'It's free!' next to the sign-up button: +28% click-through
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding the words 'It's free!' beside the homepage 'Sign up' button lifted click-through to Soocial's sign-up form from 14.5% to 18.6%, a 28% gain.
Soocial, an online address book app now part of Viadeo, ran the test, and it was published as a VWO case study.
It beat several other versions, including 'Free up to 250 contacts'.
- Click-through to the sign-up form: 14.5% to 18.6%, up 28%.
- The result was reported as statistically significant.
- Completed sign-ups and paid conversions were not measured, so the full-funnel effect is unknown.
The change
The variant adds 'It's free!' beside the sign-up button.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The homepage had a large 'Sign up' button with no mention of price.
Variant
The same button with 'It's free!' placed beside it. This was the winner among several button and text versions.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Two short words removed the worry that signing up would cost money.
- The short label beat the more precise 'Free up to 250 contacts', perhaps because it needed no thought. Soocial's team read it the same way.
- Placing the reassurance right next to the button put it where the decision happens.
Caveats: The test measured clicks to the sign-up form, not finished sign-ups. Several variants ran at once, and sample size and dates were not shared.
Who ran it
Soocial 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 Soocial →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we add 'It's free!' next to our sign-up button, then more visitors will click through because they will see that starting carries no cost.
- Primary metric
- Completed sign-ups
- Guardrails
- Click-through to the sign-up form
- Free-to-paid conversion rate
- Activation rate
- Who should test it
- SaaS products with a free plan or free trial. Don't use it if the product has a paid-only model, or if the free tier is so limited that the word 'free' would mislead.
Questions
Does saying 'free' on a sign-up button help?
Often it does when the product really is free to start.
Soocial saw 28% more clicks to its sign-up form with 'It's free!' beside the button.
Is short copy better than precise copy?
In this test the short 'It's free!' beat the more exact 'Free up to 250 contacts'.
Simple reassurance can beat detail at the first click.
Should I measure clicks or sign-ups?
Measure finished sign-ups and, ideally, paying users. More clicks only matter if those people go on to convert.