# How to find conversion leaks on your SaaS website

> Learn how to identify the hidden friction points that stop visitors from signing up, booking demos, or becoming customers.

Guide · SaaS conversion · By Leakly Team · Published Oct 26, 2026 · 6 min read · https://leakly.ai/guides/find-conversion-leaks

## The short answer

A conversion leak is a specific point where a visitor who intended to act stops. To find them, walk the path to your goal as a first-time visitor, collect evidence on each page, name each problem precisely, then fix the ones closest to the conversion with the strongest evidence first.

- Start from the goal and work backwards through the pages that lead to it.
- Every finding needs evidence: a screenshot, the exact copy or a measurement.
- Rank by impact and effort, not by what is easiest to notice.

## What is a conversion leak?

A conversion leak is a specific, fixable reason a visitor leaves the path to your goal. It is narrower than “low conversion rate”. A leak has a location, a cause and a fix: the pricing page does not show what the trial includes, the signup form asks for a phone number, the demo button sits below a wall of testimonials on mobile.

Thinking in leaks changes the work. Instead of redesigning a page because a number looks low, you list the reasons people stop, prove each one, and close them in order.

### Leaks versus general UX problems

Not every usability issue costs conversions. A leak sits on the conversion path and affects a visitor who was ready to act. A slow blog archive is a UX problem; a slow checkout is a leak. The [Leak library](https://leakly.ai/library) documents the 32 leaks Leakly checks for, each with the evidence it requires.

## Where conversions typically break

On a SaaS site, the path to a signup or demo usually crosses four or five pages. Each page has a typical way of failing.

| Stage | What usually breaks | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page | The value proposition names a category, not an outcome | Could a stranger say what they get within five seconds? |
| Pricing | Plans differ by feature count, not by who they are for | Does each plan name its buyer and its next step? |
| Signup | The form asks for more than the first step needs | Fields that are optional, or only needed later |
| Onboarding | The first screen after signup is an empty state | Time from account created to a first useful result |
| Checkout or demo | Cost, commitment or the next step is unclear | Late fees, no reassurance, a vague confirmation |

**Where visitors leave a typical signup path** (illustrative)

- Visit: 100
- Pricing page: 38
- Signup started: 12
- Account created: 7

*Per 100 visitors. Illustrative numbers to show the shape of a funnel, not benchmark data.*

The largest drop is not always the most important one. A small drop at checkout can cost more than a large one on a blog post, because the visitors at checkout had already decided.

## How to identify conversion leaks

This is the method Leakly runs automatically. You can run it by hand on any site in an afternoon.

1. **Pick one conversion goal.** Trial started, demo booked or order placed. One goal per audit keeps findings comparable.
2. **Map the path backwards.** List the pages a visitor crosses to reach that goal, starting from the conversion page and working back to the main entry points.
3. **Walk it as a first-time visitor.** Use a fresh browser, on a phone and on a desktop. Note every point where you hesitate, scroll to find something, or have to guess. Most people scan pages rather than read them,[^2] so judge what is visible at a glance.
4. **Collect evidence for each point.** A screenshot of the area, the exact copy, a measurement such as load time or field count. A finding without evidence is an opinion.
5. **Name the leak precisely.** Write it as a diagnosis: “The signup form asks for company size before showing the product.” Not “improve the form”.

### A first-screen checklist

- The headline names the outcome, not the category.
- The primary action is visible without scrolling, on mobile too.
- The action label says what happens next.
- There is one primary action, not three of equal weight.
- Something on screen reduces risk: price, trial terms or a credible proof point.
- The main content loads fast enough to read. Google’s Core Web Vitals give concrete thresholds.[^3]

## Understanding the evidence

Evidence turns a finding into something a team can agree on and act on. A good finding answers four questions: where it is, why it matters, what to change, and how sure you are.

> **Example finding (illustrative): The pricing page CTA does not say what happens next**
> high priority · `CONTENT_CTA_001` · northwind.io/pricing · Pro plan card · Desktop and mobile
>
> - **Why it matters:** “Get started” could mean a call, a card form or a free account. Visitors who are unsure what they are committing to tend to postpone.
> - **Recommended fix:** Name the step and remove the main risk: “Start 14-day trial”, with “No card required” directly below.
> - **Confidence:** Medium. Based on page content; no analytics connected.
>
> Leak library: [Primary call to action does not say what happens next](https://leakly.ai/library/CONTENT_CTA_001)

### Before and after

The fix for this finding is mostly copy. The button keeps its place and its colour; the label and the line below it change.

- **Before:** “Get started”. Says nothing about what happens after the click.
- **After:** “Start 14-day trial”, with “No card required” below. Names the next step and answers the main objection.

> **What an audit cannot tell you.** A visual audit identifies potential problems from the page itself. It cannot prove that a change will lift conversions, and it does not know who your visitors are. Treat findings as hypotheses with evidence, then confirm the important ones with analytics or a test.

## Prioritizing conversion problems

Once you have a list, rank it. Two factors do most of the work: how close the leak is to the conversion, and how strong the evidence is. Effort breaks ties.

1. **Pricing CTA does not say what happens next.** Last step before signup, clear evidence, a copy change. Impact high, effort low.
2. **Signup form asks for phone number and company size.** On the conversion page itself; needs agreement with sales. Impact high, effort medium.
3. **Homepage headline names a category, not an outcome.** Far from the conversion, but seen by every visitor. Impact medium, effort low.

*Illustrative order for a typical SaaS pricing path.*

Fix one or two items, ship them, then audit again. Large batches make it impossible to tell which change mattered. Baymard Institute’s checkout research is a useful reference for how much friction small form decisions add.[^1]

**Want to find the leaks on your website?** Leakly analyzes your pages and prioritizes potential conversion issues, with the evidence for each. [Analyze your website](https://leakly.ai/analyze)

## Real-world examples

The fastest way to learn the pattern is to see it on a real report. We ran Leakly on our own site: the example shows the score, the finding with its annotated capture, and the fix it recommends.

[We ran Leakly on leakly.ai](https://leakly.ai/examples/leakly-ai)

## Frequently asked questions

### How many conversion leaks does a typical site have?

It depends on how many pages sit on the conversion path. Leakly groups repeated issues by root cause, so ten pages with the same missing price count as one leak, not ten.

### Do I need analytics to find conversion leaks?

No. Many leaks are visible on the page itself. Analytics helps you size them and confirm which ones matter most.

### How is a conversion leak different from a bug?

A bug is broken behaviour. A leak can be a bug, such as a form that errors on submit, but most leaks are working pages that ask too much, say too little or hide the next step.

### How often should I audit my site?

After every significant change to a page on the conversion path, and at least once a quarter for the rest.

## Sources

[^1]: Baymard Institute, Checkout usability research. https://baymard.com/research/checkout-usability
[^2]: Nielsen Norman Group, F-shaped pattern of reading on the web. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/
[^3]: Google, Web Vitals. https://web.dev/articles/vitals

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Source: https://leakly.ai/guides/find-conversion-leaks