What typeform gets right (and Mailchimp misses)

Why the onward journey is so important for PLG

H​ere’s another 60-second read: one insight, 300 words, super fast 🏎️ Download the PDF here or read online.

One of the most popular, early examples of product-led growth (PLG) is Mailchimp.

Every time someone sent an email, you’d see the happy monkey logo or ‘powered by Mailchimp’ in the footer.

Clicking it takes me to a wordy landing page - totally disconnected from the email I was just in.

As a user visiting this page, I think:

• I can’t be bothered to read all this text
• It’s not quite clear what I’d get
• As a creator, it’s not quite in my day-to-day language
• I can’t see what’s on her screen

The jump is HUGE for me as a customer. The onward journey hasn’t been thought through. I’m not sure why I’d sign up on this page.

That tracks.

Nowadays, Mailchimp is the incumbent. Expensive and old-school.

And, this tactic has been used elsewhere. So I have a better example for you today.

My favourite is ✨ typeform✨

This mini dive looks at how to design the full PLG journey, not just the click.

Here we go:

Step 1: The click

I finished completing a survey for a non-alcoholic drink brand I love: Something & Nothing. They’d asked for some feedback on upcoming flavours, and I was excited to take part.

I finish the survey and see a big blue button after the thank you message:

Notice how it’s big, it’s blue, and it’s bold.

The page is near-empty, so the button stands out well.

And there’s also a sneaky shortcut:

I’m on desktop, so I press enter on this screen in one tap and get to a ✨beautiful landing page ✨

Step 2: The landing page

Can you see the difference between Mailchimp and typeform here?

With typeform, I see:

• A much stronger headline that’s relevant to where I just was. “You’ve taken one. Now make one,” feels like a challenge 😈
• A page that is easy to scan: good visual hierarchy and lots of whitespace. Meaning lower cognitive load and (likely) higher conversion.
• A simpler navigation with cut-down options that draw my eye less than the CTAs
• Good typescale, i.e the headline font size is significantly different from the rest of the page. Meaning our eyes are guided to the right spot.
• An imagery demo that I can actually read.

Whereas Mailchimp has:

• Poor visual hierarchy with the font sizes too similar between navigation, headline and subheader
• Headline and subheader copy that doesn’t mean anything and needs reading twice
• Striking colours in the wrong places, drawing attention away from the hero section.
• Imagery that is hard to read, meaning it adds little value.

But which of these differences matter?

The headline. It connects the dots between where I was and what I could do next.

It feels easy and intriguing to me to try to create a form now.

My gut reaction in the typeform flow is

Whereas with Mailchimp, I think:

That’s the difference: typeform closes the loop, Mailchimp leaves it hanging.

The best PLG flows don’t end at the product — they turn curiosity into action with clear copy, good hierarchy and zero friction.

The initial click is just the start. The onward journey is where the conversion happens 🪄

This isn’t just about surveys; any product can learn from Typeform’s simplicity and timing.

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Three key takeaways:

• Don’t use the same landing page for everything
• The most impactful change is to focus on the header copy (make it short, punchy, relevant to the last step, and in user-centred language)
• If you redesign, strip, don’t add. Less is more.

Seen any other versions of this you like? Lmk!

Thank you SO much for reading (all the way to the bottom, wow look at you go).

See you next week,

Rosie 🚴🏼 all the way from Normandy 🇫🇷

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