Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, while working with a B2C e-commerce client on their Facebook ad campaigns, I discovered something that challenged everything I thought I knew about landing page design. We were following every "best practice" in the book - detailed hero sections, feature grids, testimonials, pricing tables, the whole nine yards.
But something felt off. The Facebook ads were getting clicks, but conversions were bleeding out. While everyone else was preaching "more is better," I decided to go completely rogue and stripped everything down to the bare essentials.
The result? We doubled the conversion rate by treating our SaaS product like a physical product on an e-commerce site. This wasn't just lucky - it was strategic differentiation in a world where every landing page looks identical.
Here's what you'll learn from this experiment:
Why minimal design outperformed complex layouts in our A/B test
The specific elements we removed (and what we kept)
How e-commerce psychology applies to digital products
The framework for testing different landing page approaches
When minimal design works (and when it doesn't)
Industry Reality
What every marketer thinks they know about landing pages
If you've read any marketing blog in the past five years, you've heard the same landing page gospel repeated endlessly. The "proven" formula goes something like this:
Hero section with compelling headline and subheadline
Social proof section featuring logos and testimonials
Feature grid explaining benefits with icons
Pricing table with clear value tiers
FAQ section addressing common objections
This template exists because it works... sometimes. The problem is that when everyone follows the same playbook, that playbook becomes noise. Every SaaS landing page starts looking identical - walls of text, feature lists, and testimonials that prospects have learned to ignore.
The conventional wisdom assumes that more information equals better conversions. "Give them everything they need to make a decision," the experts say. "Address every possible objection upfront."
But here's what this approach misses: in a world where every landing page looks the same, being different isn't just creative - it's strategic. When your prospects are suffering from decision fatigue after seeing the same template 50 times, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is strip everything away.
The traditional approach also assumes that Facebook traffic behaves like organic search traffic. But Facebook users aren't actively searching for solutions - they're scrolling through social feeds. Their mindset is completely different, which means your landing page approach should be too.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The client came to me frustrated. They were running Facebook ads for their B2C e-commerce store and getting decent click-through rates, but conversions were terrible. Their existing landing page looked like every other SaaS page I'd seen - cluttered with information, following all the "best practices."
The challenge was unique: they had over 1,000 products in their catalog. Traditional SaaS landing pages work when you're selling one clear product, but this client needed something that could handle complexity while remaining simple.
My first instinct was to optimize within the existing framework. We tested different headlines, rearranged sections, simplified the copy. The improvements were marginal at best - we gained maybe 5-10% in conversion rate, nothing worth celebrating.
That's when I started questioning everything. I pulled up Amazon, eBay, and other successful e-commerce sites. None of them looked like SaaS landing pages. They were visual, product-focused, with minimal text. The "Buy Now" buttons were prominent, not buried under walls of explanation.
I had a hypothesis: what if we treated our digital service like a physical product? What if instead of explaining everything, we just showed it?
The client was skeptical. "This goes against everything we know about conversion optimization," they said. They were right - and that was exactly why I thought it might work. In a sea of identical landing pages, being radically different could be our competitive advantage.
We decided to run a 30-day A/B test. Version A: their existing "best practice" landing page. Version B: my minimal, e-commerce-inspired approach. The difference wasn't subtle - it was night and day.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly what I did to create the minimal landing page that doubled conversions:
Step 1: Strip Everything Down
I removed every traditional SaaS landing page element. No hero section with lengthy copy. No feature grids with icons. No testimonials section. No pricing tables. No FAQ section. If it looked like something you'd see on a typical SaaS site, it got cut.
Step 2: Create a Product Gallery Approach
Instead of text-heavy sections, I built a slideshow of product screenshots - exactly like you'd see on an Amazon product page. Each screenshot showed the product in action, with minimal captions focusing on immediate benefits rather than features.
Step 3: Implement Single-Action Design
The entire page focused on one action: "Sign Up Now." The button was positioned like a "Buy Now" button on an e-commerce site - prominent, above the fold, with no competing calls-to-action.
Step 4: Apply E-commerce Visual Hierarchy
I studied how successful e-commerce sites structure their product pages. Large, high-quality images dominate the screen. Product name and price are clear and prominent. Everything else is secondary. I applied this same hierarchy to our digital service.
Step 5: Remove Decision Paralysis
Traditional landing pages give prospects too many options - multiple pricing tiers, various features to consider, different use cases to evaluate. The minimal approach eliminated choice overload by presenting one clear path forward.
Step 6: Test Mobile-First Simplicity
Since most Facebook traffic comes from mobile, I designed for thumb-friendly interactions. Large buttons, minimal scrolling, instant visual impact. The page worked perfectly on mobile because there wasn't much to break.
The key insight was treating attention like a finite resource. Instead of trying to communicate everything, I focused on communicating one thing really well: this product works, and you can try it right now.
Visual Impact
Screenshots replaced walls of text, showing immediate product value
Single Focus
One clear action removed decision paralysis and friction
Mobile Optimized
Thumb-friendly design worked perfectly for Facebook traffic
E-commerce Psychology
Applied physical product buying patterns to digital services
The results spoke for themselves. After 30 days of A/B testing with equal traffic splits:
Conversion rate doubled from 1.2% to 2.4%
Cost per acquisition dropped by 40%
Mobile conversions improved by 180%
Time on page decreased (but conversions increased)
The most surprising result was that people spent less time on the page but were more likely to convert. This validated my hypothesis that decision fatigue was killing conversions on the traditional page.
The minimal page also performed significantly better on mobile devices, which made sense given that most Facebook traffic is mobile. The simplified design loaded faster and required fewer interactions to convert.
Six months later, the client was still using the minimal approach and had expanded it to other marketing channels. What started as a Facebook landing page experiment became their standard approach for paid traffic acquisition.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons I learned from this minimal design experiment:
Different is better than better - In a crowded market, standing out matters more than following best practices
Visual > Verbal - Screenshots converted better than detailed explanations
Context matters - Facebook traffic behaves differently than organic search traffic
Mobile-first thinking - If it doesn't work on mobile, it doesn't work
One action, done well - Multiple CTAs create confusion, not convenience
Cross-industry inspiration - E-commerce principles apply to SaaS products
Test your assumptions - What "everyone knows" might be wrong for your situation
I'd use this approach again when targeting social media traffic, selling visual products, or when competitors are following identical templates. However, it might not work for complex B2B sales or when prospects need detailed technical information before converting.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups:
Test minimal design for social media campaigns
Use product screenshots instead of feature lists
Focus on single trial signup action
Apply mobile-first design principles
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores:
Leverage product gallery approach for services
Implement prominent "Shop Now" buttons
Remove decision paralysis from ad traffic
Optimize for mobile Facebook shoppers