Welcome to our Meet the Partner segment. We have recently been catching up with Conversio, one of our strategic partners, to explore more about what they do, the services they offer to clients, and how Webtrends Optimize provide additional features and resources to support this.
In the below article, we interview Paul Wilkins, Co-Founder and Director of Strategy at Conversio.
Can you tell us a bit about what Conversio do/what your goals are as a business?
Reflecting on where it all began, my Co-Founder Andy and I started Conversio with the goal of delivering authentic and data-led conversion rate optimisation services to ecommerce brands without the deceptive tactics or misleading results based more on ego than genuine conversion success. We also wanted to build a truly end-to-end optimisation agency that encompassed data and analytics, UX design and consultancy delivered by CRO experts with an industry background, plugging the resource gaps that challenge many in-house teams.
We have learnt a lot along the way, working with the likes of Monsoon Accessorize, Ocado and Finisterre but our core mission has remained the same and we are extremely proud to be approaching our 10-year anniversary early next year.
What are the core services you offer and what impact do they have?
We offer a range of services including vendor reviews, consultancy workshops and training but our core service has always been about delivering insight-led growth. To achieve this, we like to get involved in the width and breadth of our clients’ experimentation programme to ensure data is robust and reliable, to ideate and build strategic roadmaps based on business objectives, and to provide UX and Dev capability to alleviate the burden on internal teams, with resource often hampering progress.
Over the years, we have found this approach has yielded most success and to prove it, we offer an initial discounted 3- or 6-month proof of concept period which allows us to work closely with our client to demonstrate the value and ROI we will deliver.
What success stories/results can you share with us that you are particularly proud of?
There have been so many over the years, I’ve particularly enjoyed working on projects in the clothing sector where we’ve used optimisation to reduce clothing returns rates. It’s these types of projects that are focused on truly enhancing the customer experience and helping the customer make an informed decision which also drives significant business efficient improvements, not to mention the environmental impact. I also still remember the first ever a/b test we ran as an agency for Whistles, it delivered a 7% improvement in conversion rate and was the first of thousands of tests to follow.
What advice would you give someone who wants to start testing, but doesn’t know where to start?
If you're new to testing, always have a hypothesis and start with small, focused experiments based on clear, measurable goals and always stay focused on solving a customer problem. Rather than testing multiple variables at once, begin with one key element of the page. This approach allows you to isolate what works and build confidence in the testing process without becoming overwhelmed. It’s also important to remember that testing is iterative, and each result should inform your next experiment.
If you had to pick one aspect of working with Webtrends Optimize as a key factor/differentiator, what would it be?
Webtrends Optimize allows us to offer clients a truly flexible, full-stack experimentation and personalisation platform without the usual limitations tied to licensing fees or restricted features. Unlike many competitors, Webtrends Optimize provides unrestricted access to all tools and functionalities from day one, so we can tailor solutions specifically to each client's needs without worrying about costly upgrades. This freedom lets us deliver deeper, more innovative optimisation strategies that drive real, measurable impact for clients.
Who would be your favourite client to work with?
This is a tough one, we review so many brands that are underperforming in terms of conversion. Given the time both Andy and I spent at lastminute.com and our experiences of the travel sector and optimising conversion on booking engines, it would likely be from that sector. So probably one of the big travel tour operators like Thomas Cook, TUI or First Choice where we have deep experience of user behaviour and the fundamentals of what drives user conversion.
What do you hope the next 5-10 years look like for Conversio?
We’re an ambitious bunch, and we’re working on a lot to prepare for the future! Naturally, we are looking at ways in which we can meaningfully incorporate AI into our offering. The potential here is vast. We are also looking at democratising data from web experiences and siloed analytics platforms into useful BI dashboards that empower CRO teams, and we continue to find ways to weave positive impact into our business, using optimisation success metrics as a force for good. All being well, we can continue to grow our client portfolio to work with even more incredible products and brands.
Is there anything else about Conversio you would like to tell people?
We are incredibly proud to have recently certified as a B Corp, reaffirming our commitment to our people, purpose, impact, and transparency. It can be a fairly arduous process to certify but definitely worth it. We hope it helps to serve as a beacon of who we are and what we stand for, and we look forward to working with many B Corps in the future.
Also, we are based at Somerset House which is an incredible venue. We love to meet new people and are always looking to make the most of it so if any readers fancy taking in an event or having a coffee by the river to talk all things optimisation, then please do reach out!
And one for fun: If Conversio had to take part in one team sport in the Olympics, what would it be and why?
Definitely track cycling. We have several budding cyclists on the team, and we love how it combines incredible precision, teamwork, and data-driven strategy to achieve optimal performance. In track cycling, even the smallest adjustments - from bike design to the positioning of each rider - can make a huge difference, and teams rely on mountains of data and experimentation to optimise every detail. The sport’s intense focus on technology and teamwork to shave off fractions of a second is fascinating, and it resonates with everything that we do at Conversio. We’d definitely win... right!?
