Imagine that you are running a café in a busy neighborhood. People walk by, peek through the windows, even step inside and look at your menu—but for some reason, they walk out without ordering a thing. You know it’s not the lack of foot traffic; it’s that they do not become customers.
You know what? This window shopping behavior also happens with websites. A lot.
You may have hundreds or even thousands of visitors coming to your site daily, but it’s possible that they’re not taking the actions you want—like making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or requesting a quote.
This is where Conversion Rate Optimization (or CRO for short) steps in. CRO in marketing helps you turn those virtual window shoppers into paying customers by improving your website’s experience.
Instead of focusing on getting more traffic, CRO focuses on getting more value from your existing traffic level.
What is CRO in Marketing?
CRO in marketing is the process of improving your website or landing page to increase the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action.
Going back to the café example, imagine if you could change the chairs to be more comfortable, display the menu more clearly, or even assign a greeter at the door. These little store adjustments encourage people to stay longer and eventually order.
CRO is just like that—but instead of a café, you’re making tweaks to your website to guide visitors smoothly toward actions that benefit your business.
What Can Learning CRO Do to Your Career as a Marketer?
If you are a marketer, learning CRO is like adding a power tool to your toolbox:
CRO lets you understand online marketing better: Training in CRO equips you to interpret user behavior, identify website pain points, and run data-driven experiments. These skills allow you to produce insights and make informed decisions about a website’s performance.
You become an indispensable member of your team: As businesses become increasingly focused on ROI, a marketer who knows how to boost conversions without additional ad spend becomes an irreplaceable asset.
Unlimited career choices and potential for growth: CRO is known to cross different disciplines—content marketing, paid ads, SEO, social media, even UI/UX, coding, or web design. When you learn CRO, your opportunities for further growth are unlimited.
What Can CRO Do to Your Business?
If you are a business owner, adding CRO to your marketing efforts can be a game changer.
Produces better ROI: Do you know that companies that invest in CRO see an average of 223% increase in their conversion rates? That’s extra sales without spending an extra penny on ads. What's more is that if you eventually gain more traffic, those extra audiences are converted better, too.
Enhances user experience: A big part of CRO is making your website easier and more enjoyable to use. Changes like optimizing page load speed, making navigation smoother, or clarifying calls to action increase customer engagement and make your website easy to buy from.
Provides actionable insights: You’ll gain a deeper understanding of your audience’s preferences and behaviors. Tools like heatmaps and A/B testing offer insights into what resonates with your visitors and what doesn’t. You can use these insights beyond conversion optimization.
Gives advantage over other businesses: Surveys indicate that only around 52% of businesses actively test and optimize their landing pages. This means if you regularly implement CRO on your website, you already have an advantage over competitors who do not.
Supports long-term business growth: With a well-optimized site, you’re setting the foundation for sustainable growth. Every optimization, whether big or small, contributes to a website that consistently performs well. Over time, this adds up!
Common CRO Terms You Should Know
Convinced to start learning CRO marketing? The first step is to learn some of the most common terms in this discipline.
Conversion Rate: The number we are trying to optimize! This is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action on your site—it could making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or even just filling out a form.
A/B Testing: This is the process of comparing two or more versions of a webpage to see which one performs better. A/B testing is a central process for CRO and helps you make data-driven decisions instead of guessing.
Landing Page: A web page created specifically for a marketing campaign or product. The goal of a landing page is to drive a single, focused action, making it a frequent target for CRO efforts.
Call to Action: Also known as CTA. This is the button or link that encourages visitors to take a specific action, such as “Buy Now” or “Sign Up.”
Heatmap: Heatmaps show where users click, scroll, and spend time on a webpage. Heatmaps help identify which parts of a page capture attention and where improvements are needed.
Funnel: A funnel represents the steps a user takes from first visiting a website to completing a desired action. In CRO, optimizing each step in the funnel (such as adding items to the cart or entering payment information) can lead to a higher conversion rate.
How to Implement CRO
CRO might sound complex, but it follows a structured approach that any marketer or business owner can apply.
Here’s a step-by-step look at how CRO is implemented into a website.
1. Analyze User Behavior
The first step is to understand how visitors interact with your website. Here, you can use tools like website analytics, heatmaps, and session recordings to see where your audience spends their time, what they click, and where they stop interacting.
