What is a CRO / Experimentation Agency?

A conversion rate optimization (CRO) agency increases conversion rates with UX Research, psychology, design/UX and A/B-testing. 

A few years back we, as a business, decided that we do more than conversion rate optimization and decided to try and name our process ‘experimentation’. Because it's about learning or improving the visitor's journey. And sometimes you might not be increasing anything, but your goal can be to reduce customer service engagements too (calls or chats) to lower costs.  

What does a CRO / Experimentation agency do?

• UX Research (like a holistic CRO Audit or one UX research method at a time)
• A/B-testing and experimentation
• Finding opportunnities for growth

Additionally they might: develop the A/B tests, design tests or wireframes for you, redesign, do development qa, check your analytics setup, teach you how to prioritize opportunities for growth and grow the Culture of Experimentation (evidence-based optimization) within your organization. 

Every agency has a different team structure. This CRO / Experimentation team structure is our favorite. 

How to pick the best CRO / Experimentation agency?

1. They can't promise you results, but try to be as concrete as possible. They will be able to tell you how many tests you'll be able to run per year and calculate the ROI during your engagement.
2. They show you the ‘kitchen side' of their projects and you get excited. 
3. CRO or Experimentation is a process where a lot of people need to work together. Choose an agency or team that fits your organization. Invite a few, see if you have a click. 
4. Ask about the usual length of their engagements. Good CRO agencies will maintain good relationships with their clients and most experimentation engagements are profitable (ROI wise) after about 3 months. 

Watch out for agencies that promise you > 20% uplifts. Big uplifts are hard to find and experienced CRO and Experimentation agency will manage your expectations correctly. Conversion Rate Optimization is not magic. The bigger the promises, the more on guard you should be.