Customer research
Ask buyers who chose an alternative what tipped the decision. A missing delivery date might matter more than the price.
01the evidence
What earns a place in the Atlas?
You could probably name 20 marketing options. Given an afternoon, maybe 50. Getting to 537 took more than collecting suggestions.
The researchers asked the same twelve questions about every option. What would it cost? Where has someone tried it? How would you know whether it helped? Across the Atlas, that meant 6,444 answers to check, including the places where the honest answer was “unknown.”
537opportunities in 26 categories, each with a sourced definition and its own record of what has been checked.
6,444answers checked, twelve questions per opportunity. Where the honest answer was “unknown,” it says so.
388entries added through research. Each has at least two independent primary sources showing the practice exists, and an explanation of how it differs from its nearest neighbor.
132proposed tests across six priority categories. Each names a comparison, an outcome to measure, and something that could mislead the team.
Read this before you pick one
Proof that a practice exists is not proof that it will work for you.
The Atlas tells you what is out there and what is known about it. Whether it pays off for your business is a separate question, and that is what the tests are for.
What a primary source looks like
A primary source is a firsthand account, such as a study by the people who ran it. For one entry on website testing, you can follow the source back to the people who ran 1,379 experiments and reported the wins, the losses and the inconclusive results. Read their study →
02inside the index
One problem can point in very different directions.
Imagine an online store with plenty of visitors and too few orders. Four teams could look at the same numbers and ask four useful questions.
Positioning and offers
Would a trial or a clearer return promise help someone feel comfortable placing a first order?
Website conversion
Walk through checkout on a phone. Find out whether a payment step is losing people who had already decided to buy.
Email and customer messaging
Test a cart reminder against sending nothing. Some shoppers would have come back on their own.
The complete index
- 001Market sizing and serviceable-demand estimation
- 002Customer discovery and problem interviews
- 003Jobs-to-be-done interviews and demand mapping
- 004Customer segmentation by needs and behaviors
- 005Ideal customer profile and buying committee research
- 006Personas grounded in observed behavior
- 007Competitive positioning and share-of-voice analysis
- 008Category entry-point and occasion analysis
- 009Search-demand and keyword-intent research
- 010Customer journey and decision-path mapping
- 011Voice-of-customer and support-ticket mining
- 012Win-loss and lost-deal interviews
- 013Pricing and willingness-to-pay research
- 014Market-entry and geographic opportunity analysis
- 015Community and social listening
- 016Review mining and sentiment analysis
- 017Qualitative usability research
- 018Sales-call transcript research
- 019Competitor advertising creative library audit
- 020Competitive channel and bid pressure monitoring
- 021Brand perception and consideration studies
- 022Audience identity resolution and consented data enrichment
- 023Buying-intent and trigger-signal monitoring
- 024Market diffusion and adopter-stage diagnostics
- 025Positioning and differentiated value proposition
- 026Category creation or category reframing
- 027Naming and message architecture
- 028Customer-language message mining
- 029Brand identity and distinctive assets
- 030Messaging by jobs and buyer objections
- 031Audience-specific creative strategy
- 032Creative-concept and hook testing
- 033Offer construction and value stacking
- 034Pricing architecture and package design
- 035Discount and promotional strategy
- 036Free-trial and risk-reversal offers
- 037Social proof and evidence-led claims
- 038Brand story and founder narrative
- 039Creative refresh and variation systems
- 040Comparative competitive messaging
- 041Emotional framing and nostalgia marketing
- 042Cultural and regional message adaptation
- 043Cause-related marketing with genuine commitments
- 044Seasonal and occasion-based promotions
- 045Co-branded offers and collaboration concepts
- 046Education-first and problem-led campaigns
- 047Thought-leadership positioning
- 048Technical crawlability and indexation SEO
- 049Site architecture and internal linking
- 050Keyword-to-intent and content mapping
- 051On-page content optimization
- 052Title snippets and metadata optimization
