Best Practices for Conversion Rate Audits

When a brand asks me why their landing page isn't converting… ➡️ I ask one question: "Are you answering these 6 critical questions within 8 seconds of landing?" After auditing 200+ landing pages, I've found that high-converting pages (4%+ CVR) all answer these questions immediately: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁? → Not just what it is, but what category it's in → Described with clarity a 5th grader could understand → No jargon or insider language 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲? → Benefits, not features (outcomes, not specifications) → Specific transformation language → Clear, tangible results they can expect 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱? → Social proof (reviews, testimonials, press) → Authority signals (certifications, expert endorsements) → Transparency elements (real customers, real results) 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀? → Direct or indirect competitor comparisons → "Why this works when others fail" section → Objection handling that addresses alternatives 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲? → Clear shipping expectations → Delivery timeline prominently displayed → Location-based shipping estimates if possible 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁? → Risk reversal (guarantee, warranty, return policy) → Frictionless return process highlighted → Customer service accessibility 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Most landing pages answer maybe 2-3 of these questions well, leaving massive conversion gaps. We worked with brand whose landing pages only clearly answered questions #1 and #2. They were converting at 1.6% despite excellent creative. After restructuring their landing pages to methodically answer all 6 questions, conversion rate jumped to 3.1% 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: 1. Audit your current landing pages against these 6 questions 2. Identify gaps and restructure your hero section to address them 3. Test different formats (hero section layouts, mobile-first designs) 4. Monitor metrics beyond conversion (scroll depth, time on page, exit points) Remember: Be smart with your copywriting, don't be fancy. Focus on speaking to a 5th grader with your copy. People are on their phones with notifications popping in. Make it frictionless.

We audit a lot of landing pages that look 'good' but don't actually work. Because they ignore the fundamentals in favor of design esthetics. First rule of digital marketing is what works > what's 'cool'. Fancy designs are just decoration if all your traffic bounces. Here's our Landing Page Conversion Framework that guides every audit: 1. Clarity Above All - 5-second value prop test (if you can't explain it quickly, you'll lose them quickly) - Benefits visible without scrolling (stop hiding what matters below fancy headers) - Action-focused CTAs (more specific than "Submit" or "Learn More") - Direct headlines that state the offer (no clever wordplay, just clarity) - Supporting subtitles that reinforce benefits 2. Frictionless Experience   - Essential form fields only (stop asking for people's life story) - Real-time error validation (nothing kills conversion like a form that breaks silently) - Smart defaults & autocomplete (make it easy to say yes) - Fast load times (every second of load = more bounces) - Mobile-first design (80% of traffic is mobile - act like it) 3. Trust Building - Strategic social proof placement (real testimonials > empty claims) - Visible but subtle branding (you're selling solutions, not logos) - Standard navigation patterns (don't reinvent the wheel) - Clear next steps that match user intent Bottom line: Your landing page needs to tell people what you're offering and why they should care, and make it dead simple to take action. If they're confused, unconvinced, or can’t navigate around the page easily, they're gone. Get these fundamentals right first, then worry about making it pretty. We’ve seen brands that do this backwards - testing button colors before fixing 5-second page loads. A/B testing headlines while their mobile experience is broken. Master the fundamentals first. Then, see where and how you can get extra creative.

One of the best conversion wins? Actually listening to your customers. It’s easy to get caught up in optimising buttons, headlines, and landing pages. But often, the real answers are already out there — if you know where to look. Last month, a founder I work with was stuck at a 2% conversion rate. Instead of diving straight into CRO tools, we did something simple: 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 15 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭. What we learned: 💡 Their biggest buying fear wasn’t addressed anywhere 💡 The pricing page created confusion rather than clarity 💡 The language on the site didn’t match how customers talked But we didn’t stop there. We also layered in 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 — pulling insights from reviews, competitor reviews, social posts, and forums — to add a broader view on top of the direct conversations. The result? Depth from interviews. Scale from social data. A full picture of what customers really needed. And after updating the messaging, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 2% 𝐭𝐨 7.8%. No ad spend. No new tools. Just better understanding. Real growth starts when you stop guessing and start listening — properly. When’s the last time you checked not just what your customers say to you… but what they’re saying when they think you’re not listening? #CustomerInsights #GrowthStrategy #ConversionRateOptimisation

