Growing Conversions 5x Through Focused A/B Testing and Rapid Iteration

Overall conversion rate

1.66% Sept 2024

8.47% April 2025

Impact

Stabilizing revenue opened space to explore more complex, underserved user needs.

Context

The company

WattBuy, Series A clean energy startup helping consumers switch to cleaner energy through data-driven recommendations.

My role

Founding product designer

Product

(B2)B2C energy platform – consumer marketplace for electricity and solar, plus APIs for enterprise partners.

This project

Revenue challenges required immediate focus on (re)designing our highest-value conversion flow: lead gen for solar installer partners.

What I did

Led A/B testing strategy, analyzing user behavior and designing improved experiences.

Other players

Collaborated with CPO on strategic decisions and Head of Engineering on implementation.

Timeline

8 months of iterative testing cycles

Before

Poorly timed & targeted pop-up

Significant issues with existing solar promo:

Appeared abruptly after unrelated form submission, before confirmation page
Targeted retail energy customers (renters) instead of qualified homeowners

Solution

We built a dedicated solar landing page and flow and ran A/B tests to optimize the form.

Several of them are showcased below.

Before optimization

(Not my design) Before optimization popup screenshot

A/B Test

More steps = more conversions

Problem

Needed a lead gen flow that collected info from qualified leads

We tried

Short (1 step) vs long flow (~10 steps) on the theory that it would produce leads with higher intent

What worked

Long flow = slightly more leads, much stronger lead quality (indicated by better downstream partner engagement such as call pickups and appointments).

Result

Long flow

performed better

Short flow

Long flow

A/B Test

Removing intro screen doubled 1st-step conversions

Problem

High drop off on intro screen. Tested subheadline and social proof changes; minimal impact.

We tried

Removed intro screen to eliminate friction and bring users directly into the first question.

What worked

Faster entry dramatically improved stickiness and lowered early drop-off.

Result

104% increase

in step completion

Intro

20.27%

No intro

41.43%

Overall conversion rate increased from 5.2% to 7.4%.

Intro screen

Question as first step

A/B Test

CTA copy had more impact than tone and transparency

Problem

Stiff copy undersold value and over-explained disclosures, triggering drop-off.

We tried

Sharpened brand tone, softened disclosures, and tested CTAs tied to personalized savings.

What worked

Linking the CTA to users' personalized savings reinforced the core value prop at decision point, driving the strongest improvement.

Result

13% increase

in last step completion

"Submit"

68.81%

"Calculate..."

74.56%

Examples

Control

Variant

A/B Test

Frictionless UX reduced conversion

Problem

We were looking for ways to boost form completion and wondered if faster progression would reduce drop-off.

We tried

Removed the "Next" button and auto-advanced users after selection to speed up flow.

What worked

Less control lowered agency and increased drop-off. Users converted better with clear pacing control.

Result

36% drop

in overall conversion rate

Buttons

9.8%

Auto-advance

6.2%

Auto-advancing

Ye olde 'next' button

A/B Test

Confetti: no friction, slight lift

Problem

We piloted a $1000 partner offer, a person opportunity to add a layer of delight, which was sorely missing.

We tried

Added confetti animation after address submission to reinforce perceived reward and create delight.

What worked

Limited sample showed a small lift with no downside. Test paused early due to external factors.

Result

14% increase*

in step completion (pilot data)

Control

85.53%*

Confetti

100%*

*small pilot sample due to limited offer eligibility and early shutdown (Control: N=76; Confetti: N=28)

Impact

5x conversion growth through 8 months of UX optimization, stabilizing revenue and enabling expansion into deeper user needs.

Overall conversion rate

1.66% Sept 2024

8.47% April 2025

Solar orders (per year)

The ultimate metric: people paying for solar panels after qualification, scheduling, and partner handoff across multiple steps.

2,394 2023

4,804 2024

Mixpanel board tracking 8 months of conversion growth from A/B tests, sales, and data science improvements.