🎯 CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION
Understand it, log it, optimize it
FROM “CLICK HERE” BY ALEX SCHULTZ
🎯
Define Your Conversions
Primary Conversion
The main action that drives your business:
- E-commerce: Complete purchase
- SaaS: Start paid subscription
- Media: Subscribe to newsletter
- App: Complete signup & first key action
Secondary Conversions (Micro-conversions)
Smaller actions that lead to primary:
- Add to cart
- Start free trial
- Download resource
- Watch demo
- Create account
📋
The Three Essentials
1
LOG IT
Record every conversion event:
- User ID
- Timestamp
- Source / channel
- Device type
- Value
2
ATTRIBUTE IT
Understand which efforts drove the conversion. But beware: last-click attribution is broken.
Use incrementality testing where possible.
3
MEASURE IT
Key metrics:
CR = (Conversions ÷ Visitors) × 100
CPA = Total Spend ÷ Conversions
ROAS = Revenue ÷ Ad Spend
🗺️
Map Your Conversion Path
→
▼ 40%
→
▼ 67%
→
▼ 40%
→
▼ 33%
“Your biggest drop-off is your biggest opportunity. Fix the leakiest part of the bucket first.”
⚡
Optimization Quick Wins
✅ Reduce form fields — every field removed increases completion
✅ Clear CTA copy — “Create an Ad” beat “Advertise” by ~40%
✅ Personalize by name — double-digit uplifts throughout Alex’s career
✅ Add social proof — friends’ actions > reviews > nothing
✅ Move CTAs to prominent positions — bottom to top = 30% lift
✅ Show context — email provider logos = double-digit uplift
✅ Explain why — “Because you bought this…” increases acceptance
✅ Chain actions — promote next step right after completing current one
🧪
Testing Principles
Isolate each test
Multivariate is fine, but don’t cross-contaminate. Each experiment should have a clear control and variant.
Pre-register test length
Don’t peek and kill early. Require sustained significance over a pre-registered period.
Business significance matters
“If you need a data scientist and a microscope to determine if you had impact, then you didn’t.”
Conversion is where all your marketing investment pays off or dies. If your conversion flow is broken, no amount of top-of-funnel spending will save you. Every additional step loses users. Minimize friction relentlessly.