Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in April 2021 and was updated in May 2024 with additional content.
In this day and age, having an online presence is more important than ever, especially for businesses, which is why conversion rate optimization is so important. Connecting with your target audience, whether they are clients, potential customers, fanbases, or followers, is vital for a continued and loyal relationship.
Of course, it is always harder to connect with someone over the internet when you can’t carry on a conversation face to face.
To establish credibility and good relations, conversion and digital marketing become key to a successful online presence. Optimizing your website and its functions helps to cement customer satisfaction and loyalty. Learn how to improve your site's conversion rate in this blog.
What are Conversions?
Conversion is the process of converting a casual viewer into a buyer (or, at the very least, an engaged user). When someone browses a website for interest’s sake, they do not intend to commit to what the site has to offer. Changing their minds (or “converting” them) is conversion.
Similarly, conversion rate refers to the calculated rate of viewers converted into buyers. For instance, if 100 people view a website’s product page in 24 hours, but only 2 of them buy a product, the conversion rate for that landing page would be 2%. This formula calculates the conversion rate by taking the number of conversions (e.g., sales, signups) and dividing it by the total number of visitors to your website. Then, you multiply by 100 to express the result as a percentage.
Visitors to Buyers
When convincing website visitors to convert to buyers, it’s imperative to make it easy for them. Easy conversion comes from simplistic, trustworthy sites with clear goals and access.
For example, an eCommerce shop that makes sense to the visitor and is easy to navigate will get more conversions than a chaotic and confusing shop.
Many customers like to browse first and decide later, so of course, not every visitor will buy something. But those arriving with the intent to make a purchase are more than likely to buy something if the website is accessible and helpful.
Visitors will shy away from websites that bombard them with information, are too slow to upload, and are generally difficult to use. Interest is fleeting, especially in a digital world where everything is on the go.
Optimizing your conversion rate will persuade more visitors to become buyers. Along with a digital marketing strategy, optimization focuses on making it as simple and easy as possible for a potential customer to become a buyer.
What is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice of increasing the percentage of users who perform a desired action on a website. (i.e., clicking links, signing up for a service, filling in forms, clicking “add to cart,” etc.)
CRO involves looking for ways to improve the components of a website that are geared toward converting visitors. Each competency is tested, the data is analyzed, and then changes are implemented to achieve the desired improvements.
Why Improve Conversions?
Over time, conversion rates are likely to decrease. Even at the beginning of a website’s launch, it’s essential to keep an eye on conversions to monitor their rates. The effectiveness of a website will gradually break down, so updates are critical. Improvements increase traffic flow and ease conversions. Low conversion rates mean you're missing out on potential customers.
The introduction of competitors drives some companies to take a second look at their own websites. With so many more companies turning to digital marketing and online opportunities, it’s important to take notice. Making improvements to maximize conversions increases the chances of remaining competitive and relevant while expanding your business.
Why is Conversion Rate Optimization Important?
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) matters because it helps you get more value from the traffic you already have. Instead of constantly spending more to bring in new visitors, CRO focuses on turning more of those existing visitors into leads or customers.
You're Already Paying for Traffic
Whether it’s through SEO, paid ads, social media, or email, getting people to your site isn’t free.
CRO makes that investment work harder by increasing the percentage of visitors who take action.
Small Changes = Big Impact
A few tweaks to your headlines, forms, or CTA buttons could deliver an increase in conversion rates.
Improving your conversion rate by even 1–2% can have a major effect on your bottom line—without increasing your ad spend.
These small changes are often enough to improve your website conversion rate without the need for a complete redesign.
It Improves User Experience
CRO forces you to look at things from the user’s perspective.
When you simplify navigation, reduce friction, and provide clearer messaging, people have an easier time taking action—which benefits everyone.
It Helps You Understand Your Customers
Testing different versions of pages, offers, or layouts gives you real data on what your audience wants.
It’s a way to learn and improve, not guess.
Better ROI Across All Channels
CRO doesn’t just improve your website—it strengthens the performance of all your marketing efforts.
If your landing pages convert better, your PPC campaigns get more leads for the same budget. If your forms are clearer, your email list grows faster.
Important Elements for CRO
Here are the most important elements for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)—these are the areas you should evaluate, test, and refine to improve how well your website converts visitors into leads or customers.
Value Proposition
This is the reason someone should buy from you instead of someone else.
It should be obvious within the first few seconds of landing on your site. If users don’t “get it” quickly, they’re gone.
