CRO for mobile: Designing for incremental growth

Many brands assume that once an app is built and launched, the core journeys are effectively fixed, and changing them feels risky or expensive. However, this assumption can actually become more costly in the long run, as it leaves growth and revenue opportunities on the table.

In this edition of “Mobile Done Right”, I’ll be exploring the potential of mobile CRO. I  will explain how CRO is all about recognising the small, deliberate changes, made with intent and backed with evidence, to unlock meaningful, compounding gains. 

The myth of the “finished” app

Apps feel like a more permanent connection to customers than websites. They’re installed, authenticated, and personalised. That permanence can create inertia, and teams worry that any change will confuse users or disrupt hard-won habits.

But in reality, user behaviour isn’t static; customer expectations and needs shift, and friction that once seemed acceptable can quickly become a reason to abandon an app.

CRO challenges the idea that app journeys should not be updated or changed. It treats every interaction from login to onboarding, search to checkout, as something that can be questioned, tested, and improved incrementally. 

Small changes can deliver outsized impact

In mobile, the margin for error is thin and storage space is limited, making performance non-negotiable, which is precisely why CRO can be so effective.

We’ve seen uplifts come from simple interventions including:

• Reworking a login flow to reduce cognitive load

• Streamlining onboarding to reach value faster

• Removing unnecessary checkout steps

• Improving search responsiveness and relevance

• Adjusting button placement to align with natural thumb reach

For one of our ecommerce clients, faster search performance and small layout tweaks drove a 19% uplift in completed orders. The changes involved no new features and no redesign, but focussed on better alignment with how people actually use their phones.

By paying attention to behaviour and being willing to act on what the data is telling you, incredible impact can be achieved.

Why mobile CRO works differently

CRO principles are universal, but mobile amplifies their impact. As I’ve said throughout this series, mobile is intimate, always with us, and often used in moments of distraction, urgency, or habit. Decisions happen fast, and friction is felt instantly and remembered long after.

Because of that, changes often produce clearer signals faster than on desktop. A smoother flow, a faster response, or a clearer call to action can significantly change behaviour within days in some cases.

Meanwhile, poorly considered changes can damage trust just as quickly, which is why effective mobile CRO has to be disciplined and carried out by true mobile experts.

Hypothesis-driven choices over guesswork

Good CRO starts with a hypothesis grounded in insight such as analytics, qualitative research, user feedback, and performance data, allowing you to define what success looks like before an experiment is run.

A/B testing is central to this; it’s about understanding why users behave the way they do, and which levers genuinely move the needle. That requires the right metrics (we’re not talking vanity numbers here) that measure and reflect real value: completed actions; retained users; reduced time to task completion. CRO succeeds or fails by the quality of what you choose to measure.

It’s important to remember, one test alone rarely transforms an app. It often requires dozens of small, cumulative improvements.

Don’t be afraid to design for removal

One of the most effective CRO mindsets is to think about designing for removal over addition. Mobile apps tend to accrete complexity over time. Extra steps, edge-case handling, and legacy decisions may no longer serve users.

CRO asks a simple question repeatedly: Does this need to be here?

Removing friction often delivers more value than adding features. Your customer has to make fewer decisions, fewer taps, and can easily take faster paths to outcome. When design, engineering, and product teams align around that principle, CRO becomes part of how the product evolves and develops. 

Growth, unlocked one touchpoint at a time

CRO is certainly no silver bullet—it won’t compensate for a fundamentally flawed proposition or unreliable technology. But, when the foundations are solid, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to drive growth, especially in mobile.

It respects existing users, compounds over time, and turns insight into action with measurable results.

Mobile, done right, is never finished. It’s relentlessly refined one touchpoint at a time, and that’s where real, sustainable growth comes from.

I’d love to talk to you about how you can better design your product for incremental growth, with proven CRO strategies shaped by true mobile experts. Let’s chat - drop me a line today.