Green Optimization: Building a Sustainable Business, One Test at a Time

Experimentation makes sustainability a practical, testable part of business strategy.

Test runs can save the planet.

What if every test you ran didn’t just optimize conversions—but reduced your carbon footprint?

Experimentation is more than a tool for improving business performance. It’s a way to turn sustainability goals into actionable outcomes. From greener packaging to eco-conscious delivery methods, testing helps businesses align profits with purpose.

For brands committed to leaving the planet better than they found it, the message is clear: experiment smarter, impact bigger.

CRO Can Help Save the Planet

Conversion Rate Optimization is often seen as a tool for squeezing more revenue from a website. But Ryan Webb, a Conversion Optimization Consultant and Agency Advisor, sees it differently.

For him, CRO is about something bigger—something planet-sized.

“CRO is about understanding audiences and then persuading them to make certain choices through experimentation. What better toolkit do you need to help customers make more sustainable purchasing decisions?”

Want to dive deeper into this idea? Ryan’s article for The Drum: Saving the Planet Through Conversion Optimization has great examples and insights—some of which we’re exploring here.

CRO can change how people buy. It turns sustainability into an easier choice, a smarter decision, and—most importantly—a habit. For businesses ready to tackle more than conversions, CRO offers a path forward: test smarter, sell greener, and do better.

1. Nudge Greener Choices

CRO thrives on removing friction, and this extends to sustainable decisions. Businesses can structure their sites to make eco-conscious options feel obvious—like defaulting to carbon-offset shipping or surfacing products made from recycled materials first.

Take Patagonia’s “Worn-Wear” program. The brand lets customers trade in used clothing and gear for store credit. Patagonia repairs and resells these items so they stay out of landfills.

2. Make Websites Work Harder—and Cleaner

A slow, bloated website is annoying. But that’s not all—it also burns energy. CRO fixes that. Businesses can lower bounce rates, speed up page loads, and shrink their digital carbon footprint by streamlining the user experience.

Ryan Webb puts it simply: when you reduce the energy required for every user session, you’re optimizing for conversions and cutting waste. A win for the planet and the bottom line!

3. Test Sustainability Stories That Stick

Not every sustainability message will land the same way. CRO allows businesses to experiment with what resonates:

• Does your audience respond to stats about carbon reduction?
• Do they care more about your supply chain transparency?

Bamboo Clothing nails this. On every product page, customers can toggle between two views: the environmental savings their purchase achieves (in liters of water saved, for instance) and its real-world equivalent (like days of drinking water).

4. Prove You’re Not Greenwashing

Eco-conscious consumers can spot surface-level claims from a mile away. CRO lets businesses go deeper—backing their sustainability efforts with real, actionable proof that builds trust.

Take Amalgamated Bank, for instance, which has built sustainability into its core. From ESG-aligned investments to renewable energy support, its actions match its values which shows that purpose and profit can work together.

5. Re-Think the Entire Concept of Sustainability

This advice comes from Theo van der Zee.

While you may believe that simply reducing negative impact on the planet by leveraging the power of A/B testing is turning over a new leaf, Theo challenges entrenched thinking further by opening up a whole new realm that’s green with potential:

For many ecommerce companies, as I learned from publicly available sustainability reports, over 80% of a company’s total CO₂ emissions stem from the production and raw materials of new products. This means optimizing from “business-as-usual” — selling as many new products as possible — merely leads to local maximums based on an inherently unsustainable starting point.

Instead of focusing on minimizing harm while maintaining current paradigms, businesses should zoom out and explore how to maximize positive impact. What if we transformed product lines from purchase to rental? Introduced buy-back schemes? Extended repair offerings or removed unsustainable products from the portfolio altogether? Or designed products to be fully recyclable?

These approaches may demand short-term sacrifices and even challenge the bottom line initially. However, research consistently shows that sustainable practices can drive long-term profitability. The current way of doing business is fundamentally not sustainable (pun intended). To thrive in the future, companies must proactively optimize for the planet. Done right, people and profit will follow.

Experimentation And Sustainability: Is There An Overlap?

