user submits the first stage (eg. details) and then the second stage (eg. payment) — as in, they have to click a submit button, wait for a round trip to the server, etc.

What effect, if any, does splitting up a form like this have on conversion rate — compared to presenting a single stage with the same number of details? I'd especially like to know if studies have been done that quantify any difference in conversion rate (even studies on commercial organisations would help).

Answer

I agree with user12999 that the main answer is "it depends". No amount of research of other forms is going to give you a solid answer to this question, because the context — and content — of each specific form will influence the result.

Some thoughts in addition to those of user12999:

• During usability tests, I have met users who prefer one screen (sometimes no matter how long it is) and I have met users who prefer multiple screens. You're never going to come up with a form that is the ideal for everyone.


• Chunking into pages can help increase conversion because: it can make the first step less daunting; can minimise the chance of data being lost mid-complete; and can make the overall process seem simple.


• Conversely, chunking into pages could decrease conversion because: more than one step can make the process seem longer and more burdensome.


• A big way to maximise conversion and user satisfaction is to manage expectations. If you're transparent up-front about what's going to happen — e.g. first some personal details, then payment info — then there's less chance the form-filler will be (negatively) surprised when this happens.



• By optimising your form's visual design, a one-page form can seem less intimidating (e.g. by grouping the fields into sections, using accordion show/hide to keep only one section 'live' at a time, using whitespace wisely etc).

Good luck, and if you do some A/B testing, please share the results.