Case Study: New York Public Library achieves 2x email signups and improved conversions with Optimizely

Building Awareness of Century-Old Content With Optimization

The New York Public Library, a century-old institution with 88 lending branches and four research facilities across New York City, needed to raise awareness of its vast historical collections. One key channel is an opt-in email newsletter, and the library was concerned that the design of its signup form was costing them valuable subscribers.

Rather than guess, NYPL ran a structured A/B testing program and found a specific form treatment — an image paired with the same text — significantly outperformed alternatives. The data-driven change doubled email signups, improving conversion rates and expanding the reach of their email marketing.

New York Public Library