Website: https://www.wsiworld.com/
Call-to-Action (CTA)
Your CTA needs to be visible, specific, and action-driven.
Whether it’s “Get a Quote,” “Buy Now,” or “Start Free Trial,” it should tell the user exactly what to do next—and why they should do it now.
Headlines
Your headline is your hook. If it doesn’t capture attention immediately, people won’t stick around.
It should clearly communicate the offer or benefit in plain language. Avoid fluff.
Page Load Speed
A slow site kills conversions. If your page takes more than 3 seconds to load, you’re already losing traffic.
Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify slow-loading assets and fix them.
Form Design
Every extra field lowers the chance of completion.
Keep your forms short and focused. Only ask for what you absolutely need—especially for lead-gen forms.
Website: https://www.wsiworld.com/
Visual Hierarchy
How you arrange content matters. Use size, color, spacing, and imagery to guide attention toward your goal.
Important messages and CTAs should never compete for visibility.
Trust Elements
Badges, certifications, guarantees, testimonials, and third-party reviews can reduce hesitation.
Include trust signals near key conversion points to reassure visitors when they’re about to act.
Mobile Responsiveness
More than half of your traffic is likely coming from mobile. If your site doesn’t work well on phones and tablets, you’re bleeding conversions.
Make sure forms, buttons, and menus are easily usable with fingers—not just a mouse.
Navigation and Flow
Confusing menus or unclear next steps frustrate users.
Your user journey should feel natural and smooth—no dead ends, no guesswork, and no unnecessary steps.
Relevant, Quality Content
Visitors convert when they have enough information to feel confident.
That means good product descriptions, useful FAQs, supporting visuals, and persuasive messaging.
Testing for Conversion Rate Improvement Opportunities
Running tests to see where your website falls down is a necessary part of maintenance. Routine tests will help keep your website sharp and optimize your conversion.
A/B Tests
The a/b test involves making two nearly identical landing pages to determine which elements need improving. The first page will remain unchanged from the original. The second page will change a single aspect.
If one of the pages works better than the other, there will be a difference in the number of conversions. If there is no change in conversions, the a/b test should carry on with another element.
Multivariate Tests
Multivariate tests work best for sites with more traffic and consistent hits. The process of these tests uses several different variables to test all at once. If a particular combination of the variables works better for conversion, website adjustment will follow that pattern.
Conversion Rate Optimization Tools
You can implement tools to better understand the flow of your website and how visitors use it. As opposed to tests, these tools will give a clearer idea of traffic patterns in general, which can sometimes be more helpful than changing a few variables. There are various CRO tools available to help you analyze user behavior and identify optimization opportunities:
General Analytics Tools
General analysis can determine how many visitors your website is receiving per day. These numbers can tell you how popular your site is, so that you don’t have to rely specifically on conversion rates to understand how you’re doing. Tools like Google Analytics provide valuable data on user traffic, demographics, and behavior on your website.
Heat Map Tools
A heat map shows which parts of your website or landing page visitors use more than others. Essentially, it analyzes all the movement on the page, from scrolling to clicking, so you can see for yourself what visitors typically do while browsing your site.
Funnel Tools
Funnel tools help to determine where your visitors depart your website. For instance, if you operate an e-commerce store, many visitors will disappear before they can purchase an item and convert.
Using a funnel tool, you can examine where this happens and determine if visitors leave after the first page without fully browsing or if they abandon their cart once they have added something to it.
Knowing where your visitors give up will let you know where your website has the most issues.
Form Analysis Tools
If you have submission forms on your website, form analysis will help you track information left behind by users. With analysis, it's easier to tell who uses the forms and why, as well as their motivations and general browsing habits.
Customer Satisfaction Tools (CSAT)
Measuring your customer satisfaction keeps you in touch with your potential clients. If they are satisfied with the services you provide but not the website, you can make changes based on general feedback.
A scale of one to ten provides easy communication and an overall customer feeling. More in-depth feedback messages can be advantageous, too. If there is a problem you have overlooked, your visitors can tell you immediately.
Conversion Tracking Analysis Tools
Perhaps the most important thing when you’re looking to monitor conversions is that conversion tracking tools determine how many visitors actually convert to buyers on your site. The number of visitors versus the number of conversions determines your conversion rates and tells you how effective your website is.
Conversion Rate Optimization Process
Here's how it works, step by step:
Step 1 – Identify Goals
Before you change anything, you need to know what success looks like.
