Buy box reordered with subscription preselected: +28.9% opt-in
Test run byVisuallyTesting and CRO tool
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsHuron reordered its product page buy box to put the call-to-action button first and a preselected subscription option second, and subscription opt-in went up 28.9%.
Conversion rate did not change. Visually ran the test for the men's personal care brand and published it as a Visually case study.
- Subscription opt-in: +28.9%.
- Conversion rate: no change, so more subscribers did not cost any sales.
- Sample size, test length and statistical confidence were not shared.
The change
The CTA moves first and subscription becomes the preselected option.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The buy box listed one-time and subscription options in the original order, and had grown long and complex.
Variant
The order was flipped: the call to action came first, then the subscription option preselected, then one-time purchase last.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Preselecting subscription makes it the default. Many shoppers keep the default rather than change it.
- Putting one-time purchase last makes subscription the main path, while keeping the choice open.
- A shorter path to the button may have kept the longer buy box from hurting conversion.
Caveats: This comes from a testing vendor's own case study. Sample size and statistical significance were not shared. Test length was also not shared. The page doesn't say how long the extra subscribers stayed subscribed.
Who ran it
Visually ran this test for Huron and published the results (Visually case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Visually →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we put the button first and preselect the subscription option in our buy box, then more shoppers will subscribe because the default nudges them toward it without blocking a one-time purchase.
- Primary metric
- Subscription opt-in rate
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Subscription cancellations after the first order
- Customer complaints about unexpected subscriptions
- Who should test it
- Brands selling products people reorder, like grooming, supplements or coffee, with a subscribe-and-save option. It probably won't help for one-off purchases, and preselecting subscription can backfire if it isn't clearly labeled.
Questions
Should subscription be preselected on the product page?
It lifted subscription opt-in 28.9% for Huron with no change in conversion rate.
Make the price and terms clear, so shoppers aren't surprised by a recurring order.
Does pushing subscriptions hurt conversion rate?
It doesn't have to. Huron kept one-time purchase available at the bottom of the buy box, and conversion rate held steady.
Similar tests
@oliverkenyon@oliverkenyon@oliverkenyon
Convertibles
@DaveDiederen