Also, do you think that the change to a more direct call to action is making the page stronger? While I wrote this piece as a discussion-starter, based on a conversation I had, I would love to follow it up with real data and see how it really panned out. Cheers!

I’m TripIt’s VP of Product and I wanted to shed a little light on what we’re doing.

The changes you see on TripIt’s home page are some of the first of many experiments we’re running to try to make the process of onboarding new users as smooth as possible. Our team thinks of each page as a series of hypotheses that needs to be proved or disproved. We are big believers in scientific product development, and you can be sure that we’re going to be running more experiments on our sign up flow.

As to your question, has the change from Learn More to Sign Up been for the worse or the better? We’re shy about sharing data on this publicly, but so far the evidence suggests that the change from Learn More to Sign Up has been a good change, especially taking into account other important changes we’re testing downstream from the call to action. That said, I expect this page to continue to evolve in the coming weeks and months. It may be evolving as I type!

Thank you for your thoughtful and thought-provoking writing. Our whole team enjoyed Designing for the Social Web, and we appreciate the comments that you’ve made about TripIt’s sign up process, as well as those you’ve passed on from folks you’ve met at your talks.

Best regards,

Will Aldrich

But I agree that it may not be worth it, as the prominent Sign Up button definitely interferes with and weakens the other call to action (“just send us an email”).

The proof will be in TripIt’s conversion rate, but I believe this change will have a negative impact, particularly because the registration form is more cumbersome than it needs to be. (If all they really need to register you is your email address, why would they suddenly require all the additional information?)

I think that in the previous iteration, the “Learn More” button might have been overshadowing the other call to action, and this might explain why Tripit wanted to change it. But I think that the current version is too much of a return to a “ho-hum” web application signup.

Your suggestion of improved copy on the main page, perhaps combined with a less prominent “Learn More” button, would be an ideal solution (maybe large text that reads, as you suggested: “No need to sign up, simply forward your emails to plans@tripit.com and we’ll get you started immediately”, with a regular link in a smaller size underneath saying “learn more”.)

I think the extra step of actually having to fill out yet ANOTHER sign up form on a site is a hinderance. They’re taking a step back in my opinion.

Still a cool service though.

Even as a web-savvy user I’d be skeptical about the alternate method: does this really create an account, or just a one-time transaction? what if there is another person with my same name? how do I set my password? what information will TripIt use?

This reminds me of Apple’s unconventional checkout at their retail stores: no counter, no cash register, just an employee with a gizmo around his neck. It’s very cool once you’re used to it, but a tiny bit unnerving the first time. The difference of course is that, standing there with your purchase in hand and a real person to talk to, you’re less likely to bail than when faced with the uncertainty of sending your travel itinerary to a web service you’re trying for the first time.