There’s no better feeling than seeing your website and content viewed by thousands of customers eager to read your articles and buy your products or services. 

What’s even better is seeing those visitors converted into leads and sales.

When you have done so much, why let your potential customers drop out just a few centimeters away from the finish line? You need to give them a reason to make a purchase or to share their information in order to avoid losing them. 

If you want to initiate conversion optimization on your website, we have got you covered. In this article, we will provide 29 conversion optimization case studies.

Ready? Let’s explore!

29 Conversion optimization case studies

There is so much conversion testing running on the internet, for every 10 websites you visit, at least three are likely to run a conversion test. Surprised? That’s the power of experimenting, and that’s why conversion optimization is the key to success for an online business. 

If these 29 companies can master their conversion testing, so can you.

Conversion optimization case studies for healthcare

If you’re a marketer looking to optimize your conversion rate, these healthcare case studies can give you inspiration:

1. Using a stronger CTA in your copy for higher click-through

Company name: Humana

What they optimized: Homepage’s banner

Problem statement: Humana wanted to improve the performance of their homepage’s banner as it occupied a significant portion of the website and was the first thing visitors saw on the landing pages. 

Solution: The company approached the banner design like a billboard and made it short and crisp by removing unnecessary text and including a strong call-to-action (CTA), providing a clear and concise message. 

Result: The updated banner received 433% more click-throughs than the old one.

Advice to implement: Ensure your banner is simple and concise, has a clear and directional CTA, provides opportunities for engagement, and helps visitors determine its purpose at first glance.

2. Changing headline messaging for increasing purchases

Company: Vitamin Boat Corp.

What they optimized: Landing page headline

Problem: Vitamin Boat Corp sells natural supplements online. As the company witnessed declining sales, it wanted to increase its online sales. 

Solution: To increase online sales, the landing page headline was modified. Adding the word ‘Supplement’ increased the clarity of their landing page and boosted the supplement’s sales.

Result: Adding just one word increased the conversion rate by 89.97%. 

Advice to implement: The purpose of your landing page headline is not just to sell products or services, it’s to build a connection with your customers. Here, the word ‘supplement’ connected well with the customers.

Conversion optimization case studies for the specialized service industry

Take inspiration from these actionable case studies:

3. Using photos to boost conversions from a community page

Company name: Brookdale Living

What they optimized: Community page

Problem statement: Brookdale Living witnessed poor conversion from their ‘Find a community’ page. The page was boring and lacked testimonials, graphics, and other content.

Solution: The company redesigned its community page by adding testimonials, logos, a unique selling proposition (USP), and relevant content. They even added a photo of an elderly woman.

Result: Using the photo and adding testimonials and USP increased the conversions by 3.92%, and the company witnessed a $100K incremental monthly revenue. 

Advice to implement: Using the right photos on your website increases your conversion rates.

4. Increasing lead form conversions by adding a contact form

Company name: Human Interest

What they optimized: Lead forms

Problem: Human Interest assists small and medium-based businesses (SMBs) in offering high-quality 401(k) plans. The company wanted to solve America’s retirement crisis to create a happy post-retirement life. To achieve this, they wanted to improve conversions on their website.

Solution: Human Interest experimented with its landing page structure by including a contact form above the fold of the landing page. The company ran both the control and the variation version of the landing page.

Solution: The conversion rate of the variation landing page was 3.77%, which was 75.84% more than the conversion of the original landing page.

Advice to implement: Embedding a contact form directly on the landing or campaign page makes it easier for customers to contact the sales team.

Conversion case studies for SaaS business

Learn how to optimize different elements of your business using these case studies:

5. Using the client’s own words grows your conversions by 100%

Company: Groove

What they optimized: Landing page

Problem: Groove offers excellent customer support solutions. Thanks to its product features and an informational blog, the company was witnessing conversion goals as expected. However, athough their blog brought thousands of customers, the conversion rate was only 2.3%. The company wanted to improve this.

Solution: Groove conducted an extensive qualitative study and gathered the information for writing landing pages using its clients’ words.

Result: The conversion rate rose from 2.3% to 4.3%. 

Advice to implement: Talking to your customers and understanding them helps shape your marketing and product strategy. 

6. Using photos of people smiling to increase sign-ups

Company name: Highrise

What they optimized: Landing page and sign-up process

Problem statement: Highrise wanted to improve its sign-ups. Even though they tested a new long-form landing page against their original design, they could only manage an increase of 37%. 

