'Become a subscriber' vs 'Start your free trial': CTR down up to 20%
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsEncyclopaedia Britannica replaced 'Start your free trial' on its subscription popup with 'Become a subscriber' or 'Become a member', and both versions lost, with click-through falling by as much as 20%.
Britannica's own team ran the test, published as a VWO case study. The team kept the free trial wording.
- CTA click-through: both variants did worse than 'Start your free trial'. This is a loss.
- In some cases click-through dropped by as much as 20%. Per-variant numbers were not shared.
- Britannica kept the original free trial wording.
The change
Only the popup button text changes from free trial to subscriber or member
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A subscription popup on the Britannica site with the button text 'Start your free trial'.
Variant
Two versions swapped the button text for 'Become a subscriber' and 'Become a member'. The team expected words suggesting a community to do better.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- 'Free trial' tells people they can try at no cost. 'Subscriber' and 'member' point to an ongoing commitment, and probably payment.
- Visitors reading an article are often casual. A low-risk first step is easier to say yes to than joining something.
- The idea of community may simply not matter much to people who came for a quick answer.
Caveats: Exact per-variant results, sample size and test duration were not shared. The metric is button clicks, not paid subscriptions.
Who ran it
Encyclopaedia Britannica ran this test and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Encyclopaedia Britannica →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we frame the subscription button around belonging ('Become a member') instead of a free trial, then more visitors will click, because identity can motivate more than a free offer.
- Primary metric
- Click-through on the popup button
- Guardrails
- Trial starts
- Trial-to-paid conversion
- Popup dismissal rate
- Who should test it
- Subscription content and SaaS products with a free trial. If you offer a free trial, expect it to be hard to beat; this fits better if your trial isn't free or your product has a real community.
Questions
Is 'free trial' better than 'subscribe' on a CTA?
In this Britannica test, 'Start your free trial' beat both 'Become a subscriber' and 'Become a member'.
The low-risk offer did better than the commitment framing.
Does community language like 'member' help conversions?
Not here. Both community-style labels lost, with click-through down by as much as 20% in some cases.
MarketingExperiments