Go Beyond Guesses and Gut Feelings

Haley emphasized that the most successful companies don’t just build a website or product and leave it; they continuously work to improve it.

She defines Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) not as just changing button colors, but as a reliable method and business philosophy for using data to make decisions, rather than relying on gut feelings.

Understand the “What” vs. the “Why”

While analytics data is a crucial foundation for understanding what is happening on your site (e.g., where users drop off), it doesn’t tell you why.

The key to unlocking real momentum is to pair quantitative data (the “what”) with qualitative data (the “why”).

Three Fast Techniques to Uncover the “Why”

Haley shared three low-cost, easy-to-implement techniques anyone can use to gather qualitative feedback:

• Polls: Use a simple desktop exit poll to ask users why they are leaving. This can be set up in minutes using a tool like Hotjar.
• Surveys: Ask more in-depth questions to a targeted audience. You can get results in hours using panels from tools like Listna or, for B2B audiences, Winter. Haley also recommended using AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to help generate effective, non-leading survey questions.
• Interviews: A completely free method to get rich insights. Haley suggests interviewing 5-15 people per segment (e.g., current customers, lost prospects, internal sales team) to uncover valuable information.

Prioritize Your Work with a Framework

Instead of winging it, use a prioritization framework to decide what to work on.

A great starting point is the ICE framework, which scores initiatives based on:

• Impact: How much will this affect our primary metric?
• Confidence: How confident are we that this will work? (Hint: more data = more confidence).
• Effort: How much work will this take to implement?
• For teams looking for a more objective model, Haley mentioned the PXL framework as a more advanced option.

Adopt a Repeatable Framework for Success

Stop jumping from a proposed change straight to implementation.

A more effective workflow is: Research → Insights → Prioritization → Action Plan → Testing → Implementation. This creates a continuous loop of learning and improvement.

Contact Information:

To connect with Haley Carpenter for questions or to learn more about her work:

Email: haley@mychirpy.com
LinkedIn: Haley Carpenter
Website: mychirpy.com