Are there more purchases? More form submissions? More demo requests? Your CRO process should start by clearly defining the primary goal for the page or campaign.
Step 2 – Analyze User Behavior
Use tools like Google Analytics, heatmaps, scroll maps, and session recordings to understand how people interact with your site.
Where do they drop off? What buttons aren’t getting clicks? What pages have high bounce rates? These insights show you what’s working—and what isn’t.
Step 3 – Form a Hypothesis
Based on the data, form a hypothesis about what change might improve your conversion rate.
For example: “If we shorten the lead form from 6 fields to 3, we’ll get more submissions.”
Step 4 – Create a Variation
Next, you create a variation of your page, ad, or form that reflects the change.
This could be a new CTA button, updated copy, rearranged layout, or a completely new design—whatever your hypothesis calls for.
Step 5 – Run an A/B Test
Use A/B testing software to split traffic between your original version (the control) and the new version (the variant).
This allows you to compare performance in a controlled environment and determine if your change is actually better.
Step 6 – Measure Results
Once your test reaches statistical significance, review the data.
Did the new version increase conversions? Did it perform worse? Stick with the winner—and document what you’ve learned either way.
Step 7 – Repeat the Process
CRO isn’t one-and-done.
Each round of testing helps you learn more about your users, and there's always room for improvement. Over time, even small gains compound into big results.
CRO Best Practices
Start with Data, Not Assumptions
Before changing anything, make sure you understand what’s happening on your site.
Use tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar, or Microsoft Clarity to spot drop-offs, dead clicks, or confusing flows. CRO works best when it's based on actual user behavior—not opinions.
Simplify the User Journey
The more steps, distractions, or friction points your user hits, the less likely they are to convert.
Keep forms short, navigation clear, and CTAs obvious. Make it easy for people to do the thing you want them to do.
Test One Thing at a Time
Change multiple elements at once, and you won’t know what actually moved the needle.
Stick to testing a single variable—like a headline, CTA, or image—so your data stays clean and your results meaningful.
Always Be Testing (But Don’t Rush It)
Running A/B tests continuously helps you learn what your audience responds to.
But don’t jump to conclusions too early. Wait for statistical significance before calling a winner, or your test results could lead you in the wrong direction.
Prioritize High-Impact Pages First
Start with the pages that matter most—your homepage, landing pages, product pages, or any page with high traffic and low conversion.
That’s where your CRO efforts will have the biggest effect right away.
Focus on Mobile Experience
If your site doesn’t convert on mobile, you’re missing a big chunk of your audience.
Test everything on smaller screens. Make sure forms, CTAs, and page load times all work smoothly on mobile.
Keep Your Messaging Consistent
If your ad says “Free Trial,” your landing page better say “Free Trial”—not “Start Now” or something vague.
Message match improves trust, reduces confusion, and helps people move through the funnel faster.
Remove Distractions
Too many CTAs, links, popups, or mixed messages? You’re confusing the user.
Keep each page focused on one goal. One offer, one message, one action—no clutter.
Use Social Proof Strategically
Testimonials, reviews, trust badges, or customer logos can nudge people toward a decision.
But place them near the CTA, not buried in the footer. Use them where people hesitate.
Don’t Stop After One Test
CRO is not a one-off project. What works today might stop working next quarter.
Keep learning, keep testing, and keep refining. The compound gains are what really drive long-term improvement.
Identifying Barriers
If your conversion rate is not where you want it to be, you must identify the barriers that prevent conversion. Often, these are not purposefully crafted obstacles but rather design flaws or overlooked issues that can deter visitors from staying on your site.
An example of a barrier could be as simple as the lack of search engine optimization (SEO). A website without SEO is more difficult to find because search engines like Google will not rank it amongst websites with higher SEOs. If your client base cannot find your site, they certainly won’t be converting.
Non-Commitment
Barriers can also explain why someone would be hesitant to participate on a website and supply a conversion. When someone in need looks at a service provider but does not commit, something about the presentation is usually the cause for non-commitment. The reason could be as simple as an unclear product description, resulting in a lack of trust.
Identifying barriers and removing them will increase the trustworthiness of your site and make it easier for a visitor to commit to a conversion. Ideally, CRO eliminates any reason for lack of commitment and reassures visitors of a beneficial experience.
Identifying Hooks
Aspects of a website that hook visitors and keep them coming back are essential to any business plan. Knowing these aspects is integral to improving CRO and marketing optimization.
