We were recently having a discussion around what the landing/login page of http://howzatnow.com should look like. The argument was that by not giving enough information, majority of the visitor would tend to drop off instead of signing up.
There are 2 schools of thought around this:
- Have an open book type login page. Show everything about the website upfront
- Create an elusive members only concept. Only when you sign up do you see what you get.
Option (1) is done by every tom,dick and harry IMO. It has its pro’s and cons. Its very clear on what to expect, which is great. But i would argue that more people might drop off saying oh, i know what its all about, I dont need to try it. Since we’re a start up and our sole objective is to attract people, is this the best approach for us?
(2) is kinda new. Websites like gmail, facebook, twitter, linkedin all have adopted this approach and it has clearly worked. True, some people may not want to venture in because they dont know enough about what it is, but the majority will. The little information that is provided should generate enough curiosity. Its proven. Humans are curious by nature and this approach builds off that. Again, is this the best approach for us?
Our current login page has adopted the second approach. The decision we made to keep the login page the way it is was deliberate.
However, i feel there needs to be a balance. If we think that our login page doesn’t talk about Fantasy Cricket enough, then that should be addressed. It should act as a teaser to what to expect (we dont want to give away everything after all). Remember, we want to be different. We want to be leaders/trail blazers and not follow the crowd.
What do you think of this? Would love to hear your thoughts on these two quite distinct approaches.
RP Discovered 