Don't use "meaningful" calls to action blindly

There's this trend in the self-funded startups community going on recently - to use "meaningful" calls to action instead of a simple "start trial" or "sign up" button. Like, if you're selling a scheduling tool - put the "end your scheduling hassles" text on your CTA. When you're selling a budgeting app - make it "start watching your wallet". Or some other vague unintuitive UX-unfriendly phrase.

We've actually ran countless a/b-tests on both the homepage and the sign-up page. We tried everything, from "solve the email overload" to "make your customers happy". From "handle your first ticket" to even a stupid "launch my app".

The result: plain ol' "sign up" always wins. The conversions are higher by 15-20%, depnding on the CTA we tested.

Maybe it's just my niche. After all, we're selling a support software app targeted at technical people. Many of our customers are startups like us. Technical folks are used to "sign up" buttons and look for them. Or maybe it's somehting else. The point is - never follow advice blindly. Always A/B-test. Even the "obvious" stuff promoted by the "gurus".