40 Actionable CRO Tips You Can Apply Today

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Hey there!

If you're aiming to take your site’s conversion rates to the next level, you’re in the right spot. Today, we’re diving into 40 tactical tips that can help you smash through the 7% conversion barrier and turn more visitors into buyers.

I know some of you prefer shorter content, but I believe in sharing the full journey—not just the final punchline. Understanding the 'why' behind each tip is key to making it work for you. So, get ready to unlock a treasure trove of insights that could transform your site overnight. Whether you’re a founder, marketer, or just keen on CRO, this checklist has got you covered. Forward this to your team and let’s get started! 🏆

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Today’s newsletter is very, very tactical. If you’re a founder, you might want to forward this to your site/eCom person or CMO. We’re going to go through 40 tips in today’s deep dive on how you could potentially get to the 7% conversion rate.

By the way, I’ve gotten a handful of emails asking me to trim the newsletters. See, the problem with that is, when I write something from my experience, I like to include the full context, so you, as the reader, can be put in my shoes at the time when I didn’t know something, to after when I learned WHY something worked the way it did. I don’t like to just give the final punchline, I want to share the full how around it. I hope that makes sense.

Alright, let’s get into today’s email. This list of tactical ways to improve conversion is mainly for product pages and landing pages. But, I think most of this can also easily apply to homepages, about us pages, and also your ad creative. If you’re not sure how UX (user experience) design plays a role in creative, this is it!

In no particular order, here are 40 tactical tips to help make your landing pages way better overnight:

1. Leverage more social proof from real-world humans, not just models and paid creators.

2. Don't be so chunky with your copy—get punchy, get savvy, and focus on benefits, not just the value props.

3. Design for mobile first. Over 85% of your traffic will be from mobile devices.

4. Write copy for mobile first, as well. I like to write all of our landing page and website copy for mobile first, then fit it for desktop after.

5. Make your pricing, discounts, and offers more noticeable! Do anything that you can to make the pricing and discounts pop. Use a different color font, or make it bold, use highlights, a sticker, etc. Another tip: use colored CTAs as they outperform black and white CTAs.

6. If you sell a consumable, include your price per use. i.e. $1/bottle when you buy a 24 pack of drinks, or “Less than $1/day for a greens powder,” for example.

7. A picture is worth a thousand words. Use a lot more of them. Also include illustrations, icons, graphs, charts, etc. Explain visually.

8. Make your pop-up email subscribe form simpler. Don’t ask for their first name, last name, email, birthday, and location. Just ask for their email address.

9. Make your pop-up subscribe form a value-added experience. Offer a discount or enter them into a raffle for a chance to win free products in exchange for them entering their email.

10. Make sure everything you do is ADA-compliant! In short, this just means that you your website is accessible to anyone. Make sure that your fonts are the appropriate size and that you don’t have a white font on a light background, etc. For more info on ADA compliance, read this.

11. Simplify your checkout experience. A customer should never have to make more than 2 clicks to check out.

12. Put your very best offer at the top of the page. This could be a banner bar or just the first bundle that you show being your current best offer on the site.

13. Always have a comparison chart! I have never seen a comparison chart on a site that didn’t make me feel more educated about my purchase after seeing it.

14. Elevate your design. If your LP doesn’t look beautiful, you’re not building trust. Why spend money to drive traffic to a site that has poor design? These first impressions really matter. If you need a really good designer with affordable costs, highly recommend delesign.

15. Always add shipping information and make it very clear. Answer the questions, if I buy today, does it ship today? When does the product arrive at my door?

16. Tell customers what’s inside the box. Better yet, show them what’s inside the box with a photo or UGC unboxing video on your LP.

17. Enable buy now, pay later on your site. More stores are using it than ever before. If you’re on Shopify, you can simply enable ShopPay Installments.

18. Have a hierarchy in your text sizes. There’s a reason why H1, H2, and H3 text exist. Use variations in both—font sizes and styles to create a visual hierarchy on your LP. It should be easy for someone’s eyes to follow where to look, and in which order.