Although it’s important to understand the deterrents and barriers that a visitor might experience, hooks are just as vital. Understanding what people love about your website and what they appreciate about the experience are all things that need to be kept and cultivated.
If you are trying to improve your customers' experience, you must understand both the pros and cons of your website so you don’t end up starting from scratch. Use the aspects that worked previously, but use them even more to give a new design or product a sense of simplicity and familiarity.
How to Get Higher Conversion Rates
Simplifying your website to maximum effectiveness will increase the likelihood of conversion. If you are in charge of an online store, for example, designing your website to make it easier for visitors to buy your product will increase the chance of a higher conversion rate.
A simple rebranding of the website can lead to higher conversion numbers. A new, more effective design for your website can do wonders and can be as simple as moving a banner or changing the background wallpaper. But sometimes, more complicated methods are called for.
Knowing Your Consumer
Knowing your target audience and what they expect from a website allows for a better approach to website design. You can tailor the site to make it easier for visitors to navigate. If you run a website store, you can make it easy for a consumer to find sales, your most popular product, and the checkout process.
Improving Load Speed
How fast your website loads can do wonders for customer loyalty. If your website is slow to come up, it will be passed over for a faster one. If a first-time viewer visits your site and it does not load, the chances of them trying your site a second time are low when there are so many more fast-loading websites available.
Introducing Focus on Landing Pages
A landing or destination page needs to be specific and clear to convert a consumer. Decluttering landing pages and increasing the number of pages used will allow consumers to ingest information at a comfortable rate. This streamlining effect makes visitation easier and more straightforward, increasing the chance of a conversion.
Longer Landing Pages
Google ranks longer landing pages as more important than shorter ones. If you have a more extended landing page, the chance that Google will select it to answer a query over other websites increases.
To counteract a cluttered site on an extended landing page, the use of call-to-action buttons and links can help lengthen the page while diminishing other buttons or wordy content.
Lead Flows
The majority of visitors to any website will browse and leave without a trace. Lead flows are techniques for engaging visitors immediately and leading them down a path toward easy conversion.
Pop-up forms frequently work well because they can ask many quick, simple questions that provide information for your analytics. These forms are the easiest way to convert visitors because they do not require them to commit too much while still accessing the website.
Average Conversion Rates
Average rates are about 2% to 5%. However, depending on your field and your marketing optimization, it is possible to increase a low percentage by a large margin. Average conversion rates for highly successful marketing are usually found to be around 14 percent. There's no magic number, but CRO helps you benchmark your current performance and identify areas for improvement.
Source: https://matomo.org/blog/2023/11/conversion-rate-optimisation-statistics/
What's the Difference?
The kind of website you mean to market can affect conversion rates. Ecommerce sites traditionally have the lowest rates of about two to four percent. On the other side of the scale, finance sites can achieve as high as 24 percent conversion.
High conversion rates do not always mean high profit, and vice versa. But conversion remains an important tool, as it communicates viewer participation and the effectiveness of your website.
How Can AI Help with Conversion Rate Optimization?
AI for conversion rate optimization leverages machine learning algorithms to process and analyze vast amounts of data. This enables the enhancement of website visitors' desired actions, such as making purchases or subscribing to services.
To improve conversion rates, AI offers several benefits:
- Personalization: AI analyzes user behavior to tailor experiences, increasing engagement and conversions.
- Automated Testing: AI automates A/B testing, rapidly iterating to find the most effective strategies.
- Predictive Analytics: AI predicts customer actions, enabling proactive optimization.
- Content Optimization: AI optimizes content based on user preferences, boosting conversions.
- Ad Optimization: AI adjusts ad placements, targeting, and budgets in real time for optimal results.
AI can empower businesses to understand and adapt to customer needs efficiently, ultimately increasing conversion rates.
Conversion Rate Optimization—FAQs
Is your conversion rate essential for your business?
Your conversion rate is essential, as it helps you to determine if your business strategies are working, as well as track the performance of your business platforms. If you use an app or web page, you’ll want to measure its performance to see if your app or web page is bringing in customers. If you are not seeing an increase in conversions, you likely have areas you need to improve.
For example, if your business goal is to convert website viewers or app users into buyers of your product or service, and you are not seeing a good conversion rate, you will need to adjust your content or check the loading time of your pages. Tracking conversion rates, therefore, allows you to improve your business's reach and success.
