Hi, I’m Esma. I’m a Founder's Associate at App Genie, where we help founders and teams launch high-impact MVPs in just 10 days, and improve existing apps through our Fix My Design service.

This guide shares 10 real A/B tests that led to major wins from higher conversions to stronger retention. We've applied these same principles while building 100+ apps and supporting products with millions in ARR.

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1. Virgin Mobile UAE: The Tiny UX Change That Cut Drop-Off by 18%

****Virgin Mobile UAE is a digital-first mobile operator that lets users manage their mobile plans entirely through an app, from SIM activation to plan customization.

Visual sourced via Mobbin

The Problem

Virgin Mobile UAE noticed a significant drop-off during the phone number selection step in their sign-up flow. The original design required users to either choose or transfer a number, but many hesitated and abandoned the process at this point.

The Experiment

They tested a simpler, more fluid approach:

Users were automatically assigned a random number.
The interface still offered the option to change it, but the default made it easy to proceed immediately.

Results

✅ +9% increase in users who completed the registration step
🔻 18% drop in abandonment at the number selection screen

Why It Worked?

This is a classic case of reducing cognitive load and decision friction. Asking users to make a choice (especially an unfamiliar one like selecting a phone number) creates a micro-stress moment. Psychologically, users often prefer the path of least resistance as long as it helps them move forward.

By pre-assigning a number, Virgin Mobile:

Removed the immediate need to decide
Gave users the feeling of progress, which is critical in early funnel stages
Still offered control by allowing edits later (important for autonomy)

👉🏻 This experiment aligns with the "default effect" which is a behavioral principle that users are more likely to go with the default option, especially when under time pressure or uncertainty.