Most businesses will tell you they care about sustainability. They might even publish a self-congratulatory report about their eco-friendly campaigns. But how many are actually turning those goals into measurable results? How many are using the tools they already have—like experimentation—to move the needle?

That’s what Ryan Webb wanted to find out.

In a survey backed by Convert.com, Experimentation Elite, and Ecologi, Ryan asked businesses a simple question:

Are you optimizing for sustainability—or just talking about it?

The findings revealed a lot about what businesses say, what they measure, and what they still haven’t figured out. Here’s what we uncovered.

1. Sustainability Is on the To-Do List—Not the Strategy Deck

Most businesses surveyed had some version of sustainability goals. But when asked how long sustainability had been a focus, the answers were telling:

• Many were still in their first 1-2 years of trying to implement sustainable practices.
• For others, sustainability was more about external branding than internal metrics.

It’s not that companies don’t care—it’s that sustainability hasn’t moved from intention to strategy. Few had connected their sustainability efforts to experimentation programs. Instead of testing their way to greener outcomes, many companies treat sustainability as an add-on, not a priority.

TL;DR: Businesses know sustainability matters, but they’re not testing how to make it work.

2. Metrics Exist, but They’re a Mess

What’s the carbon footprint of a single product? How does “eco-friendly shipping” actually impact the planet? Most companies surveyed couldn’t say.

The survey responses showed businesses were tracking things like:

• Carbon footprints
• Recyclable packaging usage
• Energy savings in operations.

But here’s the problem: these metrics rarely overlap with the KPIs they optimize for during A/B tests or conversion optimizations. While businesses might test for revenue or engagement, sustainability is often left in a silo—measured but never optimized.

TL;DR: Sustainability metrics are out there but they’re disconnected from experimentation frameworks.

3. Experimentation Is Still About Dollars, Not Impact

When businesses run experiments, they’re almost always chasing revenue. Survey respondents consistently ranked metrics like customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, and conversion rates as top priorities. Sustainability metrics? They didn’t even crack the top five.

That’s not to say businesses don’t care about the planet. But right now, experiments focus on the commercial wins—because that’s what pays the bills.

The few exceptions stand out: one respondent shared how their experiments on shipping options included carbon-offset delivery which led to higher customer satisfaction scores and retention.

TL;DR: Sustainability isn’t seen as a growth driver—yet.

4. Bigger Isn’t Always Better

The survey showed a split between large enterprises and smaller organizations:

• Large companies often had the resources to run experimentation programs, but sustainability rarely made it into their testing frameworks.
• Smaller companies were more likely to prioritize sustainability but often lacked the tools or expertise to tie it to experimentation.

This divide suggests a major opportunity: experimentation platforms and CRO experts could do more to help smaller organizations connect the dots between testing and sustainability.

TL;DR: Big companies run experiments, small ones focus on sustainability—but neither connects the two effectively.

Sustainability in Action: UX and UI That Drive Impact

Sustainability should be part of every scroll, click, and interaction—not a footnote. The real question isn’t “should we include sustainability messaging?” It’s “how do we design it so customers can’t ignore it?”

Product description pages (PDPs) are where values meet action. Karayuma uses animated tabs to bring its eco-friendly narrative to life, while Alta’s custom components and Nike’s shaded fields ensure that sustainability messaging is front and center.

There are no rules here—only experiments. What works for one brand might flop for another.

That’s where tools like Convert.com come in. Test accordion tabs. Test eco-icons. Test whether expanding by default makes a difference. Your audience will tell you what clicks—literally.

Here’s how brands are putting sustainability front and center where it matters most:

Reducing Resource Usage

Better digital infrastructure increases site speed, improves the customer experience, and results in a smaller carbon footprint.

“We implemented an auto-scaling system to adjust server capacity in real time. This reduced server costs by 40%, cut carbon emissions by 12 metric tons annually, and improved user satisfaction from 7.2 to 8.8.”

Abid Salahi, Co-founder & CEO, FinlyWealth

“We optimized our homepage layout and navigation to emphasize key actions. Conversions increased 15%, bounce rates decreased, and streamlined design reduced page load times, lowering our carbon footprint.”

