# Plan options in a dropdown vs radio buttons: about 15% fewer subs

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Pricing page (SaaS)
- Elements: Plans, Form fields
- Test run by: [MECLABS](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/meclabs/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/digital-subscription-optimization/radio-buttons-versus-dropdowns
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-meclabs-people-search-dropdown-vs-radio/

Moving 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.

## Result

**about 15% fewer subs**

- 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.

## 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)

- 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.

## How to run this test

- 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
- Guardrail: Mix of plans chosen
- Guardrail: Average revenue per subscriber
- Guardrail: 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.

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Credit: MECLABS ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-meclabs-people-search-dropdown-vs-radio/).
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.