The challenge
RSPB Shop wanted to improve ecommerce conversion, but the commercial standard for the programme was equally clear: the work had to prove its value.
For a charity retail operation, that matters. Investment in optimisation has to produce a measurable return and ultimately support the wider mission the shop helps fund.
The challenge was therefore not simply to find isolated improvements across the site. RSPB needed a structured way to identify where the largest opportunities sat, prioritise them against commercial impact, and build a programme that could show which changes were genuinely creating value.
Our solution
We started with a deep review of analytics, conversion paths and user feedback. That work generated more than 70 actionable insights across the customer journey.
The volume of insight was useful, but it also created a prioritisation problem. Not every opportunity could be tested at once, and not every idea carried the same commercial value. We ranked the findings by likely impact and built them into a structured six-month testing roadmap.
That gave the programme a clear sequence and allowed evidence to accumulate over time. Each test sat within a wider view of the customer journey, with decisions informed by analytics, observed behaviour and the relative size of the opportunity.
The test that eventually produced the largest revenue impact came from that broader roadmap. Its value had already been identified through the initial analysis and prioritisation process, giving the team a stronger basis for deciding where to focus effort before the experiment was launched.
The programme therefore connected research, prioritisation and testing into one continuous process, with each stage narrowing the focus towards the opportunities most likely to improve commercial performance.
The outcome
The programme delivered a 1,000% return on investment and increased conversion rate by 5.6%. One test alone generated £1.2m in incremental revenue.
RSPB Shop came out of the programme with clear evidence that conversion optimisation could produce material commercial value, supported by a roadmap grounded in customer behaviour and site performance.
The work also gave the team a more disciplined way to decide what to test next. More than 70 opportunities had been assessed, prioritised and turned into a programme that could focus effort where the potential return was highest.
That created a stronger optimisation model overall: measurable ROI, higher conversion, substantial incremental revenue and a clearer basis for future experimentation. The £1.2m result was the headline, but the programme behind it was equally important. The value came from identifying where the biggest opportunities were, then testing them in the right order.
