How it works

One loop, start to finish.

A sample workspace for Velocita, a running-shoe store. Everything below is one pass of the loop on one product page: the map, the diagnosis, the variant, the test, and what happens to the result.

Sample data — illustrative figures, not a customer result

01Connect

One script tag, then it reads the product.

Nothing changes on your site during this step. Gradient is only looking: which pages exist, how visitors move between them, and which components sit on the path to a purchase.

Discover routesEvery page and screen a visitor can reach, crawled the way a customer walks it.
Observe journeysWhich paths people actually take, and where they stop taking them.
Join behaviourAnalytics, session signals, and order data joined to a single exposure record.
Classify componentsEvery component sorted into experimentable, approval required, or protected.

02Map

Every surface, joined to what it's worth.

Each screen is matched to its traffic, its behavioural signals, its component count, and how close it sits to revenue. That ranking is what decides where to look first.

84components analysed
5journey surfaces joined
23components on the focus surface

Product detail carries the most traffic and the largest commitment gap. Its purchase block is the first safe target.

Home page from the sample Velocita commerce journey
/

Home

Creates product discovery

Monthly traffic
18.4k
Components
16
GA4 sessionsLow
Collection page from the sample Velocita commerce journey
/collections/running

Collection

Moves shoppers into evaluation

Monthly traffic
12.2k
Components
14
Segment eventsMedium
Product detail page from the sample Velocita commerce journey
/products/pulse-3

Product detail

Primary purchase decision

Monthly traffic
42.0k
Components
23
Hotjar + GA4Primary focus
Cart page from the sample Velocita commerce journey
/cart

Cart

Confirms order value

Monthly traffic
3.1k
Components
11
Shopify eventsHigh
Checkout page from the sample Velocita commerce journey
/checkout

Checkout

Completes the transaction

Monthly traffic
1.6k
Components
20
Stripe + supportProtected
Detected focusMost purchase loss occurs between product detail and checkout.

03Classify

What it may touch is settled before it proposes anything.

Every component gets one of three classes. Protected components are never experimented on, whatever the opportunity looks like. You can move any component into a stricter class at any time.

The Velocita product page marked up as a component classification mapProduct storyPrice and offerCheckout logic

04Diagnose

Find the drop-off, then find its cause.

The funnel says where people leave. The diagnosis says why, and names the component responsible. Opportunities are then ranked on evidence, revenue proximity, and how risky the change is.

Sample mobile funnel

Product viewed100%
Size selected61%
Checkout started29%
Purchase completed18%
Observed evidence

Reassurance appears after commitment begins.

Delivery and exchange confidence sit below the size and purchase controls on the current mobile page.

Affected audience
First-time mobile visitors
Critical component
Primary purchase block
Permission
Experimentable
01

Resolve delivery doubt at the action

EvidenceStrong
ImpactHigh
RiskLow
02

Restore returning visitor configuration

EvidenceMedium
ImpactHigh
RiskLow
03

Clarify total delivery cost earlier

EvidenceMedium
ImpactMedium
RiskApproval
04

Reorder performance proof

EvidenceEarly
ImpactMedium
RiskLow

05Build

Real alternatives, with the original preserved.

Each variant is a different answer to the same diagnosis. Your existing component keeps running as the control, and price, cart, and checkout are untouched in all of them.

BeforeCurrent purchase block
Current Pulse 3 product page used as the experiment control

Delivery and exchange reassurance sit after the commitment point.

Improved componentVariant B: Decision first
Decision first product imagery for the Pulse 3 treatment
Pulse 3$129.99

Remove doubt at the action.

Reviews, fit confidence, delivery, exchanges, and size selection become one compact decision block.

Fit confidenceDelivery dateFree exchange policy
US 8US 8.5US 9

06Test

Launch on a contract, watch the guardrails.

Before any traffic moves, the change, the audience, the traffic share, the stop conditions, and the rollback path are all agreed. Then the numbers decide.

TreatmentVariant B
AudienceFirst-time mobile visitors
Primary measurePurchase conversion
Initial traffic10% sample
Automatic stopConversion loss or guardrail breach
RollbackOriginal component preserved
Purchase conversionVariant B separates from control
Example cumulative rate, seven days
Variant B 8.6%Control 8.0%18,420 users exposed
Guardrail health4 checks inside limits
Checkout errors0.18%under 0.50%
Refund requests2.7%under 3.2%
Average order value$124.20above $119
Page load p752.1sunder 2.5s

A breach pauses traffic and restores the preserved control component.

Where the answer comes from

Signals are joined before anyone sees a decision.

CommerceShopify + StripeOrders, revenue, refunds
AnalyticsGA4 + SegmentSessions, exposure, funnel
ExperienceHotjar + FullStoryRage clicks, replays, friction
Customer voiceZendesk + IntercomTickets, objections, themes
Identity + experiment joinOne cohort, one exposure record
OutputDecision, evidence, errors, and rollback state

This is a sample integration contract, not a claim that every connector is installed. Real coverage depends on what your stack already emits.

07Keep

Promote it, or revert it and keep the lesson.

A winner is promoted and the holdback keeps measuring it. A loser is reverted without a deploy. Either way the result is written down, so the next test does not re-learn it.

Sample winner

Variant B

Decision first

Confidence signals beside configuration will improve add-to-bag completion.

Conversion lift+7.5%Control: 8.0%
Revenue / visitor+8.1%Control: $18.42
Confidence95%Sample decision
Guardrails4 / 4All passing
Stored after promotion
AudienceFirst-time mobile visitors
SurfaceProduct detail / primary action
TreatmentVariant B: Decision first
Observed resultSample purchase conversion and revenue improved
Guardrail resultNo measured sample regression
Reusable principleResolve delivery uncertainty at the commitment point
Next recommended experiment

Show total delivery cost before checkout begins.

The opportunity map is re-ranked with the new learning and the same permission boundary. That is the loop starting again.

That loop, on your product.

Send us your site and we'll come to the call having done the first two stages already — the map, and what we think is costing you the most.

Book a call