Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the work of getting more of the people who already visit your website to take the action you want: place an order, send a message, call you or fill in a form. Instead of paying for more visitors, you remove what stops the current ones. For a small business this is often one of the cheapest improvements available, because every extra order comes from traffic you already have.

What "conversion rate" means

A conversion is the one action that matters on a page. Your conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors over the same period. With made-up numbers: if a product page had 200 visitors last week and 4 of them ordered, the page converted 4 visitors in 200, or 1 in 50. If a change makes that 1 in 40, you get more orders without spending more on ads.

Decide what counts before you measure:

  • Online shop: a completed order. For cash-on-delivery shops, a confirmed order is a more honest measure than a submitted one.
  • Service page: a form sent, a call made, or a WhatsApp chat started.
  • Steps along the way: adding to cart, starting checkout, tapping the phone number. These smaller actions show where people give up.

Find where visitors drop off

Before changing anything, look at the path. For a shop it is usually: landing page, product page, cart, checkout, confirmation. For a service: landing page, service details, contact form or call.

Ways to find the leak:

  • Analytics: a tool such as Google Analytics shows how many people reach each step.
  • Session recordings and heatmaps: several tools show where people scroll, tap and stop.
  • Your own phone: try ordering on an ordinary phone using mobile data. Many problems become obvious within minutes.
  • Ask people: "Was anything confusing when you ordered?" Also ask those who messaged you but did not buy.

Common fixes for online shops

  • Show the full cost early, including the delivery charge inside and outside your city. Surprise charges at checkout are a classic reason people leave.
  • Make payment options visible: cash on delivery, bKash, Nagad or card, near the order button.
  • Shorten checkout. Ask only for what you need to deliver. Every extra field is another reason to stop.
  • Use real photos and clear sizes: several angles, a size chart, and the fabric or material.
  • Show trust signals: a physical address, a phone number, an exchange and return policy, and genuine reviews.
  • Load fast on mobile data: heavy images and too many plugins slow pages down, and slow pages lose buyers.
  • Add a visible WhatsApp or call button for people who prefer to ask before they buy.

Common fixes for service pages

  • Say who the service is for and what problem it solves in the first lines, rather than a slogan.
  • Give one clear next step, such as "Book a site visit" or "Ask for a quote", and repeat it after each section.
  • Keep forms short, with only the essential fields and a note saying when you will reply.
  • Show proof you can stand behind: qualifications, photos of real work, and an explanation of your process.
  • Answer the doubts: price guidance, timelines, areas you serve, and what happens after someone enquires.
  • Use Bangla, English or both, matching how your customers search and read.

Testing when you have little traffic

Large websites run A/B tests, showing two versions of a page to different visitors and comparing the results. Small sites usually do not have enough visitors for a reliable test, so a simpler method works better:

  1. Pick one problem from your drop-off review.
  2. Make one change that addresses it.
  3. Compare a few weeks before and after, and note anything else that changed, such as a big ad campaign or a festival.
  4. Keep the change if it helped; undo it if it did not.

Changing many things at once tells you nothing about which change mattered. And remember that more conversions are only good if they are real: a page that brings many cash-on-delivery orders that are later refused has not improved.

Where to start this week

  • Write down the one conversion each important page should produce.
  • Order from your own site on a phone using mobile data, and note every annoyance.
  • Fix the three most obvious problems first, such as hidden costs, slow loading or a long form.
  • Check that your ads send people to a page built for that ad, not to your home page.

Related fixes: a focused landing page for ads, a faster website on mobile data, and contact forms that work. If you would like an outside review of your pages, get in touch.

Related service Social media and ads management Facebook page management, Meta Ads and Google Ads, with tracking so you can see what every taka brings back.