Hiring a CRO consultant
A CRO consultant finds out why your visitors leave without buying or getting in touch, then directs the fixes that win them back. For an expert view today, Convertica's free audit gives every finding, and its team can build every fix: $497 for one page or $1,997 for your whole site. Rated 4.7 on Trustpilot from 82 reviews.
Turn visitors and AI agents into customers. More than 2,000 clients since 2017.
A CRO consultant is a conversion rate optimization specialist who works out why a website's visitors are not buying, signing up or getting in touch, and directs the changes and tests that fix it. Unlike a CRO agency, a CRO consultant usually does not design or code the changes. They decide what should change and why, and your team builds it.
You will see the same role called a conversion rate optimization consultant, a conversion optimization consultant or, in British spelling, a conversion rate optimisation consultant. Firms that sell the work call it CRO consulting services or a CRO consultancy.
CRO also stands for contract research organization in medicine, and for Chief Revenue Officer in sales, which is why some results for "CRO consultant" are about clinical trials. This page is about conversion rate optimization.
A CRO consultant, a CRO expert and a CRO specialist do the same work: finding why visitors do not convert and fixing it. "Consultant" usually means someone who advises several companies from outside, "specialist" is the usual job title for an employee or a freelancer, and "expert" is how either one describes themselves.
So when you search for conversion rate optimization experts, judge the person by their process and their evidence, not by the title. If you are hiring someone onto your team, the CRO specialist guide covers the day-to-day role, the skills to look for and how an in-house hire, a freelancer and a consultant compare.
A CRO consultant turns your analytics and your visitors' behavior into a short, ranked list of changes, then makes sure each change is tested or shipped properly.
What a CRO consultant usually does not do: design and code your pages (that is agency work, priced that way), run your ads, SEO or email, or guarantee a lift. Anyone who promises a fixed percentage before seeing your data is guessing.
CRO consulting services usually produce six things: a tracking check, an audit of findings, a ranked backlog, briefs for each change, a review of every test before launch, and a written read of each result. Scope varies by consultant, so ask to see an example of each before you sign.
| Deliverable | What it is | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking check | Confirms that conversions in analytics match real orders, sign-ups or leads | Every gap is named, with how much it distorts the numbers |
| Audit findings | Where visitors drop off and why | Each finding cites its evidence: a report, a recording, a survey answer |
| Ranked backlog | Every fix and test idea in one ordered list | The ranking method is written down, so you can argue with it |
| Change and test briefs | What to build, for which pages, and why | A developer can build from it without a meeting |
| Test setup review | A check of each test before it goes live | Hypothesis, primary metric, sample size and stop date agreed in advance |
| Results read | What each test showed and what happens next | Losses and inconclusive tests are reported as plainly as wins |
A free CRO audit covers the first two rows. Ongoing consulting covers the rest, because test review and reading results only happen once tests are running.
Results
Three Convertica case studies, each figure with its metric, timeframe and source. Ask any consultant you are considering for results shown the same way.
Lead generation
+51.6%
Conversions (valuation tool submissions), 47 days
Source: Empire Flippers, valuation tool submissions, 47 days, split-URL test then rollout
Read the case study: Empire Flippers: a valuation tool submission process rebuilt
Membership eCommerce
+49.4%
Paid membership sign-ups, 17-day A/B test
Source: dScryb, paid membership sign-ups, 17-day A/B test, 98% confidence
Read the case study: dScryb: more paid membership sign-ups from search results
eCommerce
+252.9%
Rate of order completion on mobile, 20-day A/B test
Source: Online store, landing page A/B test, mobile, 98% confidence
Read the case study: Sticky CTA: a call to action that stays on screen
Hire a CRO consultant when you have steady traffic, someone who can build changes, and no clear answer to why more visitors do not convert. You probably need one if several of these are true.
If the last one is you, start with an audit before the redesign, not after. Convertica's website redesign services work in that order: every page is audited first, then Convertica's team builds the fixes.
