Conversion rate optimisation: get more enquiries from the visitors you already have
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) means making it easier for the people who already visit your website to get in touch, book or buy. For a small business it’s often the cheapest win there is: you’re not paying for more visitors, you’re making better use of the ones you have. Decide what counts as an enquiry, measure it, find where people give up, fix one thing at a time and check what changed.
What counts as a conversion for you
A conversion is the action you want a visitor to take. For most local businesses that’s one of these:
| Conversion | How it usually happens |
|---|---|
| A phone call | Tapping your number on a phone |
| An enquiry form | Filling in your contact or quote form |
| A booking | Using an online booking tool |
| A visit | Asking Google for directions to you |
| An email | Tapping your email address |
Pick the one or two that matter most to your business. Everything below is about making those easier.
Step 1: Measure it first
You can’t improve what you can’t see. Before changing anything, find out how many enquiries your site brings in now, and from which pages.
- Set up Google Analytics to record form sends and taps on your phone number. Our Google Analytics guide shows how.
- Keep a simple log of calls and emails, and ask new customers how they found you.
- Note the numbers for a few weeks before you change anything, so you have something to compare with.
Step 3: One clear next step on every page
Each page should end, and ideally start, with one obvious next step. Word it as what the visitor gets, not what you want:
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| Submit | Get my quote |
| Contact us | Book a free survey |
| Learn more | See prices for boiler servicing |
Use one main button per page. Three equal buttons side by side make people hesitate.
Step 6: Remove friction
Friction is anything that slows people down or gets in their way:
- Pop-ups that appear before the visitor has read anything
- Slow pages, often caused by large images
- Menus with too many choices
- Asking for an account or sign-up before an enquiry
- Phone numbers or emails written as images, which can’t be tapped or copied
Remove one thing at a time and see whether enquiries change.
Step 7: Change one thing at a time, then compare
Big websites run split tests (A/B tests), showing two versions to different visitors at the same time. Most small sites don’t get enough visits for those tests to give a reliable answer quickly. A simpler approach works:
- Change one thing, such as the headline or the button wording.
- Leave it for a few weeks.
- Compare enquiries with the same length of time before the change.
- Keep what helped. Undo what didn’t.
Keep a note of what you changed and when. Seasonal swings can look like results, so compare like with like where you can.
Common mistakes
- Buying more traffic before fixing the site. You pay more for the same leaks.
- Changing everything at once. You won’t know what worked.
- Forms that ask too much. Save the detailed questions for the first call.
- Never testing your own forms. A broken form costs you enquiries silently.
- Copying a big brand’s website. Their visitors already know them; yours don’t yet.
DIY or get help?
You can do all of this yourself, and it’s a good use of a quiet afternoon. Getting help makes sense when you have plenty of visitors but few enquiries and can’t see why, or when you’d rather spend your time on the work itself. We look at how your site turns visits into enquiries as part of our SEO service.
FAQs
What is a good conversion rate?
It depends on your business, your prices and where your visitors come from, so comparing with other sites isn’t very useful. Compare your site with itself: measure it now, make changes, and check whether it goes up.
Do I need special software for CRO?
No. Google Analytics, a phone and an honest friend cover most of it. Paid tools can help later on busier sites.
Should I fix my website or spend on advertising first?
Fix the website first. Advertising sends more people to the same pages, so any problem on those pages costs you more.
Next steps
- Google Analytics guide: track the enquiries your site brings in
- Digital marketing for small businesses: where conversion fits in the bigger picture
- Local SEO audit: check the rest of your local set-up
Want a second pair of eyes on where your website loses enquiries? Book a free discovery call and, within 48 hours of the call, you’ll get a free audit of your site with the fixes that matter most. Or, if you’d rather leave it to us, see what’s included in each package.