In the past 4 months, I’ve audited 8+ companies' full GTM performance. The biggest insight? Most companies don’t have the right infrastructure to effectively measure results easily. Here are 10 infrastructure/reporting holes (outside of best practices) I’ve routinely seen: 1. Not capturing the conversion action. - What was the thing that the prospect did right before the opp was created? Ensure that it’s mapped from the originating contact to the opportunity object. This is the biggest hole. Bonus points if you’re also capturing the conversion campaign, source, and UTM fields. 2. Building on point 1, mixing offers and channels in the lead source/conversion action. - There should be a clear delineation between the category of the action (or Pipeline Source (events, lead gen, outbound, partner, declared-intent, etc.), the conversion type (list purchase, demo, chat, content syndication, gated content, etc.), the campaign, and the channel. I see a lot of inconsistencies here. 3. Inconsistent campaign structure - Having consistent, streamlined campaign naming conventions and outlines of how they’re set will have your future self jumping for joy. 4. Not creating deals from a contact - Not creating a deal from a contact means you can’t bring forward the mapped contact information to evaluate the performance of what’s closing and what’s not. 5. Not date stamping deal stages - which would allow you to determine qualified opp stages consistently vs. an arbitrary stage labeled as qualified (typically recommend the stage that has a win rate of >25%, as a new field, and evaluated routinely if not dynamically). I’ve seen pipeline inflation of $1M+ and deflation - meaning companies either are counting an excess in pipeline that leads to inaccurate forecasting or are too strict on the definition, resulting in not counting performance. Note: you can find these stages without date stamping, but I wouldn't classify it as easy. 6. Determining performance based on departments vs. the conversion, which goes back to point 1. This isn’t granular enough and can be misleading. 7. Not using qualitative data such as Self-Reported Attribution to understand how the demand was created. 8. Not incorporating headcount and software/tool cost into the marketing ROI 9. Inconsistent contact/lead creation process (depending on the object used), especially with outbound. You need to be able to see contact —> win conversion rates. 10. Not storing UTM fields Ensuring you have the right ops infrastructure in place is SO important, as is allowing your team to focus on foundations. Being able to truly connect the dots with performance quickly outside of relying on additional software (looking at you, Bizible) or, even worse, influenced models is a major growth lever.

