Have you ever optimized for signups and accidentally hurt your bottom line?

We fell into this exact same trap last year. We ran an A/B test on our landing page and picked the headline that gave us the highest number of free signups.

Turns out, a flashy catchy headline brings in a ton of curious people who bounce after three days while a boring, clear statement attracts the actual buyers.

Ever since that mess we stopped looking at raw conversion rates as the main success metric.

How do you usually balance getting a high volume of signups versus attracting people who are ready to pay?