“Marketing is about telling good stories. Conversion is about telling a good story to the right people.”
Bryan Eisenberg
I’ve had a complicated relationship with mayonnaise.
For years, I avoided it, convinced it was a mistake in condiment form. Maybe it was a bad childhood experience, or perhaps I’d just inherited some kind of irrational anti-mayo prejudice. But then something happened: I actually tried it as an adult.
Not the careless dollop on a soggy sandwich, but the real deal—mayo used with intention, coaxing flavors out of otherwise ordinary foods. And suddenly, I realized… I kind of liked it. How had I missed this for so long?
Fast forward to last week. I found myself staring at the mayonnaise aisle, trying to make a choice that shouldn’t have been difficult. But as with all the seemingly simple things in life—choosing a bottle of mayo, picking the right streaming service, or deciding which scented candle won’t make your living room smell like a Victorian garden party gone wrong—it’s never that easy.
There were at least 14 different brands staring back at me, each with labels promising “creamy goodness,” “farm-fresh eggs,” and “artisan vinegar” (whatever that means). None of them, however, could tell me which one I actually needed. No story to help me out.
As I shuffled down the aisle, empty-handed, it struck me: this is what bad marketing feels like. The promise of something you want, without the clarity of why it matters to you. Mayo, marketers, and mayonnaise marketers alike should know better.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) exists to fix this very problem—it’s the secret sauce (pun intended) that helps people make decisions without feeling like they’re drowning in a sea of vague, empty promises. For all the data points and fancy tools that we marketers love to throw around, CRO is really about one thing: clarity.
It’s about telling the consumer’s story back to them, but in a way that’s simple, clear, and—most importantly—useful. You’re not just shouting, “Our mayo is the creamiest!” You’re saying, “This mayo will make your BLT taste like a summer afternoon.”
And here’s the real kicker: people appreciate it when you make their lives easier. When you optimize your landing pages, streamline your forms, or just offer them a clear reason to click that big, shiny “buy” button, you’re not manipulating them. You’re giving them the value they came for without all the guesswork.
Now, let’s talk about that clarity a little more, because clarity is the unsung hero of conversion rates. Imagine, for a moment, that you’re standing at the edge of a cliff (not too close, this is a fun exercise, not a stressful one). Across the gap is your dream house, perched on a perfect hill. Between you and that house is a bridge made of see-through glass, and while the bridge is perfectly safe, all you can see is the terrifying drop below. Are you crossing that bridge? Probably not.
That’s what a messy landing page feels like to your customers. They’re at the edge, looking at something they want, but instead of the clear, sturdy message that will take them there, all they see are gaps—things they don’t understand, hurdles they can’t quite leap. So, they back away, hit ‘X,’ and go home.
CRO builds the solid, reassuring bridge that says, “Hey, we’ve thought this through. Come on over, you’re going to love it here.”
It’s about alignment—not just between the marketing team’s goals and the consumer’s needs, but between the entire experience. If your business promises to solve a problem (like, say, not having to eat dry, flavorless sandwiches), your website should make it abundantly clear how you’re going to solve that problem. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Now, let’s take this back to my mayonnaise dilemma. Imagine if one of those bottles had a label that said: “Tired of spreading frustration instead of flavor? This mayo is for people who want to savor their sandwiches, not settle for them.” Boom. Sold. That’s the power of conversion. Not because I got tricked into it, but because someone finally told me a story that made sense to me.
As marketers, we often get caught up in the bells and whistles—the data dashboards, the A/B tests, the trendy lingo. But at its core, CRO is about being a good host. You’re welcoming someone into your digital home, and your job is to make sure they don’t trip over a cluttered living room or get lost on their way to the kitchen.
So, next time you’re optimizing that landing page or tweaking your call to action, remember the consumer on the other end. They’re not just numbers in your conversion spreadsheet—they’re humans, probably tired, maybe a little hungry, and just looking for someone to offer them something clear, valuable, and simple. And if you can do that? You’ve mastered the art of CRO.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally find the mayo I’m looking for.
