CROX as a
research framework.
A mixed-methods framework for diagnosing conversion and customer experience breakdowns in digital products.
CROX connects the place where a journey loses people with evidence about why the breakdown happens. It then guides teams toward a fix, a new concept, or further research, followed by an evaluation whose strength matches the claim.
Research contribution
The paper formalizes a practical five-stage cycle: Prepare, Locate, Explain, Classify, and Evaluate. Its contribution is not another dashboard metric. It is a repeatable way to integrate behavioral and experience evidence around the same customer segment and journey.
Evidence base
Mixed methods
- Funnel analysis located abandonment from the product-detail stage onward.
- Behavioral records and purchase histories refined the sample and outcome window.
- Interviews explained problems with information, passenger entry, comparison, inventory, pricing, and services.
- Destination surveys and NPS extended the analysis across the end-to-end journey.
Credibility and limits
The paper separates descriptive change from causal proof. Outbound Tours NPS improved from -35 to -21 in the initial period, returned to -32 by September 2022, and was positive in five of seven later reporting periods from November 2023 to May 2024.
The later series was not a controlled evaluation. The paper does not attribute the recovery to CROX alone, and it documents missing denominators, incomplete experiment records, qualitative sampling limits, and self-report bias.
Research foundation
The framework is positioned within mixed-methods research, human-centered design, customer journey research, UX measurement, and trustworthy online experimentation. The paper cites established work by Lazar, Olson and Kellogg, Rodden, Lemon and Verhoef, Kohavi, Braun and Clarke, and others.
CROX: A Mixed-Methods Framework for Diagnosing Conversion and Customer Experience Breakdowns in Digital Products. Retrospective online travel case study, 2022 to 2024.