Does borrowed registration page copy lift desktop homepage conversion?

A headline and button copy update had lifted conversion on our registration pages. We tested the same copy on the desktop homepage. Over 21 days, conversion was 0.4% lower, level with the original.

Not significant Desktop 21 days Not called

SURFACE

Homepage

DEVICE

Desktop

VERTICAL

Ecommerce (B2C)

PRIMARY METRIC

Conversion rate

VARIATIONS

1

The hypothesis

By bringing the headline and button copy from a winning registration page test to the desktop homepage, we will make the next step clearer, resulting in more completed registrations.

The registration page test rewrote the headline and button to match the wording visitors expect for a DMV task. It lifted conversion on mobile and desktop, so we tested whether desktop visitors who land on the homepage would respond the same way.

What we changed

Desktop homepage header and button copy from the registration winner

Var A replaced the desktop homepage header and button copy with the wording from the registration page test. The layout, form and everything else on the page stayed the same. A mobile version ran at the same time.

VAR A: DMV COPY

Header copy from the registration winner
Button copy from the registration winner

The result

Conversion was 0.4% lower with the new copy, level with control

CONVERSION RATE

-0.4%

Over 21 days, the new copy converted 0.4% worse than the original, with revenue per visitor also down 0.4%. We saw some movement in form starts, but it never reached our confidence bar, and by the end the 2 versions were level. We paused the test.

What we would do next

Test how the homepage form starts, not its wording

The copy that clarified the task on the registration pages did not change behavior on the desktop homepage. We would focus the next test on how the homepage form starts, and the micro step tests that followed did that.