Solution: They provided all necessary information on the landing page in a concise and attractive format and featured a beaming customer to give a warm and inviting look to their lead management platform. This new landing page was far shorter, containing only essential information. 

Result: Using the photo of a smiling person increased the paid subscriptions by a whopping 102%. 

Advice to implement: Using photos of smiling and happy customers positively impact your conversions and sign-up pages. 

7. Increasing trial sign-up using pop-ups

Company: Hotjar

What they optimized: Exit intent pop-ups

Problem: Hotjar wanted to capture leads from users about to leave their website without signing up or purchasing the services. 

Solution: To capture leads, Hotjar cleverly placed an exit intent pop-up on the pricing page for first-time visitors. 

Result: Their innovative idea of capturing first-time customers about to leave their site resulted in 408 new leads in three weeks, generated 60-70 users per month from the pop-up, and converted 3% of those customers into long-term paying customers.

Advice to implement: What Hotjar did is very similar to the classic example of providing free content in exchange for an email address. Here, Hotjar, instead of chasing customers, converted the outgoing traffic into leads. 

8. Implementing interactive demos increases free trial sign-up

Company: Trainual

What they optimized: Sign-up page

Problem: Trainual, a knowledge transfer and training platform, faced challenges explaining their product “business playbook” to customers and why every company needs one. The company aimed to create a light bulb ‘aha’ moment before starting a free trial. 

Solution: The company displayed interactive demos and exposed audiences both to interactive demos and product videos. Trainual let the test run for weeks to see its impact on the number of engaged users and free trial sign-ups.

Result: Trainual saw a steep rise of 450% in free trial sign-ups and a 100% increase in users reaching activated trial status. Even better, Trainual had a 175% increase in customers converting to paid customers.

Advice to implement: Implementing interactive demos and product tours builds customers’ confidence in your offerings. 

9. Using interactive demos to improve user onboarding

Company: MonitorQA

What they optimized: User onboarding process

Problem: monitorQA, a mobile inspection software for building checklists and automating reports, faced customer onboarding problems. While customers were interested in using their free trial, they were hesitant to fully set up their account during it. As a result, they couldn’t realize the full value of the system.

Solution: monitorQA believed adjusting the onboarding flow might retain more free trial users. So, they created an A/B test, where one group of free trial users received the instructions monitorQA already emailed, and the other group received onboarding steps with an interactive demo. 

Result: Users receiving the interactive demo for sign-up were much more likely to follow through with the free trial and complete the setup process. This also reduced the sales cycle as prospective buyers were educated on the product and only asked questions about their issues.

Advice to implement: Removing friction during onboarding encourages customers to sign-up and become long-term paying customers.

10. Using a long page homepage to improve conversion rates

Company: CrazyEgg

What they optimized: Homepage and checkout process

Problem: CrazyEgg wanted to improve its homepage conversion rate, which was declining. Their visitors needed clarification on how the heat maps worked and how CrazyEgg reports would help their business. Some visitors even confused CrazyEgg with overlay reports in Google Analytics. Other customers thought it had fewer features than competitors.

Solution: CrazyEgg optimized its homepage by including a video of its service, explaining the billing process during the checkout process, and highlighting that they offer a 30-day free trial.

Solution: The video alone increased the homepage’s conversion by 64%, and they created a new checkout process that resulted in 116% more sign-ups. 

Advice to implement: This case study shows that even long-form homepages, which require users’ attention, can encourage customers to sign-up or take the desired action.

Conversion optimization case studies for the finance and insurance industry

Here are a few conversion optimization case studies to take inspiration from:

11. Creating a dedicated landing page for improving the pay-per-click campaign

Company: TechInsurance

What they optimized: Landing page

removing

Problem: For a long-time TechInsurance was spending a significant amount on their pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. Their PPC campaigns were sending all traffic to their homepage. They wanted to acquire new customers and improve their return on investment (ROI).

Solution: As TechInsurance was sending traffic to their homepage instead of a dedicated landing page for the PPC campaign, they created a new landing page dedicated solely to their PPC traffic. This landing page had only one call-to-action (CTA). 

Result: The new PPC landing page increased new customer sign-up by 73%. 

Advice to implement: Having a dedicated landing page keeps customers focused on the main CTA and reduces distractions.

