Magic previously had a serif font (Times?) and it was just a plain 10 digit phone number. The page was actually really off-putting to users [citation needed] until they eventually fixed it.
(Yeah, I don't remember the article outlining that it did. But I remember that it did. Magic started off as a kind of hack or whatever.)
There was another service that appeared on HN shortly after this did offering a similar service but for small coding projects. Does anyone remember the name?
Interesting, I am still seeing the old homepage so maybe you're part of an A/B test (or I am part of the control group?). I can only see the new page when viewing in firefox: http://imgur.com/vl9DyA4
I have always wondered if that page worked cold. That is, someone got convinced to sign up by that page and didn't go there already convinced to sign up.
Yes but FB has the advantage of everyone knowing what it is/does. That is very rare, if I didn't know what FB was I would see that page and immediately leave because it tells me nothing about their service.
It's great for FB but would be horrible for just about any other product or service.
When I look at that, I think "Worst landing page ever...what the hell does it do, why should I bother, and how do I get it?" But then, if I have to ask those questions...I've probably missed the point, and SnapChat would be useless to me. The whole point is for it to spread virally, so a landing page is pointless.
As product landing page is first that user sees on screen, it should give idea what the product is, what it solves, and why would I want it. Till now i haven't seen many good of those.
https://distrokid.com/ Clear message, clear design, clear call to action and a bonus FAQ and Testimonials all on the home page. There aren't any js/css3 effects for bells and whistles and the site loads fast. Great job Pud.
I like these more for their aesthetic properties than for any technical or sales-focussed reason. I really have no idea how well any of these would convert.
Also Chrome on OSX, scrolling is perfect. Out of interest, because whenever these parallax sites come up a chunk of people have significant problems, what spec is your Mac?
The Mac Pro landing page is another example, a lot of people think it's amazing, but I've seen videos of that where it just doesn't work for some people - something weird is going on here as it's clear the designers + front end people aren't seeing such problems with parallax, so why are others, and is it rare or more common than expected?
Came here to post Kaleidoscope. It's been years since I last saw that page, and as soon as I saw the question, it was the first answer that came to mind.
GetJustLanded.com is nice and clean, the mobile perspective is very simple and straightforward but the desktop view feels rich enough. I do wonder if the transition to the iTunes store hurts even though iTunes has strong brand recognition.
The other two don't support mobile (at least in FF or Chrome; firewatch is bugged) which is an unfortunate oversight by now.
Developer of @justlanded here :) Thanks for appreciating our landing page – @partlysean did a great job on it. We also recently released Patchmania which has a neat landing page you might like: http://getpatchmania.com
Honestly, because we're an app company rather than an e-commerce or SaaS company, a lot of the effort we put into these pages is largely for the benefit of the press (who often research apps on desktop). The vast majority of end users discover our apps through the App Stores themselves, so we put even more effort into our icon, screenshots, app preview, description, keywords etc.
As for conversion rates, sadly Apple hasn't opened up any analytics to developers for their actual App Store product pages (even though they announced they would a year ago at WWDC), so what users are doing when browsing the actual stores is largely a black box - we have no idea how many people view our app store previews or screenshots etc. or even where they came from (many deep-linking schemes we've looked at are pretty brittle or don't work at all).
Conversion rates on the website landing pages are pretty good - there's not much else to do on those pages than download the app, and chances are you came there with that goal.
I didn't realize this is an active project that happens recently until you reply. It looks nice but in a 2 year ago way. You demo is in iOS6, that is so ancient. I would immediately get turned away by it
It's true that Just Landed hasn't been updated for a while. That will change later this year. We've been working on Patchmania (http://getpatchmania.com) for 2 years, which launched recently.
Honestly, if you're reacting to the video showing iOS 6 I think you're probably focusing on the wrong thing.
Yeah, I'll probably swap our download button for an App Store badge when we next update it. Sadly it's unlikely that I'll ever build an Android version – can't make the economics work.
+1 for http://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com and their other similar designed pages/apps. Beautiful, artistic and original vs. the same old same bootstrap seen that 100 times type of design that is flooding this thread & the web.
All the product pages from Panic (panic.com) are always a joy. They are simple, clear, and pleasing to the eye. Here is a good example http://www.panic.com/prompt/
I'm not a designer but the text sizes for headings, CTAs and the product name feels plain wrong on this page. There also isn't any contrast for action buttons so they're somewhat camouflaged. This leaves the product name and CTAs (probably two of the most important landing page elements) feeling very underwhelming.
