CRO Glossary
Anchoring Effect
A cognitive bias where the first piece of information seen (like an initial price) skews how people judge later information.
The anchoring effect describes how an initial number or reference point disproportionately influences subsequent judgments, even when that reference point is arbitrary or irrelevant. In pricing pages, this is why showing a crossed-out 'original price' next to a discounted price tends to make the discounted price feel like a better deal than showing the discounted price alone — the original price serves as the anchor.
CRO teams exploit and test anchoring constantly: displaying a premium 'enterprise' tier prominently can make a mid-tier plan look reasonably priced by comparison, even if few customers ever buy the enterprise tier. It's closely related to how social proof and framing effects shape perceived value, but anchoring specifically concerns numerical or comparative reference points rather than trust signals.
Example: an online furniture retailer tests listing a $2,400 'designer' sofa above a $900 house-brand sofa in the same category grid. Even though few people buy the $2,400 option, its presence as an anchor increases the perceived value and purchase rate of the $900 sofa compared to a control page where the $900 sofa is shown alone.
Related terms
Above vs Below Median Split
A segmentation technique that divides users into two groups at the median of a metric to compare high and low engagers.
Qualitative Feedback Loop
A recurring process of collecting and acting on user comments, session recordings, and survey responses to inform test hypotheses.
Experiment Metadata
The structured record of who, what, when, and how for a test — hypothesis, owner, dates, variants, and metrics used to track and audit it.
Pre-Test Analysis
The upfront work of validating traffic, metrics, and baseline data quality before launching an experiment.
Above-the-Fold vs Below-the-Fold Messaging Hierarchy
How the order and prominence of value-proposition messaging is split between the visible screen and the rest of the page.
Experiment Contamination
When a control or variant group is unintentionally exposed to the other condition, corrupting the comparison.
See this in the wild
ABWatcher watches how top teams apply anchoring effect.
Live A/B tests at 1,000+ high-converting brands, with plain-English hypothesis and takeaway.