You realize there is probably no "good" answer to your question(s)...(?)
Here is my 2 cents:
There are only 2 opinions that matters:
The opinion of Mr. Supply and the opinion of Mr. Demand.
Everyone else's opinion is just a theory.
I see only 2 tools we can use: the ancient "trial and error process" and the "common sense".
You change something, you wait, you try to interpret the feedback you get, you make new changes based on the feedback and your interpretation and you repeat the whole process again...
The Mighty Gods of Marketing and Data Mining don't seem to serve very successfully their blind disciples and followers.