If you work towards increasing your conversion rate, you’ll also help to generate more sales without increasing your marketing budget. A simple tweak to increase your conversion can sometimes generate more traffic for your business than spending endless hours and money on unsuccessful marketing tactics. For example, doubling your conversion rate will allow you to cut back on the money you use for ads. You can then use this money to grow your business or invest in programs that will help your marketing team expand their skill set.
How to increase the online conversion rate?
We know why businesses should work on improving conversion rates, but how exactly is this achieved? For this, you need a process called conversion rate optimization (CRO). CRO is the process of identifying your conversion goals. Once you do this, you can calculate your conversion rates and work on ways to improve them.
Of course, A/B testing is also used, which compares your old page or platform against a newly optimized page. Remember, optimal optimization takes time and strategy. You need to carefully test and work out why your platform is not converting visitors, and focus on improving your web pages or app. Through this consistent testing, you will eventually start to improve your conversion rate.
What is a real-world example of conversion rate optimization?
Perhaps you have a business that provides B2B services. You want to improve your conversion rate to gain more leads and expand your client base. You will have to research your conversion rates from your service page. Is this page the main channel you use to help you land leads? If so, you need to work on areas to improve the conversion rate of this page.
You will then create a hypothesis that will help you to figure out how you can gain more leads. One method would be to include customer testimonials from previous clients in the industry to gain client trust. Remember, the aim is to get the visitors on the page to use your services. Here is where A/B/ testing will come in. Once you create a new optimized page, you’ll have to test the new version against the old one. If it performs better, you know that your business is on the right track.
You can then use this data and hypothesis for future optimization reference. You might have an app page that needs similar tweaking, but you’ll still have to ensure A/B testing is done as it is needed, regardless of the platform that you use.
How does CRO affect ROI?
Your return on investment (ROI) is increased when you start improving your optimization. If you spend thousands of dollars on content and you aren’t seeing results, your CRO can help you reduce your spending. For example, you may spend $5,000 per month on your website content and receive 100 page views. It doesn’t get you many leads, so your business decides to work on optimization. You then start to notice an increase of 500 in your page views, so you can decrease your content spending.
What this means is you are making more ROI while spending higher than you originally did. Essentially, you are saving money in the long term, as your conversion rate will be less than the money you put into other marketing tactics. If you don’t work on your conversion rates or if you aren’t successfully optimizing your page, your ROI will, however, decrease. You’ll then have to spend more than you originally planned—this is why a successful optimization strategy done by professionals is essential.
Should you aim for a maximum conversion rate?
The aim of CRO is in the name—optimization. CRO beyond a certain point can cost more than it generates. You aren’t aiming for maximizing conversion because this is going to cost your business more than it could probably afford.
One example is to think of lowering your prices, such as having a sale. You will increase the number of customers that you convert; however, you are also lowering your product sale price. Even though your customers are being converted, they are only going to purchase low-priced products. Your conversion rate is helping you to gain customers right now, but it is not essential to maximize your CRO, as you’ll put more money into it than you will be getting out (due to your product price drop). There will, therefore, be no point in increasing CRO at this point - it will be better to accept the rate, and you can increase your rate of CRO later on.
While all businesses will differ, a general rule is to aim for optimization rather than maximization.
How can you reach a good conversion rate?
What is the optimal conversion rate your business should aim for? Your average conversion rate will depend on certain factors. These factors include your industry, your conversion goal, your goals, your target market, and your traffic (i.e., percentage of users visiting your site each month).
Your industry probably affects your rate the most, as certain industries don’t heavily rely on CRO. For example, e-commerce stores will probably need to increase their optimization more than a niche like an IT business with a large, existing client base.
Your location also affects your conversion rates. You may not be targeting the right market for your business or services, which can affect your sales.
You need to determine what the optimal rate is for your specific business, which you can do by researching your competitors and your market. Remember that search engine optimization and conversion tracking tools can be used throughout your website. You don’t have to be limited to optimizing just one page. You can optimize each location, such as your homepage, service page, pricing page, blogs, location pages, etc., to gain more leads depending on your goals.
WSI Will Help You Get Started with an Optimization Strategy
There are plenty of techniques to increase marketing optimization and conversion rate optimization. In this digital age, an online presence is more necessary than ever.
When implementing improvements, remember to ask your visitors for their feedback to keep open and honest relations. Test different variables, improve hooks, and reduce the barriers that prevent viewers from handing you their hard-earned dollars.
If you’re struggling to see conversion rate improvement and want to hire an expert team to help, speak to an expert ASAP; we’d love to chat about conversion rate optimization!
