You’ve read the blogs. You’ve updated the calls to action. You’ve tested new banners, reworked the form layout, and followed every CRO “best practice” out there.
But the numbers haven’t budged.
No increase in conversions. No drop in bounce. Maybe even… a little worse?
If you’ve done “everything right” but still aren’t seeing progress, this post is for you. Here’s what might really be going on — and what to do when conversion rates won’t budge.
1. Best Practices ≠ Your Customer’s Reality
Best practices are general patterns — not gospel. They’re a starting point, not a strategy.
What converts on someone else’s SaaS landing page or eCommerce funnel might fall flat for your audience. Why? Because they don’t:
- Have your value proposition
- Serve your segment
- Sell your product or service
- What to do:
- Go back to voice-of-customer (VoC) research:
- Run short on-site polls (e.g., “What’s stopping you from signing up today?”)
- Review live chat transcripts or sales calls
- Look at support tickets for objections
Sometimes the issue isn’t your layout — it’s your message, your promise, or the trust signals you’re missing.
2. Are You Measuring the Right Thing?
You might be optimising for clicks, scrolls, or micro-conversions — but are those leading to real business outcomes?
A shorter form might improve submissions but bring lower-quality leads. A stronger CTA might increase click-throughs but raise bounce on the next step.
✅ What to do:
Zoom out. Are you tracking:
- Lead quality or deal value?
- Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)?
- Time-to-close or retention after conversion?
CRO is about outcomes, not just input metrics.
3. Your Offer May Not Be Strong Enough
Sometimes, it’s not the UX or UI. It’s the offer.
You can have the world’s smoothest funnel, but if what you’re offering isn’t valuable, urgent, or clearly communicated — no amount of design tweaks will change the result.
✅ What to do:
Ask yourself:
- Is the value of this page or form clear within 5 seconds?
- Are we solving a real pain point or just hoping they care?
- Have we tested fundamentally different offers (not just new wording)?
Try:
- Free trials instead of demos
- Lead magnets instead of “Contact us”
- “Quiz” or guided tools instead of a plain form
4. You’re Testing Too Much, Too Shallow
Changing 5 things at once sounds productive, but it often muddies the waters. You’re never quite sure what made the difference — or didn’t.
And sometimes, the changes are cosmetic, not strategic.
✅ What to do:
- Focus on 1–2 high-impact changes at a time with a clear hypothesis.
- Give tests enough traffic and time to reach significance.
- Log every change, even small ones, so you have context when things shift unexpectedly.
5. Re-Evaluate the Technical Experience
Your site might look great — but how well does it actually work?
Common unseen issues:
- Slow load times on mobile
- Forms not submitting properly
- Sticky headers blocking key messages
- Pop-ups breaking the layout on certain devices
- Broken field validations or cookie banners overlapping CTAs
✅ What to do:
- Test your site weekly in incognito mode and on mobile
- Use Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, or session recordings to spot frustration
- Run speed tests on key pages with PageSpeed Insights or WebPageTest
6. Bring in Outside Eyes
When you live with your site every day, you become blind to its flaws.
✅ What to do:
- Ask someone unfamiliar with your product to try and “buy” or “sign up” — and watch them.
- Consider a quick UX audit or expert review from a third party.
- Share user testing clips with your team to re-align your focus.
Final Thought: Sometimes the Problem Isn’t CRO — It’s Positioning
If the funnel is smooth, the copy is polished, and your forms are tested… maybe the problem is higher up the food chain.
Maybe:
- You’re targeting the wrong audience.
- Your message is too broad or too technical.
- Your brand lacks credibility or trust markers.
When CRO tweaks don’t work, zoom out. Are you solving the right problem — or optimising a system that’s already doing its best with a flawed offer?
CRO isn’t about tweaking buttons. It’s about removing friction, clarifying value, and creating confidence.
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