New monthly vs annual price display on Powtoon pricing page lost
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA new way of showing monthly and annual prices on Powtoon's pricing page lost to the original display.
Powtoon's team ran the test with VWO, and it was published as a VWO case study.
The case study only mentions it briefly, so the size of the loss and the exact design were not shared.
- Plan choice and revenue: the original display outperformed the variant. This is a negative result.
- No numbers were shared, so the size of the loss is unknown.
- Powtoon shared the results internally and kept testing its pricing page.
The change
Only the monthly vs annual price display changed; exact design not shared
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Powtoon's original pricing page display of monthly and annual plan prices.
Variant
An alternative presentation of monthly vs annual prices, meant to test whether the display changed which plan visitors chose. The exact design was not described.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Visitors may have already been used to the original layout, or found it clearer.
- A change in how annual savings are framed can push people toward monthly plans, or away from buying at all.
- Without the variant details, any reason here is a guess.
Caveats: The source mentions this test only in passing, with no variant details, numbers, sample size or duration. The test date was not given.
Who ran it
Powtoon ran this test and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Powtoon →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we change how monthly and annual prices are displayed, then more visitors will choose the annual plan because the savings will be easier to see.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor on the pricing page
- Guardrails
- Share of buyers choosing annual vs monthly
- Overall paid conversion rate
- Refund rate
- Who should test it
- SaaS companies selling both monthly and annual plans. Expect small or negative effects if your current display already makes the annual saving clear.
Questions
Should SaaS pricing pages default to annual or monthly?
It depends on your buyers. Test the default and the framing, and track revenue, not just sign-ups.
Do pricing display tests often lose?
Yes. Many lose or stay flat, and Powtoon's original beat its new display here.
A loss still tells you what buyers prefer.
What should you track in a pricing display test?
Revenue per visitor and the mix of plans chosen.
A display can raise sign-ups but lower revenue.