Is an email signup form more effective than a button?

[JoelA]

I'm very confident it is.  But I'm looking for a study I can use to tell my conservative bosses that if we replace the button with an email entry field and button, we'll improve conversion greatly.

If anyone has a link to a study on how much you can further improve clickthrough by having an overlay form appear, I'd appreciate that as well.

Joel

[EricaMcGillivray]

You definitely want to make any customer/community information you're collecting as easy as possible for the person entering it. Making it less clicks will always improve your conversion.

[94501]

HI Joel,

I can understand wanting a study to convince someone of something. Thing is, Erica is right.

You figure 100% of the people on this page are on this page. Some smaller percent will by definition be on the next page with the sign up form.

So, unless there is something magical about the button that adds to their commitment to filling out the form or some amazing content (that should be on page one if it's so amazing), I can't see how more visitors would fill out the form on page two. It would have to be so many more that it makes up for all the people that didn't click the link or button.

If the signup form is too huge for the content already on page one, you may want to try asking for just name and email on page one and the rest of it on page two. That way, you would at least get enough to keep marketing to them later if they bail on page two of the form. Of course, test that to get the data you need.

What the page two form advocates have is a hypothesis. Such is the stuff tests are made of.

Sorry about not having a study, but it really is not very debatable. Of course, every site is different and who knows what variables in information or channel you're dealing with.

Best of luck!

Mike

[EricaMcGillivray]

If you're looking for specific studies, I know there's some out there about CRO on payment forms. Kyle Rush talked about the one he did for the Obama campaign for campaign donations at MozCon in 2013.

[EGOL]

You are asking if Method A is better than Method B.  I am willing to bet that the implementation is more important than the method.

So, I would do some of each and keep track of what does best.  Every situation is going to be unique and the more varied the stuff that you throw at the wall the greater your chance of seeing something big stick.

[BlueCorona]

I have to agree with EGOL when they stated, "You are asking if Method A is better than Method B. I am willing to bet that the implementation is more important than the method."

I think either of these methods (button v. form) can work better, but this is dependent on a few things. You will need to consider what the industry is, who the viewers are, and what they are more likely to do. Aesthetics and verbiage will also make a major impact—so it really comes down to multiple factors. For instance, someone who is younger might be more inclined to simply hit a button for ease of use. Making it less clicks will always improve your conversion. But an older person might prefer to fill out a form—but they might also not want to give out their information. My biggest suggestion would be to sit down and ensure you are thinking about your audience, not necessarily what you think would convert the best.

Hope this helps!