CRO Glossary
Micro-Conversion
A smaller, intermediate action that signals progress toward a primary conversion goal, such as adding to cart or starting a signup form.
A micro-conversion is any measurable step users take on the way to a macro (primary) conversion, like a purchase or paid signup. Examples include adding an item to a cart, starting a free trial signup, watching a demo video, or downloading a spec sheet. Tracking micro-conversions gives teams earlier, higher-volume signal about where users are dropping off, which is especially useful when the primary conversion event is rare or takes a long sales cycle to complete.
Micro-conversions are commonly used as secondary metrics or guardrail metrics in experiments, since they can reveal directional effects long before the primary metric reaches statistical significance. They're also central to funnel analysis, since each micro-conversion typically corresponds to a step in the funnel.
For instance, a B2B software company with a 45-day average sales cycle might not have enough completed deals in a two-week experiment to reach adequate power on 'closed-won revenue.' Instead, they track 'demo request submitted' and 'proposal viewed' as micro-conversions, which respond faster and give the team earlier confidence about whether a landing page change is working, well before final revenue numbers are in.
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.
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