I’ve been using terminology that helps SMEs better understand the ins and outs of CRO: Conversion Forces.
At a high-level a Conversion force is the result between Motivations vs Frictions.
If the result is positive we see conversions ( or a good level of conversions). If negative, that’s a no-go (or low level of conversions).
Normally the initial question clients ask that triggers all conversations is “Why this landing page/Product page/Booking/Campaign isn’t working/converting?”
And then you explain the balance between initial user motivation vs frictions users encountered and ask them:
👉 “Did it work before? Have you seen conversions some time ago?”
If yes, then you ask them to check:
✔ What changes in traffic acquisition were made? how’s the user intent before vs now?
✔ Has the offer changed?
✔ Is the season or landscape potentially affecting users’ purchase decisions?
✔ Have you made changes on the site that are potentially affecting users (technically speaking)?
If the answer is no, the landing page or product page never got any sales before, I ask them to check on these 4 big areas (or levers) before jumping to conclusions:
⚡Validation: are you selling this product or service for the first time? how do you know the market is responding positively to it?
I then try to see if the client has been selling the service organically or via paid ads: it is really important to validate the initial offer via organic means, before spending $$
⚡Branding: how known are you as a company in your desired market? Is the traffic you are bringing to the site colder than a blizzard? Branding matters because awareness, word of mouth and other activities help users remove many frictions when it comes to your product/services
⚡Traffic Acquisition: Are you targeting the right audience? what’s your offer? how are you breaking through commodity and promising something solid, to the right people? What’s the level of intent they have? (interruption ads marketing always fails in this point)
⚡Website: What are you promising to them vs what are they seeing when they land? How’s that experience on mobile? is it easy to understand (clarity)? Is it easy to use?
It isn’t a full framework but at least can get teams to identify very quickly cases in which one of these areas is predominantly responsible for the lack of conversion force.
