Quick answer: A CRO audit is a structured review of your website to find where visitors drop off before becoming leads or customers. You look at your analytics to find the leaky pages, watch how people actually behave on those pages, review the pages yourself against a checklist, and then rank the fixes by likely impact and effort. The result is a short, prioritised list of changes rather than a vague feeling that the site “should convert better”.
CRO stands for conversion rate optimisation. A conversion is whatever action matters to you: a form submission, a phone call, a booking or a sale. Most sites lose far more potential customers than they realise, and the reasons are usually fixable. Here is how to run an audit that finds them.
Before you start: define your conversions
You cannot audit conversions you are not measuring. Make sure you have:
- Goals set up in Google Analytics for each key action, such as the thank you page after a form, completed checkouts, or clicks on a phone number
- Ecommerce tracking switched on if you sell online
- A clear main conversion for each important page
If goals are missing, set them up first and collect a few weeks of data. Everything else in the audit depends on it.
Step 1: Find the leaky pages in your analytics
Start with numbers, not opinions. In Google Analytics, look at:
Landing pages
Go to Behaviour, then Site Content, then Landing Pages. Sort by sessions and look at bounce rate and goal conversion rate for your top pages. A page with lots of traffic, a high bounce rate and few conversions is a prime suspect.
Funnel and goal flow reports
If you have set a funnel on your goals, the Funnel Visualization report shows exactly where people abandon a multi-step process such as a quote form or checkout. A big drop at one step tells you where to look.
Device breakdown
Compare conversion rates for desktop, tablet and mobile. If mobile visitors convert at a fraction of the desktop rate, the mobile experience is likely the problem, not the offer.
Traffic sources
Check conversions by channel. If paid search converts well but organic visitors do not, the pages people land on from search may not match what they were looking for.
Step 2: Watch real behaviour
Analytics tells you where people leave. Behaviour tools help explain why.
- Heatmaps and click maps, from tools such as Crazy Egg or Hotjar, show where people click and how far they scroll. You may find visitors clicking on things that are not links, or never scrolling far enough to see your form.
- Session recordings let you watch anonymous visits. Ten recordings of people abandoning your quote form will teach you more than any meeting.
- On-page polls can ask visitors a single question, such as “What stopped you from getting in touch today?”
Step 3: Review key pages against a checklist
Now look at the problem pages yourself, on a phone and on a desktop. Be honest. Score each page on these points.
Clarity
- Can a new visitor tell what you offer and who it is for within a few seconds?
- Does the main heading match what the visitor searched for or clicked on?
- Is there one obvious next step?
Trust
- Are there real reviews, testimonials, accreditations or examples of work?
- Is it easy to find your phone number, address and the people behind the business?
- Does the site look current and work properly? Broken elements quietly kill trust.
- Is your site on HTTPS, especially on pages with forms?
Friction
- How many fields does your form have, and are all of them necessary?
- Do error messages explain what went wrong?
- Does the page load quickly on a mobile connection?
- Are buttons large enough to tap on a phone?
Motivation
- Does the page explain the benefits, not just the features?
- Does it answer the common objections, such as price, time and risk?
- Is there a reason to act now rather than later?
Our checklist of landing page elements that convert goes deeper into each of these.
Step 4: Check the path between pages
Look beyond individual pages at how visitors move through the site:
- Do service pages link clearly to the contact or quote page?
- Do blog posts point readers to a relevant service?
- After someone submits a form, does the thank you page tell them what happens next?
- Do confirmation emails arrive, and do enquiries reach the right person quickly?
That last point is often missed. A form that works on the site but sends leads to an unchecked inbox is still losing you business.
Step 5: Prioritise the fixes
You will end up with a long list. Rank each item on three things:
- Impact: how many visitors does this affect, and how much could it change their behaviour?
- Confidence: how strong is the evidence that this is a real problem?
- Effort: how much time and money will the fix take?
Quick wins with high impact go first. Fixing a broken mobile form, removing unnecessary form fields or adding a clear call to action above the fold are typical examples. Bigger changes, such as rewriting a key page, can be tested properly once the obvious problems are gone.
Step 6: Test, measure and repeat
Make changes one area at a time so you can see their effect. For pages with enough traffic, run an A/B test using Google Analytics Content Experiments or a tool like Optimizely. For lower traffic pages, make the change and compare a few weeks before and after, keeping seasonality in mind.
Then schedule the next audit. Websites change, traffic sources change and customer expectations change. A quick review every quarter keeps leaks from creeping back.
Common leaks we find
From audits on small and mid sized business sites, the same problems come up again and again:
- Contact forms that are too long or broken on mobile
- Phone numbers that cannot be tapped to call
- Service pages with no call to action at all
- Slow pages caused by huge images
- Vague headlines that describe the company instead of the customer’s problem
- No proof, such as reviews or examples, anywhere near the point of decision
FAQ
How long does a CRO audit take?
For a small business site, a focused audit can be done in a few days once analytics data is available. Larger sites with many templates take longer.
Do I need a lot of traffic for CRO?
You need traffic for formal A/B testing. You do not need much traffic to fix obvious problems found in an audit.
What is a good conversion rate?
It varies widely by industry, offer and traffic source. The most useful benchmark is your own site’s rate, tracked over time.
Get an expert set of eyes
If you would like an outside view of where your site is losing leads, we run conversion audits and help put the fixes in place. Learn how we turn visitors into customers.