In the last 20 audits we uncovered 5 old-school "best practices" that kill pipeline: 1. LONG INQUIRY / SIGN UP FORMS. "Best practice" – qualify leads. Outcome: nobody wants to fill in 8 fields that can be easily uncovered (think about geo, title, etc). Solutions: - Leave only 2-3 questions that can't be uncovered with account enrichment and help to prepare for the discovery or profile account - Leave self-attribution field - Install Clay or Clearbit to enrich account with firmographics (title, geo, size, etc) 2. INQUIRY FORM DOESN'T LINK TO SALES REP CALENDAR. "Best practice" – internal routing to the relevant Account Executive based on input. Outcome: If buyers can't immediately book a call with you, they will go to your competitor. "Thanks for your inquiry! Somebody from our team will contact you in the next 48 hours". Missed opportunity. Solutions: - Use Chili Piper for automated routing or disqualification - Create a universal calendar and then do routing internally 3. SEVERAL QUALIFICATION CALLS BEFORE DEMO. "Best practice" - use BANT or MEDIC qualification ran by junior sales rep before the buyer will be able to talk to an experienced AE. Outcomes: Ghosting prospects & no show-ups on the next calls. Buyers want to talk to an experienced consultant to get their questions covered. Solutions: - Explicitly explain who your product is for on the landing page, what it does (features), how is it different from competition - Add FAQ - Add price estimate or ballpark - Add product overview video, sandbox account or interactive demo to get a sense of the product You'll be talking to qualified buyers and don't need a bunch of qualification calls. 4. FAKE URGENCY. "Best practice" - push buyers with time-limited discounts or price increase. Outcomes: Fake urgency smells miles away. You'll either get pushed to give a bigger discount or lose the deal. Solutions: - Help buyers to create internal business cases and budget justification to close deals In most cases, budget should be created and approved by CFO/CEO. Your Champions don't need to show the discount to get approval. They need to show time and budget investment+ efficiency category (increase productivity , grow pipeline, etc). 5. TRANSFERRING GATED CONTACT DOWNLOADS AND WEBINAR SIGN UPS TO SALES. "Best practice": use gated content and webinar sign-ups to generate "leads". Outcomes: sales reach out to buyers that are not sales-ready. Missed opportunity, huge unsubscribe rate. People don't download e-books or sign up for webinars because they want to get a bunch of automated emails and unsolicited calls from SDRs. They are interested in the topic and want to get professional content. - Most B2B companies we spoke to in 2024 mentioned pipeline generation as the key challenge and #1 priority. There are 2 low-hanging fruits: 1/ Reduce friction points created by obsolete playbooks 2/ Refine obsolete playbooks with the new programs aligned with how your customers buy

Just wrapped a call with a fashion brand struggling to scale past 20L monthly revenue. Their agency kept pushing for higher budgets, but ROAS tanked every time. Sound familiar? Here's the exact audit process I used to fix this: 1. Creative Analysis Map every ad by: ↳ Theme (offer/UGC/lifestyle) ↳ Spend levels ↳ Purchase data ↳ AOV impact ↳ Revenue Per Click ↳ Product < > Content creation mapping 2. Product Performance Check which SKUs are: ↳ Eating budget with no returns ↳ Converting but underutilized ↳ Driving repeat purchases 3. Landing Page Experience Review ↳ Navigation clarity ↳ Product visibility ↳ Price transparency ↳ Mobile experience ↳ Checkout blockers 4. Campaign Structure Look for: ↳ Traffic campaigns (Not entirely red flag) ↳ Broad vs. Targeted performance ↳ Creative consolidation ↳ Creative testing velocity (High Velocity ≠ Good performance always) 5. Catalog Management Analyze: ↳ Low-spend SKUs (<2% of budget) ↳ High-CAC products ↳ Return rates by product ↳ Revenue contribution 6. Price Point Testing Track: ↳ Conversion rates by price tier ↳ Bundle performance ↳ Collection page results ↳ AOV impact Key insight: Most brands find 70% of their problems in steps 1 & 5. What's killing your ROAS right now?

We audit hundreds of thousands of dollars in Google Ads spend every month. The biggest issues we find are almost always the same, and they're quick to spot. First, check if your campaigns are opted into the Search Partner Network or Display Network. Both are turned on by default and both tend to bleed budget fast on low-quality traffic that rarely converts in B2B. It's a quick fix but if left running can destroy your performance. Second, look at your auto-apply recommendations and your keyword match types. If auto-apply is on, Google is making changes to your account on your behalf. 99% of the time it's bad. If most of your keywords are broad match without strong negative keyword coverage, you're probably showing up for searches that have nothing to do with what you sell. Third, every campaign should be tied to a single primary conversion goal. Not every conversion in your account. Not three different goals that measure different things. One. And that goal should ideally be a CRM-imported lead so Google is optimizing toward your best leads, not just anyone who filled out a form. CRM imports also give you the granularity you need to actually analyze lead quality over time. Lastly, and this one is super common nowadays with how many people learned Google Ads after smart-bidding was the default, a lot of accounts we audit are running Max Conversions with little to no conversion data for Google to learn from. This, Target CPA and Target ROAS need data to work. Without it you get erratic performance at best, and a complete waste of budget at worst. If your account doesn't have the conversion volume to support smart bidding, you're not ready for it yet and need to build up that base. 🌲 If you want a second set of eyes on your account, reach out. We've managed tens of millions in paid search spend and can usually tell you where you're losing money in the first few minutes of an audit.

