Step by Step Website CRO Guide To Maximise Conversions

Ryan Mitchell

Managing Director

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Published on

May 5, 2023

What is CRO on website?

A Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Website Audit is a process of evaluating your website's performance to identify areas where you can improve its ability to convert visitors into customers. It involves analysing user behaviour, identifying barriers to conversion, and optimising key elements of your website to improve its overall effectiveness. A CRO website audit can help you maximise your results by increasing the number of leads and sales generated by your website.

Why Your Website Should Have a CRO Audit?

A CRO audit is a bit like a warrant of fitness for a car, it can help identify issues as well as provide recommendation of what you can do to increase your website's effectiveness. By identifying barriers to conversion and optimising key elements of your website, you can improve the user experience and encourage more potential customers to take action on your site.

By implementing CRO recommendations you can increasing the leads, sales, and revenue flowing from your website into your business. A CRO audit is a valuable tool to enable the long-term success of your website and your business.

What is Included in a CRO Audit?

A CRO website audit typically involves a thorough analysis of your website's performance to identify areas where you can improve its ability to convert visitors into customers. Here are areas a CRO audit evaluated

User Behaviour Analysis: This involves analysing user behaviour on your website, such as how long they stay on each page, where they click, and where they drop off in the conversion funnel.
Conversion Funnel Analysis: This involves analysing the steps users take to complete a desired action on your website and identifying any barriers to conversion.
Landing Page Optimisation: This involves analysing and optimising key landing pages on your website to improve their effectiveness in converting visitors.
A/B Testing: This involves testing different versions of your website to determine which design, layout, or content performs best.
Usability Testing: This involves having real users test your website to identify usability issues, navigation problems, and other issues that can impact conversion rates.

What Benefits Can CRO Audits Provide?

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the process of improving your website or landing page to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to a newsletter. Some of the most basic forms of CRO include:

Optimising Your Customer Journey & Conversion Process

A user-friendly website is key to keeping visitors engaged and converting them into customers. This means that the website should be easy to navigate, with clear and concise language and intuitive design. Visitors should be able to find what they need quickly and easily, and the website should be designed to minimise confusion and frustration.

An unbiased review from CRO specialists will evaluated your customer journey and recommend changes that you can make that align with your conversion goals. With the ultimate goal to ensure the journey from first view to completing conversion actions runs as smooth as possible.

Recommendations to Improve Your Website's Navigation

A clear and intuitive website navigation is essential for a positive user experience. Visitors should be able to find what they are looking for easily and quickly. The navigation should be prominently displayed and organised logically. Professional CRO Audits will evaluate the user journey, identify any issues and recommend any improvements to be made within your site structure.

Optimising Your Website Copywriting

Your website copy should clearly communicate the benefits of your product or service and how it solves your target audience's pain points. An audit will give you an unbiased review of your copywriting, and recommendations for how to improve your persuasive language as well as look at how your keywords are positioned on your pages and how to optimise them for search engine optimisation. CRO audits can be combined with SEO Audits for a fill picture on improves that can be made.

Recommendations For Any Design Improvements

A well-designed, professional-looking website with high-quality writing, curated fonts, and a well-thought-out colour palette can go a long way in building trust with your visitors. A CRO Audit can recommend changes to enhance the customer experience of your site and recommend areas of improvement such as how to display social proof which can further increase trust and credibility for your business.

Recommend Optimisations for the Call To Action

Your website should have a clear and prominent call to action (CTA) that tells visitors exactly what you want them to do. Your CTA should be easy to find and understand, and it should be designed to stand out from the rest of the page.

Within a CRO audit you will be gaining advice from professional website designers and CRO specialists, their experience will help recommend solutions for your CTAs and Buttons to prominent pages. They can help advise you on where to place them and the types of phrases that will give you the highest click through rates

Improving Your Website's Mobile Responsiveness

With the rise of mobile devices, it's important to ensure that your website is optimised for mobile users. This means that the website should be designed to be responsive and adjust to different screen sizes. Mobile users should be able to navigate the website easily and all content should be accessible. An audit will look at multiple devices and recommend ways to improve any issues that are found.

Advice on How to Improving The Loading Speed Of Your Website

As mentioned, a fast-loading website is crucial for maximising conversions. An audit will pick up where you can improve your page load times. This could be by isolating issues like unoptimised images, high levels of HTTP requests, plugins and scripts.

