A CRO audit finds the reasons visitors leave your website without buying, booking or enquiring. It is the starting point for conversion rate optimisation, and it does not need a big budget or huge traffic. This CRO audit checklist covers tracking, the journeys that matter, forms, trust, speed and mobile, and shows how to turn what you find into changes worth testing.
What is a CRO audit?
A conversion rate optimisation audit is a structured review of your analytics and your key user journeys to find where and why people drop out. The output is a prioritised list of problems and hypotheses: what to change, why you think it will help, and how you will measure it.
Before you start: check the tracking
An audit built on broken data leads to wrong conclusions. Confirm first:
- Every important conversion is tracked in GA4: purchases, form submissions, calls from the website, bookings and chat enquiries.
- Conversions are counted once, not every time a thank-you page reloads.
- Internal traffic from your own team is filtered out.
- Cookie consent is set up so tracking still works lawfully for people who accept.
- If you run ads, platform conversion numbers roughly agree with GA4.
The CRO audit checklist
1. Find where people drop out
- Which landing pages get traffic but few conversions?
- Where do people leave in the funnel: product page, basket, checkout, form?
- How do conversion rates compare between mobile and desktop, and between traffic sources?
- Which pages have high exits despite being mid-journey?
2. Watch real behaviour
- Review session recordings of people who did not convert on key pages. Microsoft Clarity is free and works well for this.
- Check heatmaps for ignored calls to action, clicks on things that are not links, and content nobody scrolls to.
- Look for rage clicks and repeated form errors.
3. The first screen
- Does the headline say clearly what you offer and who it is for?
- Is the main call to action visible without scrolling, on mobile as well as desktop?
- Does the page match the ad or search result that brought the visitor?
4. Forms
- Ask only for what you genuinely need. Every extra field is a reason to quit.
- Labels should stay visible, not disappear as placeholders when someone types.
- Error messages should explain what is wrong and keep what the user already typed.
- Use the right mobile keyboard for phone numbers and email addresses.
- Say what happens after submitting, and how quickly you will respond.
5. Trust and reassurance
- Real reviews, with a source people recognise.
- Case studies, accreditations and guarantees, where you genuinely have them.
- Clear contact details, a physical address and a real phone number.
- Prices, or at least what affects the price, so people are not left guessing.
- Delivery, returns and cancellation terms that are easy to find, for ecommerce.
6. Ecommerce: product pages, basket and checkout
- Are delivery costs and dates shown before the checkout?
- Can people buy as a guest?
- Are express payment options such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal offered?
- Do product images, sizes and stock levels answer the obvious questions?
- Are unexpected costs added late? They are a common reason people abandon a basket.
7. Speed and stability
- Check key templates in PageSpeed Insights and the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console.
- Look for layout shifts that move buttons as the page loads.
- Check that pop-ups and chat widgets do not cover calls to action on mobile.
8. Mobile usability
- Are buttons big enough and spaced apart?
- Can people call with one tap?
- Is text readable without zooming, and are tables usable on a small screen?
9. Ask your customers
- Add a one-question exit or post-purchase survey: "What nearly stopped you?" or "What information was missing?"
- Ask your sales or support team which questions come up again and again.
- Run a few simple usability tests: watch five people try to complete the main task and note where they struggle.
Turning findings into tests
Write each finding as a hypothesis: "Because recordings show mobile users missing the quote button, moving it above the fold will increase quote requests." Then prioritise, for example by scoring each idea for potential impact, confidence in the evidence and effort to build.
If your site has enough conversions, test changes with an A/B test and decide the sample size before you start, so you do not stop at a false winner. If traffic is too low for reliable A/B testing, make the clearly evidenced fixes and compare performance before and after, allowing for seasonality.
How to calculate your conversion rate
Divide conversions by sessions or users and multiply by 100. For example, 30 enquiries from 1,500 sessions is a 2% conversion rate. Always compare like with like: the same page, traffic source and device, over comparable periods.
Frequently asked questions
What does a CRO audit include?
A check of conversion tracking, funnel and landing page analysis, session recordings and heatmaps, forms, trust signals, checkout, speed and mobile usability, plus customer feedback, turned into a prioritised list of hypotheses.
How much traffic do I need for CRO?
You can audit and fix obvious problems at any traffic level. Reliable A/B testing needs enough conversions per variation to detect a real difference, which smaller sites may not have.
What tools do I need for a CRO audit?
GA4 and Google Tag Manager for data, Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar for recordings and heatmaps, PageSpeed Insights for speed, and a simple survey tool for customer feedback.
How long does a CRO audit take?
For a typical small business website, a thorough audit takes a week or two, including time to gather enough recordings and survey responses.
Want an expert review?
Our conversion rate optimisation team audits, designs, builds and tests improvements for UK websites. If most of your traffic is paid, pair it with PPC management services, and for performance fixes see our technical SEO services.
