

Ask HN: login on the front page - jaxn

I am getting ready to launch a new design for my startup. I don't have a login form on the front page. Should I?<p>I also don't currently have a link to sign in, but that is what I was planning to do.<p>For reference, here is a preview of what we are close to launching. It is a Wordpress template, so the content is not what we will really have.<p>http://bizen.csclientsite.com/<p>old site: http://bizen.com
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jeffremer
I went to a talk given by the Meebo founders about what to consider when
designing your front page. A big part of the talk boiled down to making a
single call to action very clear and tailoring it toward the majority of users
that are going to hit your front page.

Your call to action is very clear, "Try it Free" (I'm assuming you're going to
make it so that the content on the left of the slideshow/carousel doesn't fade
in and out). I think this is a Good Thing (tm).

It seems clear that your goal is to convert new users who land on your home
page. I'm guessing the decision between login form versus link has to do with
a compromise between conversions and engagement.

That said, without a way for an existing user to find their way back in your
engagement is going to suffer dramatically - _unless_ going to your homepage
is not the primary way your users access the app. So you obviously need at
least a link to sign in.

Deciding whether or not to include a form over a link depends entirely on how
much you want to push for engagement over conversion. Your homepage is pretty
clean (not a lot of noise), so perhaps there's room for a login form
eventually - but since I assume your initial goal is conversions then I'd
start with the link.

You can optimize for engagement by making "remember me" the default for logins
and then taking logged in users directly to their dashboard when they hit the
homepage.

For non-cookied users you could also A/B test the homepage with a link or with
a form and then see if you are getting drop off in either conversions or
engagement from having one or the other.

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tobin
If the service has a members section that is used frequently, then I would
suggest having a login at the most common landing pages on your site. I like
the way it's currently done on the "old" site.

