# Removing the subscription-length choice: about -40% conversion

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Checkout (SaaS)
- Elements: Plans, Form fields
- Date shared: 2014-05
- Test run by: [MarketingExperiments](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/marketingexperiments/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/value-choice-decision-making
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/subscription-funnel-remove-term-length-dropdown/

Removing the subscription-length dropdown, so everyone got the monthly plan, cut conversion by nearly 40%. MarketingExperiments (MECLABS) ran the test for an anonymized delivery subscription business. The team expected fewer choices to reduce friction, but visitors appeared to value being able to compare terms.

## Result

**about -40% conversion**

- Conversion rate: down nearly 40% when the term choice was removed. This is a clear loss.
- The delivery radio buttons were unchanged; the dropdown was the only variable.
- Exact rates and sample size were anonymized and not shared.

## Control

The funnel step offered delivery options as radio buttons, plus a dropdown to choose monthly auto-renewal, six months or one year.

## Variant

The same delivery options, but the term dropdown was removed, so visitors were locked into the monthly option.

## Why it likely lost (our reading)

- Seeing longer terms may make the monthly price feel like a fair, flexible choice, even for people who pick monthly.
- Some visitors may have wanted a six-month or one-year term and left when they could not find one.
- Options people don't pick still help them judge value; taking them away removed that reference point.

## Caveats

The partner, product and exact figures were anonymized, and sample size and duration were not shared. It may be a physical delivery subscription rather than software or media.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we remove plan or term options to simplify checkout, then conversion will change because visitors use the options to judge value, not only to pick one.
- Primary metric: Checkout conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Share of longer-term plans
- Guardrail: Early cancellation rate
- Who should test it: SaaS and subscription businesses thinking about cutting plan or billing-term options. Run it as a test, not a straight change. Results may differ if your options really are confusing or near-identical.

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Credit: MarketingExperiments ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/subscription-funnel-remove-term-length-dropdown/).
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.