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Welcome to this week's issue of Unpacking Meaning. If you received this from a friend and enjoy it, ​subscribe here.

When most people hear "CRO," they think about tweaking button colors, A/B testing headlines, or optimizing form fields—all with the singular goal of bumping up that conversion percentage. But this approach has always felt incomplete to me. It's like focusing on the destination without considering the journey.

That's why at Conversion Alchemy, we're adopting a different approach: Conversion Experience Optimization (CXO).

CXO isn't just about the endpoint—it's about every micro-conversion, every moment of understanding, every point where a prospect unpacks meaning from your messaging. It's putting experience first, conversion second.

Instead of asking "How can we get more people to click this button?" we ask "How can we make sure people truly understand what they're getting before they even consider clicking?"

CRO is what you do when you want to increase clicks. CXO is what you do when you want to create customers who stick around and tell their friends.

I saw this play out recently with a B2B SaaS client who came to us for "copy validation."

They weren’t confident in their messaging, and expected us to rewrite their copy. So we did the research and realized that the words addressed all the right pain points, the value proposition was clear, and the brand voice was spot-on. Yet conversions remained stubbornly low.

That’s when we noticed it wasn't what they were saying, but how prospects were experiencing it.

Through user interviews, usability/message testing and heat mapping, we discovered their prospects were getting overwhelmed by dense paragraphs, missing key information buried in the middle of sections, and struggling to connect related points that were scattered across different sections on a page.

Our solution wasn't rewriting their copy—it was restructuring how it was consumed.

We introduced progressive disclosure techniques, created visual hierarchies that matched their decision-making process, and implemented strategic white space to let key messages breathe. We even resequenced their product tour to match the actual mental journey their prospects took when evaluating solutions.

When you shift from CRO to CXO you're helping prospects truly grasp what you do, who you do it for, how you do it uniquely, and why it matters to them. And you're doing it with the right words in the right places, reducing friction in how they unpack meaning from your message.

It's a big shift in how we approach the entire customer acquisition journey.

In practice, CXO looks like:

• Positioning research that uncovers the exact language your ideal customers use to describe their problems.
• Messaging strategy that aligns your solution with the conversation already happening in your prospect's head.
• Copy that doesn't just persuade—it clarifies, illuminates, and resonates.
• Wireframing that considers not just what information to present, but how it should be experienced to build understanding progressively.

That's why at Conversion Alchemy, we've stopped calling ourselves a conversion copywriting agency or a CRO agency. We're a Messaging and Conversion Experience Optimization agency.

What do you think? Does this resonate with you? Hit reply and let me know—I'd love to hear your thoughts.

P.S. If you're curious about how CXO might apply to your business, let's chat. Book a call here and we can explore how optimizing for experience could transform your conversion journey.

DISCOVERY

Mastering Tech Growth podcast 🎙️

I was just featured on the Mastering Tech Growth podcast (Episode 63) talking about what really makes copy convert (hint: it's not what most marketers think).

We went into why 72% of SaaS websites fail to clearly explain what they offer, and I shared my take on AI in copywriting—including how to use it ethically while avoiding its biggest pitfalls.

As I say "The best copy is copy that doesn't look like copy." and we unpacked what that actually means for your messaging strategy.

Plus if you're curious about the research process that separates surface-level messaging from truly resonant copy, or want to hear about the AI persona simulation technique I've been testing, you can listen to the full episode here.

RESONANCE

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Chris

Chris Silvestri Founder & conversion alchemist

🙌🏻 Let’s be friends (unless you’re a stalker)​

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