A CRO consultant gives you direction, an agency gives you direction and a team that builds, an in-house specialist gives you one full-time person, and a fractional CRO consultant gives you senior direction part-time on an ongoing basis. Be honest about which one you are missing: direction, people, or both.
| CRO consultant | CRO agency | In-house specialist | Fractional CRO consultant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Senior direction, a roadmap and review of results | A team that plans, designs, builds and runs tests | A full-time person on your team | A senior specialist for part of each month, ongoing |
| Who builds changes | Your team | The agency | Your team | Your team |
| Speed to start | Usually fast | Longer, for onboarding | Slowest, including hiring | Usually fast |
| Commitment | A project or ongoing | Usually several months | Permanent | Ongoing, flexible |
| How it is paid | Hourly, per project or retainer | Project fees or a retainer | A salary | A retainer |
| Works best when | You have people who can build and need direction | You have budget and no capacity | Testing is constant and central to the business | You want senior oversight without a full-time hire |
| Main risk | Advice that nobody implements | Paying for capacity you do not use | One person with no senior peer to check their thinking | Too few hours if your team needs daily help |
The most common mistake is hiring an agency when the real gap is direction, or hiring a consultant when nobody is available to build what they recommend. Convertica's CRO services page sets out what Convertica sells, including the rebuilds for teams with nobody to build. If you run an agency and want to offer CRO to your own clients, see white label CRO.
A fractional CRO consultant is a senior conversion specialist who works with your team part-time on an ongoing basis, instead of as a full-time hire. In practice, fractional CRO in this sense is the same thing as a CRO consulting retainer.
Most searches for "fractional CRO" are about something else: a part-time Chief Revenue Officer, who runs sales and revenue strategy. That is a sales leadership hire. If a provider offers "fractional CRO", check which one they mean before you book a call.
To choose a CRO consultant, look at real work, ask how they handle tracking, testing and losing tests, and confirm who will do the work. Ask these eight questions on the first call; the answers sort the good from the rest.
Good CRO consulting keeps one ranked list of what to work on, checks every test before launch, and reads results honestly, including the losses. Most wasted CRO budgets fail at one of these three, not for want of ideas.
How fast this moves depends on your traffic, and a consultant should say so at the start. The prioritization section of the CRO audit guide shows simple ways to rank the list.
Most failed tests were decided before launch. A good consultant checks every line of this list.
An inconclusive test is a result: the change did not matter much, which frees the team to try something bigger. Good consulting also reports more than one number. In Convertica's dScryb case study, paid membership sign-ups rose 49.4% and revenue per visitor rose 23.8% in the same 17-day test. Both are true, and the decision depends on which one the business needs. Over a few months, your team should get better at spotting a weak test on its own.
A CRO consultant's cost depends on how they charge, how experienced they are and how much of the work they cover. They charge in one of three ways.
| Model | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly | You pay for time used | Short questions and second opinions |
| Per project | A fixed fee for a defined piece of work, such as an audit | Getting a clear answer to "what should we fix" |
| Retainer | A fixed fee for ongoing direction | Teams running tests continuously |
Many consultants do not publish their rates, so compare what each quote includes: whether test setup review and results analysis are part of it, who does the work, and how often you can reach them. A badly set up test wastes weeks of traffic whatever the fee. Convertica's standard prices are public: the CRO audit is free, a one page rebuild costs $497 and a full site rebuild $1,997. A retainer on a bespoke campaign is quoted one by one.
Convertica
Convertica's standard offers are three things at fixed prices: a free CRO audit and two rebuilds in which its team builds every fix the audit found. Ongoing consulting or a retainer is available on some bespoke campaigns, quoted one by one as a bespoke proposal.
1 of 3
Free
See every issue costing your page customers, and why it matters.
No card and no call. The fixes come with both rebuilds.
2 of 3
$497 USD
Every issue your audit found on this page, fixed and live on your site.
Paid by card through Stripe Checkout.
3 of 3
$1,997 USD
Every page on your site audited, and every issue fixed and live.
Four one page rebuilds would cost $1,988. This covers every page, with no page limit.
Paid by card through Stripe Checkout.
Both rebuilds include
Full refund before work starts, or if it is not finished within 7 days. Terms of service.
Not sure which step fits your site? Talk it through with Kurt Philip, Convertica's founder.
Book a one-on-one call with Kurt Philip (opens in a new tab)For some bespoke campaigns, Convertica takes on that ongoing work itself: ask for a bespoke proposal.
From audit to every fix live
Run the free audit, see every issue, and have Convertica's team fix them all. The audit app runs the rest: setup, your order, approvals and a new score at the end.
Enter your website and watch the audit check your page for people and for AI agents. Your free report shows your score and every issue it found, and why it matters.
Your report ends with the number of issues found and a choice: fix this page or your whole site. One page costs $497 and the whole site $1,997, both paid through Stripe Checkout.
Five short steps: what the page is for and who approves changes, access to your site by invite (never a password), anything off limits, how changes are approved, then sign your order.
