If your site gets traffic and nobody signs up, googling will hand you a list of tips, like add urgency. Change your button color. Put a chatbot on it.
But we’re scientists. We deal in data and we wanted to know what will really work.
Since Surface’s launch, our users have run hundreds of real landing pages through our analyzer. These businesses are SaaS, healthcare, marketplaces, agencies, consumer brands, creator tools, and more. Some of the companies were large teams; some were a solo founder and a Framer template. Our analyzer breaks each page into its key elements, estimates how much each one contributes to the page’s success, and suggests what to test.
So far, we’ve produced 7,482 test ideas for our visitors. Once you sort them, the same four problems show up almost everywhere.
1. The proof is missing, buried, or doesn't say anything (97% of pages)
All but six of the pages got at least one suggestion to add, move, or sharpen proof; it’s the most common finding by a wide margin.
Most of these pages had some proof. The problem was where it lived and what it said. Some patterns we saw over and over:
- A logo strip with no context, scrolling forever, reading "more like a slogan wall than proof"
- Strong numbers presented "as standalone numbers without much context, which weakens their persuasive punch"
- The one real credential (patents, years of experience, a named customer) buried two scrolls down in a plain paragraph
- Testimonials with no name, no company, no result
A visitor who just landed has one question: has this worked for someone like me? If the answer is below the fold, most of them never see it.
2. The headline sounds good but doesn't say what you do (73%)
On more than half the submissions, the analyzer rated the headline as the single most important element on the page. The median headline carried about 28% of the page's weight on its own.
And of the pages with a clear H1, most of them got a critique that followed the same shape. The headline was "memorable," "confidence-building," "strong positioning"... but. But "more poetic than specific" or “broad and does not say exactly what the software does at a glance."
This is an expensive mistake! It sits on the element doing the most work. A clever headline makes sense to the founder who already knows the product; but the reality is that stranger coming from an ad or a search result has about three seconds to understand what it is you do.
3. There's too much to read (91%)
Almost all the pages received suggestions to shorten, cut, or break copy into something scannable. There were too many long intro paragraphs, or mission manifestos that are "more reflective than conversion-oriented and may lose skimmers." People had feature sections that explained everything to a visitor who hasn't decided even care!
Nobody reads a landing page top to bottom on the first visit. They scan! Every paragraph between them and your product’s value is costing you.
4. The button doesn't tell people what happens next (67%)
118 pages got CTA suggestions. Two versions came up constantly:
- Generic labels. "Get started," "Contact us," "Submit." Clear, sure. But they "don't tell users what happens next."
- Competing buttons. Two or three CTAs with different labels pulling in different directions, so "the two actions compete a bit instead of guiding a single next step."
The part that surprised us: most fixes are words
Of the 2,177 ideas the analyzer marked high-impact,
56% were copy changes.
The most impactful thing you can do is test your copy!
Good news: you can fix most of this in an afternoon, in whatever you built your page with.
Bad news: every one of these is a guess until it's tested. "Write a clearer headline" doesn't tell you which headline is actually clearer. Swapping in a new one and eyeballing your analytics for a week isn't a test either. Traffic moves around for a hundred reasons – you need to make sure your variables are being tested correctly.
This is the gap we built Surface for. You add a snippet to the page you already have (Webflow, Framer, WordPress, custom code, whatever your coding agent shipped), load a few versions of the headline or the proof block or the CTA, and Surface keeps shifting traffic toward whichever version is converting better while it learns. You're not waiting weeks for a test to finish while half your visitors see the loser.
A quick checklist for your own page
- Is your best proof point visible without scrolling?
- Could a stranger say what you do after reading only your headline?
- Is your hero copy short enough to read in five seconds?
- Does your main button say what happens after the click?
- Is there one obvious next step, or three?
If you answered no to two or more, you've found your first test.
FAQ
Why is my website getting traffic but no sales or signups?
In our sample, the most common causes were missing or buried proof, a headline that doesn't clearly say what the product does, too much copy, and vague calls to action. Traffic quality matters too, but these on-page issues showed up on the large majority of pages we analyzed.
What should I fix first?
The headline. On most pages it carries more weight than any other element, and it's usually the cheapest thing to change.
How do I know if a change actually worked?
Run the old and new versions at the same time on live traffic and compare. Before-and-after comparisons get muddied by seasonality, ad changes, and random swings.
