What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the work of getting a larger share of your visitors to take the action you want, such as requesting a demo, signing up or buying. Instead of buying more traffic, you make better use of the traffic you already have.

A conversion rate is the share of visitors who convert. If more of them convert after a change, the change worked.

How does conversion rate optimization work?

CRO is a loop of measuring, learning and testing:

1. Define the conversion. Pick the action that matters, such as a demo request. In Google Analytics 4, you mark it as a key event.
2. Measure the funnel. Use analytics to see where visitors drop off, from the landing page to the form.
3. Find out why. Heatmaps show where people click and scroll. Session recordings and short on-page surveys show where they get stuck or what they doubt.
4. Form a hypothesis. For example: "Visitors leave the pricing page because they can't find the plan that includes single sign-on."
5. Test the change. Run an A/B test that shows the old and the new version to comparable visitors. Test several elements at once only if you have enough traffic for a multivariate test.
6. Keep the winner and repeat.

What do teams usually optimise?

• Calls to action: the wording, placement and number of buttons.
• Forms: fewer fields, clearer labels, fewer errors.
• Page speed and usability: removing obstacles that slow people down. Wikipedia's overview of CRO lists faster page loading and fewer user-experience obstacles as core parts of the work.
• The message: whether the headline matches what the visitor searched or clicked on.
• Trust signals: reviews, customer logos and clear pricing.

An example from B2B

A software company gets steady traffic to its pricing page, but few visitors book a demo. Analytics show most people leave after scrolling past the plan table. Recordings show visitors hovering over feature names they don't understand. The team adds short explanations and a "Compare plans" link, then tests the new page against the old one. If demo requests rise across a large enough sample, the new page stays.

CRO and SEO

SEO and CRO answer different questions. SEO gets the right people to the page. CRO helps them act once they arrive. Pages that answer the searcher's question clearly tend to help both.

Testing can affect search if done badly. Google's guidance on website testing says to:

• show Googlebot the same versions users see, never a separate version (that is cloaking);
• point test variants to the original page with rel="canonical";
• use 302 (temporary) redirects, not 301s, for redirect tests;
• end the test as soon as you have a reliable result.

Pros and cons of CRO

Pros: more leads or sales from the same traffic, a lower cost per acquisition, and a better understanding of what buyers need.

Cons: tests need enough traffic to give reliable answers, so low-traffic B2B sites may wait weeks for a result. Small wins can also be mistaken for real ones if a test ends too early.

Related terms

• Conversion rate
• A/B testing
• Landing page
• User experience

For practical ideas, see effective conversion rate optimisation strategies.