Helping you Make the Case for Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO): Why It’s a Game-Changer for Charities & Ethical Businesses

The Reluctance Around CRO

Many organisations dedicate huge time and resources (and ultimately money) into buying traffic for their websites. They invest in marketing, social media, and paid ads hoping more visitors will automatically translate into donations, retail sales or sign-ups. But here’s the problem: traffic alone doesn’t guarantee conversions.

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) is often overlooked, sometimes seen as a luxury rather than a necessity as it can be seen as a bit of a dark art that requires effort - and lets be honest, we are all addicted to quick wins and immediate results!!.

The reality: CRO is one of the most cost-effective and impacting ways to increase revenue and customer engagement without spending a penny more on acquiring new visitors.

So why isn’t CRO a default strategy for every charity and ethical business? Let’s break down the common objections and why investing in CRO should be the game-changer for purpose-driven organisations.

“We Don’t Have Enough Traffic to Worry About CRO”

The Reality: Even small amounts of traffic can benefit from optimisation.

📌 Example: If your website gets 5,000 visitors per month and your donation conversion rate is 1%, you’ll get 50 donations. If CRO improves your conversion rate to just 1.5%, that’s 75 donations - a 50% increase without any additional marketing spend.

✅ CRO isn’t about high traffic; it’s about making the most of the visitors you already have.

“Our Website Is Fine - We Just Need More People to See It”

The Reality: More traffic won’t fix a broken or inefficient website experience.

📌 Example: Imagine an ethical clothing brand spending £10,000 on Facebook ads to drive 100,000 visitors to their website. But if the site is slow, cluttered or difficult to navigate visitors won’t convert. Without CRO, they’re wasting money attracting people who won’t take action.

✅ Traffic and conversions must work together. CRO ensures your website is actually doing its job when visitors arrive.

“CRO Sounds Too Technical & Time-Consuming”

The Reality: CRO is about understanding human behaviour not just data.

Sure, there are heatmaps, A/B tests and analytics but at its core, CRO is about people and UNDERSTANDING them, their needs, their "fact shopping list". It’s about removing friction, improving clarity, and making it as easy as possible for someone to take action and get answers to ALL the questions they may have.

📌 Example: My last organisation increased sales by 80% by just by adding four words. No complex tech - just a better understanding of what visitors needed to feel confident in their decision.

✅ Small, thoughtful changes often make the biggest impact.

 

“We Can’t Afford CRO Right Now”

The Reality: You can’t afford not to do it.

Many CRO improvements are low-cost or free - they just require you or your boss to shift their thinking.

Free CRO Wins:

• Improving page speed (Google PageSpeed Insights)

• Tweaking button colours, wording or placement - not a huge fan of "colours" but it can work in high repeat visitor sites

• Reducing form fields to make sign-ups easier

• Using real testimonials or trust signals near CTAs

• Checking mobile usability and fixing any frustrations

📌 Example: Removing one field from a form can reduce drop out by 1-2% - multiply that by 5 fields and you've increased your conversion by 5-10% - don't capture data customers don't need to give.

✅ CRO pays for itself by increasing revenue from existing visitors.

CRO for Ethical Businesses & Charities: It’s Not Just About Sales

Unlike e-commerce, where CRO is often tied to sales and profit, in the charity and ethical business space, it’s about something deeper: impact!

For Charities: More optimised donation pages = more funds for your mission and cause.

For Ethical Businesses: Better UX = more trust = more conscious consumers choosing your brand.

CRO isn’t just about numbers; it’s about helping people complete the actions that align with their values. Its about connecting with people!

Final Thoughts💡

Making the case for CRO is ultimately about shifting mindsets. Instead of always looking for more traffic, more ads, more exposure charities and ethical businesses need to ask:

Are we making it as easy as possible for people who are already on our site to engage, donate or buy?

Work with Optimise Together

If you’re a charity, non-profit or ethical business looking to improve your digital experience, Optimise Together can help.

✅ Data-driven insights with a people-first approach

✅ Affordable and impactful CRO strategies tailored to your goals

✅ Helping you do more with the audience you already have

Let’s chat! Whether you need a quick audit or full optimization strategy, I’d love to help. Reach out today and let’s start optimising together.