Research-First CRO: How Data Leads to Better Marketing Decisions with Haley Carpenter

#282 CRO | Matt is joined by Haley Carpenter, founder of Chirpy, a conversion rate optimization agency. Haley has nearly a decade of CRO experience across agency, SaaS, and eCommerce, and she’s known for helping brands use research and testing to make smarter marketing decisions.

Matt and Haley cover:

• Why CRO isn’t just A/B testing, and how research should guide every optimization effort
• How to approach CRO when you don’t have massive website traffic, including scrappy testing methods and tools
• The role of messaging, value props, and social proof in driving higher conversions (and where B2B often lags behind DTC)

By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of how to approach CRO as a system, not just a set of tests.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro
• (02:18) - – Who is Haley Carpenter
• (03:18) - – What CRO really means
• (06:18) - – Research vs. testing explained
• (10:18) - – Where to start CRO on a website
• (13:18) - – Testing with limited traffic
• (17:18) - – Using data for smarter decisions
• (20:18) - – Building a culture of testing
• (24:18) - – How to report CRO results
• (29:18) - – Scrappy tools: Clarity & Hotjar
• (35:44) - – What B2B can learn from DTC
• (39:44) - – Why messaging matters more than features
• (43:44) - – The power of social proof
• (49:44) - – Common blockers to CRO success
• (51:44) - – A surprising test result (+7% sales)
• (53:44) - – Vanity metrics vs. real business outcomes
• (57:44) - – Closing thoughts

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