19. Add quotes that call out the benefits, not just the features. I.e., a good quote about the features of a product like a Simple Modern water bottle would say “I love the teal color and that the bottles are machine washable.” A great quote would say something like “Upgrading to the 64oz tumblr changed my life. I drink more water today than I ever have before. I feel much healthier and have more energy and sleep better due to being properly hydrated from this bottle.” A great quote speaks to lifestyle change, not just the features.

20. Don’t say “Buy Now” say “Add to Cart”, as long as the CTA actually adds the product to the cart, otherwise, “Buy Now” is fine.

21. Use Microsoft Clarity! Study the heat maps to see where users are bouncing and falling off. Change or remove that section to boost CVR. Clarity also lets you watch user sessions on your site, so you can see where people scroll, what they read, where they mouse goes, etc.

22. Study dead clicks and “rage clicks” i.e., where users click multiple times on a site expecting to go somewhere, but they aren’t redirected. Where are they trying to go? Why isn’t this section clickable? How can you fix it? This is also on Clarity.

23. Organize your product page like you would organize your physical storefront. What items do you want customers to see first? What is the associated photo and sign? How would you merchandize this product in a physical store? You should be thinking the exact same way on your site.

24. Whenever possible, reduce the amount of text. How can you say the same thing, with fewer words?

25. Whenever possible, use real images, not icons or illustrations. People want to see the real product in use.

26. When a customer leaves a review, tell me what product they bought. I.e “X person bought 3 teal tumblers from Simple Modern.” Next to their review, add their name, photo, and “Verified Purchaser” for more credibility, if possible!

27. If it’s truly a limited time offer, highlight that! But don’t lie, that is against the FTC rules.

28. Tell me how many customers have purchased this product. i.e., 5000+ happy customers or “285 people love this product!” Again, lying here is against the FTC rules.

29. Want to know what’s better than images? Videos! Showing your product in a UGC video can raise conversion rates by a ton.

30. Optimize your text and visuals for your most visited screen size.

31. If a third grader or your grandma can’t understand your product and offer, and how to checkout and buy on your landing page, your site is too complicated! Go back to the drawing board and simplify it!

32. Never forget an FAQ section. It’s one of the best ways to answer questions and ensure confidence right before a purchase. It’s typically the last section I check before I hit “Buy”.

33. If it sounds cool in a brand book, but doesn’t make sense to a consumer, cut it.

34. Don’t hide the return information. If customers want to make a return or exchange, make that really easy and quick.

35. If there’s a 15 or 30 or 60 day money back guarantee or return policy, highlight that!

36. Describe your brand as a person. It should have its own identity and persona.

37. Make your page load in under 1 second. I saw multiple pages in my LP teardown that took 2-3 seconds to load. This is not fast enough! Consumers will bounce.

38. Test upsells and cross-sells. Test them both pre-purchase and post purchase.

39. Add social proof directly to the checkout screen, i.e., as someone is checking it, it should say “500 happy customers also bought this!” or have another quote there.

40. Test variations! The single most important thing that you can do is to make duplicates of your page and split test copy, images, offers, etc. on the same traffic source to see which converts better. The only way to dramatically boost CVR over time is to test and iterate at scale.

Okay, that’s it for now.

As many of you know, the goal of any landing page is to show a consumer the light at the end of the tunnel. No matter what you sell, you want to position your product as the solution to a specific problem.

You have to imagine that when a consumer clicks on your ad and they are visiting your LP for the first time, that they are basically lost. They are in a dark tunnel, looking for the light, and trying to understand your product and how it solves their specific problem for the very first time. They don’t know you, they don’t trust you (yet) and they don’t know what to expect or how to navigate the world you are presenting to them.

Your goal as a brand/company is to use your landing page as the metaphorical train tracks that lead them out of the tunnel and to the light (i.e., directly to your product that can solve their problem and improve their lives). But when it comes to sales, you never want your consumer to take the scenic route. You want to get them on the express line to see the light as fast as possible!

With that in mind, each section of your landing page should actively be getting your consumer  closer to the light to complete their journey (aka to purchase from you). If you apply this mental model, you’ll be creating better LPs in no time.