Here are some of the most common tools for analyzing user behavior. And do not worry—all of these have free accounts you can use:
Google Analytics (website analytics)
Matomo (website analytics)
Hotjar (heatmaps, session recordings)
VWO (heatmaps, session recordings)
Microsoft Clarity (heatmaps, session recordings)
Crazy Egg (heatmaps, scroll maps)
Smartlook (session recordings, heatmaps)
After that, you would need to interpret the data to see where to improve. Data interpretation is a whole new topic, but for starters, you should be able to interpret Google Analytics and heatmap data.
2. Identify Areas to Improve
Next, you’ll identify specific elements that could be optimized. This might include simplifying a form, making the call-to-action button more prominent, or improving page load speed. Each change is geared toward ironing out kinks and guiding visitors toward conversion more naturally.
3. Create Page Variations
Now the fun begins! Experiment with page variations: try bolder headlines, tweak button colors, or add an element, like a smiling person.
However, it is important to not implement the changes yet. The changes might be pretty to your eyes, but it is possible to perform worse and hurt your conversions.
You need to test them first.
4. A/B Testing
With your variations ready, you can start running A/B tests to see what designs perform the best.
You can use the following services to do A/B testing. They have free accounts, so you can get your feet wet without taking your credit cards out of your wallet.
Mutiny
Google Optimize
VWO
Optimizely
Convert
Installation typically involves adding a code to your page and uploading a URL or code of your variant to the service. Check your service of choice for in-depth instructions!
5. Gather Data (and Chill)
Let it run for a week or more to collect some solid, decision-worthy data.
Now this is important. Hold off on checking stats daily—tempting as it may be. Checking every hour will just drive you nuts. And, believe me, those little fluctuations don’t mean much.
Trust the process and remember: the real magic happens while you wait.
6. Implement Changes, Monitor, and Repeat
Once you gather the data and have your winning redesigns, implement the changes across your site.
The work is not yet done!
CRO is an ongoing process, not a one-time task. Monitor your results and make adjustments based on performance data. A good rule of thumb is to check every six months to see if the changes are still delivering the results you want.
Common CRO Strategies
When it comes to implementing CRO in marketing, there are several tried-and-true strategies:
A/B Testing: This has been mentioned several times already, so you know this works. In fact, this is the foundational CRO tactic.
Optimizing CTAs: Calls to Action are critical for guiding visitors toward conversion. Optimizing CTAs—whether by changing the wording, color, placement, or size—can significantly increase click-through rates.
Improving Load Speed: Research shows that pages taking more than three seconds to load experience a 40% bounce rate. Speed optimizations, like compressing images and reducing JavaScript, can enhance conversions by keeping user frustrations at bay.
Simplifying Forms: If your desired action requires users to fill out a form, keeping it simple and user-friendly is key. Studies indicate that reducing the number of form fields can lead to a higher completion rate. Forms that only ask for essential information tend to perform better and can reduce drop-off rates.
Social Proof: Humans are social creatures and naturally look to others for validation. By including customer testimonials, reviews, and trust badges on your site, you can reassure visitors about the quality of your offers.
Using Personalization: Showing recently viewed items, recommending related products, or tailoring content to user behavior—creates a more relevant experience for each visitor.
Streamlining the Checkout Process: For e-commerce sites, an optimized checkout is essential. Simplifying steps, offering guest checkout, and clearly showing shipping costs early on can reduce cart abandonment.
CRO Resources to Jumpstart Your CRO Career
"You Should Test That!" by Chris Goward
Goward’s “You Should Test That!” gives marketers an in-depth look at conversion optimization with just the right balance of strategy and real-world examples. The book breaks down CRO fundamentals—like conversion rates vs. bounce rates—making it a go-to for marketers of any level. While it’s a bit lengthy, the case studies and examples make it hands-on and practical, packed with ideas you can apply right away.
Conversion Rate Optimization Course by CXL Institute
This is often regarded as the most comprehensive CRO training. Led by experts in the field, it covers everything from behavioral psychology to advanced testing and analytics. Students gain hands-on experience through case studies, project-based learning, and interactive assignments, making it suitable for those seeking an in-depth, practical approach to CRO.
Sahil Patel on LinkedIn
Sahil Patel, CEO of Spiralyze, a CRO agency in Atlanta, is a leading voice in conversion rate optimization, sharing valuable insights, tips, and updates on LinkedIn. His posts are a mix of podcasts, engaging discussions, games, and even pop quizzes that make learning CRO both fun and practical. If you’re looking to level up your CRO skills, he’s definitely the person to follow.