- 053Topic clusters and pillar pages
- 054Editorial long-tail search pages
- 055Programmatic SEO for genuinely useful inventory
- 056Structured data for eligible rich results
- 057Core Web Vitals and mobile page experience
- 058JavaScript rendering and discoverability
- 059Image search optimization
- 060Video search optimization
- 061Local SEO and location landing pages
- 062Google Business Profile management
- 063Local directory and citation consistency
- 064Review acquisition and review response
- 065Bing and other search engine visibility
- 066International SEO and hreflang
- 067Digital PR and editorial link earning
- 068Content pruning and refresh decisions
- 069Google Discover and news discovery optimization
- 070Product feed and merchant free listings
- 071Featured snippet and FAQ answer clarity
- 072Voice and conversational query coverage
- 073AI Overview and AI Mode search visibility
- 074AI answer-engine citation visibility audit
- 075LLM brand and entity mention monitoring
- 076Third-party editorial evidence for AI discovery
- 077Clear factual source pages for answer retrieval
- 078AI referral traffic and qualified conversion tracking
- 079AI search performance reporting where available
- 080Machine-readable product and organization facts
- 081AI shopping discovery product feed hygiene
- 082Original research designed for attributable citations
- 083Knowledge graph and entity consistency
- 084AI crawler access and indexing policy review
- 085Query-set testing across AI assistants
- 086Zero-click search demand and brand-lift measurement
- 087Brand keyword search campaigns
- 088Nonbrand high-intent search campaigns
- 089Competitor keyword search campaigns where permitted
- 090Long-tail search query campaigns
- 091Dynamic search ads and automated query expansion
- 092AI Max search optimization
- 093Google Performance Max campaigns
- 094Google Demand Gen campaign placements
- 095Microsoft Advertising search campaigns
- 096Search remarketing audiences and customer lists
- 097Shopping feed-based product ads
- 098Local inventory and nearby-store ads
- 099Search call and lead-form extensions
- 100Bid-strategy and value-based bidding experiments
- 101Negative keyword and search-term control
- 102Ad-copy and landing-page matching
- 103Incremental branded-search testing
- 104Search budget allocation and marginal return analysis
- 105Hotel, travel and other vertical search inventory
- 106Sponsored AI-conversation placements including ChatGPT Ads
- 107Meta feed and story advertising
- 108Meta automated sales campaigns
- 109Instagram Reels advertising
- 110TikTok in-feed and Spark Ads
- 111LinkedIn sponsored content and document ads
- 112LinkedIn lead-generation forms
- 113Reddit feed and conversation ads
- 114Pinterest shopping and performance campaigns
- 115Snapchat story and AR ads
- 116YouTube Shorts paid placement
- 117X or other relevant social paid inventory
- 118Paid community sponsorships and subreddit partnerships
- 119Paid influencer-post amplification
- 120Whitelisted creator ads and partnership ads
- 121Social lead-gen conversion campaigns
- 122Platform-native click-to-message ads
- 123Platform-native app-install campaigns
- 124Paid retargeting and audience exclusion
- 125Lookalike and modeled prospecting audiences
- 126Social content/creative A/B experiments
- 127Open-web programmatic display buys
- 128Direct publisher display placements
- 129Private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals
- 130Contextual category and keyword targeting
- 131Native and recommendation-widget advertising
- 132Interactive rich-media display
- 133Dynamic creative optimization
- 134Sequential display creative
- 135CRM-based display audience activation
- 136Display retargeting and reactivation
- 137Geo-fenced mobile advertising
- 138Digital out-of-home and place-based screens
- 139In-game and immersive display placements
- 140Digital audio inventory bought programmatically
- 141Ad frequency and saturation management
- 142Brand-safety, fraud and suitability controls
- 143Supply-path and inventory-quality optimization
- 144YouTube pre-roll and in-stream video advertising
- 145YouTube in-feed video discovery advertising
- 146Connected-TV advertising
- 147Streaming-TV ad placements
- 148Online video network buys
- 149Addressable-TV advertising
- 150Cinema and digital theater placements
- 151Podcast host-read sponsorships
- 152Dynamic podcast ad insertion
- 153Spotify music streaming audio advertising
- 154Streaming radio and digital audio advertising
- 155Branded podcast production
- 156Brand documentary and mini-series
- 157Short-form vertical social video