12. Using live chats to increase conversions

Company: Intuit

What they optimized: Live chat

Problem: Intuit, the brains behind Quickbooks, found through their research that customers were upgrading only after they learned that the product they bought was failing to meet their requirements and expectations. Speaking to frustrated customers was not in the best interest of Intuit or its customer service. They wanted a solution to put an end to this hassle.

Solution: Through their analysis, Intuit found ‘Product comparison’ and ‘Review your order’ pages had the highest purchase intent. So, the company implemented live chat solutions on these pages for customers to connect with the customer service team, minimizing customer frustration. 

Result: 

• During the checkout process, live chats increased the average order value by 43%
•  The conversion of their lead generation landing pages increased by 190%
• Sales increased by 211%

13. Removing the field from the checkout process increases the conversion

Company name: PayU

What they optimized: Form fields on the checkout page

Problem: PayU is a fin-tech company offering financial solutions for local and cross-border merchants. The company noticed many customers were dropping off their checkout page, negatively impacting revenue and sales. 

Solution: PayU made a minor change in their checkout form. Instead of asking customers for their email addresses and phone numbers before purchasing, they eliminated the email address field. 

Result: Eliminating just one field from the form improved the conversion rate by 5.8%. 

Advice to implement: Use fewer fields in your forms and sign-up pages. Asking only for relevant details encourages customers to fill out those forms. 

Conversion optimization case studies for the eCommerce industry

Explore these mind-blogging case studies for eCommerce businesses. Notice how making a small change to any website element can significantly affect your conversion rates.

14. Removing the navigation menu from websites enhances conversion

Company name: Yuppiechef

What they optimized: Navigation menu

Problem statement: Yuppiechef wanted to increase the sign-up to its Wedding Registry through the landing page.

Solution: The company focussed on designing variations as they assumed that without the navigation bar, the landing page would have fewer distractions. Removing the navigation bar ensured visitors landed on the page they intended to. 

Result: While the conversion rate jumped from 3% to 6%, there was a 100% increase in conversions. 

Advice to implement: Simple is always better. So, eliminate potential distractions from the landing page.

15. Displaying the USP of your product improves the add-to-cart rate

Company: lampenlicht.nl

What they optimized: Add-to-cart-rate

Problem: Lampenlicht.nl, an eCommerce store selling lamps, wanted to improve the add-to-cart rate for their products and increase its revenue per visitor.

Solution: After thorough qualitative and quantitative research, the eCommerce store understood that customers had zero interest in knowing the technical specification of the lamps they were selling. The company added a USP below each product image, starting from the second product image. 

Result: Products with a USP were displayed for 28 days, resulting in a 13% increase in add-to-cart, a 6.58% increase in revenue per visitor, and a 4.96% increase in conversion rate.

Advice: Ensure your eCommerce product pages satisfy curiosity and provide the information that users are unable to decipher from images alone. 

16. Creating a story-driven experience for increasing conversion and annualized ROI

Company: Beckett Simonon

What they optimized: Website’s visuals

Problem: Beckett Simonon is an online company selling handcrafted leather shoes, committed to ethical business standards and sustainability. The company was looking to increase its paid acquisition effectiveness and conversion rates.

Solution: After conducting a 360-degree qualitative and quantitative conversion analysis, the company included sustainable business practice information with every handcrafted shoe they were selling and created messages focused on product quality. 

Result: Web pages with ethical responsibility and sustainability highlighted saw a 5% increase in conversion rates and an annualized return on investment of a whopping 237%.

Advice to implement: Aligning customers with your brand value improves conversion and ROI.

17. Using larger product images to improve revenue

Company: Mall.cz

What they optimized: Product images

Problem: Mall.cz, an eCommerce giant in the Czech Republic, wanted to grow its online sales. 

Solution: The company conducted a test run on the size of their product images and the product’s text description. One variation of the product page they created used large product images with descriptions right below the image. The second variation used much larger product images with product descriptions viewable only on mouseover. 

Result: The second variation of larger product images with descriptions viewable only on mouseover increased sales by 9.46%. 

Advice to implement: The well-known adage, “A picture speaks a thousand words,” works wonders for an eCommerce retailer.

18. Increasing conversions by optimizing the website’s homepage

Company: WallMonkeys

What they optimized: Website's homepage

Problem: WallMonkeys, a custom wall decals and stickers company, wanted to redesign and revamp its homepage to increase clicks and conversions. 

