How One Image Change Increased Signups by 8% (The Promised Land Effect)

Summary

Podcast Summary: ProductLed Podcast

Episode: How One Image Change Increased Signups by 8% (The Promised Land Effect)
Date: October 16, 2025
Host: Wes Bush
Guest: Will Royal, Founder and CEO of Promotix

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on a powerful yet simple tactic that increased signups by 8% for Promotix: the "Promised Land Effect." Will Royal explains how swapping one image on their signup page drove a meaningful conversion lift, unpacks the psychology behind this effect, and describes the impact of small copy changes on user motivation. The discussion is practical, rooted in real A/B test results, and focused on quick wins in conversion rate optimization.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The "Promised Land Effect": What It Is and How It Works

• Concept Introduction ([00:58]):
  Will Royal introduces the "Promised Land Effect":

  • Instead of an emotionally engaging background image (e.g., concert photo), show a blurred out sneak-peek of your product’s dashboard on the signup page.
  • This tactic gives users the sense that they are “almost there,” one step away from accessing the interface they want to reach.
  • Psychology: Creates a curiosity gap and makes the end goal tangible, incentivizing completion of the signup process.

• Practical Implementation ([01:53]):

  • Promotix ran an A/B test with over 29,000 users:
    • A Version: Original concert image and selling-tickets blurb.
    • B Version: Blurred view of the product dashboard (the “Promised Land”).
  • Result: The Promised Land variant drove an 8% increase in signups.
  • Will Royal:

    "We can remove the emotional image... and just show them a blurry version of the dashboard and voila, more signups." ([02:19])

  • Development was minimal—just an image swap, no coding required.

• Impact of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) ([02:38]):
  Will explains the math behind the win:

  • An 8% conversion lift can translate to a 50% increase in completed signups if your baseline rate is low (e.g., from 4% to 6%).
  • Highlights the compounding impact:

    "Conversion rate optimization has been huge for us and I like to test everything that we do around here for that reason." ([03:15])

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The Psychology Behind the Promised Land Effect

• Curiosity Gap and Motivation ([03:42]):
  Will credits the effect to the curiosity gap:

  • Users see just enough to feel close to their goal (“I’m almost there”).
  • Reduces perceived friction, making people feel further along in the signup funnel.
  • If users can’t see what’s next, they fear more steps might follow.

  "There's a curiosity gap that's created, and it also makes them feel like they're much further down the funnel... which is to see what your product looks like." ([04:18])

• Anecdote from Host ([04:44]):
  Wes Bush compares this to running a race without knowing where the finish line is:

  • Without a visible finish, motivation drops—applies directly to user flows and onboarding forms.
  • Memorable quote:

    "...if people see that finish line of like, oh, I’m going to get into the product, I’m going to push it. And that often comes to whether it’s that 8 or 10% more, people like putting in that little extra effort to go through it." ([05:32])

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Micro-Copy and the Power of Text Changes

• Streamlining the Signup Flow ([05:55]):
  Will shares another CRO insight:

  • Promotix’s sign-up flow:
    1. Username & password
    2. Event organizer vs. attendee
    3. Company name (if organizer)
  • Changing the button on the final step from "Next" to "Finished" increased conversions by 1-2%.

    "Just to let them know, like, this is the last little thing you got to do to get there... One word change to get another point out of it is huge." ([06:22])

  • Shows the power of reducing uncertainty and clarifying progress.

• Design vs. Copy ([07:01]):
  Both agree subtle copy changes are often overlooked, but have outsized impact.

  • Progress indicators (e.g., "30% complete") further help users push through.

