Brand fonts and images on sign-up page: plain control won by 51%
Test run byMarketingExperimentsResearch publisher
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding more brand fonts, images and design detail to a free guide sign-up page lost, with the plain control converting 51% higher.
MarketingExperiments (MECLABS) ran this A/B test for a regional marketing commission that wanted to bring more tourists to its city.
The team put the loss down to hard-to-read fonts and dark images.
- Guide sign-up conversion: the control converted 51% higher. A clear loss for the branded design.
- Visitor counts, sign-up counts and confidence were not shared.
- A web clinic audience overwhelmingly expected the branded version to win.
The change
The variant layered brand fonts, dark images and colors onto the plain sign-up page.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A plain, simple landing page asking visitors to sign up for a free guide to local activities and events.
Variant
The same sign-up page with more brand fonts, images, colors and design detail.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- The brand fonts were hard to read, so visitors had to work harder to understand the offer.
- Dark images reduced contrast around the copy and form.
- More visual detail added friction to a simple task: entering details to get a free guide.
Caveats: No sample size, duration or confidence level was shared. The variant changed fonts, images and colors together, so the result can't be tied to one of them.
Who ran it
MarketingExperiments ran this test for a regional marketing commission and published the results (MarketingExperiments). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on MarketingExperiments →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we apply more brand styling to our sign-up page, then sign-ups will rise because the page feels more trustworthy, unless the styling makes the copy and form harder to read.
- Primary metric
- Form sign-up conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Form start rate
- Time to complete form
- Mobile conversion rate
- Who should test it
- Lead-gen teams, tourism boards and agencies whose brand guidelines push decorative fonts or heavy imagery. Check readability first; branding is less risky when it keeps text high-contrast and plain.
Questions
Does stronger branding increase conversions?
Not on its own. In this test more brand styling cut sign-ups, because it made the page harder to read.
How can I add branding without hurting a form?
Keep body text and form labels in a plain, readable font with strong contrast.
Use brand elements in places that don't compete with the copy.
Why test a design change that looks better?
Because looks and results often differ. The clinic audience preferred the branded page, yet it lost about half of the leads.