Start with the beliefs that would change the site if they turned out to be wrong. Those are beliefs about who the buyer is, which offer they want, what information they need before they act, and what they'll do next. Write each one as a statement that evidence could contradict. Beside it, record the evidence you already hold, then choose research that could prove the statement wrong.
\nEach kind of research establishes something different. An interview gives you the reasons a buyer reports for a decision. Watching someone attempt a task shows what they do on the site. A controlled comparison between two versions of a page estimates what a change did, under the conditions of that test.
\n","summary":"Fundamental assumptions are the beliefs about buyers, offers, information and next steps that would change the site if they were wrong. Identify them by asking what each plan item requires to be true, write each as a statement evidence could contradict, and match the research to what the belief claims.","publishedAt":"2026-08-18T14:26:35.491","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-10-10T07:33:06.974","nextReviewDueAt":"2026-12-14T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["GDD fundamental assumptions","growth driven design assumptions","how to validate website strategy assumptions","testing assumptions in growth-driven design","fundamental assumptions website redesign","GDD hypothesis validation","user behavior assumptions web design","how to identify website strategy assumptions","validate assumptions launchpad website","what to do when a website assumption fails","GDD strategy phase assumptions","observation vs causal evidence website testing"],"confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"dc83f9a1-5273-4639-bffb-43d5fa44c2bf","slug":"lean-labs","displayName":"Lean Labs","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":null,"contributorPerson":null,"sections":[{"id":"7e59fa3b-3637-4645-ae0f-5fe8815818c9","sectionKey":"which_beliefs_count_as_fundamental","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Which beliefs count as fundamental","introMarkdown":"[The method's description of the strategy stage](https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/how-it-works/website-strategy) connects three things to an implementation plan: what the audience needs, what the business wants the site to achieve, and a wishlist of ideas. Each connection depends on a belief. The plan says to rebuild the pricing page first because someone believes buyers leave there. The homepage leads with a certain problem because someone believes that problem is why buyers start looking.\n\nA useful test is to ask what you'd build differently if the belief were false, and what it would cost to have built the wrong thing. A belief that decides which pages exist, which offer leads or what the homepage says first carries a large consequence. Rank by that consequence and not by the size of the edit, because a small change on the page where buyers decide can matter more than a large one elsewhere.\n\nYou find these beliefs by reading the plan one item at a time and asking what has to be true for that item to be the right work. Several items can rest on the same belief. That raises its consequence, because more of the build depends on it.","introHtml":"The method's description of the strategy stage connects three things to an implementation plan: what the audience needs, what the business wants the site to achieve, and a wishlist of ideas. Each connection depends on a belief. The plan says to rebuild the pricing page first because someone believes buyers leave there. The homepage leads with a certain problem because someone believes that problem is why buyers start looking.
\nA useful test is to ask what you'd build differently if the belief were false, and what it would cost to have built the wrong thing. A belief that decides which pages exist, which offer leads or what the homepage says first carries a large consequence. Rank by that consequence and not by the size of the edit, because a small change on the page where buyers decide can matter more than a large one elsewhere.
\nYou find these beliefs by reading the plan one item at a time and asking what has to be true for that item to be the right work. Several items can rest on the same belief. That raises its consequence, because more of the build depends on it.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"97d8a093-034e-4ded-926d-7a3cd4d9b42a","sectionKey":"writing_an_assumption_so_evidence_can_challenge_it","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Writing an assumption so evidence can challenge it","introMarkdown":"\"Our buyers care about integrations\" is hard to test, because so many different results are consistent with it. Compare a version that names a person, a situation and a consequence: \"Operations managers comparing us with a competitor want to confirm we connect to their accounting system before they'll book a demo.\" Ask operations managers about that belief, and use a page test to evaluate the change it leads to.\n\nA belief backed by a dozen sales calls and a belief that started as one person's opinion look identical in a strategy document. Writing the source beside each one shows which beliefs need research first.\n\nCustomers, sales and support can each challenge these beliefs. [Lean Labs' article on the three stages](https://www.leanlabs.com/blog/three-stages-of-growth-driven-design) recommends talking with all three groups during strategy. In its account, customers can explain why they chose to buy, and sales reps hear the objections and questions prospects raise before signing. Support staff learn where new customers get confused.\n\nThe views overlap, and that helps. A belief about what stops a purchase can be put to sales and to customers, and the two answers compared. The same article gives a check to run before design starts. Show the draft messaging to those three groups and see whether they recognize the questions as the ones prospects ask. We go further into that research in how Jobs to Be Done and user research shape a strategy.","introHtml":""Our buyers care about integrations" is hard to test, because so many different results are consistent with it. Compare a version that names a person, a situation and a consequence: "Operations managers comparing us with a competitor want to confirm we connect to their accounting system before they'll book a demo." Ask operations managers about that belief, and use a page test to evaluate the change it leads to.