I like the 'how it works' diagram that we put right on the front page @ https://Userify.com... (ssh key manager, new version dropping next week). More companies should tell how it works right up front like that even if it's ugly.
I really like the colors, simplicity, clean feel and clear communication.
I'd say it feels a little like a mobile-on-desktop kind of thing. Did you maybe do mobile-first and not follow through completely? A side-by-side graphic and/or intro with a CTA might feel more natural on the desktop.
Putting the graphic alongside what you have now might even be enough to make it feel right; something like this (I'm not a designer!): http://i.imgur.com/HJMrEsU.png
Yep, you guessed it -- it's kind of a mobile-on-desktop bootstrap sort of thing. (The app itself is responsive as well, even moves the toolbar to bottom of screen.)
I think the side-by-side graphic and intro w/ CTA is a great idea. It could even separate into a single column on mobile. and huge thanks for taking the time!! (it's an awesome idea. are you sure you're not a designer?!)
https://stripe.com/connect is heavy on javascript (without javascript you see nothing). Scrolling in firefox is a pain.
In chrome I cant even access it (Your connection is not private message with red https)
I didn't get the HTTPS error but I did see way too much JS dependency, and that animated background requires an excessive amount of CPU for something I think is unnecessary.
I Don't think the bitcoin one gives the audience enough control over what they are seeing. It's nice to be able to scroll up and down the page to get a feel of the features. That one you have to sit through an animated sequence. I almost instinctively closed the page.
I found myself trying to scroll down as well, and when I realized I couldn't, the second wave of animations snapped my attention back to the top, and I said "well, let's see what this is about".
I think walkthroughs like that one rely on the "aha" moment. Once they had my attention, it was an impressive, easy to follow, informative mini-tour. It's getting that buy-in that's tough.
While I imagine it turns many people off, I also assume that those people have low interest in what the page is about.
So in that way, there's a sort of upfront filtration, where the people who aren't very interested get turned off, but the people who are watching intently get a better-than-usual payoff.
I'd really like to see the research that went into the page. Stripe's design team is on point, so my guess is that they did their homework.
I love their designs and Square's. I have used Square's earlier landing page for Square cash as inspiration but I hate the low contrast text on these stripe pages...
Every one of those except the connect landing page successfully sold me. Those are very impressive.
The connect landing page did a poor job of explaining what it was or did. It named dropped some things it hoped I would recognized, had a fancy graphic that kinda lags on firefox, and I couldn't figure out what kind of problem it solved.
It's sort of about letting people transfer money to other people, with me sitting in the middle somehow? I have no doubt it exists for a reason, but a reason I can not ferret out.
I know I'm old fashioned, but it took probably 5 seconds to load the first one (and my internet is p good). Sure it's only 5 seconds and it does give good results - but that's long enough that I start to wonder if something is broken.
Totally agree, looks great on PC and it should be relatively easy from a structural perspective to do. You also show a guy on his mobile device in the image (ouch!). You should definitely do it!
I like http://basecamp.com (I love the artwork, to be honest), and lately I have found http://getbeagle.co - though its usability could be discussed, I like its aesthetic.
I don't understand why do so many people like basecamp landing pages, to me it's just overflown with plain text, I don't know it's just me or not but the more text content I see on a landing page - the less desire I have to read it.
There's great landing pages everywhere nowadays. The better ones have very clear value proposition and examples of how to use the product. A few examples:
I really like the Intercom and Mailchimp home pages. Good use of text combined with visuals to quickly and clearly explain the value as soon as you land on the page.
Loved that article Matt. Especially step 2, THE MESSAGING: CREATE SOME GUIDELINES.
After I'd done this exercise, I realised that all our marketing content needs reworking. So what started out as a landing page redesign has transformed into a giant playbook on how do we convert clients needing XYZ job done?, incorporating everything from cold sales emails to online demos.
It looks alright, but it took me quite a while to figure out why they were 'superpowered'.
Seems like the main USP is that you get notified of price changes of products in which you are interested, but this is hidden behind scrolling and waiting. I only bothered to wait because I visited through here.
Personally, I would add something like "Add products to your Amazon wishlist. We'll tell you when the price changes." underneath "Superpowered wishlists for Amazon".
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 117 ms ] thread(Yeah, I don't remember the article outlining that it did. But I remember that it did. Magic started off as a kind of hack or whatever.)
It's cool seeing the initial sketches and the other variants of the page they had considered.
http://craigslist.org
...more links but less "plasticy".
