Homepage cut to just a sign-up form: 1.39% to 13.13% sign-ups
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsStripping the homepage down to only an account sign-up form raised TheHOTH's sign-up rate from 1.39% to 13.13%.
TheHOTH ran it as a split URL test over 30 days with close to 3,000 visitors.
It was published as a VWO case study.
- Account sign-up rate: 1.39% on control vs 13.13% on the minimal page.
- That is roughly nine times as many sign-ups per visitor.
- Lead quality was a concern: the case study says sales found it harder to tell serious buyers from people signing up just to learn more.
The change
Everything except the sign-up form is removed from the homepage.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The homepage had a video and a sign-up form above the fold, then customer logos, testimonials and other content.
Variant
A separate page with nothing on it except the account sign-up form. No video, logos, testimonials or service details.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Most traffic came from referrals, word of mouth, direct visits and branded search, so visitors already knew the brand.
- With no other content, signing up was the only way to find out more about the service.
- The original page had competing calls to action and a video that likely pulled attention from the form.
Caveats: About 3,000 visitors over 30 days, and the extra sign-ups came with weaker lead quality. The result relies on brand-aware traffic and may not hold for cold visitors.
Who ran it
TheHOTH ran this test and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on TheHOTH →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we show brand-aware visitors only a sign-up form, then sign-ups will rise because nothing competes with the one action we want.
- Primary metric
- Account sign-up rate
- Guardrails
- Sign-up to paying customer rate
- Sales-qualified lead rate
- Bounce rate for non-branded traffic
- Who should test it
- Lead-gen and SaaS businesses whose traffic is mostly direct, referral or branded search, and who have a follow-up process to educate new sign-ups. Skip it if most visitors are new to you and need proof before signing up.
Questions
Can removing content from a homepage increase sign-ups?
It can when visitors already trust you. Here, a form-only page lifted sign-ups from 1.39% to 13.13%, but lead quality dropped.
What is the downside of a form-only landing page?
People with no way to learn about you may sign up just to look around, which adds weak leads.
Plan follow-up emails or calls to qualify them.
Is a split URL test the right way to test a full redesign?
Yes. Sending traffic to two separate pages is a common way to compare very different layouts.
AGConsult