# Redesigned SaaS landing page with no top nav: +548% sign-ups

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Landing page (SaaS)
- Elements: Navigation, Cta count, Headline
- Date shared: 2011-09
- Test run by: [MarketingExperiments](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/marketingexperiments/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/website-optimization-landing-page-test-leads-to-548-increase-in-conversion
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/regonline-seo-landing-page-radical-redesign/

A 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.

## Result

**+548% sign-ups**

- 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.

## 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)

- 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.

## How to run this test

- 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
- Guardrail: Sign-up start rate
- Guardrail: Lead quality (sales-accepted rate)
- Guardrail: 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.

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Credit: MarketingExperiments ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/regonline-seo-landing-page-radical-redesign/).
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.
