"Sign Up" vs. "Join Now" Call-To-Action Button Text?
 

Has anyone done split testing on pages comparing buttons that say "Join" or "Sign Up" and other various call-to-action text to find which one is better? Or is it pretty much the same?

Discuss...

Id like ot know as well. Intuitively, one would think using the word "register" and "sign-up" would perform the worse than "join" ...but i'd love to se some numbers.

My experience is that there are just way too many variables to say that one or the other is the "right way". It depends on the product, the context and the traffic. I think you need to test yourself to know what works best for you.

Agreed, there are many different texts to use. As BV mentioned "Instant Access" is another one. Also, "Register" seems sort of bland and dry to me when I see it.

I'd like to see some split test results. Setup multiple copies of a page with different 'call-to'action text buttons on each, and see which does the best.

I've always had good luck (sorry no analytical data) with Instant Access.

To me Join Now and Sign Up insinuates more that there is going to be a cost or charge. Where as to me Instant Access does not.

CLICK HERE FOR BIG HUGE DING DONGS always gets lots of clicks

Get Your Password Now is another good one... stats showed it out-performed Join Now.

Nice, thanks

'Downloads' has worked better than 'Join Now' for me.

having a psych degree etc i can tell you join now works better than sign up

Join-now! -Only $1.85 3-Day Trial!

Some really pathetic call-to-action blurbs.
Fris (he's semi kidding) has the best one by far.

I can't wait much longer ...
Click here so we can share a hot sticky moment together!

Ya got any?

sign up now, join now, register now...all don't work anymore

on the other hand....even if you put something like 'BitTorrent Link' in small fonts and surrounded by banners, all the horny fucks would somehow be able to see it and click it like mad

Instant Access would be my pick. I'm interested to see what the program owners are going to write.

Join now, i think, for me the best one

nice thread thanks for the share :)

Good thread, needs more results :(

Join Now definitely better than Sign Up :)

i would like to hear more results too.

"Get Inside!"

you need to A/B test this on your own site with your own traffic

ClickDensity makes it easy, automating code block swapping, so that half your traffic sees one text / link, the other half sees another. It'll tell you which one folks prefer and by how much. Use the winner as your new "A" pitch, then try a different "B" -- test, repeat, test, repeat -- it's a continual process that can produce dramatic gains in your results.

You can use Google Analytics as well.

My gut tells me that Join Now is better for international traffic and Instant Access is best for domestic traffic.

Join Now is probably the most effective. That's what most sites use as the text.
Also used to join a basketball game. Ex. "Can I join your game?"

I use a variety of them in design, but usually the standards, i.e. Join Now, Join Here, Instant Access, Click For More, Click Here, Click To Get Freaky, Download Full Movie, Continue, See More, Uncensored, etc..... it's really a matter of preference I believe, and keeping a good mix, not getting stale by sticking with just one or two.

It's like, 2 or 3 words people.... use that mysterious gelatinous substance inside your skull. :2 cents:

oops, per thread title though, "Sign Up" vs. "Join Now"....

IMO, "Sign up" is more formal, like for webmasters joining affiliate programs or whatever. "Join Now" is more relaxed, geared for surfers joining paysites. :2 cents:

Did a little test, this wasn't done on a paysite on a join form but instead on a gallery page between the first and second row of images. Text only link leading to a tour, no banner or any image besides the gallery pics. Each phrase was followed by the site name that the gallery pics came from, for example "View more at Paysite Name".

As you can see, mentioning how cheap the trial costs, even if it's only $1, doesn't help at all, in fact quite the opposite, it hardly gets any clicks at all. However simply mentioning where to get more similiar pics seems to be the best way to get them to click through. :thumbsup

Phrase Clicks
Continue to 12
Click here 11
For more pics like these visit 11
Get more at 10
See more at 9
Click for more 9
More exclusive pics at 9
View more at 9
These pics taken from 7
Download more at 7
These pics are from 6
Want to see more pics? 6
Join here 5
For more pics join 5
For more pics sign up at 5
More real girlfriends at 5
Click here for more 5
All the pics you see here came from 5
These pics stolen from 4
Get Instant Access to more pics at 4
Sign up 2
Join now for $1 2
More members area pics at 2
Submitted by 2
Limited time offer $1 to join 2
Get Instant Access for $1 at 2
Only $1 join 2
Join now 1
Sign up for $1 at 1

Nice! :thumbsup

bingo.....

do NOT click here

"get instant access to _site name_" works best for me with blogs.

"watch full _site name_ video now" works best for me on tubes.

I also always emphasize the trial price if there is one.

I like the peter Griffin approach ....
If you leave with out signing up your GAY (insert ip address here)
or
Come onnnnnnn Sign up ... coommeee oonnnnn!

"Click here for illegal little girl sex with big black farm animals!"

Home run.

On a serious note, I've always tried to mix it up on a page with Join Now, Instant Access, Start Downloading and a few others linked keywords I will add in during some text descriptions.

We did A/B/C testing with Google Analytics on www.art-lingerie.com testing

Instant Access (what we have always run)
Join Now
See More

And running it for two weeks with our own traffic there was very little difference with Instant Access winning by a very small margin, but GA was indicating no overall winner.

We are now testing via GA using the Instant Access button in green (as a call to action) against the usual orange we have always used for this button, and so far (after about 10 days) the original orange is showing out as a winner (which goes against all those saying Green as a Go/Call to Action works better!)

That's just our findings.

We use Google Analytics to A/B test a huge amount of things on the tours, it is a great piece of free software that all webmasters should be using to its full extent!

thanks for sharing, maybe i test that too :)

Very nice thread!

One thing that should be tested along with the call-to-action phrases is the action taken when the potential customer hits that join page to which the phrase is linked. While it's certainly important to get more customers to your join page, it's not so good if the action that they're taking is to back up to the previous page on the tour or close the window.

Some sponsors use "Next Page..." or "See More..." as links to their join pages on their tour, and this historically means a lot of hits to the join page but low signup ratios. On the other hand, replacing the "Next Page" link with "Join Now" or a similar clear statement will get fewer clicks to the join page but a better ratio of actual signups from those who click that link.

The real key, as mentioned by others, is matching the call-to-action to the look/feel of the tour, the specific product, the content and context of the tour, the offer, the copy platform and the traffic sources.

On pages like galleries, free sites, blog posts, and other pages designed to get people to the first tour page, then offering them "more" of what they're seeing is a good way to move them to the tour. Not saying just use the word "more" as the link, but that telling someone that clicking a link will give them access to more of what they like is good on those kinds of pages.

Nice thread, we chose Join Now among other options. It'd be great to see more stats.

Quoted for truth.