What did Ring learn from testing a boring sign-up screen?

Author: Ali Abouelatta

Tags: signup, onboarding, conversion, video

Short answer: Ring's functional signup screen beat a more delightful signup experience with a neighborhood background video. The winning version stripped the screen back to logo, promise, create-account CTA, sign-in link, and support copy, reducing competition around the primary action.

Evidence

The Ring visual is a control/experiment comparison: the control uses a background neighborhood video, while the experiment uses a plain dark screen centered on account creation.

What changed

• Control: background video plus Ring mission copy over the video.
• Experiment: static dark screen with the Ring logo, short promise, primary CTA, and sign-in link.
• The experiment removed the moving neighborhood scene from the conversion moment.

Why it matters

• A mission-oriented visual can still distract when the user is trying to create an account.
• Plain signup screens can make the CTA easier to parse and tap.

Sources

1. [1] Lazyweb Research: Ring signup-screen experiment. The Ring example shows a simple signup screen winning against a background video showcasing neighborhoods. Source