How to do a CRO Audit on a Website?

The CRO website audit process is a comprehensive analysis of a website's performance and user experience, with the goal of improving the website's conversion rate. The process typically involves several steps, including:

Step 1: Define Your Business Goals and Metrics

Identifying Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Establishing Realistic Business Goals for Your Website

Step 2: Analyse Your Website Data

Measure Your Current Website Performance Against Your Goals
Analysis (user behaviour, conversion funnel, and landing page)
Usability Testing

Step 3: Identify Areas for Improvement

Pinpointing Problematic Pages and Areas of Your Website
Identify Opportunities for Improvement

Step 4: Develop an Action Plan

Prioritisation of the CRO Action Plan

Step 5: Implement and Monitor Your Changes

Implementing CRO Changes on Your Website
Monitoring and Measuring the Impact of Your CRO Efforts

Step 1: Define Your Business Goals and Metrics

Identifying Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPIs are measurable metrics that can help you track the success of your website in achieving your business goals. By identifying and monitoring the right KPIs, you can evaluate the success of your conversion optimisation and monitor how changes have impacted your conversion goals.

Here are the KPIs you may want to consider when conducting a CRO audit:

Conversion Rate: The percentage of website visitors who take a desired action (conversion actions) such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page.
Average Session Duration: The average amount of time visitors spend on your website.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of visitors who click on a specific link, such as a call-to-action or product page.
Cart Abandonment Rate: The percentage of visitors who add items to their shopping cart but do not complete the checkout process.

Establishing Realistic Business Goals for Your Website

Your website should be aligned with your overall business objectives, and the goals you set should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). By setting clear goals, you can measure your website's success and make data-driven decisions to optimise its performance.

Here are some examples of business goals that your website may want to achieve:

Increase conversions: This may involve increasing the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
Boost traffic: This may involve increasing the number of visitors to your website through various marketing channels, such as search engine optimisation, social media, or paid advertising.
Improve engagement: This may involve increasing the amount of time visitors spend on your website, the number of pages they view, or the level of interaction with your content.
Enhance user experience: This may involve improving the navigation, design, or functionality of your website to make it more user-friendly and engaging.
Increase sales: This may involve increasing the number of sales or revenue generated through your website, such as by improving the checkout process or promoting specific products or services.

Every goal on the list can be achieved with an effective website design. Evaluating your website design plays a critical role in CRO audits as its navigability and layout directly impacts the user experience and the likelihood of visitors taking desired actions.

If you need more advice on what areas could be affecting your website’s overall performance, feel free to read our complete guide on how to know if I need a website redesign.

Step 2: Analyse Your Website Data

Measure Your Current Website Performance and Setting Goals

Measuring your current website performance and setting your goals for improvement enables you to identify the areas where your website is performing well and those that need improvement to achieve your business objectives.

Here are the metrics that you may want to consider when measuring your website's performance against your goals:

Conversion rate: Measure the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to a newsletter.
Search Engine Ranking: By analysing how your website is ranking on Google and the quality of your keywords your can improve conversion coming from organic traffic.
Traffic sources: Analyse where your website traffic is coming from, such as organic search, social media, email marketing, or paid advertising.
Bounce rate: Measure the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page.
Average time on site: Measure how long visitors stay on your website.
Exit pages: Analyse which pages are causing visitors to leave your website and where they are going.
Funnel conversion rate: Measure the conversion rate at each stage of your sales funnel, such as product page views, add-to-cart, and checkout completion.
Revenue generated: Measure the amount of revenue generated from your website, including the average order value and the number of orders.

User-Focused Analysis Through Usability Surveys

User-focused analysis is a critical component of conducting a CRO audit. One effective method of gathering user feedback is through usability surveys. Usability surveys are a set of questions designed to gather feedback from users on the quality of their experience on your website.

Here are the benefits of conducting usability surveys as part of your CRO audit:

Identify user pain points: Usability surveys can help you identify the aspects of your website that users find frustrating or confusing.
Prioritise areas for improvement: By analysing user feedback, you can prioritise the areas of your website that need improvement and focus your optimization efforts on the most impactful changes.
Understand user behaviour: Usability surveys can help you understand how users interact with your website, such as the paths they take, the buttons they click, and the pages they visit.
Validate assumptions: Usability surveys can help you validate your assumptions about user behaviour and preferences.

