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It's a web app where you can change your subscription plan at any time. There are 5 subscription plans.

To change subscription you can directly go to pricing page or go to your profile settings. In the profile settings, there's a button that later takes you to the pricing page, where each plan in its turn has upgrade or downgrade button. I plan to leave these as they are.

Should a button in the profile settings say "Upgrade subscription" or "Change subscription"?

I'm inclined to go with "Upgrade subscription", but I'm not a native speaker and I'm not sure whether it would mean both upgrade/downgrade the account. Or will the user get confused and start looking for a "Downgrade account" button?

Should I just stay on the safe side and go with "Change subscription"?

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  • Please supply additional context for this question.
    – Jeff Zeitlin
    Oct 13, 2017 at 13:15
  • added some context, does it help?
    – Oksi
    Oct 13, 2017 at 13:28
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    I'd use "Modify Subscription" rather than "Change Subscription", but that's just me. Definitely, though, "Upgrade" implies "make it better/more expensive", and if the user can downgrade (make it less good/less expensive) as well, you should not use "Upgrade".
    – Jeff Zeitlin
    Oct 13, 2017 at 13:34

2 Answers 2

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I have three main thoughts when it comes to your question.

1. Don't use the phrase "Upgrade Subscription"

To me, this phrase says: "increase cost of this service". While you may have a very worthy service for your users, that phrasing alone might deter potential upgraders.

Assuming you want to increase sales, emphasize features the higher subscription plans offer. To start, here are some generic phrases you can use:

Upgrade Features

Upgrade Plan

Since your service has a number of options, consider getting more specific with a display message:

Get Automatic File Backups with Level 3 Plan

The user might reconsider, "I could use file backups for a bit more money than I pay now."

2. "Change Subscription" is typically used to downgrade or cancel a service

The phrases:

Change Subscription

Manage Subscription

Modify Subscription

Are all perfectly reasonable for downgrading or cancelling a subscription. You could list the upgrade plans in the same UI just in case, but that phrasing is not persuasive enough to entice users to upgrade.

3. Use a combination

The best solution is to use a combination of both.

  • Emphasize new features in a method that fits your product
  • Focus attention to an upgrade button
  • Allow users to downgrade/cancel their plan with a separate button/link

Consider the following:

mockup

download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups

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5
  • Could someone explain the down vote? Want to improve :)
    – Alan
    Oct 14, 2017 at 3:05
  • Imho your post didn't answer the question at all - you argue against both of his suggestions, don't provide an alternative and mostly focus on suggesting phrases that would be in the page directed to by the button rather than the button title itself.
    – Alok
    Oct 15, 2017 at 7:23
  • My argument is that "Upgrade Subscription" isn't as welcoming as other phrases, and that "Change Subscription" is typically used for downgrading or cancelling a service. Both of those apply to the question. I'll make some edits.
    – Alan
    Oct 16, 2017 at 14:51
  • Personally, I think this is a great answer
    – Devin
    Oct 16, 2017 at 19:48
  • Thanks, Devin. To @Alok's credit, I did make some edits to focus the answer.
    – Alan
    Oct 16, 2017 at 19:50
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If you have a button that allows the user to go from one subscription plan to another, then it should be labeled "Change subscription plan". If it lets them choose between several versions of the same subscription plan, then it should be labeled "Modify subscription plan".

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