Definition
CRO (conversion rate optimization) is increasing the share of visitors who take a desired action, such as buying, booking or submitting a form.
CRO explained
CRO starts with understanding why visitors don't convert. Analytics shows where people drop off. Session recordings, heatmaps, surveys and sales conversations show what confuses or worries them. From that research you form hypotheses, such as a clearer headline, fewer form fields or more visible pricing, and test them.
Changes are ideally validated with A/B tests, where visitors are split between the original and a variation and the results compared once enough data has been collected. Sites without much traffic can still apply CRO principles by fixing obvious problems, like slow pages, broken forms and unclear calls to action, and measuring before and after.
CRO and SEO work well together. SEO brings qualified visitors, and CRO makes sure more of them become leads or customers. Improving conversion rate also makes every other channel, including paid search, more efficient.
Example
Your quote form has twelve fields and many people abandon it. Testing a shorter version with four fields, and moving the reassurance about response times next to the button, is CRO. You keep whichever version turns more visitors into enquiries.
Why it matters
Doubling traffic is hard. Improving the rate at which existing visitors convert often produces more revenue for less effort.
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Related terms
- Conversion rateConversion rate is the percentage of visitors or sessions that complete a goal, such as a purchase, sign-up or enquiry, out of all visitors or sessions.
- A/B testingA/B testing compares two versions of a page or element by showing each to a random share of visitors and measuring which produces more conversions.
- Landing pageA landing page is a page built to turn visitors from a specific campaign or search into leads or customers, with one clear goal and call to action.
- CTA (Call to Action)A CTA (call to action) is the prompt, usually a button or link, that tells visitors what to do next, such as “Book a demo” or “Get a quote”.