- 158Explainer and demo video campaigns
- 159Live video and shoppable livestreams
- 160Interactive and clickable video
- 161Creator video sponsorships
- 162Video retargeting and sequential storytelling
- 163Video content search and channel optimization
- 164Amazon Sponsored Products
- 165Amazon Sponsored Brands
- 166Amazon display and DSP advertising
- 167Walmart Connect retail media
- 168Instacart retail advertising
- 169Kroger and supermarket retail media
- 170Target retail media campaigns
- 171Retailer onsite sponsored product listings
- 172Retailer offsite first-party audience activation
- 173Category-specific retailer search placements
- 174Retail display shelf and in-store digital media
- 175Co-op retailer advertising funding
- 176Product feed and inventory-led merchandising
- 177Sponsored retail collections and storefronts
- 178Marketplace competitive conquesting within policy
- 179Retail media measurement and incrementality studies
- 180Commerce-media partner data collaboration
- 181Native social editorial publishing
- 182Founder and employee thought leadership posts
- 183LinkedIn company and personal publishing
- 184Short-form organic video clips
- 185Stories and ephemeral content
- 186Social carousels and document posts
- 187Platform-native live streams
- 188Interactive polls, quizzes and Q&A
- 189Comment and reply engagement programs
- 190Reddit and specialist forum participation
- 191Quora and expert-answer participation
- 192Discord and Slack community participation
- 193Community AMAs and office hours
- 194Social listening-based reactive participation
- 195Social sharing and distribution enablement
- 196User-generated content solicitation
- 197Employee advocacy and social sharing
- 198Social commerce product tagging
- 199Shoppable organic videos and live commerce
- 200Social SEO for platform-native search
- 201User and customer testimonial posts
- 202Evergreen educational articles
- 203News and timely commentary articles
- 204Original survey and benchmark reports
- 205Primary data studies and proprietary indexes
- 206Whitepapers and research briefs
- 207Downloadable e-books and guides
- 208How-to tutorials and learning centers
- 209Case studies and customer success narratives
- 210Comparison and alternative pages
- 211Problem-solution and use-case pages
- 212Product documentation and developer docs
- 213Interactive content and quizzes
- 214Calculators, estimators and assessment tools
- 215Infographics, visual explanations and diagrams
- 216Webinars and virtual educational workshops
- 217Newsletter editorial content
- 218Podcast editorial and distribution
- 219Video series and content serials
- 220Customer interviews and testimonial libraries
- 221Guest articles and contributed commentary
- 222Content syndication and republishing
- 223Publisher distribution and newsletter swaps
- 224Content atomization and cross-channel repackaging
- 225Original templates, checklists and toolkits
- 226Content licensing and white-label syndication
- 227Backstage product and team storytelling
- 228Micro-creator seeding and product gifting
- 229Mid-tier creator sponsorships
- 230Celebrity and macro-influencer partnerships
- 231Expert and practitioner endorsements
- 232Long-term brand ambassador programs
- 233Creator affiliate codes and tracking
- 234Creator co-production and brand partnerships
- 235Creator-led tutorials and demonstrations
- 236Creator-hosted live shopping
- 237Employee ambassador programs
- 238B2B subject matter expert collaborations
- 239Customer advocacy and user creator programs
- 240Creator whitelisting and paid-use rights
- 241Creator content licensing for advertising
- 242Influencer product launch cohorts
- 243Co-created intellectual property
- 244Affiliate creator storefronts
- 245Creator performance measurement and lift tests
- 246Permission-based newsletter programs
- 247Welcome and lead-capture email sequences
- 248Behavior-triggered lifecycle journeys
- 249Abandoned-cart and checkout recovery
- 250Browse-abandonment emails
- 251Transactional messaging with relevant education
- 252Lead-nurture and objection sequences
- 253Personalized segmented email content
- 254Dynamic send-time and content testing
- 255Reactivation and win-back campaigns
- 256Renewal and subscription retention messaging
- 257Post-purchase cross-sell communications
- 258SMS promotional campaigns with consent
- 259SMS service and re-engagement messages
- 260WhatsApp opt-in marketing templates
- 261Messenger and direct-message subscriber programs
- 262In-app message center and nudges
- 263Mobile app push notifications
- 264Web push notification campaigns
