Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the systematic practice of using research, analytics, and controlled experiments to increase the percentage of users completing a desired action. The experiments are most commonly A/B tests applied to a specific funnel stage. It is a disciplined loop of diagnose, hypothesize, test, ship, applied to one stage at a time rather than the whole funnel at once.
A typical CRO program runs on a four-step cycle: identify the highest-impact stage using funnel analytics, form a hypothesis from user research (heatmaps, session recordings, surveys, customer interviews), test the hypothesis with a controlled A/B test, and ship the winning variant. The industry rule of thumb is that roughl...