Convertica's team builds every fix the audit found, on your site, whatever platform it runs on. Your job page shows each fix, and changes to your words or offers wait for your OK.
When every fix is live and checked, the page is audited again and you get the before and after scores by email.
Most rebuilds take a couple of days, 7 days at most from the day we have access to your site.
More product research now starts in an AI assistant, and some assistants browse and act for a person. Ask a conversion optimization consultant whether they check that those agents can read your prices, stock and policies without running scripts, and that your robots rules do not block the AI crawlers you want. Agent readiness is one of the eight checks in Convertica's free CRO audit, and the agent readiness checklist lists what to look at. This is a young field with little long-term data, and we say so.
Proof
Kurt Philip founded Convertica in 2017. He has worked in SEO since the early 2000s and has appeared on the Authority Hacker podcast (#124). More than 2,000 clients since 2017, across eCommerce, lead generation, SaaS, affiliate sites and agencies. More on the founder page.
From Convertica's Trustpilot reviews, word for word. Most describe Convertica's earlier done-for-you testing service. More on the testimonials page.
Perhaps the best CRO company in the biz.
Scientific approach, testing is methodical, and changes are pragmatically made, based on reliable data.
Process is also very quick, only takes a few months in order to ramp up conversion rates and make better use out of existing traffic.
Kurt made it easy to understand what I was getting involved in, and Ayumi was very professional in handling the campaign thereafter.
I've worked with Kurt and the team at Convertica for a couple of years now, across various projects.
I can sum them up in just one word.
Exceptional!
These guys have the CRO process down. Fast, responsive, knowledgable, and the results are, quite frankly, unbelievable.
I've also learned a TON about CRO since working with the team and can wholeheartedly recommend them without even a second thought.
If you need help increasing conversions for your site, or landing pages, then Convertica are the best of the best. Highly recommended.
A CRO consultant is a conversion rate optimization specialist who finds out why a website's visitors do not buy, sign up or get in touch, and directs the fixes and tests that address it. Hire one when you have steady traffic and someone to build changes, and judge them by real work and how they handle losing tests.
A CRO consultant finds why website visitors are not converting and directs the fixes and tests that address it. They check the tracking, audit the site, rank what to change, review each test before launch and read the results. They usually advise and plan, and your team builds the changes.
In marketing, CRO stands for conversion rate optimization: improving the share of visitors who buy, sign up or get in touch. The same letters also mean contract research organization in medicine and Chief Revenue Officer in sales, which is why some search results for CRO consultant are about clinical trials.
A CRO consultant works on conversion rate optimization: getting more of a website's visitors to buy, sign up or get in touch. CRM, customer relationship management, is the practice and software for managing leads and customers after they convert, such as contact records and sales pipelines. A CRO consultant improves the site; a CRM consultant sets up the system behind it.
It depends on the model: hourly, per project or an ongoing retainer, and rates vary with experience and scope. Many consultants do not publish their rates, so compare what each quote includes. Convertica's standard offers have fixed prices, listed on the pricing page; a retainer on a bespoke campaign is quoted one by one.
Hire a consultant if you have people who can build changes and you need direction. Hire an agency if you need the whole team supplied. If you need to know what to fix on a page and want it built for a fixed price, Convertica's free CRO audit and its rebuilds are a third route.
On some bespoke campaigns, quoted one by one as a bespoke proposal. Its standard offers are a free CRO audit, a one page rebuild and a full site rebuild of the whole site. In a rebuild, Convertica's team builds every fix the audit found.
It depends on traffic. Clear fixes can show up quickly. A/B test results take longer, because each test has to reach the sample size set before it started, and lower-traffic sites need longer per test.
Usually an analytics tool such as Google Analytics 4, a heatmap and session recording tool, an A/B testing tool, a form analytics tool and a survey tool. Past Convertica case studies used VWO for testing and Formisimo for form analytics.
A CRO expert is someone who improves the share of a website's visitors who buy, sign up or get in touch. It is the same work as a CRO consultant or a CRO specialist: consultant usually means someone advising several companies, specialist is the common job title, and expert is how either describes themselves.
Fractional CRO usually means a part-time Chief Revenue Officer, a sales leadership role. In conversion work, a fractional CRO consultant is a senior conversion specialist who works with you part-time on an ongoing basis, which is the same as a CRO consulting retainer.
Question not answered here? Ask Kurt Philip, Convertica's founder, on a one-on-one call.
Book a one-on-one call with Kurt Philip (opens in a new tab)
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