Plan options in a dropdown vs radio buttons: about 15% fewer subs
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsMoving subscription options from a list of radio buttons into a dropdown menu lowered the subscription rate by about 15%.
MECLABS ran the test for a large people-search site focused on finding military personnel and published it on MarketingExperiments in 2014. The result reached 92% confidence, below the usual 95% bar.
- Subscription rate: radio buttons beat the dropdown by a relative difference of almost 15%. This is a loss for the dropdown.
- Confidence: 92%, below the 95% level MECLABS usually reports. Treat it as a strong lean, not a firm result.
- Sample size and duration: not shared.
The change
The variant hides the plan options inside a dropdown instead of listing radio buttons.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The subscription options were shown as a visible list of radio buttons, one per plan.
Variant
The same options were tucked into a dropdown menu, so the form looked shorter.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- With radio buttons, every plan and price is visible at once. A dropdown hides the choices behind a click, so buyers see less of what they're getting.
- The team expected the long radio list to add friction, but comparing plans side by side may have mattered more than a shorter look.
- Opening a dropdown is one more step, and on some devices it's fiddly.
Caveats: The test stopped at 92% confidence, below the usual 95% threshold. Sample size and duration are not shared, and the data is from around 2014.
Who ran it
MECLABS ran this test for a large people-search subscription site (military personnel) 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 show all plan options as visible radio buttons instead of a dropdown, then more visitors will subscribe because they can compare every plan without an extra click.
- Primary metric
- Subscription rate from the plan selection page
- Guardrails
- Mix of plans chosen
- Average revenue per subscriber
- Form completion time
- Who should test it
- SaaS and subscription sites offering a handful of plans on a sign-up or pricing form. With dozens of options, a dropdown or a different layout may still be the better fit.
Questions
Are radio buttons or dropdowns better for choosing a plan?
In this test, radio buttons won by almost 15%.
Visible options let buyers compare plans at a glance.
When does a dropdown make sense on a form?
Dropdowns suit long lists where people already know their answer, like country.
For a few plans with different prices, visible options are usually easier.
Is a 92% confidence result trustworthy?
It's suggestive but carries more risk of being a fluke than a 95% result.
Rerun it or confirm with a larger sample before treating it as settled.