Removing landing page navigation: up to +28% conversions at HubSpot
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsTaking the navigation bar, footer links and social share buttons off five busy landing pages lifted conversions by 16% to 28% on middle-of-funnel pages, but only 0% to 4% on top-of-funnel pages.
HubSpot ran this A/B test on its own landing pages.
It was later published as a Crazy Egg case study.
- Middle-of-funnel pages (showing HubSpot software and connecting visitors with sales): +16% to +28% conversions.
- Top-of-funnel pages (free resources aimed at lead capture): +0% to +4% conversions, so close to no change at the low end.
- The size of the lift depended on how close the visitor was to a buying decision, not on the page design alone.
- Sample sizes, test length and confidence levels were not shared.
The change
The variant drops the nav bar, footer links and share buttons around the form.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Five high-traffic HubSpot landing pages kept the full site navigation bar, footer links and social share buttons, as many marketing guides recommend.
Variant
The same five pages with the navigation bar, footer links and social share buttons all removed, leaving the offer and the form as the main things to act on.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Every link on a landing page is a way to leave. Visitors close to a sales conversation had fewer chances to drift off before converting.
- High-intent visitors on product and sales pages had already decided to act, so removing exits mattered more for them.
- People grabbing a free resource rarely needed persuading, so the nav was not costing much on those pages to begin with.
- Social share buttons pull attention away from the form without helping the visitor get what they came for.
Caveats: Sample sizes, test length and statistical confidence were not shared. The test was run by HubSpot and retold by Crazy Egg, a testing vendor, and no date was given.
Who ran it
HubSpot ran this test for marketing and sales software and published the results (Crazy Egg case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on HubSpot →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we remove the site navigation, footer links and share buttons from our demo and sales-contact landing pages, then more visitors will submit the form because there are fewer ways to leave before acting.
- Primary metric
- Landing page form conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Lead quality or sales-qualified lead rate
- Bounce rate
- Pages per session for visitors who do not convert
- Who should test it
- SaaS and B2B teams with paid or email traffic landing on demo, trial or contact-sales pages. Expect a smaller effect on free content downloads, and keep navigation on pages meant for browsing and research.
Questions
Should landing pages have a navigation menu?
For pages built around one action, such as booking a demo, removing the menu often helps because visitors have fewer exits.
HubSpot saw the biggest gains on these high-intent pages.
Does removing navigation help every landing page?
Not equally. HubSpot's top-of-funnel pages for free resources gained only 0% to 4%, so the benefit is smaller when the offer is already low-commitment.
Is it safe to remove footer links from a landing page?
Usually, as long as you keep required items such as a privacy policy link.
Test it and watch lead quality alongside conversion rate.
MarketingExperiments