Sign-up form above the fold on the homepage: +44% sign-ups
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsPutting a short sign-up form above the fold on the homepage, with an arrow pointing to it, lifted account sign-ups by 44%.
Tom's Planner, a web-based Gantt chart tool, ran the test itself, published as a VWO case study.
The original homepage offered two buttons instead: sign up or watch a demo.
- Account sign-ups: +44% against the original homepage.
- Close to 3,000 visitors took part, which is a small sample for a result this large.
The change
Two buttons above the fold are swapped for an inline sign-up form with an arrow.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The homepage had two buttons above the fold, one to sign up and one to watch a demo. Signing up meant clicking through to another page.
Variant
A short four-field sign-up form sat above the fold on the homepage. An arrow pointed visitors toward it.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Visitors could start signing up on the page they landed on, without an extra click or page load.
- A short form signals that sign-up is quick, which lowers the effort people expect.
- The arrow drew the eye to the form and gave a clear next step.
- Removing the demo button as a competing option above the fold may have focused attention on signing up.
Caveats: Sample was close to 3,000 visitors, and duration, confidence and test date are not shared. The form and the arrow were added together, so the lift can't be split between them.
Who ran it
Tom's Planner 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 Tom's Planner →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we put a short sign-up form directly on the homepage hero, then more visitors will create accounts because they can start without clicking through to another page.
- Primary metric
- Account sign-ups
- Guardrails
- Activation rate of new accounts
- Demo views or demo requests
- Spam or junk sign-ups
- Who should test it
- Self-serve SaaS products with a free plan or trial and a simple sign-up. It fits less well for sales-led products where a demo is the main goal, or where visitors need more context before committing.
Questions
Should a SaaS homepage have a sign-up form or a button?
An inline form removes a click and can lift sign-ups, as it did by 44% for Tom's Planner.
Test it, since a button can work better when visitors need more context first.
Do directional cues like arrows work?
They can draw attention to a form or button.
In this test the arrow shipped with the form, so its own effect is unknown.
Is 3,000 visitors enough for an A/B test?
It can be enough for a large effect, but small samples exaggerate lifts.
Re-test or run longer before treating a big number as exact.