- 265Email polls, quizzes and interactive elements
- 266Customer preference center and frequency controls
- 267Deliverability, consent and suppression management
- 268RFM and value-based segmentation
- 269Referral requests through owned messaging
- 270Named-account targeting and account tiers
- 271ICP firmographic and technographic targeting
- 272Buying-committee and role mapping
- 273Intent signal and research-stage identification
- 274Contact list and account data enrichment
- 275Account-specific message and proof construction
- 276One-to-one executive outreach
- 277One-to-few account campaign clusters
- 278One-to-many ABM paid campaigns
- 279LinkedIn Matched Audiences company targeting
- 280LinkedIn contact targeting and website retargeting
- 281Executive peer introductions and warm referrals
- 282Personalized account landing pages
- 283Account-based direct mail and gifting
- 284Account-targeted webinars and roundtables
- 285Sales development email and phone sequences
- 286Consultative discovery and live demos
- 287Business-case and ROI sales tools
- 288Competitive battlecards and objection libraries
- 289Sales enablement case studies
- 290Partner co-selling and shared account plans
- 291Opportunity nurture and deal acceleration
- 292Renewal and expansion ABM
- 293Buying-group engagement and pipeline measurement
- 294Affiliate revenue-share programs
- 295Affiliate publisher recruitment
- 296Affiliate network and tracking management
- 297Performance-based lead-generation partners
- 298Referral-partner arrangements
- 299Strategic audience-sharing partnerships
- 300Co-branded campaigns and content
- 301Newsletter swaps and cross-promotions
- 302Technology integrations and marketplace partnerships
- 303API partner distribution and integration listings
- 304Agency and consultant referral programs
- 305Reseller and dealer channel programs
- 306Wholesale and distribution partnerships
- 307System-integrator and implementation partners
- 308Embedded product distribution and OEM deals
- 309Co-sell and channel-account mapping
- 310Joint webinars and industry events
- 311Partner certification and training programs
- 312Cross-industry bundled offers
- 313Joint product development
- 314Customer-to-customer invitation programs
- 315Customer referral incentive programs
- 316Two-sided referral rewards
- 317Invite-a-friend product loops
- 318Waitlist invitation and queue mechanics
- 319Customer member communities
- 320Peer-to-peer support forums
- 321Private customer clubs and Discord groups
- 322Practitioner councils and advisory groups
- 323Offline user groups and chapters
- 324Community-led onboarding
- 325Community expert and moderator programs
- 326Ambassador and superuser recognition
- 327Customer co-creation and feedback councils
- 328Knowledge sharing and community libraries
- 329Community advocacy and earned amplification
- 330Member-generated tutorials and resources
- 331Network-effect feature adoption programs
- 332Group purchase and team invitation mechanics
- 333Community health and contribution measurement
- 334Press release and news announcement outreach
- 335Targeted journalist and beat-reporter pitching
- 336Founder and executive media interviews
- 337Expert-source and quotation placement
- 338Podcast guest appearances
- 339Newsjacking with substantive expertise
- 340Research report media pitching
- 341Digital PR for editorial backlinks
- 342Awards and credible rankings submissions
- 343Analyst relations and briefings
- 344Industry speaker proposals
- 345Review management and reputation recovery
- 346Crisis communications preparedness
- 347Public issue and response communications
- 348Wikipedia and neutral knowledge presence policy review
- 349Independent third-party validation campaigns
- 350Customer proof and verified testimonial development
- 351Trade shows and exhibitions
- 352Industry conferences and summits
- 353Hosted workshops and training events
- 354Networking mixers and meetups
- 355Invite-only executive dinners
- 356Field marketing roadshows
- 357Pop-up shops and sampling events
- 358In-person product demonstrations
- 359Street team promotional activation
- 360Ambient and guerrilla advertising
- 361Projection and unusual-surface installations
- 362Branded merchandise and sticker distribution
- 363Experiential stunts and earned-media moments
- 364Direct mail and physical dimensional mailers
- 365Printed flyers, brochures and catalogs
- 366Billboards and traditional out-of-home
- 367Local community and venue sponsorships
- 368Campus and university activations
- 369In-store demonstrations and point-of-sale promotions
- 370Partner-hosted neighborhood and cultural events
