Our sister site, WhichTestWon.com, published a new a/b testing case study about the paid membership site SEOMOZ this week. SEOMOZ memberships range from $79 month to $2200+ per year. So this a/b test may make a big difference to their (already healthy) bottom line.
The site tested two completely different versions of its paywall — one was a short page featuring bulleted lists of features and benefits for each level of membership. The other was a long-form page with lots of more salesy information including testimonials, endorsements, and a publisher video.Yes, the Case Study does show which page won… but I won’t spoil the surprise here.
However, if you’re reviewing the study with an eye to improving your own paywall page results, please, please bear in mind that the lesson is NOT to copy the winning page from this test! Your site’s audience, your offers, your appeal is almost certainly completely different, so what worked for them may not work for you at all. You could wind up hurting your conversions.
The real lesson is that a/b testing works. You absolutely should be a/b testing your paywall. Subscription Site Insider’s membership site includes a 50-minute video tutorial on what sorts of a/b tests subscription sites should run to improve sales. It also includes case studies from seven real-life subscription site a/b tests that I think you’ll find inspirational and perhaps surprising. Click here for info on this on-demand tutorial.