Enhancing your CRO Strategy with Experimentation

Conversion rates are falling, and Experimentation is the answer. Learn how optimising the full customer journey can drive engagement, loyalty, and revenue.

Why Experimentation is the future of CRO 

What’s the difference between CRO and Experimentation?

At Hookflash, we take an Experimentation approach rather than traditional CRO. While both strategies leverage testing to improve performance, Experimentation broadens the scope beyond just conversions, optimising the entire customer experience for long-term impact.

CRO vs Experimentation at a glance:

By broadening the scope, Experimentation not only improves conversions but also strengthens brand loyalty and retention, creating a more sustainable long-term strategy.

How Experimentation Creates a more impactful strategy

1.    Learning Beyond Conversion rate

Experimentation places value on a diverse set of metrics, rather than just focusing on conversion uplift. By understanding how different touchpoints impact user behaviour, brands can make informed decisions that lead to long term growth.

For example, when A/B testing CTA copy if the variation improves conversions, a CRO approach might just look to roll it out sitewide. On the other hand, an Experimentation approach would go further:

• Identifying which channels the copy resonated with most
• Integrating these insights into marketing campaigns and other user acquisition strategies
• Using findings to test additional improvements, iterating different variations that incorporate the copy in different places in the journey

This iterative holistic process of Experimentation, ensures deeper more impactful changes rather than just surface level optimisations.

2.    Enhancing the entire customer journey 

Consider pop-ups on eCommerce sites - a classic tool to drive sign-ups or direct users to key pages. A CRO approach might measure success by how many users sign up after seeing the pop-up.

An Experimentation approach, however, would take a more nuanced view:

• Identifying optimal timing for pop-up triggers (e.g., after a specific engagement threshold).
• Measuring deeper impact of the pop-up, looking at metrics like exit rates, pages viewed per session, and returning user rates.

Here Experimentation clearly drives understanding that helps brands determine a pop-up’s real value- not just in boosting sign-ups but in creating a better user experience overall.

3.    Scaling insights beyond a single test

Experimentation doesn't just optimise individual elements; it generates valuable insights that can inform other strategies.

For example:

• We tested copy change in the checkout that revealed that customers prefer a more personalised tone. This insight could then shape email campaigns, landing pages, and other messaging within the user journey.
• We tested the layout of navigation menu and got insight into the pages users were most interested in navigating to. The indication of what content users most engaged with that can feed into what content is included in other touchpoints.

With Experimentation, the learnings from one test don’t exist in isolation, they continuously enhance multiple areas of the business and drive understanding of the needs and wants of customers.

Why Experimentation is the answer to Today’s Digital Challenges

Contentsquare’s 2025 Benchmark Report revealed that while conversion rates fell by 6.1%, brands that encouraged deeper exploration and longer sessions saw a 5.4% boost in conversions (Contentsquare, 2025).

This highlights a crucial shift: brands must move beyond tactical conversion-focused optimisations and prioritise the overall experience to keep users engaged.

Experimentation naturally aligns with this trend by:

• Optimising beyond the conversion funnel, creating a seamless, enjoyable experience.
• Encouraging engagement and interaction, leading to stronger customer relationships.
• Leveraging learning as a competitive advantage, allowing brands to adapt and innovate continuously to keep up with the needs of their customers.

Whether you’re looking to elevate your CRO strategy or start testing, Experimentation is the key to unlocking deeper customer insights, long-term loyalty, and sustained growth.

By embracing Experimentation, brands can:

• Make more informed, data-driven decisions.
• Improve all stages of the customer journey, with ore than just a conversion focus.
• Gain a deeper understanding of user behavior, leading to bolder, more confident optimisations.

In a world where acquisition costs keep rising and consumer expectations continue to evolve, investing in Experimentation over traditional CRO is the smartest move for long-term success.