\nA belief backed by a dozen sales calls and a belief that started as one person's opinion look identical in a strategy document. Writing the source beside each one shows which beliefs need research first.
\nCustomers, sales and support can each challenge these beliefs. Lean Labs' article on the three stages recommends talking with all three groups during strategy. In its account, customers can explain why they chose to buy, and sales reps hear the objections and questions prospects raise before signing. Support staff learn where new customers get confused.
\nThe views overlap, and that helps. A belief about what stops a purchase can be put to sales and to customers, and the two answers compared. The same article gives a check to run before design starts. Show the draft messaging to those three groups and see whether they recognize the questions as the ones prospects ask. We go further into that research in how Jobs to Be Done and user research shape a strategy.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"36038919-568d-45c5-8015-ea2ffe52770d","sectionKey":"what_each_kind_of_research_can_tell_you","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"What each kind of research can tell you","introMarkdown":null,"introHtml":null,"outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Interviews with buyers, sales and support","The reasons buyers give for a decision, and what sales and support hear from them","How many buyers share that reason, and what they do on the page"]},{"cells":["Watching people attempt a task","Where they hesitate, what they look for and whether they finish","Why, beyond what they tell you when asked"]},{"cells":["Heatmaps, recordings and analytics","What visitors did and where they left","What they intended"]},{"cells":["A controlled comparison of two page versions","Which version produced more of a counted action during the test","Why it won, and whether the result holds on other pages or for other audiences"]}],"columns":["Research","What it can tell you","What it leaves open"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"3352f22a-f661-467e-ace2-7e9275ed6e2a","sectionKey":"matching_the_research_to_the_question","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Matching the research to the question","introMarkdown":"[The method's page on UX research](https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/web-design/ux-research) starts from a question about a difficulty you've seen users have. You then pick a kind of research and interpret what it finds. The page lists interviews, surveys and task-based testing, then heatmaps and session recordings, then analytics such as events and funnels.\n\nThe choice follows from what the assumption claims. A belief about motive is best put to people who can describe their own decisions. A belief about behavior calls for watching someone do the task, or for a record of what visitors did. A click on a heatmap shows where someone clicked, and leaves open what they hoped to find there.\n\nBefore you choose the variations for a comparison, we'd investigate the cause, because a comparison can only choose among the versions you built. [Jen Cardello's article for Nielsen Norman Group](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ab-testing-and-ux-research/) illustrates this with a loan application. A team that assumes people quit because the form has too many screens will test shorter forms. If the actual problem is that applicants can't find the interest rate, every variation misses it, and the test reports only which miss did best. Looking into the cause first gives the variations a better chance of addressing the actual problem.\n\nTesting tools handle the mechanics of the comparison. [HubSpot's page test](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/website-pages/run-an-a-b-test-on-your-page), available on Content Hub Professional and Enterprise, serves two versions at the same URL and sends half of the visitors to each. The tool splits the traffic and counts the results. Choosing a variation that addresses the reason people were leaving is the team's job.","introHtml":"The method's page on UX research starts from a question about a difficulty you've seen users have. You then pick a kind of research and interpret what it finds. The page lists interviews, surveys and task-based testing, then heatmaps and session recordings, then analytics such as events and funnels.
\nThe choice follows from what the assumption claims. A belief about motive is best put to people who can describe their own decisions. A belief about behavior calls for watching someone do the task, or for a record of what visitors did. A click on a heatmap shows where someone clicked, and leaves open what they hoped to find there.
\nBefore you choose the variations for a comparison, we'd investigate the cause, because a comparison can only choose among the versions you built. Jen Cardello's article for Nielsen Norman Group illustrates this with a loan application. A team that assumes people quit because the form has too many screens will test shorter forms. If the actual problem is that applicants can't find the interest rate, every variation misses it, and the test reports only which miss did best. Looking into the cause first gives the variations a better chance of addressing the actual problem.