When designing usability surveys, it's important to ask open-ended questions that allow users to express their thoughts and feelings in their own words. It's also important to keep surveys short and to the point to encourage participation. For more information on what type of questions to ask in usability surveys read this article.

Tools and Techniques for Analysing Website Data

Several tools and techniques are available to analyse website data as part of a CRO audit. Here are some of the most common ones:

Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that provides detailed information about website traffic, user behaviour, and conversions. It allows you to track website data such as the number of visitors, their location, the pages they visit, and the actions they take on your website.
Heat maps: Heat maps are visual representations of user behaviour on your website. They use colours to indicate where users click, scroll, or spend the most time on a page. Heat maps can help you identify the areas of your website that receive the most attention and the parts that users tend to ignore.
A/B testing: A/B testing involves comparing two versions of a webpage to determine which one performs better. By testing different versions of a webpage, you can optimise the user experience and increase conversions.
User testing: User testing involves observing users as they interact with your website and providing feedback on their experience. This can be done through remote testing tools or in-person sessions.
Surveys and feedback forms: Surveys and feedback forms can provide valuable insights into user behaviour and preferences. They can help you identify the areas of your website that need improvement and provide ideas for optimisation.
Session recordings: Session recordings allow you to watch user sessions on your website, including their mouse movements and clicks. They can provide valuable insights into user behaviour and identify areas of your website that may be causing frustration or confusion.

Using a combination of these tools and techniques can help you gain a comprehensive understanding of your website's performance and identify areas for optimisation to improve the user experience and increase conversions.

Get in touch if you would like help undertaking a website audit to isolate the key areas you need to improve. We can implement a CRO audit of your site and recommend areas that will make the most impact with a redesign, helping you to grow more business, and rank well in search results.

Do Good Things is a full-service digital marketing agency for web design, CRO, performance marketing and SEO Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland business can rely on

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Step 3: Identify Areas for Improvement

Pinpointing Problematic Pages and Areas of Your Website

Pinpointing problematic pages and areas of your website is a crucial step in conducting a CRO audit. Here are some ways to identify these issues:

High bounce rates: Pages with high bounce rates indicate that visitors are not finding what they are looking for or they are not interested in the content. Analyse these pages to identify potential issues and make improvements by opting for a professional website design nz. This can reduce your website’s bounce rate and reestablish its engagement rate.
Low conversion rates: Pages with low conversion rates may indicate issues with the design, copy, or overall user experience. Use heat mapping, surveys and A/B testing techniques can help provide insights to guide improvements on these pages. A small but crucial element on the page could be availability of a impactful CTA to increase the conversion rate.
Low engagement: Pages with low engagement, such as low time on site, low page views per session, or low click-through rates, may indicate issues with the design, content, or navigation. Analyse these pages to identify potential issues and make improvements.
Customer feedback: Customer feedback, such as comments, reviews, and surveys, can provide valuable insights into issues with your website. Pay attention to any recurring complaints or issues raised by customers.
Technical issues: Technical issues such as slow loading times, broken links, or 404 errors can negatively impact user experience and lead to frustration. Conduct regular website maintenance and fix any technical issues as soon as possible.
Heat maps and user recordings: Heat maps and user recordings can help identify problematic areas of your website by showing how users interact with the page. Analyse these tools to identify potential issues and make improvements.

Feel free to reach out to us if you want to know more about which strategy that best fits with your website goals and needs. Do Good Things can help by streamlining the process and carrying out the work freeing you up to concentrate on running your business.

We are a full-service digital marketing agency from web designers Wellington, content writers to conversion audit experts we can be your one stop show to help improve your website’s performance. We're an easy way that can pinpoint and solve every pain point your website is experiencing.

Step 4: Develop an Action Plan

Prioritising Your CRO Action Plan

Prioritising your CRO action plan is vital to ensure that you focus your efforts and resources on the areas that will have the most significant impact on improving conversions. Here are some best practices for prioritising your CRO action plan:

Determine the potential impact: Assess the potential impact of each optimisation opportunity on conversion rates. Prioritise the opportunities that have the most significant potential impact.
Assess the ease of implementation: Consider the effort required to implement each optimisation opportunity. Prioritise the opportunities that are easiest to implement and have the best impact on website performance.
Consider the cost: Cost of implementing each optimisation should be evaluated against the return. Prioritise the opportunities that have the most significant impact on conversions and are within your budget.
Look for quick wins: Look for optimisation opportunities that can be implemented quickly and easily and provide quick wins for improving conversions. This will help build momentum and support for your CRO efforts.

