Conversion Rate Optimisation
Most agencies optimise the website. We look at what's upstream of it: the product clarity, the pricing communication, the brand story. Then we fix the right thing.
Conversion rate optimisation has changed. The era of button-colour tests and checkout countdown timers is over. The brands growing consistently are the ones who treat CRO as a discipline that runs deeper than UX, into how their offer is built, how their brand communicates trust, and whether the right customers are finding the right experience.
At Eastside, we've been building and optimising Shopify stores for over a decade. What that time teaches you is that a low conversion rate is almost always a symptom of something else. It might be a UX problem. More often it's pricing, product positioning, or a lack of brand trust. Knowing which one before you run a single test is what separates a programme that delivers from one that just keeps itself busy.
What is Conversion Rate Optimisation?
CRO is the practice of understanding why visitors leave without buying, and systematically removing the reasons they do. For Shopify merchants, that means looking honestly at the whole purchase journey and asking where good intent falls apart before checkout.
It is also one of the few levers in ecommerce that gets more valuable over time. Unlike a budget increase that generates traffic only while the spend runs, CRO improvements keep generating returns from every visitor that follows. The longer the programme runs, the better the return on it.
Our Approach
Over 500 Shopify stores built and optimised across fashion, beauty, homeware, food and drink, luxury and subscription. We've seen nearly every conversion problem this platform produces.
As a Platinum Shopify Partner, our CRO work sits on the same foundation as our development work. When a test needs a custom build, we do it in-house.
If your biggest conversion barrier is your product photography, your pricing structure, or the clarity of your brand proposition, you'll hear that from us. Uncomfortable truths early are worth more than a programme that moves your conversion rate a fraction of a percent while the real problem stays untouched. Every recommendation is grounded in your data, your customers, and where your brand sits in its market.
The goal is customers who convert because they feel confident and well-served. Those are the ones who come back.
What Kind of Results Can CRO Generate?
Here's what the work looks like when it lands.
A structured programme of testing and funnel improvements delivered a 48% increase in conversion rate and 58% growth in revenue within a year. For another client, changes to subscription presentation alone drove a 100% increase in subscriptions within the first eight weeks.
Those are outcomes, not projections. They come from identifying the right problem, then testing the right solution.
"Working with Eastside Co was an absolute game-changer for my business. They dove deep into my website, leaving no stone unturned. Their attention to detail was beyond impressive and their recommendations were spot-on." Marnie Madras, CEO and Founder, Rumbly
Our Process
1 Discovery and Audit
Before we form a single hypothesis, we understand your store fully. Analytics, session recordings, heatmaps and funnel data, alongside how your product is presented, how your pricing is communicated, and whether your brand gives a new visitor any reason to trust you. Everything gets mapped and prioritised by revenue impact.
We also look at whether your brand speaks to the motivations of your customers, not just their demographics. A store that reflects how your customer sees themselves converts at a different level to one that doesn't.
2 Research and Hypothesis
Findings become hypotheses, and every hypothesis follows the same structure: if we change X, we expect Y, because of Z. We use an ICE framework to sequence the roadmap — impact, confidence, effort — so the work that matters most gets done first.
Next we...
3 Design, Build and Test
Our design and development team builds test variants directly in your Shopify theme. Sample sizes are calculated before launch and tests run until they reach statistical significance. You have full visibility on performance throughout.
4 Analyse, Implement and Iterate
Winning variants go live. Losing ones get documented alongside what they tell us about the next test. Both outcomes move the programme forward. The stores that grow consistently are the ones that treat CRO as an ongoing discipline, not a one-off project.
Our CRO Services
CRO Audit and Recommendations
A thorough review of your store, your customer journey, and the upstream factors most audits never reach. You get a prioritised roadmap of what is holding your conversion rate back, what it is likely costing you, and what to address first. A standalone piece of work with clear, actionable next steps.
CRO Retainer
For brands ready to move beyond the audit into sustained improvement. We run a structured test-and-learn programme month on month, handling both strategy and implementation, with regular reporting on results, learnings and what comes next.