Most conversion rate optimization experts you'll meet would agree: Copywriting first. Design second.

The idea is that re-create (and the bulletin you're trying to convey through that copy) should dictate blueprint – not the other way around. At present, this is in no way meant to underestimate the importance of design. Pattern tin can exhale life into the story the re-create is telling, and done properly, nifty copy plus nifty design will always outperform great re-create alone.

The signal is, it'southward not hard to find examples of "ugly" pages outperforming beautifully designed pages – and in those cases, it usually boils downwards to the copy.

Copy beginning. Design 2nd.

We've been chatting near this a lot lately on HubSpot'south marketing optimization team. In the by, our marketing team has typically followed adesign first, copy 2d order of operations when designing web pages. And information technology's hard to blame us. We try to move fast and ship projects apace, and the design earlier copy approach is definitely the quicker of the two, since re-create can be written in tandem with the development of the pattern.

But when copywriting comes first, design can't even begin until copy is consummate. And because development can't happen untildesign is done, this definitely extends the timeline of project execution. The trouble is, this means you're crafting copy nether the limitations of a fully baked design, handicapping your ability to tell the story in the best way possible.

Now I'll admit: All this "copy earlier design" business organization always sounded great to mein theory, but conversion rate optimization experts too warn against the dangers of "all-time practices," so information technology was really enlightening to notice an example of this theory proven out on one of our very own web pages.

The Experiment

In addition to our chief free trial landing page, we also have a bunch of targeted, tool-specific free trial landing pages that the marketing squad uses for more segmented campaigns. Below you'll find an example of ane (paradigm B), which is targeted to specifically promote HubSpot's Blogging tool. And here are the two compared to each other ...

A. Main Free Trial Landing Folio (Above the Fold)

main-free-trial-lp-1.png

B. Tool-Specific Free Trial Landing Page (Above the Fold)

blogging-free-trial.png

Every bit you tin can see, these tool-specific landing pages were congenital using an older template, and when we redesigned our main free trial landing page to look the fashion it currently does, its tool-specific counterparts remained in the one-time design. Seeing this as low-hanging fruit from a conversion perspective, I converted three of our most trafficked tool-specific free trial landing pages into the newer template. To be sure the newer pattern was still in fact the better converting design, I A/B tested each folio confronting its pre-existing design.

The Initial Results

When I beginning analyzed the results of these 3 tests, the variation (i.e., the design using the newer template) only won for two of the three pages. Naturally, I tried to understand why. When I took a closer look at the 3rd i (the costless trial landing page for our Keywords tool), I noticed a deviation. Tin y'all spot it?

Older Template (Control)

old-keywords-trial.png

Newer Template (Variant)

newer-template.png

Okay ... apparently in that location are a few differences here, considering the design is completely different. Merely the i that stuck out to me immediately was that the positioning of the header/subheader re-create in the control was very different than that of the variant.

Control Header + Subheader Copy:

Find Out Which Keywords Y'all (And Your Competitors) Rank For

Instantly admission SEO information with HubSpot's Keywords tool by starting a thirty-mean solar day free trial.


Variant Header + Subheader Re-create:

Try HubSpot'due south Keywords Tool Gratuitous for xxx Days

Get found in search for the keywords that matter.

The positioning in the control was primarily focused on the value of the Keywords tool, specifically emphasizing the competitive intelligence the tool provides, whereas the positioning in the variant was focused on clarifying what the offer was itself (i.due east., a gratuitous, xxx-solar day trial). And while I had made sure the variant still mentioned the competitive intelligence value of the Keywords tool, I had buried it lower downward on the folio ... beneath the fold.

Isolating Variables

The problem with this test was that I wasn't isolating the variable I was trying to prove. In this instance, I wanted to prove that the new pattern for the page performed better than the existing design, yet I was manipulating more than than one variable: designand copy. So after I had my "duh" moment, I decided to tweak the positioning in the header re-create of the variant to lucifer the control, and let the exam run for a few more weeks. This manner I'd be doing a better task of isolating design every bit the variable I was testing.

Here's what the header and subheader re-create in the control and variant looked like afterward I tweaked the variant. Notation that I made no changes to the re-create in the command ...

Command Header + Subheader Copy:

Find Out Which Keywords You (And Your Competitors) Rank For

Instantly admission SEO data with HubSpot'south Keywords tool by starting a thirty-day free trial.


Variant Header + Subheader Re-create:

Observe Out Which Keywords You & Your Competitors Rank For

Get SEO data instantly with a free trial of HubSpot's Keywords tool.

And here's how information technology looked in each template variation ...

Older Template

original-copy-old-template.png

Newer Template

original-copy-new-template.png

Final Results

A few weeks after making those tweaks, I re-evaluated my examination. Bingo!

The variant was the new winner with 99.07% conviction and a 20% increase in conversion over the command.

Aside from the fact that this was (ultimately) a successful test, what I love is that it proves how influential copy tin be. The merely reason the command originally outperformed the variation was considering people preferred the copy in the control -- fifty-fifty though the design of the variant ultimately performed better.

So there you accept it: Don't underestimate copywriting in favor of design. In fact, copywriting tin can be even more influential than design when it comes to conversion rate optimization.

free guide to landing page copywriting

Originally published Dec 28, 2016 8:00:00 AM, updated June 10 2021