What is conversion rate optimization?

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the work of finding out why visitors to a website do not take the step you want from them, and of removing those reasons. The conversion rate is the share of visitors who take that step. A shop with 1,000 visitors and 20 orders has a conversion rate of 2 percent.

What counts as a conversion

A conversion is the action a page exists for. In a shop it is the order. On a company website it is the inquiry, the booked call or the quote request. Visitors who are not ready for that step take smaller ones first, and those count too.

How conversion rate optimization works

A website that exists to make revenue has a funnel: the pages a visitor passes on the way to the order or the inquiry. Visitors leave at points you can measure. On a company website these are most often the entry page and the contact form. CRO works on one such point at a time, in five steps.

1. Research. Analytics shows at which stage of the funnel visitors leave.
2. Hypothesis. You write down why they leave there and which change could keep them.
3. Prioritization. The hypothesis with the best odds runs first.
4. Test. The change runs against the current version of the page in an A/B test.
5. Learning. The winning version goes live. A losing version shows what visitors do not respond to, and the next hypothesis starts from that.

A test needs enough visitors in both versions to show a difference. A site with few visits needs more time per test.

What it needs and where it ends

Measurement comes before the first change. Without tracking for the steps toward the order, you cannot see where visitors drop out. In Germany most tracking needs the visitor’s consent, so the consent banner belongs to the measurement.

CRO helps the visitors who came for your offer. When the wrong visitors arrive, the fix lies in the pages and ads that bring them. Visitors buy because the offer has value for them. Optimization makes the purchase easier.

My work in conversion optimization

I am Michael Wutzke, an IT expert for data platforms in Frankfurt. Conversion work is data work to me: the numbers of the funnel come first, the change second.

From 2011 to 2016 I programmed order funnels and payment connections for online shops, among them shops for Lidl and REWE. The conversion rate of the shops was my second task next to the programming. I built dedicated mobile shops in the same period and worked on their UI and UX.

I learned conversion optimization by hand: tracking, hypotheses, A/B tests and the reading of results. Today AI agents take over much of that work. Because I have done the steps myself, I can check what the agents deliver and see where a test goes wrong.

For analytics and tests I have worked with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google Optimize. I hold the Google Analytics certification and the Google Mobile Sites certification.

An inquiry form is a short funnel, and the rules from the shops hold for it. The visitor sees the next step without scrolling. The form asks only for what the first reply needs. As a conversion rate optimization consultant for company websites I measure where visitors leave between the first page and the contact, and I test the change against the current version. I take on this work as freelance projects, in German and English.