# 14-day Pro trial instead of free-forever plan: +268% paid sign-ups

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Landing page (SaaS)
- Elements: Plans, Cta copy, Free trial
- Test run by: [Acuity Scheduling](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/acuity-scheduling/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/acuity-scheduling/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/acuity-scheduling-14-day-pro-trial/

Sending the main sign-up button to a 14-day full-feature trial of the $10/month Professional plan, instead of a limited free-forever account, raised paid Professional sign-ups by 268.14%. Acuity Scheduling, an online scheduling tool, ran this test itself and it was published as a VWO case study. The variant asked for card details up front, so this changed the offer, not just the page.

## Result

**+268% paid sign-ups**

- Paid Professional plan sign-ups: +268.14%, with a 99.99% chance to beat the original.
- Premium plan ($19/month) sign-ups: +77.78%, but this was not statistically significant.
- Total sign-ups, including free accounts, were not reported, so the effect on top-of-funnel volume is unknown.

## Control

The main sign-up button led to a free-forever account with limited features. Users were expected to upgrade to a paid plan from inside the app.

## Variant

The same button led to a 14-day trial of the Professional plan with all features unlocked, with card details entered at sign-up.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A survey of users who deleted free accounts found they wanted more features than the free plan offered. A full-feature trial gave them that.
- Trial users got to use the paid features from day one, so they could see the value before being asked to pay.
- Users on a free-forever plan get used to paying nothing, and some chose to leave rather than upgrade.
- asking for a card up front filters for more serious buyers, which lifts paid conversion but may cut total sign-ups.

## Caveats

This changed the offer itself, including a card requirement, not just the page design. Overall free sign-ups were not reported, and sample size and duration were not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we send new visitors to a time-limited trial of our paid plan instead of a free-forever tier, then more of them will become paying customers because they will experience the paid features before deciding.
- Primary metric: Paid plan sign-ups (or trial-to-paid conversions)
- Guardrail: Total sign-ups, including free
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion and early churn
- Guardrail: Refund or chargeback rate
- Who should test it: SaaS products with a freemium tier where free users rarely upgrade and the paid features are the main value. It may not suit products that rely on free users for growth, virality or SEO-driven sign-ups that expect a free plan.

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Credit: Acuity Scheduling ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/acuity-scheduling-14-day-pro-trial/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.