\nTesting tools handle the mechanics of the comparison. HubSpot's page test, available on Content Hub Professional and Enterprise, serves two versions at the same URL and sends half of the visitors to each. The tool splits the traffic and counts the results. Choosing a variation that addresses the reason people were leaving is the team's job.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"4f6b58da-5ace-4180-8652-74b0741add03","sectionKey":"one_assumption_from_observation_to_proposed_change","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"One assumption, from observation to proposed change","introMarkdown":"Suppose a company sells payroll software to restaurant groups. Its analytics show that most visitors who reach the pricing page leave without requesting a quote. That is the observation, and it's the only part the team knows.\n\nThe team's explanation is that buyers leave because the page shows no price. Written so it can be challenged, it reads: \"Restaurant operators comparing payroll vendors leave our pricing page because they can't see a starting price.\" The proposed change is to publish one.\n\nBefore building anything, the team looks for evidence that could contradict the explanation. Suppose they interview recent customers and a few prospects who chose a competitor. They also watch several people try to work out from the page what the product would cost them. Suppose the interviews keep returning to a different worry, which is whether setup and tip reporting are included or billed separately. In the task sessions, people scroll past the plan names and say they are looking for what is included.\n\nThe observation hasn't changed, but the explanation has. The proposed change is now a section stating what each plan includes, and the starting price moves down the list.\n\nSuppose the page has enough traffic for the team to compare the new version with the current one, and the new version brings more quote requests during the test. That supports the change on this page, for these visitors. It doesn't establish that setup is every buyer's main concern, and the team records the result with that limit. We cover how to frame and run the comparison in [how to turn user insights into hypotheses and experiments](https://www.answerstack.io/q/gdd-hypotheses-experiments).","introHtml":"Suppose a company sells payroll software to restaurant groups. Its analytics show that most visitors who reach the pricing page leave without requesting a quote. That is the observation, and it's the only part the team knows.
\nThe team's explanation is that buyers leave because the page shows no price. Written so it can be challenged, it reads: "Restaurant operators comparing payroll vendors leave our pricing page because they can't see a starting price." The proposed change is to publish one.
\nBefore building anything, the team looks for evidence that could contradict the explanation. Suppose they interview recent customers and a few prospects who chose a competitor. They also watch several people try to work out from the page what the product would cost them. Suppose the interviews keep returning to a different worry, which is whether setup and tip reporting are included or billed separately. In the task sessions, people scroll past the plan names and say they are looking for what is included.
\nThe observation hasn't changed, but the explanation has. The proposed change is now a section stating what each plan includes, and the starting price moves down the list.
\nSuppose the page has enough traffic for the team to compare the new version with the current one, and the new version brings more quote requests during the test. That supports the change on this page, for these visitors. It doesn't establish that setup is every buyer's main concern, and the team records the result with that limit. We cover how to frame and run the comparison in how to turn user insights into hypotheses and experiments.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"bdccc62e-e834-42e1-b350-7bbaaf5fba4c","sectionKey":"what_counts_as_validated","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What counts as validated","introMarkdown":"No set number of interviews or visitors settles an assumption. What you can state is what the evidence behind it is able to establish.\n\nA controlled comparison estimates the effect of one change on one counted action, and it says little about motive. Interviews and observed tasks show what people reported and what they did. That suits a belief about reasons, or about where a task breaks down. It doesn't estimate how a change will perform across all of a page's visitors.\n\nSo record each belief with the kind of evidence it has, and check that the evidence fits what the belief claims. A winning page test alone leaves a belief about motive unconfirmed.\n\nSome pages won't get a comparison. How long a test needs depends on the page's traffic and on how visitors behave, as [Webflow's testing documentation](https://help.webflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/34167315737491-Create-a-test-optimization) notes. On a page with few visitors, that can be longer than the decision can wait. The team then decides on the interviews and the observed sessions, and labels the belief with the evidence it has.\n\nThe list stays open after launch. [The method's improvement cycle](https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/how-it-works/continuous-improvement) ends each round by learning from the data and passing the findings to marketing, sales and service. That is the point to update the assumptions. [Lean Labs' growth-driven design service](https://www.leanlabs.com/solutions/growth-driven-design) shows where new evidence comes from: it draws on page behavior, form and conversion behavior, CRM lifecycle stages and sales feedback. Any of those can contradict a belief that looked sound at launch.\n\nWhen a belief fails, trace it back to the plan. Look again at the priorities that depended on it before you commit the next cycle's work.","introHtml":"No set number of interviews or visitors settles an assumption. What you can state is what the evidence behind it is able to establish.
\nA controlled comparison estimates the effect of one change on one counted action, and it says little about motive. Interviews and observed tasks show what people reported and what they did. That suits a belief about reasons, or about where a task breaks down. It doesn't estimate how a change will perform across all of a page's visitors.
\nSo record each belief with the kind of evidence it has, and check that the evidence fits what the belief claims. A winning page test alone leaves a belief about motive unconfirmed.
