CRO Glossary
Qualitative Research
Non-numerical research methods, like user interviews and session recordings, used to understand why users behave the way they do.
Qualitative research covers methods such as user interviews, usability testing sessions, open-ended survey responses, and session recordings or heatmaps. Unlike A/B testing, which tells you what happened (variant B converted better than variant A), qualitative research aims to explain why — what confused users, what made them hesitate, what language resonated. It's usually the source of hypotheses that later get validated quantitatively.
A mature experimentation program treats qualitative and quantitative research as complementary rather than competing: qualitative work generates and explains hypotheses, while structured testing measures whether a proposed fix actually moves the needle at scale. Relying on qualitative research alone risks acting on a vocal minority's opinions; relying on quantitative data alone risks optimizing a metric without understanding the underlying user experience.
Example: session recordings show users repeatedly clicking on a product image expecting it to zoom, then abandoning the page when it doesn't respond. That observation becomes the hypothesis for an A/B test adding image zoom functionality, and the subsequent test measures whether the fix actually improves conversion rate.
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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