"Free Trials" vs "Downloads": Which phrase (in the main navigation menu of a site) gets more clicks from visitors?
Setup
Original (A)
vs
Alternative (B)
The phrase “Downloads” or the phrase “Free Trials” was shown in a 50/50 split using Google’s website optimizer on the home page of AMF Software (http://www.amfsoftware.com). The experiment was run for 10 days.
Measurement
I measured the number of visitors who clicked on the navigation link and went to the downloads page using Google’s website optimizer.
Outcome
About 5% more visitors clicked on the tab with the phrase “Downloads” vs the tab with the phrase “Free Trials”.
Uncertainties and Errors
10 days might not have been a long enough period for this particular experiment to run.
Result
I kept the phrase “Downloads” on the main navigation tab. The phrase “Downloads” seems to be clicked more by visitors. The phrase “Downloads” might have a lot of recognition because of free music downloads and sites like download.com etc. I also resolved to run future experiments either for a minimum of 30 days or until Google’s website optimizer tool gave me a conclusive answer.
Recommendation
Low confidence: Use the phrase “Downloads” over the phrase “Free Trials” on any main navigation menu of a website.
