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MoA-INFO LR 2021 Registration: Crops First or Names First?
KEN -21 -1678Last modified on November 7th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
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Abstract
PxD operates the MoA-INFO platform in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture to provide free agricultural recommendations to farmers via SMS messages.
In this A/B test, we tested whether a redesigned registration process inviting users to opt-in to the crop advisory message series first, before asking registration questions, increased farmers’ registration completion and platform-engagement behavior. The treatment group received crop opt-in messages first; the control group received name registration messages first.
Compared with the control group, the treatment group had a higher rate of crop series opt-ins but provided less profile information (e.g., name, location) and engaged slightly less with the platform after registration. Overall, switching the registration order improved specific registration metrics but reduced others, which indicates that there are trade-offs in registration design choices. -
Status
Completed
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Start date
Q1 Jan 2021
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Experiment Location
Kenya
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Partner Organization
Kenya Ministry of Agriculture
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Agricultural season
Long Rains
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Experiment type
A/B test
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Sample frame / target population
New users, mainly from the 2021 Safaricom blast campaign, who had started the process of registering on the MoA-INFO platform since January 22
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Sample size
139,691
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Outcome type
Service engagement
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Mode of data collection
PxD administrative data
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Research question(s)
Does an introductory SMS message to select a crop increase the platform engagement of new users?
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Research theme
Message framing
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Research Design
The sample comprised 69,701 users in the control group and 69,990 in the treatment group:
- Control group (“name first”) received the standard registration process: Name messages → Location messages → Crop opt-in messages
- Treatment group (“crops first”) received the redesigned registration process: Crop opt-in messages → Name messages → Location messages
Randomization was stratified to ensure baseline comparability between treatment and control groups, which was confirmed by balance checks. Key outcomes that were measured were: response to registration prompts, provision of profile information, crop opt-ins, platform engagement (e.g., menu use), and total SMS interactions.
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Results
Altering the order of the registration messages had mixed effects. Farmers in the treatment crops-first group were significantly more likely to opt-in to the crop series during registration, by about 8 percentage points compared to the control name-first group. However, farmers in the treatment crops-first group were also less likely to provide key profile information, such as their name and location, and they answered fewer registration survey questions overall, than the control name-first group. Post-registration, the treatment group engaged slightly less with the platform than the control group did; this was shown by fewer SMS interactions, fewer topics accessed, and less menu use. The change in registration flow had no significant impact on opt-out rates.