Low sign up rate: follow the path to an account

The homepage has one job for a visitor who is still deciding: show them the product is for them, and make a sign-up the obvious next step. Homepages often do the first part well, then offer three next steps at once: request a demo, read the pricing, or log in. A returning user goes to log in, a careful visitor reads the pricing, and a busy one leaves. Whichever link they choose, the sign-up count falls. One clear sign-up button above the first scroll takes the choice away from people who would otherwise have looked for it.

• First screen: is there a sign-up button visible without scrolling, on a phone and on a laptop?
• Button labels: do they say Sign up or Start free, or something vague such as Get started?
• Competing links: how many other exits sit next to the main button, such as demo or contact?
• Log in link: does it lead to a page that confuses a new visitor with an existing account prompt?
• After the form: does the visitor see a clear next screen and an email that says what to do next?

Set up the rungs as a ladder: homepage visits, then visits to the sign-up page, then people who start the form, then people who finish it and see the confirmation. The number at each rung tells you where the people are going. The wrong move is to rewrite the headline because it is the part you wrote most carefully. A headline cannot help a visitor who never saw a button. Find the largest drop between two rungs. If most visitors never reach the sign-up page, the problem is above it. If they reach the form and leave, the problem is in the form. Fix that rung first and leave the rest alone.

A header with a changelog link, a partners page, a pricing link, a demo button and a log in link gives a visitor five things to do before they try the product. Each one is reasonable for someone. Together they dilute the one action the page is for. Look at the first screen as a visitor who arrived from a search and has not decided. Count the exits in view, then ask which one you want them to take. Move the others below the product explanation or into the footer. Then compare homepage visits with sign-up clicks on the same days, before and after the change.

New visitors do not always know whether they already have an account. Some click the link that says log in, expecting to create one, and then find a password box with no way to start over. Others see a sign-up link in small type under the password field, and never scroll to it. The wrong version sends every visitor to the same place. The right version makes the two paths unmistakable: a sign-up button for new users, and a separate log in link for people who already have an account, with the new account path also visible on the log in page.

Headers gain items as a product grows: a changelog link, a partners page, a second pricing tier. Each new item competes with the sign-up button, and nobody sees the drop because sign-ups fall slowly. Run the same homepage path after each change to the header, the hero or the sign-up form, and compare which visitors reached the sign-up page. Paid runs can keep the same visitors and send them through again.