You don’t need more data. You need better signals. Predictable growth isn’t luck, it’s built on leading indicators. Most teams struggle because: They track outcomes too late They react to problems instead of preventing them They rely on revenue instead of early signals They operate without weekly visibility A hard truth: You can’t scale what you can’t predict. Start here: 1. Identify Early Signals ↳ Define the actions that happen before a conversion ↳ Look for patterns, not assumptions 2. Track Behaviors, Not Outcomes ↳ Outcomes lag ↳ Behavior shows intent in real time 3. Build a Weekly Dashboard ↳ Keep signals visible ↳ Make decisions based on movement, not emotion 4. Set Thresholds & Triggers ↳ Know what “healthy” looks like ↳ Create alerts when momentum slows 5. Optimize Inputs, Not Outputs ↳ Fix what drives results, not the results themselves ↳ Small input shifts → big output gains The Core Indicators: 1. Engagement Indicators ↳ Show who’s warming up ↳ Early momentum signals 2. Content Consumption Indicators ↳ Reveal depth ↳ Who’s moving deeper into your world 3. Relationship Indicators ↳ Replies, conversations, signals of trust ↳ Show who’s leaning closer to a “yes” 4. Pipeline Velocity Indicators ↳ Track movement speed ↳ Aware → Interested → Ready 5. Product Experience Indicators ↳ Early user value ↳ Predicts retention, expansion, and referrals 6. Conversion Readiness Indicators ↳ Direct buying intent ↳ Clear green lights for sales Remember: Lagging indicators react. Leading indicators predict. The teams that win aren’t faster, They’re earlier. Build your leading indicator stack now. It compounds every week. Revenue problems rarely live in one function. That’s why our audits combine CRO + CFO perspectives. 👉 Start with the Growth & Profitability Scorecard https://lnkd.in/ekcgYfGe

Every week I meet leaders frustrated by low ROI campaigns. So they double budgets, switch agencies, or change creative. → But the issue isn’t traffic. → It’s tracking quality. Here’s the blind spot: ↳ When your GA4 or GTM setup is misfiring, mislabeled events, duplicate conversions, or untracked micro-actions, you’re not optimizing. ↳ You’re flying blind with pretty charts. ↳ And the cost of poor tracking isn’t neutral. It’s actively dangerous because: 1️⃣ False Positives: ↳ You scale campaigns that look profitable on paper, but aren’t. ↳ The best performer is often just the best tracked. 2️⃣ Invisible Leaks: ↳ You lose prospects who clicked pricing, started checkout, or downloaded content, but GA4 never saw it. ↳ Invisible conversions = invisible opportunities. 3️⃣ Misaligned Budgets: ↳ Executives redirect spend based on flawed ROI. ↳ Acquisition gets cut. ↳ Retargeting gets overfunded. ↳ The wrong bets get bigger. So what’s the fix? ↳ Stop obsessing over traffic volume. ↳ Start auditing measurement quality. Here’s my 3-step framework I run for clients: ✅ Audit Tag Firing: Eliminate duplicates and dead pixels. ✅ Validate Event Naming: Align GA4 events with real business outcomes, not generic clicks. ✅ Build Quality Checkpoints: Compare GA4 data against CRM/sales to expose gaps. In one recent audit, a low-converting channel turned out to be the top performer, GA4 simply wasn’t capturing 40% of the leads. Fixing the setup saved the client six figures annually. → I’m not here to sell dashboards. → I’m here to make sure your decisions rest on evidence, not illusions. ➡️ When was the last time you audited your tracking quality? A) Last month B) Last year C) Never