Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button?

Posted by martinkallstrom on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @09:20AM
from the ask-hn dept.

The increasing proliferation of A/B-testing have the effect of inflating sign up buttons all over the web. The effect comes from the fact that A/B-testing will show that almost no matter how large you make the sign-up button, you can squeeze out a few extra per mille in conversion rate by making it even bigger.

An example of a website with a quite large sign-up button is http://www.teambox.com. Let's start a round of one-uppance: who can find the largest sign-up button around? Not counting spoofs and goofs.

( 15 comments | 12 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by benologist on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @10:42AM (#1787249)

I'm not sure if they're a startup or not but these guy's have a very big one:

http://www.gaiaonline.com/

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by fnl on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @04:02PM (#1788642)

My guess after seeing that: big, flashy buttons are a "better" way to lure kids in ... ? (If anybody remembers, kids sites also have the largest amount of trackers, so that would somehow nicely complement that "design strategy".)

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by pontuse on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:42PM (#1787769)

Great approach to the Sign Up button! The humorous approach itself probably increases the conversion rate.

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by seiji on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:08PM (#1787906)

Depends on what you mean by conversion.

Interesting stats: over 50% of the people who sign up never click the "verify email" link in the welcome message they get. About 90% of the people who sign up are "born dead" meaning they are never seen again after the first few days.

It's difficult to inject your site into a person's habits, routine, and life. But once someone is hooked, they stay forever (or until a major life event like moving to college).

That site can deal with crappy signup numbers because the site still brings in over one million dollars every month from teenage girls buying "virtual items" for $2.50 to $9.99 each: http://vator.tv/news/2010-07-23-gaia-makes-1m-a-month-in-vir...

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by seiji on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:39PM (#1787752)

It started out as a joke then spiraled out of control. Based on half a dozen other homepage split tests, nothing significantly outperforms the Big Red Button.

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by forsgren on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @11:49AM (#1787521)

Wow! That is one huge button...

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by benologist on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:07PM (#1787596)

Yep. I'm pretty sure it works too - they ran (and probably still do) massive ad campaigns at a scale where they would have to have tested a whole stack of variations.

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by forsgren on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @09:26AM (#1786985)

Biggest one I've seen so far: http://baramail.com.au/ (the giant "sign up now for a free account" button at the bottom of the page)

Bonus: http://www.betterblogger.net/

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by martinkallstrom on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @09:34AM (#1787005)

Very cool. Perhaps a relevant question for the ones of you that have done actual A/B-runs: Is it your experience that a larger or more prominent button "always" increases conversion rate? Is there any counter examples?

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by desigooner on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @02:07PM (#1788198)

wow that baramail site .. is .. slowwwww .. even on an ethernet connection

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by michokest on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @11:02AM (#1787328)

I put that button on Teambox, and I can say it was not because of A/B testing at all. I just like clicking on big buttons!

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by karlgoldfield on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @11:59AM (#1787565)

I actually did A to Z testing from 2x2 pixels all the way to fullscreen button. This button was the size that got the most clicks and also the most girls giving me their phone numbers via IM.

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by martinkallstrom on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @11:51AM (#1787530)

So what kind of conversion rate are you seeing from visitors on that page?

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by karlgoldfield on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:00PM (#1787570)

Signups? I cannot disclose actual numbers but after the website redesign we saw an increase in signups by 40%.

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Re:Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? by benologist on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:17PM (#1787647)

If you classify redesign as "one thing" you become eligible for a "How I increased signups 40% by doing one thing" submissions!

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