In WXM, Wonder comes first for a reason: before you change anything, you need to know who arrives, what they do, where they hesitate and when they leave. That is CRO research.
Two kinds of evidence
| Question | Method family | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Where and how many? | Quantitative | Analytics funnels, segment comparisons, form analytics, site search logs |
| What do people do? | Behavioural | Session recordings, heatmaps, scroll maps |
| Why do they do it? | Qualitative | On-site surveys, customer interviews, usability tests, reviews and support tickets |
Quantitative data without qualitative is a map with no explanations. Qualitative without quantitative is a set of stories with no sense of scale. Use both.
The core methods
1. Measurement audit. Before trusting any number, check that conversions, events and consent are tracked correctly. A broken baseline invalidates everything after it.
2. Funnel analysis. Find the steps with the largest absolute losses on your most valuable journeys, then compare by device, channel and new versus returning visitors. See funnel analysis.
3. Session recordings and heatmaps. Watch real sessions on the leaking steps. Look for patterns: rage clicks, back-and-forth, long pauses. Heatmaps show attention patterns but not reasons, so treat them as clues.
4. On-site and exit surveys. One open question at the right moment (“What, if anything, is stopping you from completing your order today?”) often reveals objections no analytics tool can.
5. Customer interviews. Talk to recent customers and people who chose not to buy. Ask about their situation and decision, not your features.
6. Usability testing. Five to eight participants doing realistic tasks usually surface the biggest usability problems quickly.
7. Reviews, support tickets and sales calls. Customers’ own words about doubts and objections are gold for copy and for hypotheses.
From notes to opportunities
- Write each finding as an observation with its source (“12 of 40 recordings: users scroll back to find delivery time”).
- Group findings into themes (trust, clarity, cost, effort).
- Note severity (how many, how badly blocked) and reach (traffic on that step).
- Turn the strongest themes into hypotheses and rank them with PXL, which rewards exactly this kind of evidence.
Use the CRO audit template to structure a first pass.