Why? (Finding answers to questions about increasing conversion/decreasing drop-off)

The following are goals we've heard involving the question "Why?":

• "Abandon rates are high."
• "Why do customers download the app and never open it again?"
• "Users register, but never return."
• "Increase the conversion rate of registrations and subscriptions in our app."
• "Our analytics quantitative data says what, but not why."
• "Sales went down when we redesigned the site."
• "Our customer reviews are bad and we want to understand why."

Very often, there is quantitative data available that describes what is going on, but there are no clear insights as to why. While bad usability will probably impact conversions negatively, good usability is only one factor of many that can contribute to increased conversions or decreased drop-off rates. The UX researcher needs to ensure that the stakeholders understand this, in order to set the right expectations.