  Will Royal: > "For the psychology of the user who's signing up, 'finished' makes a lot more sense. Totally." ([07:20])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We can remove the emotional image... and just show them a blurry version of the dashboard and voila, more signups."
  — Will Royal, [02:19]

• "There's a curiosity gap that's created, and it also makes them feel like they're much further down the funnel... which is to see what your product looks like."
  — Will Royal, [04:18]

• "If people see that finish line of like, oh, I’m going to get enough product, I’m going to push it... In this case, it’s not like running a lot more, but it’s like, okay, I’ll fill out this couple forms and, and take the next step on that end."
  — Wes Bush, [05:32]

• "One word change to get another point out of it is huge."
  — Will Royal, [06:22]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:58] – Will introduces the Promised Land effect
• [01:53] – A/B testing process and business impact
• [03:42] – User psychology and the curiosity gap
• [04:44] – Host’s race analogy on motivation
• [05:55] – Changing button copy from "Next" to "Finished"
• [07:01] – Importance of micro copy and progress indicators

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Summary Takeaways

• Showing users a blurred preview of the product dashboard at signup (the ‘Promised Land’) can significantly boost conversions by tapping into curiosity and showing clear progress.
• Small tweaks in micro copy—such as changing a button label from "Next" to "Finished"—also meaningfully improve completion rates.
• Every element affecting user motivation, clarity, and perceived effort in signup flows deserves scrutiny, testing, and iteration.
• Results came with minimal engineering investment—highlighting high-impact, low-effort CRO opportunities.

This episode is filled with actionable insights for anyone looking to optimize product onboarding and drive user signups through small but strategic UX and copy changes.

Transcript

[Will Royal]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host]

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the podcast. Today you're going to hear part of my conversation with Will Royal, founder and CEO of promotix. In this clip, Will shares how one simple change led to an 8% increase in conversions. It's called the Promised Land Effect. And. And it's one of the easiest quick wins you can implement. Today we also dive into the psychology behind why this works and how even changing a single word in your signup flow can boost conversions. This is just one tactic from our full conversation. If you want to hear all three low effort, high impact strategies that helped will grow Promotix to $25,000 monthly recurring revenue, check out the full episode. That's episode 260. All right, let's jump in. Can you share more about the Promised Land of faq?

[Will Royal]

Yeah, sure. So, you know, one of the other things that I pulled from one of your sessions that we were in was this concept of the Promised land. And the promised land is the idea that you can give them a little taste by blurring out, let's say, the dashboard of your product on the signup page so that they feel like they're almost there, right? That they, if they just fill out that signup form, they will remove that signup form and the dashboard will become clear and they can actually look at the product that they want so badly to see. And we had, we had an image that was what we thought was something that was emotionally engaging. It was, you know, image from a concert, let's say a band on stage playing, you know, and it talked about, you know, a little blurb that talked about selling tickets to events and, and the signup page. But we again ran an A B test because I don't like to just throw, even if, even if it comes from us, and I know it's proven, I want to see what is the impact to our business. And so we ran an A B test. We sent about 29,000 users to both the A version and the B version, our original version as well as the Promised Land version. And we saw an 8% increase in conversions just with the Promised Land. And so it was like, well, we can remove the emotional image. We can remove the little blurb of text we thought was going to convince people to sign up and just show them a blurry version of the dashboard and voila, more signups. So that was another great quick win. And it was incredibly easy. It didn't take us any development time at all. I mean, literally, we switched out an image that we were using. And so when we talk about quick wins. I mean, it was like a drag and drop and overwrite the file and it's done, you know, so, so, and that's a lot. When you talk about 8% increase in conversions, you know, that's a lot. Like if you take a conversion rate, you know, from 4%, I do this kind of exercise with people all the time. But if you take a conversion rate from 4% to 6%, for example, that's not a 2% lift, right? That's a 50% lift in what's going through that spot, which means 50% more users, 50% more traffic or revenue, let's say. And it could be even more profitable revenue depending upon your margins or if you got some fixed costs associated. So conversion rate optimization has been huge for us and I like to test everything that we do around here for that reason.

[Podcast Host]

Then, you know it works, right?

[Will Royal]

That's right. And we know it works and we feel super confident. And then I can refer you last to everybody I know because it's like, yeah, man, this guy gives us great suggestions. Totally.

