Three Lessons From Mixpanel’s Amazing Homepage

I came across Mixpanel’s website and was really impressed by how tight their copy is. Seriously, check this out:

I notice a couple of things here.

1. They’re really sure what their core value is. It’s right there, in huge letters. It may be specific enough to alienate some people, but it speaks to their base.
2. Their subheader, typically a “throw in the features” area, presents the features in a way that only highlights the actual value.
3. They have one very specific call to action. And the color sticks out like crazy.

I love collecting awesome homepages. Duolingo used to be my favorite but this displaced it.

So I got their head of corporate marketing, Amelia Salyers, onto my podcast Marketers in Capes, to talk about Mixpanel’s process was when evolving copy. You can listen to the full episode here but here’s three salient things that stuck with me:

1. Substance before style. Don’t try to work out the perfect copy and message simultaneously. First hone the actual substance and then worry about word-smithing.
2. Data is your friend. Even Mixpanel, a data copy, started by testing new messaging in field sales calls. They quickly evolved from their and created a A/B/C test on which homepage messaging converted to signups fastest.
3. Break the structure. Sure, Mixpanel use a classic header-for-value, subheader-for-feature structure. But you don’t need to. Thumbtack gets minimalist as hell and uses their search bar for messaging, Duolingo pared their message down to just one header, and Muzzle [nsfw], well, they just hammer home the value up-front. Really, really, well.

What’s your favorite homepage?!