Choosing a CRO agency is more than hiring someone to “run tests.” A great CRO partner will understand your customers, your onsite experience, and your long-term business goals, then build a testing program that balances data, UX, design, and brand.
Before signing on with a CRO partner, ask these essential questions to separate true strategists from surface-level optimizers.
1. What’s your process to identify tests to run?
Why this matters:
Bad CRO partners jump straight into a one-size-fits-all list of “best practices.” A great CRO partner takes the time to understand your business goals and qualitative insights first, then analyzes heatmaps and data to build a testing roadmap aligned with your overall objectives.
Keywords to listen for:
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Discovery phase
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UX research
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Analytics audit
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Heatmaps
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Screen recordings
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Form analysis
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Qualitative insights
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Roadmap development
Red flags:
🚩 “We have a standard list of tests we run for every client.”
🚩 “We’ll start launching tests before we analyze your site.”
🚩 “We don’t need qualitative research. Data tells us everything.”
🚩 “We’ll figure it out as we go.”
2. How do you prioritize what tests to run first?
Why this matters:
A great CRO agency won’t just chase the top item on your priority list. The real goal is to make the most of your monthly testing capacity. If your top three tests all sit on the product page, that might mean starting with one or two PDP tests while also running high-value tests elsewhere on the site. That way, you’re moving through the roadmap and learning as quickly as possible.
Keywords to listen for:
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Prioritization frameworks
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ICE/PXL scoring
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Sitewide velocity
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Resource balancing
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Maximizing monthly testing volume
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Sequencing strategy
Red flags:
🚩 “We run the highest-priority tests first, always.”
🚩 “Your first month will focus entirely on PDP tests.”
🚩 “We only test a few pages of the site.”
🚩 “We prefer a slower, one-test-at-a-time approach.”
3. Do you create a full roadmap or operate test-by-test?
Why this matters:
A solid CRO partner creates a full testing roadmap with a long-term vision, understanding how individual tests work together to achieve your goals, not just checking experiments off one by one.
Red flags:
🚩 “We build tests one at a time.”
🚩 “We don’t create long-term roadmaps.”
🚩 “We use templates.”
🚩 “We’ll just test whatever you want next.”
4. How do you balance CRO wins with brand and visual design consistency?
Why this matters:
A great CRO partner brings together strategic depth and strong design execution, improving UX and CRO without compromising the look, feel, or integrity of your brand.
Red flags:
🚩 “Conversion always wins. Brand can be secondary.”
🚩 “We mostly do wireframes, you handle the visuals.”
🚩 “Design changes aren’t part of our scope.”
🚩 “We’ll test a totally different look, even if it clashes with your brand guidelines.”
5. How long do you run each test for?
Why this matters:
A great CRO agency chases statistical confidence, not speed. Test duration shouldn’t follow a rigid, one-size-fits-all timeline. It depends on factors like traffic volume, the page being tested, seasonality, and your customers’ buying cycle.
At Fuel Made, we typically recommend running most tests on an average site for at least 10–14 days to ensure we’re capturing behavior across different stages of the buying journey.
Red flags:
🚩 “We run all tests for X weeks, no matter what.”
🚩 “We stop tests as soon as we see a lift.”
🚩 “We don’t factor in customer buying cycles.”
🚩 “We just follow the testing tool’s auto-stop feature.”
6. How do you share test results?
Why this matters:
A strong CRO partner doesn’t declare success based on one metric alone. They analyze the full set of impacted metrics and examine performance across devices, user segments, and products.
Look for:
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Full metric breakdown
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Cross-device analysis
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Segment-level insights
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UX observations
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Recommendations for next steps
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Learnings, not just wins
Red flags:
🚩 “We look at CVR and call it a day.”
🚩 “We only report winners.”
🚩 “You’ll get a dashboard — we don’t walk you through it.”
🚩 “We don’t analyze device or user-level performance.”
7. How long is your average client engagement?
Why this matters:
CRO isn’t a two-month fix. A weak agency chases short-term wins, while a great CRO partner takes a long-term approach, focused on helping you achieve broader business goals and continually evolving the roadmap as new insights emerge.
At Fuel Made, most of our CRO retainer partnerships have lasted 3+ years. Some have been with us for a decade.
Red flags:
🚩 “Most clients work with us for a few months.”
🚩 “We focus on quick wins only.”
🚩 “We don’t adjust roadmaps over time.”
8. Do you guarantee results?
Why this matters:
Promising guaranteed lifts is a hallmark of low-quality CRO agencies. A trustworthy partner guarantees a rigorous process, not outcomes.
Look for language like:
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Rigorous testing methodology
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Clear statistical standards
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Transparent reporting
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Focus on learning, not gambling
Red flags:
🚩 “We guarantee every test will win.”
🚩 “We guarantee X% uplift.”
🚩 “If it doesn’t lift, you don’t pay.” (This encourages reckless, short-term testing.)
By asking these critical questions, you’ll quickly uncover which agencies take a thoughtful, data-driven approach to optimization and which ones rely on shortcuts, templates, and surface-level wins. Look for a partner who prioritizes strategy before speed, balances conversion gains with strong UX and design, and continuously evolves the roadmap as new insights emerge.
The right CRO partner will feel like an extension of your team, not just a testing vendor. They’ll bring clarity to your data, uncover meaningful opportunities, and help turn your site into a consistently improving revenue engine.
Ready to work with a CRO partner who checks all the right boxes? Book a call with our conversion optimization experts.
