# 'Trial for free' instead of 'Sign up for free': +104% trial starts

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Homepage (SaaS)
- Elements: Cta copy, Free trial
- Date shared: 2024-05
- Test run by: [Going](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/going/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/going-ab-testing-case-study/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/going-trial-for-free-cta/

Going changed its homepage button from 'Sign up for free' to 'Trial for free', and premium trial starts rose 104% month over month. Going's growth team, led by Forrest Schaffer, ran the A/B test in Unbounce, and it was published as an Unbounce customer story. The button also changed where visitors went: a two-week premium trial instead of the limited free plan.

## Result

**+104% trial starts**

- Premium trial start rate: +104% month over month.
- Going says its conversion rate from paid channels went above organic for the first time after the change.
- No sample size, test length or significance level was shared.

## Control

The homepage button read 'Sign up for free' and sent visitors to Going's free plan, which has limited features.

## Variant

The button read 'Trial for free' and sent visitors to a two-week free trial of a premium paid plan.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- The test changed the offer as well as the words. Pointing people at the premium trial naturally sends more of them into trials.
- A trial lets people see the full product, which Going believed would lead to more paid plans than a limited free tier.
- 'Trial' signals that the full product is on offer for a while, which may feel more valuable than a cut-down free plan.

## Caveats

The lift is reported month over month with no sample size or significance. Because the button also changed the destination offer, the result reflects free plan versus premium trial, not just three words of copy.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we point our main homepage CTA at a free trial of the paid plan instead of the free tier, then more visitors will start premium trials because they get to try the full product before deciding.
- Primary metric: Premium trial start rate
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion rate
- Guardrail: Total sign-ups (free plus trial)
- Guardrail: Refund or early cancellation rate
- Who should test it: Freemium SaaS and subscription products with both a free plan and a paid trial. It may not pay off if the trial asks for a card up front or if most revenue comes from free users upgrading later.

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Credit: Going ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/going-trial-for-free-cta/).
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.