Solution: The original website consisted of a stock-style photo with a simple headline - nothing attractive for visitors to feel encouraged to purchase. The company replaced its stock-style photo with an extensive and clear search engine on the home page. 

Result: The inclusion of the search engine on the homepage improved the conversion rate by 550% during the 30-day testing period.

Advice to implement: Drawing your customers' attention to the middle of the page without cluttering the space can encourage them to take the desired action.

Conversion optimization case studies for the hotel and travel industry

If you work in the hotel and travel industry, take inspiration from the following case studies:

19. Making CTA more visible increases conversion

Company: The Vineyard

What they optimized: CTA

Problem: The Vineyard, a luxury hotel offering luxurious accommodations and serving excellent food and fine wines, wanted to improve their conversion and click-through rates on their booking page. 

Solution: The call-to-action button of the hotel was almost hidden at the end of the page, where visitors and prospective customers could not locate it. So, the hotel made the CTA visible below their banner image. 

Result: The room booking page’s click-through rate (CTR) increased by 32.12%. 

Advice to implement: When placing your CTA, use the F-shaped eye movement pattern to ensure your visitors read the ‘Book Online’ CTA right after they read ‘Stay with Us.’ Also, using the same CTA color as the original webpage design improves conversion and CTR. 

20. Deleting one form field from the registration process increases profit

Company: Expedia

What they optimized: Registration process

Problem: Upon landing on the registration process of Expedia, visitors were confused because they thought that in the ‘Company’ field, they had to use their bank name. Customers then put their bank address in the billing field, resulting in failed transactions. 

Solution: The company created a mockup of their registration form and removed one field. The field they removed was ‘Company Name,’ reducing confusion.

Result: Eliminating just one field increased their site’s profit by $12 million a year. 

Advice to implement: Removing friction during registration is essential to complete registration and order a product. Adding unnecessary fields lengthens the sign-up process, resulting in customers abandoning the registration process.

21. Using proactive live chats to increase conversion rates

Company: Virgin Atlantic

What they optimized: Sign-up page

Problem: The company wanted to encourage online shoppers to chat with their agents instead of sending customer service inquiries using email. 

Solution: The company embedded proactive live chats on its homepage. 

Result: Using live chats increased the conversion rate to 23% for customers who used them to interact with the company. Virgin Atlantic found that customers who chatted were likely to convert at 3.5 times the rate of those who didn’t.

Advice to implement: Use live chats on your website to allow your customers to interact with your customer service. This reduces the load on customer service agents.

Conversion optimization case studies for NGO

If you’re a non-governmental organization (NGO), take inspiration from the following case studies:

22. Showing previews increases newsletter conversion rate by 83%

Company: World Wildlife Federation (WWF)

What they optimized: Newsletter's sign-up form

Problem: The WWF wanted to build its subscriber base by increasing the number of monthly subscribers. 

Solution: Instead of using traditional marketing methods for increasing monthly subscribers, WWF made a small change on their newsletter's sign-up form. They inserted a screenshot of their email newsletter and gave visitors an idea of what they could expect from the newsletter before entering their personal information. Another exciting tweak was shifting the CTA from the middle of the page to the left to align with the reader's visual reading path.

Result: Their new version boosted sign-ups by 83%.

Advice to implement: When attracting customers' attention, show, don't just tell. Try giving users a preview of what they expect after acting.

23. Ensuring more completed donations with a multi-step donation form

Company name: Disability Rights New York (DRNY)

What they optimized: Donation form

Problem: DRNY, a non-profit organization, provides free legal services and resources to people with disabilities. The company wanted to increase the amount of donations it received.

Solution: DRNY updated its single sign-up page to a multi-step donation form. The new form divided the donation process into four steps: contact, amount, payment, and review. This updated version had a modern look.

Result: Compared to the traditional sign-up form, donors loved the multi-step form, resulting in more completed donations. 

Advice to implement: Ensure your donation pages are simple. Overwhelming users with too many fields and steps may not lead to the completion of a donation. Sometimes, even a single-page form with multiple questions can frustrate your donors.

Conversion optimization case studies for the gaming industry

If you’re a gaming company, take inspiration from the following case studies to increase your conversion rates:

24. Simplifying the buying process increases lead generation

Company: Ubisoft

What they optimized: ‘Buy Now' page

Problem: Ubisoft wanted to increase its lead generation and conversions on the ‘Buy Now’ page. This page was critical in improving the user experience.