Michael Gargiulo, Founder, CEO, VPN.com

“We moved our feedback and file-sharing processes to cloud-based solutions like Frame.io, reducing the need for revisions and cutting our digital footprint. Project turnaround times are now 20% faster, and clients report higher satisfaction.”

Andre Oentoro, CEO Founder, Breadnbeyond

Making Sustainable Choices Easy

When sustainability feels effortless, customers are more likely to act on it. Features like gamification and transparent labels make eco-friendly options easy to spot.

“We added a green progress bar to show paper savings from digital documentation, boosting digital adoption by 32%. Gamifying eco-friendly choices made users stick with sustainable options.” –

Yarden Morgan, Director of Growth, Lusha

“We integrated eco-impact labels and a ‘sustainable filter’ on product pages, leading to a 35% increase in conversions and a 28% boost in customer satisfaction. Transparency drives trust.”

Runbo Li, Co-founder & CEO, Magic Hour

Designing a Greener Checkout Experience

Showing eco-friendly shipping and packaging options, a product’s carbon impact, and a brand’s commitment to sustainability at checkout can encourage customers to make greener decisions.

“We simplified checkout and added a clear eco-friendly shipping option, boosting conversions by 22%. Nearly 40% of customers opted for sustainable shipping, showing how clarity drives adoption.”

Garin Hobbs, Martech Expert, InboxArmy

Try these: 5 A/B Tests to Run on the Checkout Page for Conversion Rate Optimization

“Adding carbon impact details to the checkout process increased engagement by 18%. Moving eco-certifications to more prominent positions boosted conversions by 12%, proving thoughtful design drives eco-conscious behavior.”

Maxime de Hemptinne, CEO, Bambaw

Convert’s Commitment to the Planet

Sustainability is baked into everything at Convert. While many companies are only just beginning to think about their impact on the planet, Convert has made sustainability a priority.

• 8% of topline revenue from every plan goes directly to TIST (The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program) which supports reforestation and empowering communities.
• 1% for Stripe Climate funds the development of carbon removal technologies to tackle emissions at scale.
• 1% for the Planet contributes to organizations making a difference for environmental and social causes worldwide.

Plans for the Plan-et

By tying a percentage of revenue to actionable programs, we’re proving that profitability and responsibility can go hand in hand. Every plan sold is an investment in better optimization tools and a better future.

BONUS READ: Experimentation Goes Beyond Websites—Way Beyond

When we think of experimentation, A/B tests on websites or tweaks to user interfaces often come to mind. But experimentation goes far beyond digital spaces. It can influence policies, reshape public services, and even drive large-scale societal change.

Testing ideas is a critical tool for solving real-world problems. By starting small, organizations can:

• Avoid costly missteps with large-scale projects.
• Adjust solutions to fit local needs.
• Collaborate with governments, businesses, and communities for better results.

Both the UNDP Accelerator Labs and the European Union Directorate-General for Research and Innovation show how experimentation can address challenges like waste management and citizen engagement in meaningful ways.

1. Turning Waste Into Opportunity

The UNDP Accelerator Labs, as detailed in their Medium article, tested innovative ways to manage waste:

• In Mwanza, Tanzania, satellite data was used to locate unregistered waste sites which gave officials the tools they needed to improve city-wide waste management.
• In Ghana, experiments with communication strategies encouraged households to recycle more and sparked discussions about national recycling policies.

2. Testing Policies for Smarter Governance

The EU Directorate-General for Research and Innovation uses experimentation to refine large-scale initiatives like:

• 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030, which focuses on sustainable urban development.
• A Soil Deal for Europe, which promotes better land use through local projects.

A recent survey across six EU countries gathered insights into how citizens engage with these missions. The results are now being used to design small-scale tests to improve participation. These experiments help decision-makers test ideas before rolling them out more broadly.

3. Expanding Access to Justice

In Guinea-Bissau, the UNDP Accelerator Labs tested mobile justice units to bring legal services to remote communities. This small-scale experiment showed the effectiveness of the approach, and it’s now being scaled nationwide. Early testing can lead to bigger, more impactful outcomes.