Conversion Optimization Secrets From a Decade of A/B Testing

Small changes to your website can create big profits.

Matthew Stafford started his conversion rate optimization (CRO) work in 2014. By 2015-16, his team began split testing pages. They first focused on finding a single "win" on a page before looking for other elements to improve. Soon they discovered they could apply successful changes to other areas of the same page for continued improvement.

He has spent 10 years optimizing conversions for 300 stores. On The Edward Show, he shared that fixing customer pain points led to millions in extra revenue.

Most websites convert only 2% of visitors. This means 98 out of 100 interested people leave without buying. Improving your site to capture just 2-3 more of those 98 people doubles your revenue without spending more on ads.

Matthew's tactics work across a wide range of price points, from £50 to £3,000 average order values.

Capture High-Value Feedback From Customers

Ask Questions on Thank You Pages

Stafford uses Lucky Orange pop-ups on thank you pages to ask, "What almost made you not buy?"

About 30% of buyers answer, giving honest insights about website problems.

Customers might mention confusion about products, shipping costs, or missing information.

This simple question ("What almost made you not buy?") via Lucky Orange has generated millions in revenue across different stores.

One site clarified its messaging based on this feedback and removed barriers that had stopped people from buying.

Send Post-Purchase Surveys with Rewards

Stafford's team sends a survey within 48 hours of purchase for their e-commerce business. They offer a gift card for answering 7-8 questions. This creates a retention advantage.

Many customers return to buy again within 7 days, often before their first order arrives. These repeat buyers become 4-5 times more valuable than average customers.

Key questions include:

• "What competitor sites did you visit?"

• "What affected your buying decision?"

• "What would you like to see in the future?"

One store learned customers hesitated because subscription benefits weren't clear. After fixing the copy, repeat purchases increased dramatically. Stafford shares this survey "E-commerce Conversion Rate Optimization Checklist" as a PDF.

Create Effective Above-the-Fold Content

Focus Your Homepage on Trust

Your homepage builds trust and helps navigation, not direct sales. Stafford points out that 60% of visitors never scroll down a page. The visible part before scrolling (above-the-fold) must create confidence and guide users.

For a welding table site, they avoided sales pitches. Instead, they used a clear headline and menu to direct users to product pages. Trust signals like "Serving 10,000+ customers" work well here.

Stafford skips credit card logos because users assume payment options exist. Extra visuals create mental work for visitors. He notes that older customers need more trust signals than someone making a $50 purchase.

Optimize Product Pages

Product pages need bullet points, images, and a clear headline above the fold. For a $24.99 belt hanger, Stafford's team used "1.5' Traditional Buckle in Gunmetal" with a photo showing the product in use. A bad headline would be "ANS and Belt Four Strap Hanger in Gunmetal."

For a $130 supplement, they added a GIF to explain usage but kept the main headline as the product name. The benefits appeared in bullet points.

Videos or GIFs work best when education matters—like software demos. Simple products can use static images. This approach has improved conversions across 300 stores.

Write Headlines That Convert

Choose Clarity Over Cleverness

Headlines must show benefits, not features. They should contain zero fluff.

Stafford praised Apple's iPod message: "A thousand songs in your pocket." This beat "5GB storage" by showing a clear benefit.

Fancy copy often fails—users don't stay to figure it out. One site saw a 20% bounce rate with a vague headline. Changing to a clear benefit cut the bounce rate in half.

Pass the Simplicity Test

Stafford uses the "Homer Simpson check" to make sure headlines are simple. Anyone should understand them instantly.

He's seen sites use made-up terms like "flexi-gizmo" that confused visitors. On a car product page, changing a jargon-heavy headline to "Heavy-Duty Truck Bed Liner" increased engagement.

SEO terms like "best truck bed liner 2025" belong below the fold in FAQs or articles. This keeps the main headline focused on humans.

One store's keyword-stuffed headline dropped conversions by 15%. Moving SEO terms to a subpage fixed the problem.

Optimizing Your FAQ Section for SEO

Create FAQ sections that boost your search rankings by:

• Focusing questions on buyer intent to match what potential customers are searching for

• Formatting questions with H2 tags to improve visibility and qualify for featured snippets in Google results

• Writing concise answers in standard paragraph format

• Placing your FAQ section at the bottom of product pages for maximum SEO benefit

This structured approach helps Google identify and prioritize your content when serving relevant search results using Featured Snippets to users.

Help Visitors See More Content

Avoid False Bottoms

A "false bottom" makes a page look complete above the fold, stopping people from scrolling. Stafford found this on a client site where visitors thought a full-width image ended the page.

Adding an arrow pointing down doubled scroll rates. Another site showed just the tops of product images at the screen's bottom, encouraging users to explore more.

