# Autoship rename, cart subscribe option: +12% subscription length

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Product page (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Subscriptions & subscribe-and-save, Cart drawers & slide carts
- Test run by: [Blend Commerce](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/blend-commerce/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://blendcommerce.com/blogs/our-work/12-increase-in-average-duration-of-an-active-subscription-with-recharge
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/performance-nutrition-subscription-autoship-revamp/

A US performance nutrition brand added a subscribe option to the cart, showed savings more clearly, renamed 'Subscription' to 'Autoship' and let customers pause or swap, and average subscription duration rose 12%. Blend Commerce ran the project using Recharge. All changes shipped together and were measured before and after, not in a split test.

## Result

**+12% subscription length**

- Average subscription duration: +12%. Subscribers stayed longer on average.
- Recurring sales: +11%.
- Average charge value at checkout: +11%.
- These are bundled before/after results from about a month of data, so no single change gets the credit.

## Control

Subscriptions were offered, but the savings were not clear. Shoppers could not switch to a subscription in the cart, and managing an existing subscription was hard, which led to cancellations.

## Variant

The cart gained a switch from one-time purchase to subscription, with savings and price differences shown on the product page and in the cart. The frequency selector was improved, the label changed to 'Autoship', and the account area let subscribers pause or swap products instead of cancelling.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Pause and swap give a way out that is not cancelling, which likely kept people subscribed longer.
- 'Autoship' stresses convenience and may feel less like a commitment than 'Subscription'.
- Offering the switch in the cart catches shoppers who chose one-time purchase on the product page.
- Clear savings make the value of subscribing easy to see.

## Caveats

Several changes launched at once and were measured over roughly a month after launch; this is not a split test. A month is short for judging subscription duration.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we let subscribers pause or swap instead of cancel and offer a subscribe switch in the cart, then subscriptions will last longer because customers have options other than leaving.
- Primary metric: Average active subscription duration
- Guardrail: Subscription opt-in rate
- Guardrail: Cancellation rate
- Guardrail: Conversion rate
- Who should test it: Consumable brands with a subscription programme, such as supplements, coffee or pet food. Test the label and the cart switch separately if you want to know which one works; brands with few repeat buyers will see little effect.

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Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/performance-nutrition-subscription-autoship-revamp/).
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.