Over the last 12 months, I have had the privilege to sit down and chat with innovative website leaders at brands like Lovable, Ahrefs, Cisco, Adobe, Clay, Docket, Buffer, Glean, Zapier, and Linear.
They have been kind enough to get into the data with me, peel back the curtain, and share their expertise.
Combined with the expansive database of A/B tests we have here at DoWhatWorks, I bring you eight takeaways.
Mercury, Slack, Buffer, Zendesk
Simplify the path to signup instead of arguing for it.
The changes that drove the biggest lifts in signup conversion shared a common thread: they simplified the path to account creation rather than trying to convince people harder. You can see this in the A/B tests on the signup pages for brands like Mercury, Slack, Buffer, and Zendesk.
The winning versions cut out the copy setting expectations and the social proof badges.
Ahrefs
Free tools listed in your footer can help with GEO.
Here is the direct quote from the Ahrefs CMO on this.
For GEO purposes, launching quick, free tools (and having them curated somewhere on the site) can help shape brand narrative, especially for those trying to get a foothold in a market OR those who are pivoting to something new.
Vibe coding free tools can be a good way to test interest. It gets more eyeballs for our non-content core offering.
When the LLMs are crawling your site, they see that part of your product offering now includes xyz. Offering these tools for free increases the chances they will be mentioned or recommended by other happy users on social media or other websites, which in turn will reinforce to LLMs that your business model now includes xyz and is more diversified than what it was previously.
CMO, Ahrefs
Kit, Zapier
Reassurance subtext below CTAs performs well.
“Free trial” and “no credit card required” are the obvious ones, but brands like Kit include “free migrations” and brands like Zapier include specific enterprise security features, like “SOC-II compliant.”
Glean
Better expectation-to-reality in CTA buttons is one of the easiest ways to get a fast lift.
Good
- Get Demo
- See Pricing
- Start Free Trial
- Read Research
Poor
- Learn More
- Experience the magic
- Spin it up
- Amplify your reach
When we talked with the Glean team, they got a lift from replacing all instances of “Learn More” on their homepage with something more specific.
MongoDB, Sage
Let people self-select their path as soon as possible.
Dozens of brands have A/B tested into persona segmentation right under their hero sections. MongoDB and Sage have added “experience” toggles at the tops of their homepages towards the same end.
We also see test data that shows having a top nav option for “enterprise” wins, which signals the same principle.
Framer, Glean
Compare your product against Claude Code and ChatGPT.
Whether you are an email automation tool, a CRM, a project management platform, or a page builder, customers are now comparing you against the best vibe coding and no-code options.
We saw brands like Framer that implemented this comparison directly in their footer and had it ranking in major LLMs in under 30 days. Glean also added comparisons to ChatGPT Enterprise and Claude Enterprise and it was quickly indexed and used in LLMs.
PostWhat Framer did, and how fast it rankedPostHow LLMs approach brand-native comparison contentDoWhatWorks research
Agent accessibility matters.
Agents often cannot access key site content hidden behind hover states, animations, or scroll-triggered loading. If important information only appears through dynamic interactions or forced scroll animations, both agents and users may miss it.
Deep diveIs your website optimized for agentsUserEvidence
The bar for social proof is higher today.
A good proxy for how valuable your social proof is: how easy is it to fake? We see case studies and video testimonials winning over logos or quote testimonials for this exact cost-signaling rationale.
WebinarDozens of social proof A/B tests, with UserEvidence