How I 3x'd Conversion Rates for a $XX Million AI Devtool Startup in One Week

"There is no free lunch, but there are bargain lunches."

I tripled the website conversion rate for [redacted], an AI devtool startup backed with $XX million in funding. Now I'll explain how with one redesign we 3x'd how many people download the app.

You might know the saying "there is no free lunch". But that's not the full version. It goes like this: "there is no free lunch, but there are bargain lunches."

If we get disproportionate returns to effort put in, that's a bargain lunch.

So how do we find these bargain lunches?

The answer is boring. Data.

The Problem

When I started working with this AI devtool startup I spotted the biggest issue. No clear data. It was all fragmented and the entire funnel wasn't tracked. This took some fixing.

But from the Google Analytics data I instinctively knew the conversion rate was a constraint. I ran deep research to find industry benchmarks and that confirmed it.

Despite $XX million in funding and a futuristic product, their conversion rate was sitting way below industry benchmarks. After we fixed the tracking (first piece of the puzzle), I found two massive bottlenecks killing their conversions.

Bottleneck #1: The download flow

To download the desktop app required:

1. Hovering on a dropdown button
2. Clicking on their Operating System (Windows, Mac, Linux) to get to the docs page
3. Scrolling down on the docs page
4. Figuring out which of the several download links one should click on
5. Clicking the download link

This is what I call bad friction - unnecessary effort that makes it harder for our ideal user to do what we want them to do. Every extra click is a chance for someone to bounce.

We replaced that with:

1. Clicking on the Operating System (Windows, Mac, Linux) which starts the download

That's one click download instead of 4 extra steps. Simple fix, big impact.

Bottleneck #2: Overly-technical, investor-optimized hero section

The second highest impact change was in the hero section. Yes, I did rework the rest of the landing page as well - but the hero section is where I put in 80% of my effort.

"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar." - David Ogilvy

The takeaway isn't "oh yeah I'll pay more attention to headlines". The takeaway is that 80% of time while marketing should be spent on the headline. Changes to the rest of the material can't bring in 5x more users but a better headline can. And that's a blessing because it takes less time to change a few words.

So what was actually wrong?

The issue was clear the first time I saw the AI devtool startup's website. The headline was too complex for the average busy person, and the hero section image was one of those vague images typical of SaaS which transmit no information.

Remember - half of Americans read below 7th grade level. Even if our users are hyper-educated, why make it harder for them to understand the product?

Note: I would put a comparison here but advertiser-client privilege is a thing! Here is a related example that might paint the picture better. Courtesy of Harry Dry.

The Results

One week of work. Two simple changes. 3x conversion rate.

This is what I call a bargain lunch - minimal effort, maximum returns. For many B2B or B2C SaaS startups the issue is in their sign-up or download flow, or the unoptimized installation process, or the website's hero section. The trick is finding which one.

A Bargain Lunch

To sum up what we learned today:

1. Look at the funnel data
2. Find the weak link
3. Repair it
4. Profit

I do this thing where I grow tech startups. I might be able to do the same for you. Shoot an email at hello@lukakalajzic.com (obi wan kenobi hello there gifs appreciated)!