'Try Now' vs 'Start Free Trial' button copy: -26% clickthrough
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsChanging a banner button from 'Start Free Trial' to 'Try Now' cut clickthrough by 26%.
MECLABS ran the test for a large global media company selling premium software to businesses, and published it on MarketingExperiments in 2014. It was one of five button phrases tested at the same time.
- Clickthrough rate: -26% for "Try Now" against "Start Free Trial". This is a loss.
- In the same test, "Get Started Now" lifted clickthrough by more than 11% against "Start Free Trial".
- The metric is clicks on the button, not trial sign-ups or paid conversions.
- Sample size, duration and confidence level: not shared. The other two phrases tested were not named.
The change
The banner button text changes from 'Start Free Trial' to 'Try Now'.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A banner along the top of the page had a button reading "Start Free Trial".
Variant
The same banner and button, with the text changed to "Try Now".
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- "Start Free Trial" says what you get and that it's free. "Try Now" drops both, so the value of clicking is less clear.
- Without the word "free", some visitors may have worried that clicking leads to a payment step.
- "Try" can sound tentative for business software, where buyers want to know what they're committing to.
Caveats: The test measured clicks, not trial starts, and sample size, duration and confidence are not shared. It was a five-way test from around 2014.
Who ran it
MECLABS ran this test for a large global media company selling premium business software 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 keep the offer and the word 'free' in our trial button copy, then more visitors will click because they know exactly what they'll get and that it costs nothing.
- Primary metric
- Button clickthrough rate
- Guardrails
- Trial starts per visitor
- Trial-to-paid conversion
- Sign-up form abandonment
- Who should test it
- SaaS companies offering a free trial from a landing page or site banner. If you don't offer a free trial, the lesson is to name the real offer rather than copy this wording.
Questions
What is the best CTA copy for a free trial?
There's no universal winner, but in this test the vaguer "Try Now" lost 26% of clicks against "Start Free Trial".
Naming the offer clearly tends to be a safe start.
Does the word 'free' matter on a trial button?
It may. The losing "Try Now" dropped it, though "Get Started Now" also left it out and still won, so test it with your own audience.
Do more button clicks mean more trial sign-ups?
Not necessarily. This test measured clicks on the banner button only, so check trial starts and paid conversions before rolling out new copy.