- 371Flash mobs and street performances
- 372Freemium product access
- 373Free trial with clear activation experience
- 374Self-serve signup and payment
- 375Friction-reduced user onboarding
- 376Interactive product tours and guidance
- 377Activation milestone experimentation
- 378Template-led time-to-value
- 379Import and migration onboarding assistance
- 380Personalized first-run experience
- 381In-product invite and collaborative workflows
- 382Product-qualified lead identification
- 383Usage-triggered upgrade offers
- 384In-product cross-sell and upsell
- 385Product usage education and contextual tips
- 386Feature discovery prompts
- 387Integrations as acquisition surfaces
- 388Embeddable widgets and powered-by loops
- 389Public sharing and viral artifact loops
- 390In-app social proof and peer discovery
- 391Seat expansion and team-wide adoption
- 392Trial-to-paid conversion experiments
- 393Landing page design and message matching
- 394Landing-page A/B and multivariate tests
- 395Web conversion funnel analysis
- 396Form field and form-flow optimization
- 397Checkout and payment friction reduction
- 398Site speed and interaction responsiveness
- 399Mobile usability and responsive experiences
- 400Personalized dynamic website content
- 401Exit-intent and abandoned-session recovery
- 402Live chat and human-assisted conversion
- 403AI-powered guided shopping or service chat
- 404Onsite recommendation and discovery engines
- 405Trust signals, guarantees and review presentation
- 406Pricing-page offer tests
- 407Product-detail page merchandising
- 408Navigation, information scent and search improvements
- 409Heatmap, session replay and usability diagnosis
- 410Accessibility and inclusive UX
- 411Customer support knowledge-to-conversion routing
- 412Call scheduling and demo-booking optimization
- 413Social proof sequencing and evidence experiments
- 414Customer onboarding and first-use education
- 415Customer success lifecycle plays
- 416Proactive service recovery and issue prevention
- 417Personalized post-purchase education
- 418Customer satisfaction and NPS surveys
- 419Structured feedback collection and action loops
- 420Product review requests and response workflows
- 421RFM-based retention segmentation
- 422Loyalty points and tier programs
- 423VIP access and exclusive member perks
- 424Subscription renewal and churn prevention
- 425Cancellation reason capture and save offers
- 426Win-back and dormant customer reactivation
- 427Cross-sell and product recommendation programs
- 428Upsell and higher-tier offers
- 429Replenishment and reorder reminders
- 430Birthday and anniversary rewards
- 431Gamification points, badges and challenges
- 432Customer advocacy and case-study requests
- 433Customer community retention programs
- 434Repeat purchase and cohort survival analysis
- 435Returns and service experience improvements
- 436Customer co-creation and product feedback loops
- 437App Store Optimization on Apple App Store
- 438Google Play store listing optimization
- 439Apple Ads search results placements
- 440Apple Ads Today and Search tab placements
- 441Apple Ads product page placements
- 442Mobile app install advertising
- 443Mobile web-to-app deep-link funnels
- 444App review and rating optimization
- 445Browser extension marketplace listings
- 446Shopify and commerce app marketplace listings
- 447SaaS integration directory listings
- 448B2B software review-site category pages
- 449G2 and Capterra verified review programs
- 450Amazon marketplace product listing optimization
- 451Etsy and other specialist marketplace listing SEO
- 452Local service and booking platform profiles
- 453Online professional association directories
- 454Partnership platform integration galleries
- 455Product Hunt and maker-community launches
- 456Directory sponsorship and featured listings
- 457Merchandising and product assortment testing
- 458Bundling and cross-category product sets
- 459Volume discounts and tiered pricing
- 460Limited-time promotions with truthful scarcity
- 461Seasonal campaign calendars driven by occasions
- 462Free shipping thresholds and incentives
- 463Gift cards and prepaid credit incentives
- 464Buy-now-pay-later offer presentation
- 465Subscription and auto-replenishment offers
- 466Flash sales and inventory-clearance campaigns
- 467Sampling and trial-size programs
- 468Referral discount and friend credit offers
- 469Localized offers by market or inventory
- 470Promotional landing pages and collections
- 471Dynamic offer tests with incrementality guardrails
- 472First-party event and conversion instrumentation
- 473Server-side event and conversion measurement
