Many business owners steer on visitors. More traffic feels like growth. But traffic costs money or time, and without conversions it delivers nothing. That is why conversion is the most important term in online marketing to understand properly. In this article we explain what a conversion is, how you measure it and how conversion rate optimisation helps you get more out of it.
What exactly does conversion mean?
The word comes from “to convert”: to change from one thing into another. A visitor converts from browser to customer, or at least to someone who takes a step towards becoming one. What that step is, you decide. For an online shop it is usually an order. For an installer, a quote request. For a restaurant, a reservation.
A few examples of conversions:
- A purchase in your online shop
- A completed contact form
- A phone call via the tap-to-call button on mobile
- A newsletter sign-up
- A downloaded brochure or price list
- An appointment booked through an online calendar
As you can see, not every conversion is worth the same. A newsletter sign-up is not revenue yet. That is why we distinguish between macro conversions (your end goal) and micro conversions (intermediate steps that show someone is interested).
Conversions in numbers: the conversion rate
Once you know what your conversions are, you can do the maths. The conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors (or sessions), times one hundred.
A worked example:
| Current situation | After optimisation | |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors per month | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| Conversion rate | 1.0% | 1.5% |
| Conversions per month | 50 | 75 |
| Revenue at € 200 per conversion | € 10,000 | € 15,000 |
Without a single extra visitor, revenue grows by half here. That is the power of conversion rate optimisation: it works across all your traffic, so also on your Google Ads, your SEO and your social campaigns. Every euro you put into traffic then delivers more.
Note: a “good” conversion rate does not exist as a standalone number. An online shop selling expensive products converts differently from a site offering free quotes. So always compare with your own earlier figures.
What is conversion rate optimisation (CRO)?
Conversion rate optimisation, or CRO, is the process by which you structurally increase your website’s conversion rate. Not by guessing, but by measuring, analysing, adjusting and measuring again.
In practice it comes down to questions like:
- Where do visitors drop off in the ordering process?
- Do visitors understand within a few seconds what you offer and why they should choose you?
- Is the button they need to press clear and logically placed?
- Does the form work properly on a phone?
- Are there doubts you can take away, such as delivery time, costs or guarantees?
CRO therefore touches copy, design, technology and psychology. It is not a one-off job, but a way of working.
How to approach conversion rate optimisation step by step
- Make sure your measurement is correct. This sounds dull, but it is the foundation. With almost every new client we see that conversion tracking in GA4 or Google Ads is not set up properly. Then you are optimising on the wrong numbers. Also read our article on why GA4 misses conversions.
- Take a baseline measurement. Record what your conversion rate is now, per page, per device and per traffic source. Without a baseline you cannot say later whether something worked.
- Find the leaks. Look in your analytics for where visitors drop off. Often that is product pages, the form or the last step of the checkout. Session recording and heatmap tools show what visitors actually do.
- Formulate a hypothesis. For example: “If we show the delivery time at the top of the product page, fewer people will hesitate and the number of orders will rise.”
- Adjust or test. If you have a lot of traffic, you run an A/B test in which half of the visitors see the new version. If you have little traffic, you implement proven improvements directly and compare the period before and after.
- Measure, learn and repeat. Keep track of what worked and what did not. Even a failed test teaches you something about your visitors.
From our own experience: the improvement that almost always delivers something for us is simple: showing more USPs and clear calls to action. Visitors want to know quickly why they should choose you and what the next step is. If that is not clear on the page, they look for it elsewhere.
Common mistakes in conversion rate optimisation
Changing everything at once. If you adjust ten things in one go, you never know which change made the difference. Work in small, measurable steps.
Only looking at the homepage. Many visitors land directly on a product or service page via Google. That is where it happens. Optimise the pages where the traffic actually lands.
Forgetting mobile. A large share of your visitors is on a phone. A form that works fine on desktop can be a disaster on mobile. Always test on a real device.
Stopping at the conversion. A lead that comes in only becomes valuable when you respond to it quickly and well. A lesson from our own business: good lead follow-up and attention to lifetime customer value often have more impact than simply bringing in more leads.
How does CRO fit with your other marketing?
Conversion rate optimisation never stands apart from your other channels. It strengthens them:
- Google Ads: a higher conversion rate means a lower cost per lead or sale at the same budget. Read more about how much Google Ads costs.
- SEO: more organic visitors who also convert more often. See our Dutch SEO agency service.
- Social advertising: campaigns that send people to a well-converting landing page perform better.
Think of it as a leaky bucket. You can pour water in faster, but plugging the holes first is smarter.
Start yourself or get help?
You can take the first steps perfectly well on your own: check that your conversions are being measured correctly, look at which pages visitors drop off and make sure your USPs and calls to action are clear. If you want to go deeper, with a baseline measurement, analysis of your whole funnel and monthly reporting, we at Stijgt are happy to help. See our approach to conversion rate optimisation or get in touch for a no-obligation conversation.