[Podcast Host]

And why do you think that promised line effect works?

[Will Royal]

I think it's the curiosity gap, right? It's like, I'm almost there. That's, that's really what it is, right? I'm almost there. And, and then I think this kind of ties into, you know, another subject which is removing friction and making sure that those signup forms require as little as possible to get some, a user in. But they can see that, like, man, if I just fill out this, this little bit, my create my account, my, my username and password or whatever it may be that you're requiring of them and I click this button, then I'm going to be there. And so they feel like they're farther down the line and they're almost there. Whereas if you're not showing that they really don't know what's beyond that screen, or they may believe there's more beyond that screen that they're going to have to do fill out. This is going to take some time. And so there's a curiosity gap that's created and it also makes them feel like they're much further down the funnel, let's say to completion and getting to their goal, which is to see what your product looks like. I mean, that's what they're, they're doing if they're at that stage at that point. Totally.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. It definitely increases motivation too. So I can share. This weekend I was doing this half marathon race and there was no clear ending in Sight like, I looking at my watch, I'm like, I'm already at 21. What the heck? They're making us run longer. So I was like, okay, pushing it already demotivated, like, I'm done technically, but this, they had like this long street and then you had to like tons of people on the right and then you had to like turn right and then there was the like, finish line and there was like 15, 20ft before you hit it. I'm like, oh, this sucks. Because, like, had I known, I would have pushed it way more, but I was just like, super demotivated because you just don't see the end result. And so I just love races like that because when you think of like user psychology, you're just like, it's safe. Same thing applies if people see that finish line of like, oh, I'm going to get enough product, I'm going to push it. And that often comes to, you know, whether it's that 8 or 10% more, people like putting in that little extra effort to go through it. In this case, it's not like running a lot more, but it's like, okay, I'll fill out this couple forms and, and take the next step on that ends. And that's a mini little finish line for them.

[Will Royal]

Speaking of my signup flow, it reminds me too, like, so we have like three steps. There's the username password, then we ask if you're an event organizer or an attendee. That's really important for us as to kind of what dashboard we're going to put you in. And if you're an event organizer, we have to collect your company name. And that's, that's something else that we use later down the road. But on that last step for company name, it's just one small field and we used to have the button below. It never changed. And so it said next, which would take you to the dashboard. We got another point or two. I can't remember exactly what it was. It wasn't huge. It wasn't like the 8% at the very front end or the 40% we had before, but we got another point or two by changing next to finished. So it was just like, just to let them know, like, this is the last little thing you got to do to get there, rather than making them think there's maybe a fourth step, let's say. So that, that was big too. I mean, one word change to get another. Another point out of it is huge. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And it makes sense though, right?

[Will Royal]

And these are the things that get overlooked sometimes in the design process or the initial development process. You just don't, don't really think about it yet.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, most people don't spend too much time on the micro copy. It's like, oh, it's all design and everything. It's like. But no, people are reading and they want to know like how many steps are left. That's why I'm big fan of like progress trackers and everything else like that. Like, oh, am I like 30% of the way there? 50, 60? Show me some progress.

[Will Royal]

I mean to our designer's point, Next also makes sense. You click next and then you go to the dashboard. But for the, for the psychology of the user who's signing up, finished makes a lot more sense. So totally.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. And they finish something, then they can go to the next thing. Nice. And to wrap things up, thank you everybody for listening to this version of the productbed podcast. Make sure to rate review this on wherever you listen to podcasts, whether it's Apple, Google, you name it, Spotify. I'm going to read every single one of those views and that's how I know how to improve this. Also, if you want to stay in contact with me and learn what is going on in the world of PLG and every single week get the best actionable deep dives on product led growth. Make sure to head on over to product led.com forward slash newsletter. I am personally writing each of these deep dives every single week and you're going to get a ton of it. So make sure to head on over there to product led.com forward/newslet use light.