# Reworked SaaS sign-up flow: about +50% free trials

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Signup page (SaaS)
- Elements: Funnel steps
- Date shared: 2014
- Test run by: [Patrick McKenzie](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/patrick-mckenzie/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/12/22/kalzumeus-software-year-in-review-2014/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/patio11-appointment-reminder-signup-flow/

Reworking the sign-up process for Appointment Reminder led to about 50% more free trial sign-ups. Patrick McKenzie ran this A/B test in 2014 and mentioned it on the Kalzumeus blog in a year-in-review post. The specific changes were not described.

## Result

**about +50% free trials**

- Free trial sign-ups: about +50%.
- Sample size, test length and confidence were not shared.
- Trial-to-paid conversion after the change was not reported, so it is unclear how many of the extra trials became paying customers.

## Control

The original sign-up process for Appointment Reminder's free trial, which asks for a credit card up front.

## Variant

A reworked sign-up process. The write-up does not say which steps or fields changed.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A card-up-front trial asks a lot at sign-up, so friction in that flow costs more trials than it would in a no-card flow.
- Sign-up flows built early in a product's life are rarely revisited, so a first round of testing often finds large gains.
- We don't know what changed, so these reasons are general, not specific to this test.

## Caveats

The result comes from one sentence in a year-in-review post. The changes, sample size and confidence were not shared, and the effect on paid conversion is unknown.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we remove friction from our free trial sign-up flow, then more visitors will start a trial because fewer of them will drop out between steps.
- Primary metric: Free trial sign-ups per visitor
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion
- Guardrail: Payment failures or abuse at sign-up
- Guardrail: Activation within the trial
- Who should test it: B2B SaaS founders whose sign-up flow has several steps or asks for a card up front, and who have never tested it. If sign-up is already one short form, gains will likely be smaller.

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Credit: Patrick McKenzie ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/patio11-appointment-reminder-signup-flow/).
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.