Solution: Ubisoft made essential changes on their ‘Buy Now’ page. Previously, customers had to select the game edition they wanted, followed by the version. They had to scroll down the page to make a selection. Ubisoft revamped its page by removing the scrolling and including an edition comparison. Even the section to choose was moved to the top left column. 

Result: The lead generation of the redesigned page increased by 12% and reached 50% from 38%. 

Advice to implement: Reducing unnecessary elements and simplifying the buying process encourages customers to take the desired action.

25. Optimizing high-potential pages to increase purchases

Company: RuneScape

What they optimized: High-potential pages

Problem: RuneScape, a multiplayer online role-playing game, wanted to grow its revenue by increasing the number of purchases.

Solution: RuneScape decided to optimize its high-potential pages. One of those pages was the ‘Treasure Hunter’ page on the website. The page allowed users to buy keys for unlocking treasure chests in the game. On clicking the ‘Continue’ button, users reached the payment page where they could choose treasure chest packages. RuneScape created a variation of the ‘Treasure Hunter’ page which included information about treasure chest packages.

Result: The variation increased the purchase by 10% in one month.

Advice to implement: Identify your high-potential pages and plan your optimization around them.

26. Improving value proposition encourages visitors to register for games

Company: Sims 3

What they optimized: Landing page

Problem: Sims 3, an online computer game franchise, wanted to increase conversion rate optimization. Due to the flexible nature of the platform, customers were finding it difficult to understand the benefits of registrations and joining the community for players.

Solution: To improve the effectiveness of its conversion funnel, the company made changes to its value proposition in order to encourage visitors to register.

Result: The change in their landing page increased the registration by 128%.

Advice to implement: If you offer a free product or trial, highlight it instead of hiding it. Let your customers know about your free trial, as it offers something extra. 

Conversion optimization case studies for the retail industry

Learn from these conversion optimization case studies from the retail industry:

27. Boosting conversions by increasing inquiry form submission

Company: Majestic Wines

What they optimized: Inquiry form

Problem: Majestic Wines, a well-known retailer in the UK, wanted to attract clients outside the UK market. The company wanted to improve conversions by increasing inquiry form submissions. 

Solution: As Majestic Wines saw great potential in the wedding service page, they conducted research and redesigned it by reducing the number of outbound links on their website. They clearly articulated their USP and included a video explaining their services.

Result: The revamped versions of their service page witnessed a 201% increase in inquiry form submission. 

Advice to implement: Remove as many distractions as possible from your service or landing page to encourage customers to take the desired action. 

28. Boosting conversion rates by adding product images to an automated dropdown menu

Company name: BrickHouse Security

What they optimized: Automated dropdown menu

Problem: BrickHouse Security, an online retailer, wanted to improve their customer’s search experience on their website. 

Solution: They added product images to their dropdown search menu. When visitors enter a product, a dropdown menu shows products specific to the search terms. 

Result: The company witnessed a 100% conversion lift increase by using product images in the dropdown menu. In addition, 25% of their customers clicked on their new image-based search, resulting in a 15% overall site search conversion rate.

Advice to implement: Adding images makes your website elegant and helps visitors search for the required product.

Conversion optimization case studies for creative industries

Learn from this conversion optimization case studies from the creative industry:

29. Using human photos on landing pages to increase conversion

Company: Medalia Art

What they optimized: Landing pages

Problem: Medalia Art, a Brazilian and Caribbean online art-selling provider, wanted to increase visitor engagement. 

Solution: To increase engagement, the company replaced the paintings with photos of the artists themselves. 

Result: Medalia Art found that photos of the original paintings had a conversion rate of 8.8%. But, after replacing them with the artist's photo, the conversion increased to 17.2%. This is an increase of nearly 95%. 

Advice to implement: This case study clearly shows that while seeing your products is essential, showing people's faces helps humanize the purchase experience, increasing conversion rates.

Conversion optimization - The way ahead

Your website is the centerpiece and backbone of your online business. It’s where new visitors learn about your products and services. 

In a quest to optimize your website, don’t make your website overly optimized as an excess of anything and everything is bad. 

While these case studies do not offer conversion improvement, they give you an overview of what to test. What worked for one brand may not work for the other.

The key here is testing until you find what works for your brand.