'Shop' instead of 'explore' banner CTA: +192% clickthrough
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsChanging the call to action on Humana's simplified Medicare banner from a soft, explore-style ask to a direct invitation to shop plans lifted clickthrough by another 192%.
Mike Loveridge at Humana ran the test, and MarketingExperiments published it.
- Banner clickthrough: up 192% versus the explore-style call to action.
- The metric is clicks, not enrolments.
- The exact button wording and sample size were not shared.
The change
Soft explore call to action swapped for a direct invitation to shop plans
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The winning simplified Medicare banner from an earlier test, with a softer call to action asking visitors to explore.
Variant
The same banner with a harder-sell call to action inviting visitors to shop plans, timed for the short Medicare enrolment window.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Medicare sign-up runs only from mid-October to early December, so visitors were ready to act.
- A direct ask matched that urgency better than a low-commitment one.
- Soft calls to action usually win early in a journey, but timing changed what visitors wanted.
Caveats: Only clickthrough was measured, and the article does not give the exact button text. The test ran during a short, high-intent enrolment window, which may not carry over to other times of year.
Who ran it
Humana ran this test for a health insurance provider and published the results (MarketingExperiments). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Humana →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we use a direct 'shop' call to action during our peak buying window, then more visitors will click through because they are already ready to choose.
- Primary metric
- Banner clickthrough rate
- Guardrails
- Quote or application starts
- Bounce rate on the plans page
- Who should test it
- Insurance, education and other lead-gen businesses with a fixed enrolment or deadline period. Outside a high-intent window, a softer call to action may still win.
Questions
Should a call to action be soft or direct?
It depends on how ready visitors are. Soft asks often win early on, but during a deadline period a direct ask can match intent better.
Does timing affect CTA tests?
Yes. Humana ran this during Medicare enrolment, when visitors had to decide quickly.
Retest outside peak periods before rolling it out year-round.