Redesigned SaaS landing page with no top nav: +548% sign-ups
Test run byMarketingExperimentsResearch publisher
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA radical redesign of RegOnline's SEO landing page lifted new account sign-up conversion by 548%.
MarketingExperiments (MECLABS) ran the test for Active Network, which owns the event registration software.
Seven changes shipped together, so the gain belongs to the whole redesign, not to any single element.
- New account sign-up conversion rose 548%, the figure in the post's headline. Detailed numbers are only in an image.
- Start rate, the share of visitors who began sign-up, also rose for the redesign.
- In the comments, the team said total leads, counting people who stopped at step two, were up about 1,300%.
- A later test by the team found the on-page changes together drove most, but not all, of the gain.
The change
Top nav, extra CTAs and images removed; one CTA and a three-step sign-up.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The SEO landing page had top navigation, several calls to action, supporting images and a two-step sign-up (details, then username and password).
Variant
The redesign removed the top navigation and moved key links to the footer. It used one CTA, dropped images that didn't help, led with a point-first headline, made the copy easier to read, updated the testimonial and added a phone number step, making sign-up three steps.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- With no top navigation, visitors had fewer exits and one clear path to sign up.
- One CTA and a point-first headline made the offer quicker to grasp for searchers arriving from Google.
- The phone step may have cost some finishers, but the team kept it because sales needed it to accept a lead.
Caveats: This was a bundled redesign with seven changes, so no single change can be credited. Sample size, duration and confidence weren't shared, and the test dates from 2011.
Who ran it
MarketingExperiments ran this test 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 remove top navigation, focus our landing page on one CTA and lead with a clear headline, then sign-ups will rise because visitors have fewer distractions and a clearer reason to act.
- Primary metric
- Completed account sign-ups per visitor
- Guardrails
- Sign-up start rate
- Lead quality (sales-accepted rate)
- Bounce rate
- Who should test it
- SaaS and lead-gen businesses with organic or paid landing pages that still carry full site navigation. It matters less on pages where visitors need to browse before deciding.
Questions
Should a SaaS landing page have navigation?
Many tests find that removing top navigation helps on focused landing pages, because it removes exits.
Keep the key links in the footer for people who need them.
Is a radical redesign test worth it?
It can find big wins fast, as here.
The trade-off is that you learn less about which change mattered, so plan follow-up tests.
Does asking for a phone number hurt sign-ups?
It usually adds some drop-off. Here the team kept it because sales needed a phone number to accept the lead.
AGConsult