Dropbox may have been trying to find out how the button copy impacted what customers did next: start a free trial or start paying immediately? After users click on the call-to-action button on Dropbox's homepage, they land on a pricing page where they must select a plan to continue.
The difference between a user selecting a free trial vs buying is a big deal, since Dropbox's trial conversion rate (percentage of users who become paid subscribers after starting a free trial) is estimated at 2.4%. That means that Dropbox is much better off if a customer starts paying right off the bat instead of trying it first.
What a user sees earlier on in the funnel can impact how they behave in subsequent steps. Perhaps the "Start for free" button copy caused more people to start a free trial in the next step instead of purchasing.
Results
"Find your plan" ended up winning. Even if more people click on a button that says "Start for free", the positive effect can quickly be cancelled out if it means that more of them select a free trial in the next step.
Control (Winner): "Find your plan"
👍 Pros:
Sets expectations around what's going to happen in the next step
Could bias the user towards buying instead of trialing
👎 Cons:
Harder to understand at a quick glance
Sounds like more work: expending effort to "find" something
Not as action-oriented as "Get started" or "Start for free"
Takeaway
Remember to think about conversion holistically: it's not just about how many users click on the button, but also what happens after.
Dropbox is a well-known company so it's less likely that prospective customers would be unwilling to purchase the product without trying it first. Converting users into paid subscribers after a free trial is challenging, so if the free trial option doesn't make a big difference in their willingness to buy the product, it could be best to bias them towards picking a plan immediately.
Dropbox CTA Button Test
Why might they have tested this?
Dropbox may have been trying to find out how the button copy impacted what customers did next: start a free trial or start paying immediately? After users click on the call-to-action button on Dropbox's homepage, they land on a pricing page where they must select a plan to continue.
The difference between a user selecting a free trial vs buying is a big deal, since Dropbox's trial conversion rate (percentage of users who become paid subscribers after starting a free trial) is estimated at 2.4%. That means that Dropbox is much better off if a customer starts paying right off the bat instead of trying it first.
What a user sees earlier on in the funnel can impact how they behave in subsequent steps. Perhaps the "Start for free" button copy caused more people to start a free trial in the next step instead of purchasing.
Results
"Find your plan" ended up winning. Even if more people click on a button that says "Start for free", the positive effect can quickly be cancelled out if it means that more of them select a free trial in the next step.
👍 Pros:
👎 Cons:
Takeaway
Remember to think about conversion holistically: it's not just about how many users click on the button, but also what happens after.
Dropbox is a well-known company so it's less likely that prospective customers would be unwilling to purchase the product without trying it first. Converting users into paid subscribers after a free trial is challenging, so if the free trial option doesn't make a big difference in their willingness to buy the product, it could be best to bias them towards picking a plan immediately.