CRO Audit Checklist: 10 Questions to Optimize Your Website

In today’s competitive landscape, your website is the digital front door to your business. Our conversion rate optimization (CRO) audit distills conversion optimization best practices into ten key questions. With actionable pro-tips, this audit provides a strategic roadmap to boost your website’s performance.

1. What are Your Conversion Goals?

The first step of your CRO audit should be to clearly define and prioritize your conversion goals, ensuring that they align with your business objectives. Start by identifying primary and secondary goals, understanding that secondary goals often support primary ones. Regularly review and adjust your goals based on performance and changing market dynamics. Don’t forget to track micro-conversions (smaller actions leading to larger conversions) as they can provide valuable insights into user behavior.

Conversions All Websites Should Be Tracking

• Contact Us/Request More Information Forms
• Phone Calls
• Website Chats
• Emails from Website
• Newsletter Sign Up (if you are actively running email marketing)

In addition to the list above, eCommerce websites should also be tracking transactions as conversions.

2. Are Your High-Traffic Pages Driving Conversions?

One way to identify if your website has room for conversion rate optimization (CRO) improvements is to analyze the conversion rates of your highest-traffic pages. Typically the top 3-5 pages by traffic should also be your top conversion driving pages. Industry benchmarks suggest that a good goal for conversion rate is 2-5%. If you find that your most popular pages have conversion rates under 1%, it likely signals significant CRO opportunities. Examining the conversion rates specifically for your high-traffic landing pages and content can reveal whether your website is leaving potential conversions on the table, pointing to areas that could benefit most from further optimization and testing.

3. Are Conversion Paths Streamlined?

To improve conversion rates, streamline your conversion paths by eliminating unnecessary steps, distractions, and form fields. Start by conducting a thorough analysis of your conversion process. Are there extraneous steps that can be removed? Are there distractions or non-essential information that can be minimized or relocated to prevent users from deviating from the conversion path? Additionally, scrutinize your form fields – reduce them to the essentials, as shorter forms tend to lead to higher conversion rates.

4. Is Your Content Engaging and Relevant?

Engaging and relevant content is at the heart of CRO. To keep users engaged and convert them into customers, regularly update and optimize your content. Understand your audience’s evolving needs and preferences through data analysis, surveys, and social listening. Incorporate storytelling techniques, real-life examples, and relatable anecdotes into your content to captivate your audience. Ensure your content answers common questions and addresses potential concerns effectively.

For more on how content optimization ties into both CRO and SEO, check out our blog post comparing the two disciplines: SEO vs CRO. What is the Difference?

5. Are Your Call-to-Actions (CTAs) Effective?

Crafting effective CTAs involves more than just their placement, design, and wording. To enhance their impact, continuously test different CTA variations to determine which ones resonate best with your audience. Utilize action-oriented language that prompts users to take immediate steps. Implement A/B testing to refine your CTAs further, allowing data-driven decisions to guide your optimization efforts.

6. Are You Leveraging Website Personalization?

Businesses today often serve multiple target audiences with unique needs and preferences. Advanced personalization tools allow you to target specific content or experiences to different visitors based on criteria like location, demographics, and more.

For example, if your business opens a new location, you could display localized headlines, testimonials, and CTAs to site visitors from that city or state. Defining and segmenting your audience enables more relevant optimization that resonates. According to an Econsultancy report, 61% of companies see increased conversions after implementing website personalization. Consider leveraging personalization to better engage your diverse audiences for more conversions and ROI.

7. Are You Tracking and Analyzing User Behavior?

Effective Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) hinges on your ability to track and analyze user behavior in a holistic manner. While basic website analytics provide a foundation, implementing advanced tracking features such as event tracking and conversion funnels is where the real power lies. These tools grant you deeper insights into user interactions and enable you to identify critical bottlenecks in the user journey. Make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience, whether it involves redesigning a troublesome page, simplifying forms, or refining calls to action.

8. Are You Optimizing for Mobile Users?

Mobile optimization is paramount in today’s digital landscape. Prioritize mobile user experience by implementing responsive design, optimizing images for faster loading, and adapting content for mobile users. Continuously test and improve the mobile experience as it can have a substantial impact on conversions. Conduct A/B testing specifically for mobile users to fine-tune their journey.

9. Are You Gathering Customer Feedback?

Actively seek customer feedback through surveys, feedback forms, social media, and customer support interactions. Use this valuable feedback to uncover pain points and identify opportunities for improvement. Engage with your users by acknowledging their input and demonstrating that you value their opinions. Show transparency in how you’ve acted on their suggestions to build trust and loyalty.

10. Do You Conduct A/B Testing and Experimentation?

A/B testing and experimentation are essential for data-driven CRO. Develop a structured testing plan that includes well-defined hypotheses and success metrics. When conducting A/B tests, remember to change only one variable at a time for clear insights. Document your experiments and their outcomes meticulously, creating a knowledge repository for future optimization efforts. Keep in mind that successful CRO is an ongoing, iterative process.

CRO Audit Next Steps

If you’re looking to dive deeper into UX/UI best practices, be sure to check out our in-depth blog post, Crafting a Seamless User Experience: 16 Ways to Optimize Website UX/UI.

This comprehensive guide outlines 16 essential elements for optimizing your website’s user experience and interface design. Learn tips on improving navigation, boosting page speed, creating compelling CTAs, gathering user feedback, and more.

Seek the Help of a CRO Expert

Need help with your CRO audit, or don’t know where to start? Get in touch with us for personalized CRO solutions that will transform your website’s performance and enhance your conversion rates. Our digital marketing team is dedicated to helping you achieve exceptional results through data-driven strategies and user-focused optimization.