"Mad Libs" Registration Forms Help Fill In the Blanks

Many of us remember Mad Libs. But how many of us knew that Mad Libs style registration processes can increase form completions?

For those not familiar, Mad Libs are books that have a short story on each page, but with many of the key words replaced with blanks. Beneath each blank is a category, such as noun, verb, place or name. One player asks the other players, in turn, to contribute a random word as specified by each blank, but without revealing the context for that word. Finally, the completed story is read aloud. The result is usually silly and somewhat nonsensical but altogether fun.

A recent article by Luke Wroblewski of Yahoo! Inc. shows how using Mad Libs pays off when designing registration forms. Looking at one registration form before and after switching to a Mad Libs format,  the results show that switching to a Mad Libs style form increased form completions by 25-40%. Wroblewski points out that two versions of this form are being used at Vast.com and Kelley Blue Book.

Who knew that forms could be so much fun?