3 builders who never spoke to each other

Do not assume the rewrite wins

A complete overhaul can perform no better than the page it replaced, which is why the new version runs as a variant rather than a replacement. Apply it to your best seller first, hold it against the current page, and only roll a treatment across the rest of the site once it has actually won on that one.

The method

1. 01

   Do not assume a landing page rewrite will lift conversion; a full overhaul can perform no better than the page it replaced.

2. 02

   Let an outside designer rebuild your landing page in exchange for permission to write up the process, and run it as an A/B test before adopting it.

3. 03

   Once a page treatment wins, rebuild your other content pages the same way rather than treating the win as one-off.

4. 04

   Apply the rewrite to your current best seller first and run it against the existing page rather than replacing it outright.

What it returned

• 10%

  A fellow indie hacker redesigned Place Card Me's landing page; a two-month A/B test showed roughly 10% more visitors trying the card maker, and Zue rolled it out to everyone.

• Zue completed a Place Card Me landing page overhaul and reported the new page did not appear to perform any better than the old one, counting the design practice as the real benefit.

• GiveDirectly applied the approach to further pages, including one explaining extreme poverty, and those pages are now generating more donations.

Sources

• The 5-4-3-2-1 formula that boosted sales by 27%Justin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · Action Step: · 2024-07-06
• Recalibrating ExpectationsCory Zue · coryzue.com · January Goals · 2019-02-01
• DiversificationCory Zue · coryzue.com · Place Card Me · 2021-08-02
• How GiveDirectly increased donations by over $3 million/year through experimentationOlivia Chen · lennysnewsletter.com · Homepage design and interactivity matter · 2024-12-03