\nSome pages won't get a comparison. How long a test needs depends on the page's traffic and on how visitors behave, as Webflow's testing documentation notes. On a page with few visitors, that can be longer than the decision can wait. The team then decides on the interviews and the observed sessions, and labels the belief with the evidence it has.
\nThe list stays open after launch. The method's improvement cycle ends each round by learning from the data and passing the findings to marketing, sales and service. That is the point to update the assumptions. Lean Labs' growth-driven design service shows where new evidence comes from: it draws on page behavior, form and conversion behavior, CRM lifecycle stages and sales feedback. Any of those can contradict a belief that looked sound at launch.
\nWhen a belief fails, trace it back to the plan. Look again at the priorities that depended on it before you commit the next cycle's work.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60}],"citations":[{"title":"Growth Driven Design: Website Strategy","url":"https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/how-it-works/website-strategy","excerpt":"Putting strategy before tactics enables you to take an organized wishlist of ideas and turn them into an actionable implementation plan.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Methodology owner's description of the strategy stage: objectives set before tactics, customer research used to shape the site around the end customer, and an organized wishlist of ideas turned into an actionable implementation plan. Disclosure: growthdrivendesign.com is a HubSpot property, and cont","domain":"growthdrivendesign.com","publisherName":"GrowthDrivenDesign.com"},{"title":"Continuous Improvement","url":"https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/how-it-works/continuous-improvement","excerpt":"Optimizations are not blind guesses. They're driven by data and proven by data.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"The sprint cycle of plan, build, learn, and transfer; one focus metric per plan step with the highest-impact ideas prioritized into a time-boxed build; and the transfer of learnings to marketing, sales, and service. Also the methodology's stated evidence standard for optimizations. Disclosure: growt","domain":"growthdrivendesign.com","publisherName":"GrowthDrivenDesign.com"},{"title":"Growth-Driven Design for Websites","url":"https://www.impactplus.com/growth-driven-design","excerpt":"You will use these assumptions to explain user behavior and motivation, which will heavily influence the next step -- global and page strategy.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Defines fundamental assumptions as the explanations of user behavior and motivation that heavily influence the next step, global and page strategy; gives the examples used here (value propositions per offer, devices and locations, information users search for); places assumptions among the six strat","domain":"impactplus.com","publisherName":"IMPACT"},{"title":"A/B testing","url":"https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/ab-testing/","excerpt":"Statistical significance tells you if your test results are reliable or just random chance.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Definition and mechanics of a controlled comparison: a control and a variation, traffic split at random, results read through a statistical engine, with statistical significance as the test of whether a result is reliable or random chance. Also the warning that segments too small to support signific","domain":"optimizely.com","publisherName":"Optimizely"},{"title":"Define Stronger A/B Test Variations Through UX Research","url":"https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ab-testing-and-ux-research/","excerpt":"Making incorrect assumptions about what caused an issue translates to a design variation that doesn't address the problem.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Jen Cardello, April 20, 2014. Establishes that an incorrect assumption about what caused an issue produces a design variation that does not address the problem and cannot be fixed by tweaking it; that A/B testing only finds the best option among the variations available; and that user research is th","domain":"nngroup.com","publisherName":"Nielsen Norman Group"},{"title":"Putting A/B Testing in Its Place","url":"https://www.nngroup.com/articles/putting-ab-testing-in-its-place/","excerpt":"The biggest problem with A/B testing is that you don't know why you get the measured results.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Jakob Nielsen, August 14, 2005. Establishes the method's limits used here: A/B testing needs one clear goal measurable by counting user actions, so outcomes such as being placed on a shortlist for a later purchase fall outside it; it works only on fully implemented designs, which caps how many ideas","domain":"nngroup.com","publisherName":"Nielsen Norman Group"},{"title":"The three stages of growth-driven design: strategy, launchpad, and continuous improvement","url":"https://www.leanlabs.com/blog/three-stages-of-growth-driven-design","excerpt":"Each test needs to run until it reaches statistical significance. Declaring a winner after 50 visits isn't testing, it's guessing.