Our tips to support prioritisation:

Use data to inform your decisions: Use data from user research, customer feedback, and website analytics to inform your decisions. Prioritise optimization opportunities based on the data rather than subjective opinions.
Involve stakeholders: Involving the stakeholders, including designers, developers, and marketers, will help ensure everyone is aligned on the priorities and can work together to implement the optimisation opportunities.

Step 5: Implement and Monitor Your Changes

Best Practices for Implementing CRO Changes on Your Website

Implementing CRO changes on your website is vital to improving conversions. Here are the best practices for implementing CRO changes effectively:

Test changes before implementing: Before implementing any CRO changes, test them to ensure that they will have the desired impact on conversions. This includes A/B testing, user testing, and any other relevant tests.
Document all changes: Document all changes you make to your website, including the date, the reason for the change, and the impact on conversions. This documentation will help you track your progress and identify areas for improvement.
Make changes incrementally: Make changes incrementally rather than making significant changes all at once. This approach allows you to test the impact of each change and make adjustments as necessary.
Monitor the impact of changes: Monitor the impact of changes on conversions regularly to ensure that they have the desired effect. Use website analytics and other tools to track the impact of each change and adjust your strategy as necessary.
Optimise for different devices and platforms: Ensure your website is optimised for different devices and platforms, including mobile devices and browsers. This will help ensure that your CRO changes are effective across all platforms.

Our Advice for Creating Effective CRO Tests and Experiments

Creating effective CRO tests and experiments is essential to determine which optimisations will have the most significant impact on improving conversions. Here are some tips for creating effective CRO tests and experiments:

Define clear hypotheses: Start by defining clear hypotheses that you want to test. Your hypothesis should identify the problem you want to solve, the expected outcome of the test, and the metrics you will use to measure success.
Set up a control group: Set up a control group to compare the results of your experiment against the original version of your website. This will help you determine the impact of the optimisation.
Use A/B testing: A/B testing is an effective way to test two versions of your website or landing page against each other. Make sure that you test only one variable at a time, such as the headline or the call-to-action button.
Use statistical significance: Use statistical significance to determine if the results of your experiment are valid. This means you need to have a large enough sample size and a clear difference in results between the control and test groups.
Test on different devices and platforms: Test your optimisation on various devices and platforms to ensure that it works effectively across all devices and platforms. This includes mobile devices, tablets, and several browsers.
Test at different times: Test your optimisation at different times to determine if the results are consistent across these times of the day or week.
Document and analyse results: Document and analyse the results of your tests to determine what worked and what didn't. Use this information to optimise your website further and plan future tests.

Monitoring and Measuring the Impact of Your CRO Efforts

After implementing CRO changes on your website, monitoring and measuring their impact on your key performance indicators (KPIs) is important. Here are some tips for monitoring and measuring the impact of your CRO efforts:

Set up tracking: Set up tracking using website analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, to monitor your KPIs. Ensure that your tracking is set up correctly to ensure accurate data.
Define success metrics: Define the metrics you will use to measure the success of your CRO efforts. These could include conversion rates, revenue, bounce rates, or other relevant metrics.
Analyse data regularly: Analyse the data regularly to track the impact of your CRO changes. Use website analytics tools to identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement.
Conduct A/B testing: Conduct A/B testing to compare the performance of different variations of your website. This will help you identify which changes have the most significant impact on your KPIs.
Adjust your strategy: Use the data you collect to adjust your CRO strategy as necessary. Identify which changes are having the most significant impact on your KPIs and prioritise those changes.
Continuously iterate: Continuously iterate on your CRO strategy based on the results of your tests and monitoring. Use the data to identify areas for improvement and make changes as necessary.
Communicate results: Communicate the results of your CRO efforts to stakeholders, including management, designers, and developers. Share data-driven insights and collaborate to optimise your website for conversions.

Do Good Things that specialises in digital marketing Wellington, Auckland and all over NZ. We are a full-service agency so from top to bottom and beyond we can help you with website design, content optimisation, and CRO audit. We are here to help you improve your conversion rate, driving more leads and business into your sales funnel

Get in touch with us today, for a free CRO consultation.

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Ryan Mitchell

Managing Director

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