Conversion
Demo Request vs Free Trial vs Self-Serve
The default 'request a demo' CTA does not fit every buyer. Here is how to pick the right primary CTA for your motion.
The primary CTA on a B2B homepage signals the sales motion. 'Request a Demo' signals enterprise sales (high-friction, high-touch, sales-led). 'Start Free' signals product-led growth. 'Talk to Sales' signals consultative or complex enterprise. 'Get a Quote' signals industrial or services. Each is right in some contexts and wrong in others. The mismatch produces sub-scale conversion.
Pick the CTA based on the actual sales motion. If the average sales cycle is 60+ days and the deal size is 50K+, 'Request a Demo' or 'Talk to an Expert' is the right primary CTA. If the product can be self-evaluated in under an hour and the entry price is under 1K/month, 'Start Free' is the right primary CTA. If the motion is mixed (PLG with enterprise upsell), run both as primary and secondary CTAs.
The mistake most B2B sites make is having too many CTAs in the hero. 'Request Demo' and 'Start Trial' and 'Watch Video' and 'Read Case Study' all stacked. The buyer pauses, decides, and clicks the path of least commitment (usually 'Watch Video'), which has the lowest conversion downstream. Pick one primary CTA. Make secondary CTAs visually subordinate.
Test CTA wording, not CTA function, except in rare cases where the motion itself is changing. If you are debating 'Request Demo' vs 'Talk to Sales,' you are testing the wrong thing. If you are debating 'Request Demo' vs 'Start Free,' you are debating the entire sales motion. That is a board-level conversation, not an A/B test.