What is CRO?

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the process of optimizing a website to increase the number of conversions. A conversion can mean various actions, such as purchasing a product, filling out a contact form, subscribing to a newsletter, or reading more articles on the site. It’s important to measure each conversion and assign a value to it so you can understand where the consumer is in the sales funnel and determine the next step needed to guide them further along their journey.

CRO involves many areas that need to be thoroughly analyzed, conclusions drawn, solutions proposed, tested, and optimized to ultimately increase the number of those final conversions—into sales.

Do you want to know how to optimize your website, landing pages, platform, or internal communications so that the traffic you’re paying for can easily convert? Even the most engaged user, fully warmed up to your product, won’t convert if the website doesn’t allow it or makes it difficult.

CRO – Step by Step: What Should You Check?

CRO can serve as your guide—it covers many areas where analysis and optimization can help increase conversion rates. Below are the main steps that should be followed in the process of optimizing a website.

1. Audit of analytical tools and their configuration – Before drawing conclusions from the data, you must ensure its accuracy. There are several ways to do this. The safest approach is assigning tasks to a group of testers, having them go through the most common user journeys, and comparing the data from Google Analytics (GA) with the expected results. A good method is also comparing historical data from tools like Analytics with data from ERP, fiscal systems, or CMS to see if sales data is accurately recorded in GA. As a last resort, server log reviews can be conducted.

2. Data analysis – The next step is analyzing user behavior data on your website. Tools such as Google Analytics 4, Metrilo, or HotJar (each suited to different goals) allow you to collect information on visits, time spent on the site, and conversions. Based on this data, you can identify weak points on the site that need optimization. Regular analysis is crucial to monitor changes in key metrics over time.

3. Competitor analysis – I enjoy this 🙂 Testing competitor strategies and going through their customer journeys offers valuable insights into how they conduct business. Tools like Facebook Ads Library or Google’s new Ads Transparency Center allow you to analyze competitors’ activities and identify their strengths and weaknesses. This gives you useful guidance on product presentation and ways to engage customers.

4. Planning and strategy – After collecting data and analyzing the competition, you need to develop an action plan and evaluate your communication strategy. Each implemented change should have success metrics over time to assess whether the proposed solution is more effective than the previous one.

5. Testing – Conducting A/B testing is a logical next step. It allows you to compare two different versions of a webpage when you’re uncertain which optimization will perform better. This helps you determine which version attracts more conversions. A/B tests can focus on different elements of the site and can be run on a fraction of the total traffic.

6. Web Core Vitals – The site should also be optimized for loading speed and content display on various devices. For example, a website can detect poorer user connections and deliver a simplified version to quickly load key elements. According to Google, each second of delay in loading a site reduces conversion chances by up to 20%.

7. Personalization – The more accurately you tailor the content to the unique expectations of the user, the greater the chance they’ll make a purchase. Implementing dynamically personalized content can significantly boost conversion rates (CR). Optimizing these mechanisms not only brings financial value but also provides immense knowledge about what your customers expect from your platform.

8. Monitoring and analysis – Every change should have set target or reference metrics. Monitoring post-implementation parameters is an essential part of CRO. Changes should be reversible so that if results worsen, you can quickly revert to the previous state.
   
   

Where to Look for Better CR?

Here are some examples of conversion rate optimization backed by statistical data:

• Page load speed – According to Google, the load time of a website should be less than 3 seconds. The longer the load time, the lower the chance of increasing conversions. A one-second delay can reduce conversion rates by 7%.

• CTA button text – Changing the text on a “Buy Now” button to “Add to Cart” can increase conversions by 49%, according to ContentVerve research.

• Form length – Research from HubSpot shows that contact forms with fewer than 4 fields are 160% more likely to convert than those with more than 11 fields.

• CTA button placement – Placing the CTA button at the top of a webpage can increase conversions by 68%, as reported by ContentVerve.

• Content personalization – Research by Epsilon has shown that personalized content can increase conversion rates by up to 20%. Customizing website content based on individual customer needs, such as preferences or previous purchases, can help boost conversions.

• A/B testing – Conducting A/B tests to compare two different versions of a webpage can lead to significant increases in conversions. According to research by ContentVerve, improvements of up to 49% can be achieved.

These examples demonstrate the importance of analyzing data thoroughly and testing different webpage variants to optimize for higher conversion rates.

Key Takeaways and Expert Commentary

• CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) is a process that enables you to achieve more conversions, which can include actions like purchasing a product, filling out a contact form, or subscribing to a newsletter.
• Website optimization covers many areas, such as auditing analytical tools, data analysis, competitor analysis, A/B testing, and personalization.
• Examples of changes you can make as part of CRO include modifying the CTA button text or its placement, reducing the number of form fields, personalizing content, or reducing page load time.
• Monitoring the parameters of each change after implementation is a crucial element of CRO to assess how the solution has impacted the number of conversions.
• Launching a business website is only the beginning. Considering how rapidly business—especially e-commerce—evolves, it’s no longer sufficient to launch a new website and forget about it for a few years. The idea of anywhere commerce is an ongoing project, with the biggest players setting the standards based on deep analysis of their site traffic. Statistically, they rarely make mistakes, so it’s worth learning from their experience and following their lead. Where should you start in your search for a better CR? Begin with an external analysis—it offers a fresh perspective.