How Miro collects more relevant emails from signup
A simple copy tweak that gets you better data
B2B Software companies usually want you to sign up with your work email. The default label reads “Work email” and the copy above often asks “What’s your best email?”.
This makes it easier to associate accounts with companies who might become customers and makes tailoring your messaging easier. Some companies even block @gmail, @yahoo or similar emails from signing up.
This reduces “tire kickers”—users who’d never buy anyway. But mandating a work email also harms the user experience. The messaging around it usually amounts to “because I said so”.
But good UX writing (and copywriting in general) tells the user about a benefit they’ll gain from doing what the company wants them to do.
Miro does this well:
The tactic: State a benefit to increase user motivation
By stating a benefit “it keeps work and life separate”, they signal that they want something good for the user. The benefit is also specific to something many people with busy jobs want—to have a life outside of work.
Let’s take the opposite example:
This sets an icy tone for the user-company relationship. Wouldn’t you be much less likely to give Miro your work email?
By using the benefit language, Miro gathers more relevant emails without harming the user experience.
Why it works
Whenever you tell/ask users to do something, they’ll feel some resistance—unless they know it’s to their benefit.
An easy example here is a survey. Compare these two ways of asking users to fill in a survey:
“Want to answer a few questions about our analytics product?”
“Want clearer data insights? We’re improving analytics! Can you help us?”
The first sounds like work, the second promises something the user wants. That’s why the second version is almost guaranteed to work better.
That’s why Miro’s tactic works: It frames giving your work email to the user’s benefit.
If you want to implement this tactic, there’s a caveat: The benefit needs to be real. If you lie, you’ll create the opposite effect. Once people catch you lying, they’re much less likely to do what you want them to do.
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