Marketing Strategy
Conversion rate optimisation
Also known as: CRO, conversion optimisation
Conversion rate optimisation is the practice of improving the share of visitors who complete a valuable action, such as a purchase, enquiry or signup. It combines research into user behaviour with structured changes to pages, forms and journeys, usually validated by testing. The aim is more outcomes from the same traffic rather than more traffic.
What it is
Conversion rate optimisation, or CRO, is a repeatable cycle of research, hypothesis, change and measurement applied to the parts of a site or funnel where users decide to act. Research draws on analytics, session recordings, heatmaps, surveys, user testing and sales feedback. Changes range from copy and layout to pricing presentation, form length and checkout flow.
Why it matters
Acquisition costs are rising while AI answer surfaces send fewer but often more qualified visits, so each session matters more than it used to. Improving conversion raises the value of every channel at once, including organic, paid and AI referrals. It also produces evidence about what buyers actually care about, which improves messaging and content briefs.
How it works
Teams prioritise pages by traffic and revenue potential, diagnose the friction with qualitative and quantitative research, then run A/B or multivariate tests where volume allows and before and after comparisons where it does not. Results are recorded in a test log with the hypothesis, the outcome and the learning, so losing tests still add knowledge. Winning changes are rolled out and monitored for durability.
When it applies
It applies to any page or flow with a defined action and enough traffic to detect change, and is most valuable on high-intent templates such as product, pricing, demo and checkout pages.
Examples
- A SaaS firm cuts a demo form from eleven fields to four and tests the effect on completed requests and lead quality.
- An ecommerce team tests showing delivery cost on the product page rather than at checkout to reduce basket abandonment.
- A services business adds pricing ranges to a landing page and measures the change in qualified enquiries.
How it is measured
- Conversion rate by template, device and traffic source
- Relative lift versus control and statistical confidence per test
- Revenue or pipeline value per session
- Test velocity and win rate over a rolling quarter
Insights on Conversion rate optimisation
Related terms in Marketing Strategy
- Agentic marketingAgentic marketing is the use of AI agents that can plan multi-step work and take actions across marketing tools, rather than only generating text on request. It also covers designing marketing for a world where buyers delegate research and purchasing to their own agents. In practice it is a mix of workflow automation, tool permissions and human review.
- AI searchAI search is the use of large language models to answer a query directly, usually with a written summary rather than a list of links. It covers AI overviews inside traditional search engines and assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Gemini. The visible outcome for a brand is being described and cited inside an answer rather than ranked on a results page.
- AI-generated contentAI-generated content is text, images, audio, video or code produced wholly or mainly by a generative model rather than written or made by a person. It ranges from fully automated output to drafts that a human edits and approves. Its value in marketing depends on editorial control, accuracy and whether it adds anything a reader cannot get elsewhere.
- Audience intelligenceAudience intelligence is the practice of gathering and analysing data about who your audience is, what they care about, and how they search and buy, then turning that into decisions. It combines first party behavioural data with research, search data, social listening, and customer conversations. The output is usually segments, messaging guidance, and content priorities rather than a single report.
- B2B marketingB2B marketing is the practice of promoting products and services to other organisations rather than to individual consumers. It typically involves longer sales cycles, multiple decision makers, higher contract values and a heavier reliance on content, sales enablement and relationships. Success is usually measured through pipeline and revenue contribution rather than immediate transactions.
- Brand voiceBrand voice is the consistent personality and language a brand uses across every channel, covering vocabulary, tone, sentence rhythm and the things it will and will not say. It is documented in guidelines so different writers, agencies and AI tools produce work that sounds like the same organisation. Voice stays stable while tone flexes with context.
Primary research · August 2026
How ChatGPT Shortlists Software Brands
An audit across 10 categories and 60 buying questions. I recorded what ChatGPT reads, throws away and links to when a buyer asks it which software to buy, and what that decides.
- 60
- Questions asked
- 10
- Software markets
- 2,680
- Results read
- 367
- Links shown
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