Featuring Leigh Scott of Zainatain on the Web Design Business Podcast with Josh Hall
When it comes to building an impactful website, most business owners, marketers, and web designers understand the importance of great design and seamless functionality. I recently had the chance to chat with Josh Hall on his Web Design Business Podcast about one of my favorite subjects—Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). We took a deep dive into how CRO can elevate a website from good to a growth engine that delivers long-term, sustainable results.
So, What Is CRO Really About?
If you’re wondering what CRO actually is, it’s pretty simple. It’s all about making your website as frictionless as possible for visitors to achieve their goals—whether that’s buying a product, signing up for a service, or joining your email list. But it’s also about keeping your business goals in mind at the same time. It’s not just throwing up a new button and hoping for the best.
One of the key things I talked about on the podcast is that CRO is not a one-time fix. It’s an ongoing process where you test, gather data, and make small changes to see what works. There’s no magic formula that will give you instant results, but you can take educated guesses based on data and keep improving.
Why Web Designers and Marketers Need CRO
A lot of web designers focus a lot on making a site look good—and don’t get me wrong, that’s important—but a site also needs to convert. One of the mistakes we all make is putting all our energy into the homepage, thinking that’s where all of the magic happens. But the truth is, visitors often come in from other entry points such as blog posts or landing pages, and those pages need to be optimized too. It’s not just about the homepage.
For marketers, CRO is key because it bridges the gap between driving traffic to a website and actually converting that traffic into leads or sales. It’s about tracking where your visitors are coming from—social media, organic search, paid ads—and then making sure your website is set up to turn those visitors into customers.
The Power of a Sales Funnel
When it comes to CRO, one of the things I do is map out a sales funnel for each client. Every business is different, so their sales funnel needs to reflect that. For example, a nonprofit trying to get more donors is going to need a completely different approach than an e-commerce store selling products.
The trick is to work backwards from your main goal. Whether that’s achieved by getting more leads, increasing sales, or growing memberships, you need to map out each step of the funnel and track micro-conversions like email sign-ups, return visits, or even content consumption. This helps you figure out what people need before they’re ready to convert.
Small Tweaks, Big Results
Here’s the thing: you don’t need to (and shouldn’t) overhaul your entire website to get results. Sometimes, small tweaks can make a huge difference. I shared on the podcast how I worked with a client who had this long, underperforming form on their website. Instead of cutting fields, I turned it into a quiz-style form, and we went from 15 submissions a month to 400! Now, not all of those leads were quality, but it shows how creative solutions can move the needle.
What I love about CRO is that you can start small. Test things like button colors, headlines, or images to see how they impact conversions. These incremental changes give you real data without risking major disruptions to your site.
Why CRO is an Ongoing Process
One of the things I talked about with Josh is how CRO is something you need to do continuously. Your business will change, your customers will change, and your website needs to change with them. It’s not a “set it and forget it” strategy. I’m a big believer in ongoing optimization—constantly improving the website to keep it performing at its best.
For web designers, offering CRO as part of a support plan is a huge value-add. You’re not just building or maintaining a site—you’re helping your clients achieve long-term success by driving conversions and improving their bottom line. That’s what we do at Zainatain: we work with businesses to identify areas for improvement and guide them through strategic changes that lead to real results.
Why Work with Us at Zainatain?
At Zainatain, we’re all about finding that perfect balance between creative solutions and data-driven strategies to help businesses, web designers, and marketers get the most out of their websites. Whether you’re looking to grow sales, capture more leads, or improve your site’s user experience, we can help you:
- Optimize your website for conversions by reducing friction in the user journey.
- Test and refine small changes that lead to measurable improvements.
- Track key performance metrics (KPIs) to make data-driven decisions.
- Offer ongoing optimization services to ensure your website evolves with your business.
If you feel like you could be getting more out of your website, let’s chat. Whether you’re a business owner, web designer, or marketer, Zainatain can help you get the results you’re after.
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