In our recent Timestamp A/B Test, we tried a small copy tweak we thought would reduce friction—but it revealed something entirely different about how people commit to time-bound offers.
The client’s funnel promotes a free 5-day challenge. To frame urgency and commitment, the opt-in page’s header traditionally displays a timestamp like:
“Monday, June 2nd, 2025 @ 11 AM ET.”
At first glance, the time detail seemed like a potential barrier. Would people hesitate if the time didn’t work for them? Could it feel too rigid, like a meeting invite instead of a flexible online event?
That led us to this idea:
What if removing the time made the offer feel more accessible and less demanding?
We thought this subtle change might increase opt-ins by reducing decision fatigue or the fear of missing it live. So, we tested it.
Test Design
We ran a simple A/B test using a feature flag and custom script to control the experience:
- Control: “Monday, February 10th, 2025 @ 11 AM ET”
- Test: “Monday, February 10th, 2025” (time removed)
The goal was to measure which version led to more opt-ins (captured as welcome page views via PostHog).
You can refer to this post for the exact script we use in these types of experiments.
Results
After 25 days and 857 users, here’s what we saw:
| Conversion Rate | Delta | Win Probablity | |
| control | 35.36% | Baseline | 82.15% |
| test | 32.33% | -8.59% | 17.85% |
Not only was the result not statistically significant, it leaned toward the control. The version with the exact time performed better.
Our Perspective
This test reminded us why assumptions don’t win conversions—clarity does.
While we expected the looser phrasing to make the challenge feel more approachable, it turns out specificity helped more people say yes. Knowing the exact time gave users a stronger sense of structure and commitment. It likely reduced uncertainty, especially for time-sensitive content like live workshops.
This raised a new hypothesis:
Since the current timestamp shows Eastern Time for everyone, what if we displayed it in the user’s local time zone instead? That could make the same clarity even more actionable.
We also saw an opportunity to clarify flexibility without removing the time entirely—for example, adding a short note like:
“(Recordings available for 24h)” could ease concerns without losing precision.
The Bigger Picture
Not every test has to be a win to be a success.
This one didn’t prove the original hypothesis—but it gave us valuable clarity on what matters to this audience: certainty and structure over vagueness and “flexibility.” And that insight will guide sharper iterations going forward.
If you want to set up a test like this, PostHog walks you through it in this guide.
And if you’re working with ClickFunnels or Shopify, check out these step-by-step tutorials:
How to Setup PostHog A/B Test on Shopify
How to Setup PostHog A/B Test on ClickFunnels
