Alternatively, that might be the reason it converts well. It's the old game of casually hiding what exactly it is you're doing and encouraging nosy people to check it out or ask for an invite (Forrst did/does this quite well). If they showed exactly what you get once you sign up, people may be less likely to sign up if it's not what they expected. They're less likely to unsubscribe once "in" though ;-) I say "may" because this definitely doesn't work for all types of site or list but it could be the ticket here.

Yeah, I'd be curious about what an unclear landing page does later on in the funnel - do users from these landing pages convert to purchase less overall?

I agree. They are apparently doing very well on word of mouth alone. I didn't even see the about link, I was just staring at this big signup form and some pictures of needle point.

I must say, since I was expecting things like plastic injection, aluminum milling, and circuit board construction, the needle point definitely was effective at resetting my expectations! Still, I was confused by the tag line, as I still had it in my mind that it was a place for designers (albeit, now they're needle point designers in my head) to hang out, not for people to go and buy things.

EDIT: Now I see that it's not needle point, just regular paper art. The signup banner projects dots over much of the background, making me think it was needle point.

> I must say, since I was expecting things like plastic injection, aluminum milling, and circuit board construction

Must be the HN demographic. I thought the same thing, too.

Sorry to sound like a chime here but I too was unable to determine what it is you were offering. Having not heard of Fab.com, I assumed association with the laundry detergent sold in the US. After seeing the landing page, then I assumed design as in web pages or Wordpress Themes. I apparently am wrong on both accounts.

I say this as a business owner who actually has includes the word "Design" in the name of my legal entity.

I did not bother to look for an About page. I gave you the free minute I had at the time. You do have a nice looking layout though.

hmmm ... we've had incredibly high conversion rates on our landing page. Always looking to improve it though.

I should also note that we constantly test and rotate about 10 different landing pages, optimizing towards the ones that convert best.

That's interesting. However, in the design community fab.com seems to be spreading by word of mouth, so in my own case, I signed up eagerly on a recommendation and I don't recall spending any time reading what the landing page said. Is there any way to account for that sort of signup?

It really depends on how you measure conversions. If you measure actual sales, that's the way to go.

If you just measure signups, I can come up with a page that will convert 100X better in a second. "Get $1000 when you sign up".

Really can't help but think that their sales and conversion data is stronger evidence than your hunch.

What's not clear about this?

http://fab.com/about-fab/

I'm not a member, but from what I can tell you gain access to below retail cost of high design products. Sort of a Woot for the design savvy set.

it's not really clear if it's design as in clothes or design as in couches etc.

"Our entire reason for existing is to empower more and more people to embrace great design. Great design is everywhere. It's that perfect pencil, your favorite messenger bag, the headphones you use at the gym, the chair you're sitting at while reading this, and the art on your walls. Great design exists in every country in every product category and at every price point. We eat, sleep, and breathe design."

Sounds like not clothes (which is tough for these types of sales anyways with sizing and inevitable returns issues), but everything else. If you've been to the MoMA store in NYC I expect there would be a lot of similarities, though not at a discount.

I'm talking about fab.com, the main page. Most people will not click on "about" link, they will just leave.

The main page is just as clear to me. I clicked on About to confirm I didn't have an incorrect impression.

"Fab.com features daily design inspirations and sales at up to 70% off retail."

That pretty much sums it up. It also got me to give them my email address.

It didn't sum anything up to me. Actually, I didn't have any idea what "daily design inspirations" might be. I still wasn't quite clear about it after reading the first paragraphs of the about page (after which I concluded it can't be anything I'm interested in). Perhaps the problem is just me being a foreigner, but I hope people would start adding a "About in plain english" page on their sites ;)

I understood immediately. I am well connected to their target audience.

For those not in their target audience, I could see how it could be confusing.

"Fab.com features daily design inspirations and sales at up to 70% off retail."

We've A/B tested many other variants and this far out performs all else.

That's my point. They are not selling "design inspirations". They are selling designer products, and it would be nice if they specified the types of products they are selling.

"Design" is so generic, it can mean many things - a desktop wallpaper, a skin for Firefox, a knitting pattern.

just curious, knowing that it's designer objects, would you actually be interested? I tend to know a great deal of people who completely fetishize the idea of consuming "good design" from end-to-end. So this type of customer would be delighted to find an awesome knitting pattern or candlestick or cheese board. They'd probably be into a great desktop wallpaper too, if there were a truly original / useful concept for that.

We've tested numerous variants on language/messaging and this converts best to subscribers + purchasers so far. Always testing though...

I guess it has different appeal for different people. I immediately understood it and signed up. Sort of a Cool Hunting with a purchase button. Right up my alley.

So it appears that I(and many others on HN) are just not aware of this type of design culture as evidenced by my not understanding what "Cool Hunting" meant. I had to google that too!

Ah, that makes sense. I get too many emails from architect and designer friends about these sort of products that it's easy to assume everyone does. Some other sites in a similar vein:

http://www.betterlivingthroughdesign.com/ http://uncrate.com/ http://svpply.com/ http://breathemodern.com/

No, you're just not their target launch customer. It was clear to me from the get-go that they're the flash sale version of DWR.