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"CONTRIBUTOR","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Contributor's own practice and published ranges, used only inside the contributor perspective: HubSpot builds since 2013; ICE prioritization scored 1 to 10 on impact, confidence, and ease; a weekly or biweekly sales feedback sync; its position that sites under 1,000 visits per month will not reach s","domain":"leanlabs.com","publisherName":"Lean Labs"}],"revisions":[{"revisedAt":"2026-07-17T14:26:35.491+00:00","versionLabel":"Originally published","note":"","reviewedBy":null}],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"3d083dc8-04bf-4e44-acb9-f13e7060381e","slug":"what-is-design-driven-growth","question":"What is design-driven growth, and how can strategic design drive business growth?","publishedAt":"2026-09-23T00:47:02.738","confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"growth-driven-design","label":"Growth-Driven Design","description":null,"schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"dc83f9a1-5273-4639-bffb-43d5fa44c2bf","slug":"lean-labs","displayName":"Lean Labs","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Design-driven growth is growth that comes from shaping a product, service or website around user needs and a business goal. Strategic design can drive it when research, the design response and a business measure stay connected. It is a broader idea than growth-driven design, the named three-stage website method.","url":"/q/what-is-design-driven-growth"},{"id":"c18b70fe-5926-46ca-b21b-550c9b03d02c","slug":"gdd-on-hubspot-cms","question":"How do you build a growth-driven design website on HubSpot CMS?","publishedAt":"2026-09-07T14:26:15.656","confidenceScore":86,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"growth-driven-design","label":"Growth-Driven Design","description":null,"schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"dc83f9a1-5273-4639-bffb-43d5fa44c2bf","slug":"lean-labs","displayName":"Lean Labs","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Growth-driven design on HubSpot follows the method's order: strategy, a launchpad site, then improvement cycles. The theme sets which changes editors can make, content staging prepares larger changes while shared assets stay connected to live pages, and page A/B testing on Content Hub Professional and Enterprise compares two versions.","url":"/q/gdd-on-hubspot-cms"},{"id":"6ac7d9be-c9e3-4392-bfce-ccb83fa10923","slug":"evaluate-roi-driven-web-design","question":"How should high-growth companies evaluate ROI-driven website design services?","publishedAt":"2026-09-04T14:26:05.645","confidenceScore":75,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"growth-driven-design","label":"Growth-Driven Design","description":null,"schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"dc83f9a1-5273-4639-bffb-43d5fa44c2bf","slug":"lean-labs","displayName":"Lean Labs","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Treat the service as an investment and test it with your own figures: the full cost over a set period, the extra customers needed to cover it, and an agreed way to tell whether the website caused them. Then check the evidence behind the agency's past results, what you will own, and what the work keeps costing.","url":"/q/evaluate-roi-driven-web-design"},{"id":"2f1e68a4-9d9f-4790-aef0-d29edc53761f","slug":"build-custom-gdd-website","question":"How do you build and develop a custom growth-driven design website?","publishedAt":"2026-09-02T14:25:59.899","confidenceScore":75,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"growth-driven-design","label":"Growth-Driven Design","description":null,"schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"dc83f9a1-5273-4639-bffb-43d5fa44c2bf","slug":"lean-labs","displayName":"Lean Labs","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"You build a custom growth-driven design website by deciding what the site must do for your buyers and business, launching a smaller launchpad site that covers the top of that ranked list, and continuing to develop it in sprints from what real visitors do. Custom refers to the strategy, messaging, design and build choices made for your buyers, not to finishing every page before launch.","url":"/q/build-custom-gdd-website"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":46,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"How do you identify and validate the fundamental assumptions behind a growth-driven design strategy?","text":"How do you identify and validate the fundamental assumptions behind a growth-driven design strategy?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/validate-gdd-fundamental-assumptions","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-08-18T14:26:35.491","about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Growth-Driven Design"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Digital Marketing"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Start with the beliefs that would change the site if they turned out to be wrong. Those are beliefs about who the buyer is, which offer they want, what information they need before they act, and what they'll do next. Write each one as a statement that evidence could contradict. Beside it, record the evidence you already hold, then choose research that could prove the statement wrong. Each kind of research establishes something different. An interview gives you the reasons a buyer reports for a decision. Watching someone attempt a task shows what they do on the site. A controlled comparison between two versions of a page estimates what a change did, under the conditions of that test.","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/validate-gdd-fundamental-assumptions","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-08-18T14:26:35.491","dateModified":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Growth Driven Design: Website Strategy","url":"https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/how-it-works/website-strategy"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Continuous Improvement","url":"https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/how-it-works/continuous-improvement"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Growth-Driven Design for Websites","url":"https://www.impactplus.com/growth-driven-design"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"A/B testing","url":"https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/ab-testing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Define Stronger A/B Test Variations Through UX Research","url":"https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ab-testing-and-ux-research/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Putting A/B Testing in Its Place","url":"https://www.nngroup.com/articles/putting-ab-testing-in-its-place/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"The three stages of growth-driven design: strategy, launchpad, and continuous improvement","url":"https://www.leanlabs.com/blog/three-stages-of-growth-driven-design"}]}}}