Cleaner, on-brand checkout with no navigation: +40% subscriptions
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsCleaning up the first step of a subscription checkout lifted subscriptions by 40%.
MECLABS ran the test for a large media publication and published it on MarketingExperiments in 2014. The new page added the publication's logo, dropped the off-brand colour scheme and removed two rows of navigation, so several changes shipped together.
- Subscriptions: +40% for the cleaned-up page. This is a win.
- Three things changed at once: the logo, the colour scheme and the navigation. The result can't be credited to any single one.
- Sample size, duration and confidence level: not shared.
The change
The variant adds the logo, uses a plain on-brand design and drops both navigation rows.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The first checkout step, shown after the buyer entered a ZIP code, barely showed the publication's logo. It used green and grey colours that didn't match the brand and had two levels of navigation at the top.
Variant
The same step with the logo added at the top, a plain design in place of the green and grey scheme, and all the navigation removed.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- With the logo back and colours on brand, buyers could tell they were still buying from the publication they knew. That likely cut doubt at the moment of payment.
- Removing two levels of navigation took away easy ways to click out of checkout.
- A simpler look probably made the process seem less complicated overall.
Caveats: Several changes were tested together, so the lift belongs to the package. The publication's identity was blurred, and sample size, duration and confidence are not shared.
Who ran it
MECLABS ran this test for a large media publication (subscription checkout) and published the results (MarketingExperiments). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on MECLABS →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we make our checkout match our brand and remove site navigation from it, then more visitors will finish subscribing because they feel sure who they're buying from and have fewer exits.
- Primary metric
- Completed subscriptions per checkout start
- Guardrails
- Checkout abandonment rate
- Support contacts about checkout
- Refund or cancellation rate in the first month
- Who should test it
- Subscription and SaaS businesses whose checkout runs on a third-party or legacy system that looks different from the main site. Less likely to move much if your checkout is already on brand and free of navigation.
Questions
Should you remove navigation from checkout?
Many tests suggest it helps, because it removes ways to wander off mid-purchase.
In this test it was part of a package that lifted subscriptions 40%.
Does checkout branding matter?
It can. When a checkout looks unlike the main site, buyers may wonder if they're in the right place.
Adding the logo and on-brand design was part of this winning change.
Which change caused the 40% lift?
We can't say. The logo, colours and navigation all changed at once, so only a follow-up test could separate them.