CRO Audit Checklist

Conversions are crucial when it comes to digital marketing, since customers are the engine that drives the machine. If leads come in but don’t convert, you’re wasting money without achieving your objectives.

You need to figure out what’s hurting your conversions, and a conversion rate optimization audit is the best way to do that. You can’t just launch a new marketing campaign without first understanding what worked and what didn’t in past initiatives.

A good conversion-oriented website is designed with a purpose and includes appropriate call-to-action buttons. Thus, all the information from your KPIs is essential in determining how well your website or landing page is doing, and where you can make improvements.

What exactly is a CRO audit?

Conversion Rate Optimization is the process of increasing the percentage of traffic that converts as a result of your inbound marketing efforts.

A CRO audit examines a website’s ability to generate leads for your sales staff, improve the number of products sold on a product page, and raise the number of scheduled software demos for a SaaS company, among other things.

How to conduct a CRO audit to boost conversions:

Set up business goals

Make sure you know what you want from the web page before you begin the audit. This will allow you to connect each component of the web page to your business goal and determine whether it is functioning to increase conversion rates.

Do you want to raise your brand awareness or sales? Blog subscribers could be one of your brand awareness KPIs, even if it doesn’t instantly increase revenue. If you want to boost your ROAS and ROI, you could be better off tracking sales-qualified prospects.
To guide your CRO journey and make future improvement easier, set clear, measurable business goals.
Align your startup and marketing objectives

The more precisely you can correlate your marketing activity to quantitative value, the more confident you will be in putting each conversion optimization into action.
Identify your target audience

Is the tone of your content relevant to your target audience? Are they getting the right message? Have you optimized your designs to suit their browsing behavior?

Defining your audience provides you with a wealth of information about their demographics. In order to set up the right psychological connection with them, you must determine whether you are placing various messages, forms, calls-to-action, and graphics, in a way that appeals to your target audience.

Your target audience definition, like your business and marketing goals, will serve as a guiding light for your optimization process and CRO decisions.
Don’t rely only on your PPC results

PPC metrics can be confusing for marketers because they are easy to manage and improve. They don’t, however, guarantee that your page or campaign will be more valuable. Following these measures could end up costing you money rather than making you money. There are some CRO actions that need to be taken first, after the traffic lands on a page and before a conversion is made.
Match your ad message to your landing page message

The first thing to check in your CRO audit is whether the messaging in your ad matches the messaging on your landing page. You build ads with compelling, must-click headlines, so it’s problematic if none of those clicks result in conversions or increased user time on the page.

A qualified user expects a few things when they click on your ad: For starters, they anticipate a positive user experience that builds on what they saw in your ad. The messaging from your ad must match the message on your landing page, whether it’s obtaining a free downloadable asset, viewing a video, purchasing a product, or booking a call with your sales staff. The ad-to-page message should correspond right away.
Optimize your design & layout

What appears to be appealing on the surface may not be so compelling to your target audience. When auditing the page for conversion, make sure it is easy for the audience to engage with the web page on both desktop and mobile, including best use of whitespace, a noticeable call-to-action, readable typeface, and consistent section divisions.

In addition, examine some of the design’s technical flaws, such as page load time, image quality, broken links, and broken forms. You also need to consider how well your website caters to the needs of mobile visitors.
Optimize the conversions form

The conversion form alone can be responsible for several bounce rates and landing page conversion issues.

That is because the opt-in form on the landing page can cause excessive friction. For a user to feel comfortable converting, there must be an equal balance of landing page friction and landing page benefits. The Breadcrumb Technique is a great solution. When a multi-step form contains no major threat, users are more likely to convert. Furthermore, users are more likely to complete the process when the conversion action is moved to the second or third step of the form.
Examine your landing page offer

It’s possible that the people who click on your ad aren’t interested in the offer on your landing page. Although this form of misalignment is uncommon, it does occur. Bounce rates that are extremely high indicate that users will click on your ad, land on your page, and then instantly click away. Reduce the intensity of your offer to match the temperature of your incoming traffic if this is the case.

Consider the following scenario: Someone who clicks on a retargeting display ad has already shown interest in your product and has already engaged with your ads. This click could be classified as having a high conversion intent, or as “hot traffic.” However, someone who clicks a low-level ad on the pros and cons of using this product is unlikely to immediately join up for a 4-month contract.
Google Analytics data

There will be some discrepancy in all the results if your website analytics data isn’t reliable. You’ll see that all the information you’ve been gathering for months is now only suited for the dumps. So, in addition to evaluating your website, you’ll need to check your analytics data to verify if your scaling system is in good shape.
Prepare for user objections ahead of time

You only have one chance to make a good first impression. This is where overcoming typical user objections becomes crucial. Your landing page should provide answers to frequently asked questions, social proof such as reviews and ratings, and pricing/delivery alternatives.
Thank you page opportunities

Your thank you page is an excellent place to upsell new products and remarket offers that have previously failed to convert.

A good CRO audit gives you honest feedback about the present condition of your lead generation initiatives. Understanding your visitors’ needs and structuring your website to exceed their expectations is made easier with a comprehensive CRO audit. CRO is a tool for forming relationships.

If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to contact us.

For more checklists, you can visit our resources page.

CRO Audit Checklist

What exactly is a CRO audit?

How to conduct a CRO audit to boost conversions:

Set up business goals

Align your startup and marketing objectives

Identify your target audience

Don’t rely only on your PPC results

Match your ad message to your landing page message

Optimize your design & layout

Optimize the conversions form

Examine your landing page offer

Google Analytics data

Prepare for user objections ahead of time

Thank you page opportunities

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