CRO audit checklist: 25 checks for a landing page
George Peric · Conversion designer · 4 min readShort answer
A CRO audit is a structured review of a landing page that finds what stops visitors from converting. Check seven areas in order: message match, clarity, trust, form friction, mobile, speed and tracking. Then score each problem by impact and effort, fix the obvious bugs right away, and A/B test the bigger changes.
Key takeaways
- Audit the page the way a visitor meets it: from the ad, on a phone, on a normal connection.
- Check tracking first. If the numbers are wrong, every other finding is a guess.
- Sort findings into fix now (bugs), test (hypotheses) and research more (unclear).
- Prioritize with a simple score such as PIE or ICE, and start with high-traffic pages close to the money.
What is a CRO audit?
A CRO audit is a page-by-page review that lists everything likely to stop visitors from taking the action you want, ranked by how much it is worth fixing. It is not a redesign. The output is a short list: bugs to fix today, hypotheses to A/B test, and questions that need more data.
I run an audit with three things open side by side: the ad that sends traffic, the landing page on a real phone, and the analytics for that page. Most problems show up in the gaps between them.
The 25-point landing page checklist
Go through the groups in order. Mark each check as pass, fail or unsure.
Message match
- The headline repeats the promise of the ad people clicked.
- The key words from the ad appear on the first screen.
- The visual shows the same product, person or offer as the ad.
- The first action is a natural next step after the ad.
Clarity
- A stranger can say what is offered and for whom in five seconds.
- There is one main goal and one main call to action.
- The button says what the visitor gets, not “Submit”.
- Navigation and outbound links don’t pull people away from the goal.
Trust
- Proof (reviews, ratings, logos, numbers) sits near the first action.
- The company behind the page is clear: name, contact, address where relevant.
- Price, terms and what happens next are stated plainly.
- Reassurance (“No obligation”, guarantee, privacy) is next to the button.
Form and friction
- Every field is needed. Optional fields are removed.
- Long or sensitive forms are split into short steps.
- Error messages are clear and appear next to the field.
- Nothing surprising appears late: fees, account creation, extra steps.
Mobile
- The headline and first action fit on the first phone screen.
- Buttons and choices are big enough to tap with a thumb.
- Fields open the right keyboard (number pad for phone and ZIP).
- Pop-ups and chat widgets don’t cover the content or the button.
Speed
- The main content loads fast on a mobile connection (Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less is Google’s “good” mark).
- Hero images are compressed and correctly sized.
- The layout doesn’t jump while loading, so nobody taps the wrong thing.
Tracking
- Every conversion fires once, with the right value, on every device.
- You can see revenue (or lead value) per visitor for this page, not only clicks.
Why should you check tracking first?
Because every other finding depends on numbers you can trust. If the thank-you page fires twice, or mobile conversions don’t fire at all, the page will look better or worse than it is, and any A/B test on it will give a wrong answer. I test the conversion myself on a phone and a desktop before I look at anything else.
How do you prioritize CRO audit findings?
Score each finding on a few simple factors and work from the top. Two common scoring models:
- PIE: Potential (how much it could improve), Importance (how much traffic and money goes through it) and Ease (how hard it is to change). Score each from 1 to 10 and average them.
- ICE: Impact, Confidence (how sure you are, based on data) and Ease. Same idea, with more weight on evidence.
The model matters less than using one consistently. Before scoring, split findings into three buckets:
| Bucket | What goes in it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Fix now | Bugs: broken tracking, broken form on one browser, slow hero image, covered button | Fix without testing. There is nothing to learn from a broken page. |
| Test | Changes with a clear reason that could go either way: headline, first action, form steps | Write a hypothesis, score it, A/B test it. |
| Research more | Hunches without evidence: “people don’t trust the brand”, “the page is too long” | Look at recordings, surveys or drop-off data before designing. |
What should you test first?
Start with the first screen of your highest-spend landing page, because that is where the most paid visitors make their decision. In practice the first tests I run are usually message match on the headline and the first action, then form friction, then trust near the button.
Example
Say your top campaign is a solar ad that asks “How much is your power bill?”, but the landing page opens with “Request a free quote” and a nine-field form. Check 4 fails: the first action is not the next step after the ad. The first test writes itself: keep the headline and image, and make the first screen ask the ad’s question with a few one-tap bill ranges.
Judge every test on revenue per visitor, with lead or order quality as a guardrail. See how to calculate the revenue impact of an A/B test.
FAQ
How long does a CRO audit take?
For a single landing page, a focused audit takes a few hours to a couple of days, depending on how much data and research you include. A full funnel with forms and checkout takes longer.
What tools do I need for a CRO audit?
Your analytics, a real phone, a speed tool such as PageSpeed Insights, and ideally session recordings or heatmaps. The ad that sends traffic to the page is just as important as any tool.
Should I fix everything the audit finds?
Fix bugs right away. Test the changes that could go either way. Gather more data on the hunches. Trying to fix everything at once makes it impossible to know what worked.
What is the difference between PIE and ICE?
Both score ideas on a few factors and rank them. PIE uses potential, importance and ease. ICE uses impact, confidence and ease, so it rewards ideas backed by evidence.
Sources
Conversion designer, CXL certified in Conversion Optimization and Ecommerce Marketing. I design ads, landing pages and funnels and A/B test them.