The Eight Critical Website Choke Points

Jordan lists primary and secondary choke points across homepage, category, PDP, and cart that affect progression.

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Welcome to the episode: we’ve got Jordan Gordon back on the mic — the guy leading email, retention and CRO at Pilot House, with 25 years in ecommerce under his belt.

Role‑Based Hook (for DTC growth/marketing audience):

For DTC founders & growth marketers scaling from $5M–100M in revenue, this is your CRO check‑list for Q4.

Here’s what we dig into:

Why your headline conversion rate is a shaky metric — and why “direct conversion” gives you better signal.
The one page type (your top product page) you can fix in time for Black Friday to move the needle.
How to push “bundling and recommendations” tools to unlock +8–30% lift in AOV with zero extra ad spend.
The eight choke‑points across homepage → category → PDP → cart/checkout you must optimize right now.
Real copy & button tips: How a tiny phrase (“Feel organic again”) can flip the homepage from meh to go‑time.

Who this is for: DTC brand leads, ecommerce CRO/optimization folks, retention & growth marketers who already run advertising and now need to tighten the funnel.

What to steal:

Run quick benchmark: Are you hitting 5‑7% Add‑to‑Cart, ~2% conversion, ~1.25% direct conversion in Shopify?
Pick your top 3‑5 PDPs and make them ultra‑fast (under 3s load) using a tool/tech stack like Niche.
Install a bundling/recommendation engine (like Rebuy) across the site and measure +8% lift in AOV by pushing “people like you bought this + add it” flows.

Timestamps

00:00 Highest Leverage CRO Insights for Q4

02:10 Benchmarking Add-to-Cart and Conversion Rates

04:45 Why Direct Conversion Is a Better Signal

07:00 Speeding Up PDPs with Niche for Instant Wins

10:05 Boosting AOV with Rebuy Bundling

13:00 The 8 Critical Website Choke Points

15:45 Optimizing Copy Around Key Conversion Areas

18:20 Homepage Strategy for High-Volume Traffic

21:40 What Big Brands Get Right on Their Homepages

24:30 Final Q4 CRO Checklist and Fast Wins

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