- 474Enhanced conversions and offline conversion imports
- 475Cross-channel KPI and funnel dashboards
- 476Cohort retention and LTV analysis
- 477CAC, payback period and contribution margin analysis
- 478Customer acquisition channel attribution
- 479Marketing mix modeling and diminishing return curves
- 480Geo holdout and conversion-lift experiments
- 481Randomized creative and campaign A/B tests
- 482Brand lift and awareness studies
- 483Search incrementality and brand cannibalization tests
- 484Channel saturation and response curve monitoring
- 485Media reach and frequency deduplication
- 486Funnel and cohort drop-off measurement
- 487Lead quality and downstream revenue reconciliation
- 488Multi-touch attribution with limitations documented
- 489Predictive churn and customer value modeling
- 490Budget allocation based on marginal incremental return
- 491Organic search and AI visibility measurement
- 492Affiliate and referral fraud / incrementality reviews
- 493Marketplace retail media clean-room measurement
- 494Forecast ranges with uncertainty intervals
- 495Campaign optimization decision logs
- 496Customer relationship management and contact hygiene
- 497Customer data platform and first-party data governance
- 498Identity resolution with permitted signals
- 499Consent and preference management
- 500Email and multichannel marketing automation
- 501Customer journey orchestration and trigger rules
- 502Creative asset management and modular production
- 503Generative AI assisted copy and concept development
- 504AI-assisted audience research and clustering
- 505Predictive recommendation and next-best-action models
- 506Machine-learning audience segmentation
- 507Algorithmic bid optimization and guardrails
- 508Automated ad creative variant production
- 509AI customer support and lead-qualification agents
- 510Experiment registry and hypothesis management
- 511Data warehouse and event-stream integration
- 512Real-time decisioning and offer orchestration
- 513Partner and affiliate tracking systems
- 514Marketing workflow QA and error monitoring
- 515Audience suppression and messaging frequency governance
- 516Competitive intelligence and change detection
- 517Sales and marketing reporting alignment
- 518Automated channel performance anomaly detection
- 519Human review for claims, bias and brand integrity
- 520Email CAN-SPAM and unsubscribe compliance
- 521SMS TCPA and consent management
- 522Privacy notice and data-use disclosures
- 523State and international consumer privacy rights
- 524Cookie and cross-site tracking consent where required
- 525Platform advertising policy and creative review
- 526Influencer sponsorship and material-connection disclosures
- 527Authentic reviews and testimonial integrity
- 528Accessibility compliance and inclusive marketing
- 529Health, finance and restricted category claims review
- 530Children and age-restricted audience safeguards
- 531AI-generated content accuracy and source verification
- 532Intellectual property and content licensing clearance
- 533Customer data retention and deletion controls
- 534Vendor, affiliate and partner data governance
- 535Consent-based identity enrichment and targeting audits
- 536Crisis, correction and retraction procedures
- 537Fair pricing and truthful promotional offer controls
537 titles · numbered in catalog orderResearch release 02 · November 2026
03inside AtmaOS
From a possible move to a better decision.
Suppose shoppers leave when they see the delivery estimate. The Atlas gives the team several choices, from rewriting the delivery promise to changing where it appears. Here is how the engines are designed to help decide between them.
Arkwright Engine
Connects customer comments with what people actually did. Did shoppers leave when the estimate appeared, or had checkout already stalled?
Meet Arkwright →Creative Intelligence Engine
Uses creative evidence to give the team real alternatives to compare, such as two ways to explain when an order will arrive.
See the CIE →Bayesian Analytical Engine
Works out how much the evidence changes the decision. “Bayesian” means updating an estimate as new results arrive. A test can strengthen the case for a change, or show why the team needs more evidence.
Read the free ebook →In the agency, Sandy Hill coordinates the decision. Palesa Govender examines the checkout experience, Candace Opal weighs the creative options, Maya Serrano considers whether paid media belongs in the mix, and Imani Brooks asks what the test can actually tell them. Meet the team →
Stop re-arguing last quarter's shortlist.
Let's talk!
Find a time here
See the tech stack behind the agency →