'Popular' badge on a subscription option: +3% revenue per visitor
Test run byBlend CommerceCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA 'Popular' badge on one subscription option raised Azuna Fresh's revenue per visitor by 3% and conversion rate by 2%.
A 'Recommended' badge in the same A/B/C test gained about 1% on both.
Blend Commerce ran the test in Intelligems on the brand's product pages.
- Popular badge: revenue per visitor +3% and conversion rate +2%. The agency estimated about 702 extra orders per month.
- Popular badge: subscription orders and subscription revenue per visitor were unchanged. The gain came from more people buying, not more choosing a subscription.
- Recommended badge: conversion rate and revenue per visitor +1%, subscription orders per visitor +3%. It was the weaker variant overall.
The change
The variant adds a 'Popular' badge to one subscription option
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The product page subscription selector had no badge on any option.
Variant
Variant 2 added a 'Popular' badge to one subscription option. Variant 1 used a 'Recommended' badge instead, and the offers stayed the same in all versions.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- 'Popular' is social proof. Telling shoppers what others pick can feel more convincing than the brand's own advice.
- A clear cue on one option removes some of the work of comparing plans before a recurring purchase.
- Neither badge changed the offer itself, so the wording alone appears to have moved behaviour.
Caveats: Sample size, test length and confidence level were not shared. The 702 orders figure is an estimate from the testing tool.
Who ran it
Blend Commerce ran this test for Azuna Fresh and published the results (Blend Commerce A/B test). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Blend Commerce →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we label one subscription option as 'Popular', then more visitors will buy because the badge tells them what other shoppers choose.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Subscription orders per visitor
- Subscription revenue per visitor
- Who should test it
- Subscription and replenishment brands with two or more plan options on the product page. Only label an option 'Popular' if it really is the most chosen one.
Questions
Should I use 'Popular' or 'Recommended' on subscription options?
In this test, 'Popular' won. It lifted revenue per visitor 3%, against about 1% for 'Recommended'.
Do subscription badges increase subscription uptake?
Not always. Here the 'Popular' badge raised overall purchases but left subscription orders per visitor unchanged.
Is it okay to call an option popular?
Only if it is true. Use your order data to pick the option most customers choose.
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