Screenshot moved below the fold on home page: about -25% downloads
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsPatrick McKenzie moved the product screenshot on Bingo Card Creator's home page from above the fold to below the sales pitch, and trial downloads fell about 25%.
The below-fold version ran for 3 days with nothing else changed, as a before/after test rather than a split test.
It was published on the Kalzumeus blog in 2006.
- Trial downloads: about -25% with the screenshot below the fold. This was a losing change.
- The author also reports that having a screenshot beat having none, but gives no number for that.
- A scan of printed output did better at the bottom of the page, because placing it above the pitch meant few people scrolled down to read it.
The change
Product screenshot moved from above the fold to below the sales pitch
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A product screenshot sat above the fold on the home page.
Variant
For 3 days, the screenshot was moved below the sales pitch, with nothing else on the site changed.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Many visitors leave within seconds, so they need to see what the product does before they decide to read on.
- A screenshot proves there is a real product and shows the output quickly, which text alone can't do.
- Moving it below the pitch meant the people most likely to bounce never saw it.
Caveats: Sequential before/after over 3 days, not randomized, on a very small 2006 site. Bingo Card Creator was downloadable desktop software at the time, not SaaS.
Who ran it
Patrick McKenzie ran this test and published the results (Kalzumeus (patio11) blog). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Patrick McKenzie →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we show a clear product screenshot above the fold on our home page, then more visitors will start a trial because they can see what the product does before they leave.
- Primary metric
- Trial starts or sign-ups per home page visitor
- Guardrails
- Bounce rate
- Scroll depth
- Page load time
- Who should test it
- SaaS founders whose home page leads with text or abstract illustrations instead of the product. Less useful if your product is hard to show in one image, where a short demo or output example may work better.
Questions
Should a SaaS home page show a product screenshot above the fold?
This old before/after test suggests yes: moving the screenshot below the pitch cut downloads about 25%.
Test it on your own page, since modern sites and audiences differ.
Does a screenshot help conversions at all?
The author found that having a screenshot beat having none, though no figure was given.
Showing the product helps visitors understand it quickly.