When do you choose a long form with a stepper and when do you choose for one-form-per-screen (like typeform)?

Question

Situation

I'm designing a flow where a user needs to fill in multiple types of data to let us know they're moving to a new place. Currently I've divided it up into 4 steps. In each step they have to fill at least one form (e.g. moving date, new address etc.).

Problem

There's a big chance the flow will get some additional steps making it even longer time consuming task. I've been looking at https://www.typeform.com, a form builder that asks one question at a time making it feel less time consuming and overwhelming.

Question

Are there any reasons why I shouldn't go for a Typeform inspired solution? When is Typeform not preferred?

Answer 1

Like everything in UX, I don't know that there's a hard and fast rule.

In general, I like the Typeform approach for things that feel more like a conversation (surveys, initial profile setups, etc) or anywhere that later questions depend on current answers (decision tree structure).

My biggest problem with this approach is the lack of feedback around time commitment. Can you help the user realize a payoff for completing the form?

I prefer a single long form when the answers need to be grouped. For example, editing settings or setting up a payment should always appear together even if there are lots of fields.

You might want to think about ways to make the form seem less like a form. In many cases, forms are a good application for Conversational UI or even voice interaction. Or you may have access to a lot of data from a profile or similar that would let you pre-fill large chunks. This means the user only has to confirm/edit which feels a lot lower impact.