Also:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
It's great for FB but would be horrible for just about any other product or service.
https://www.snapchat.com/
When I look at that, I think "Worst landing page ever...what the hell does it do, why should I bother, and how do I get it?" But then, if I have to ask those questions...I've probably missed the point, and SnapChat would be useless to me. The whole point is for it to spread virally, so a landing page is pointless.
http://www.getjustlanded.com
http://www.firewatchgame.com
http://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com
OsX Chrome 42
The Mac Pro landing page is another example, a lot of people think it's amazing, but I've seen videos of that where it just doesn't work for some people - something weird is going on here as it's clear the designers + front end people aren't seeing such problems with parallax, so why are others, and is it rare or more common than expected?
The other two don't support mobile (at least in FF or Chrome; firewatch is bugged) which is an unfortunate oversight by now.
Honestly, because we're an app company rather than an e-commerce or SaaS company, a lot of the effort we put into these pages is largely for the benefit of the press (who often research apps on desktop). The vast majority of end users discover our apps through the App Stores themselves, so we put even more effort into our icon, screenshots, app preview, description, keywords etc.
As for conversion rates, sadly Apple hasn't opened up any analytics to developers for their actual App Store product pages (even though they announced they would a year ago at WWDC), so what users are doing when browsing the actual stores is largely a black box - we have no idea how many people view our app store previews or screenshots etc. or even where they came from (many deep-linking schemes we've looked at are pretty brittle or don't work at all).
Conversion rates on the website landing pages are pretty good - there's not much else to do on those pages than download the app, and chances are you came there with that goal.
Honestly, if you're reacting to the video showing iOS 6 I think you're probably focusing on the wrong thing.
The page also is not responsive.
Why in particular do you like this landing page?
Best LP I've ever designed, 67% conversion rate.
Maybe you should have some explanation here. I just saw the action buttons and went clicking. When I came to the end I have no idea what anything is.
Also, as someone mentioned. It seems like a super niche thing.
I'd say it feels a little like a mobile-on-desktop kind of thing. Did you maybe do mobile-first and not follow through completely? A side-by-side graphic and/or intro with a CTA might feel more natural on the desktop.
Putting the graphic alongside what you have now might even be enough to make it feel right; something like this (I'm not a designer!): http://i.imgur.com/HJMrEsU.png
Yep, you guessed it -- it's kind of a mobile-on-desktop bootstrap sort of thing. (The app itself is responsive as well, even moves the toolbar to bottom of screen.)
I think the side-by-side graphic and intro w/ CTA is a great idea. It could even separate into a single column on mobile. and huge thanks for taking the time!! (it's an awesome idea. are you sure you're not a designer?!)
Consider making a custom one for mobile. After zooming out it still convinced me, but it may turn some people off.
Btw, I know it's not a trivial thing to do, and what you have is great. Just would like to have even more people see it :P
https://stripe.com/checkout
https://stripe.com/connect
https://stripe.com/subscriptions
https://stripe.com/bitcoin
I found myself trying to scroll down as well, and when I realized I couldn't, the second wave of animations snapped my attention back to the top, and I said "well, let's see what this is about".
I think walkthroughs like that one rely on the "aha" moment. Once they had my attention, it was an impressive, easy to follow, informative mini-tour. It's getting that buy-in that's tough.
While I imagine it turns many people off, I also assume that those people have low interest in what the page is about.
So in that way, there's a sort of upfront filtration, where the people who aren't very interested get turned off, but the people who are watching intently get a better-than-usual payoff.
I'd really like to see the research that went into the page. Stripe's design team is on point, so my guess is that they did their homework.
I am all for http://contrastrebellion.com/
The connect landing page did a poor job of explaining what it was or did. It named dropped some things it hoped I would recognized, had a fancy graphic that kinda lags on firefox, and I couldn't figure out what kind of problem it solved.
It's sort of about letting people transfer money to other people, with me sitting in the middle somehow? I have no doubt it exists for a reason, but a reason I can not ferret out.
http://mailchimp.com/
https://www.kissmetrics.com/
https://www.intercom.io/
https://www.heroku.com/
https://vwo.com/
After I'd done this exercise, I realised that all our marketing content needs reworking. So what started out as a landing page redesign has transformed into a giant playbook on how do we convert clients needing XYZ job done?, incorporating everything from cold sales emails to online demos.
Great read. And your landing pages look sublime.
I know its kind of mainstream (and not sucking up to YC) but I just love it and always use it as an onboarding example.
Seems like the main USP is that you get notified of price changes of products in which you are interested, but this is hidden behind scrolling and waiting. I only bothered to wait because I visited through here.
Personally, I would add something like "Add products to your Amazon wishlist. We'll tell you when the price changes." underneath "Superpowered wishlists for Amazon".