Why a free offer creates distrust — and how one simple explanation led to 23% more sign-ups

helpcheck is a legal-tech portal that helps consumers enforce legal claims digitally. This case was about one specific area: life or pension insurance policies signed between 1994 and 2007. helpcheck offered affected consumers a free digital review of their contracts. Where the cancellation policy was faulty, specialised partner lawyers then supported the reversal of the contract. That allowed consumers to reclaim a large share of their paid premiums plus interest.

The comment sections under the ads make it clear: users are sceptical of 'lawyers on the internet' offering a free service.

We show users who have just signed up for a review of their contract documents a survey with a single question.

In the free-text answers we spot a pattern. Users keep asking themselves:

Talking to an experienced customer advisor, it becomes clear that he has answered this question hundreds of times on the phone. On the landing page, that answer is missing.

The answer to this user question already exists. We're just not giving it to users where they need it.

I write down the exact wording of Dennis' answer. It becomes a new copy section on the landing page headlined “Why is the review free?”, placed directly below the embedded conversion funnel — exactly where the doubt appears.

A single block of copy led to 23% more sign-ups. The probability that the variant is better than the status quo is 84%.

Sometimes the answers to the biggest conversion barriers already exist inside the company. You just need to know who to ask — and bring the answer to where the doubt appears.