# Shorter homepage for a free course offer: +13% email sign-ups

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Homepage (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Page length
- Test run by: [Markitekt](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/markitekt/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/designboost/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/designboost-short-vs-long-homepage/

A trimmed, shorter homepage lifted email sign-ups by 13% and click-throughs to the courses page by 25%. Markitekt ran this test for Designboost, a site offering free design courses, and it was published as a VWO case study. The agency had seen short pages beat long ones before when the offer was free, and tested it here rather than assuming.

## Result

**+13% email sign-ups**

- Email sign-ups: +13%. This was the main conversion for the free offer.
- Click-through to the courses page: +25%. More visitors moved on from the homepage.
- Sample size, duration and confidence were not shared.

## Control

A long homepage promoting Designboost's free design courses, with more content before and around the sign-up.

## Variant

A trimmed, shorter version of the homepage with less content for visitors to get through.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A free email sign-up asks for little, so visitors may not need a long case before saying yes.
- Less content means fewer distractions between the visitor and the sign-up or the courses link.
- A shorter page puts the key actions closer to the top, where more people see them.

## Caveats

Sample size, test length and statistical confidence were not shared. Which content was cut was not described in detail, so the result reflects the page as a whole, not any single section.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we cut our homepage down to the essentials, then more visitors will sign up for our free offer because a low-commitment ask doesn't need a long pitch.
- Primary metric: Email sign-up rate from the homepage
- Guardrail: Click-through to key inner pages
- Guardrail: Bounce rate
- Guardrail: Activation or engagement of new sign-ups
- Who should test it: Lead-gen and content businesses whose homepage goal is a free sign-up, such as a newsletter, course or download. It probably won't hold for high-price or complex offers, where visitors need more information before they commit.

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Credit: Markitekt ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/designboost-short-vs-long-homepage/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.