Win Report: How removing friction increased paid subscriptions by 13%

Win Reports help you grow your business by showing our methodology at work. Each Win Report showcases a real-world test, sharing the research, insights, and techniques that led to the win.

In the next 3 minutes, we’ll show you how adding a sticky header to Mobbin’s paywall page increased paid subscriptions by 13%. Like our previous Win Report, Ask for less, get (28%) more, this test demonstrates a basic but effective strategy that many businesses can use.

Control vs variation comparison showing a static paywall banner versus a sticky header that keeps the ‘Get Pro’ CTA visible while scrolling.

Trusted by Airbnb, Pinterest, and Headspace, Mobbin enables subscribers to take inspiration from over 595,000 real screens and 24,000 real navigation flows.

Research: Friction at the moment of decision

When subscribers to the free plan visited a particular area of the site (e.g., app screens) they would see a limited number of free assets followed by a paywall banner encouraging them to Get Pro. Assets below this banner were blurred out, demonstrating the value of the Pro account.

During our user testing, we noticed that free subscribers often scrolled way down the page to assess the volume of assets on offer, leaving the paywall banner far behind.

If you’ve read our previous “sticky” Win Report, you’ll know that long sales pages, while effective, can add friction if a visitor struggles to find the CTA when they are ready to subscribe.

How could we ensure that Mobbin’s Get Pro CTA was available at the point that the free subscriber was ready to commit?

The original page (or control)

Here’s a section of the original page showing the paywall banner. The number in the headline refers to the number of screens within the category.

Original Mobbin paywall page where the ‘Get Pro’ CTA scrolls out of view as users browse available screens. — The Original: If the user keeps scrolling down, the paywall banner disappears.

The tested page (or variation)

For the variation, we tested a “sticky” banner design. Once users scrolled past the paywall divider, the banner stayed on screen keeping the Get Pro CTA visible.

Test variation showing a sticky header with ‘Get Pro’ CTA and social proof remaining visible as users scroll through screens. — The Variation: The paywall banner “sticks” to the top of the screen as users scroll down.

In addition, we:

Updated the headline number to include all the assets that were available to Pro users, and better communicate the value of a full subscription.
Added a social proof element (Supporting over 1M designers worldwide) that had tested well elsewhere. (Whenever you get a win, you should always look for opportunities to reuse it.)

Here’s a quick video of the sticky header in action:

Result: Paid subscriptions increased by 13%

During the test, we observed a 13% increase in conversions to paid plans.

Taken together, these changes increased the perceived value of the Pro account and reduced friction for free subscribers who became more convinced as they scrolled down the page.

“Contextual CTAs” like this often do well, because they make the sales page as short as possible—but as long as necessary.

What next?

As usual, we added the test to our proprietary Wins Database, then looked for ways to apply its lessons to other parts of Mobbin’s business and then to other clients.

If you want us to grow your profits—quickly and efficiently—check if you qualify for a free one-on-one strategy session with one of our CRO consultants.

We’ll only work with you if we believe we can get amazing results together. Our success has come entirely from positive word of mouth, and we plan to keep it that way.

Thanks to Mobbin for letting us share these insights (and for being such a great team to work with).

How much did you like this article?

How the world’s best companies build unbeatable focus

Win Report: How reframing lead times increased conversions by 22%

What’s your goal today?

1. Hire us to grow your company

We’ve generated hundreds of millions for our clients, using our unique CRE Methodology™. To discover how we can help grow your business:

Read our case studies, client success stories, and video testimonials.
Learn about us, and our unique values, beliefs and quirks.
Visit our “Services” page to see the process by which we assess whether we’re a good fit for each other.
Schedule your FREE website strategy session with one of our renowned experts.

Schedule your FREE strategy session

2. Learn how to do conversion

Download a free copy of our Amazon #1 best-selling book, Making Websites Win, recommended by Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Moz, Econsultancy, and many more industry leaders. You’ll also be subscribed to our email newsletter and notified whenever we publish new articles or have something interesting to share.

Browse hundreds of articles, containing an amazing number of useful tools and techniques. Many readers tell us they have doubled their sales by following the advice in these articles.

Download a free copy of our best-selling book