Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a system for increasing the percentage of visitors to a website that conversion into customers, or more generally, take any desired action. CRO has gained prevalence in recent years with the growth of popularity of “growth hacking”, as companies look to take advantage of new technologies that make online testing simple and intuitive.

If you and your company are using conversion rate optimization to improve your results, or just thinking about getting started in this area, here are my top 5 conversion rate optimization tips:

1. Start with those tests that have the potential to have the most impact. Prioritize in terms of potential value. Much testing is about finding incremental lift, but there are likely big improvements to be found early on.
    
2. Make sure you start by defining the metric, and make sure everyone agrees. What is a conversion? That’s what you are trying to get more of. People must agree on the goal in order to agree on the results.
    
3. Be open to surprises. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they’re first getting started is assuming they know the results of a test before the test. Keep an open mind and let the data do the talking for you.
    
4. Research and study what other companies/professionals have experienced in their own tests. You can find a wealth of historical data and best practices simply by spending a few hours on Google. These will give you testing ideas and open you up to new ways of creating a better user experience.
    
5. Understand statistical significance. In simplest terms, statistical significance is the point at which we can confidently conclude that the results of a test we are running are real, and not just a coincidence.