For a clothing store, this simple change revealed reviews and FAQs below, lifting conversions by 10%. Stafford checks every site for this problem first because it's common and costly.

Use Reviews to Build Trust

Two-star reviews can beat five-star ones when handled correctly. They get more clicks and convert higher if you respond well—for example, "Sorry this happened, here's how we'll fix it."

On a truck product site, a 2-star review complained about slow shipping. The company reply offered a refund and expedited replacement, building trust.

Five-star praise feels fake if it stands alone. But when paired with addressed complaints, it becomes powerful.

On checkout pages, Stafford places 3 reviews that tackle common objections—about shipping, quality, and service—right above the buy button. This helps push hesitant buyers to complete their purchase.

Streamline Your Checkout Process

Building Trust During Checkout

The checkout page is crucial for converting visitors into customers. Building trust here ensures they feel secure completing their purchase.

Matthew Stafford suggests these strategies to build trust on your checkout page:

Explain Why Customer Information is Needed

Customers are more likely to provide accurate information when they understand why it's required.

Stafford suggests:

• Instead of "Email", use "Email (required for order confirmation)"

• Instead of "Phone", use "Phone (required for shipping notifications)"

This change significantly reduced form errors by 279%. Customers provided accurate emails and phone numbers, improving abandoned cart recovery and SMS marketing effectiveness.

Apply Insights from "The Copy Machine Study" Research

Stafford applied a powerful principle from Robert Cialdini's book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, known as the "Copy Machine Study":

In this study, researchers tested people's willingness to let someone cut in line at a photocopier:

• Request only: "Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?"

• Result: 60% allowed them to cut.

• Request with a reason: "Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I'm in a rush?"

• Result: 94% allowed them to cut.

• Request with a meaningless reason: "Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make copies?"

• Result: Still, 93% allowed them to cut.

The study showed that simply providing a reason—even an obvious one—dramatically increased people's willingness to comply.

Stafford used this insight in his checkout forms by clearly stating why customer information was needed. This made customers more comfortable sharing their details.

Add Human Touches and Social Proof

Customers prefer interacting with real people. Stafford recommends using personal email addresses like "[email protected]" instead of generic ones like "[email protected]".

Add trust signals near the checkout button:

• Phone number (few people actually call, but seeing it increases trust)

• Social proof statements like "10,000+ customers served"

• Customer reviews addressing common concerns (shipping speed, product quality, customer service)

These changes can significantly reduce abandoned carts and enhance trust.

One site saw abandoned carts drop by 20% after adding a phone number—even though very few customers actually called.

Price and Shipping Strategies

Testing different prices finds the sweet spot. Stafford avoids $5 starter offers with shipping charges. These attract low-quality customers who complain frequently.

A $130 supplement site switched to full-price offers. This reduced support problems and improved customer retention.

For shipping, saying "We pay shipping" works better than "free shipping." For a $3,000 welding table, this approach reduced objections. Customers felt cared for rather than tricked.

One store included shipping in a $50 average order. By saying "We pay shipping," they saw happier support interactions when returns happened.

Apply These Principles to Any Business

The same psychology works for ecommerce, software, and information products. Stafford's principles—clarity, trust, and removing friction—apply universally.

A software landing page might use "Software Name" as the headline with use-case bullets below, similar to a $24 belt's product page.

An information product site changed from a vague "Growth Secrets" headline to "Double Your Email List in 90 Days." This increased sign-ups by 30%.

Across his network—from supplements to truck gear—the same rules work for products ranging from $50 to $3,000. The product type changes execution, not intent.

Build a Strong Brand Through Trust

Reviews, phone numbers, and transparency create strong brands. Stafford rejects fake trust badges.

He recalls a TikTok story about a marketer who used false Forbes badges. This worked briefly but eventually damaged trust.

His clients, like a $130 supplement store, display real 2-star reviews and provide a phone number to signal care. Few customers actually call, but seeing the number builds confidence.

A fair return policy turns one happy buyer into 1-2 referrals. Unhappy customers' complaints fade when addressed properly. Higher-priced items ($3,000+) typically attract calmer customers, making this process easier.

Make Website Improvements a Daily Habit

Low traffic isn't the main problem—low conversion rates are. Improving your website often beats chasing more visitors.

One store increased from 2% to 4% conversion rate on the same ad budget. This doubled sales and let them outspend competitors.

This differs from targeted SEO where you focus on high-intent keywords especially when doing bottom-of-funnel SEO. These pages convert well above 2% because they satisfy search intent to rank.

Stafford encourages daily testing instead of just seeking more traffic.

Fix your website first. Getting more visitors to a broken site wastes money. Small improvements to your conversion rate can double your sales without increasing your ad budget.

Top Tweets of the day

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