The goal of this interview series is to inspire and help people to transition their career into a new or next experimentation related role. In this edition Gintarė Forshaw shares her journey.
3 tips from Gintarė to keep up with the ever-changing industry: 1. Be open minded. 2. Become the customer. 3. Never stop learning
Gintarė Forshaw
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a co-founder of the consultancy Convertex Digital. We specialize in integrating SEO and CRO into one workstream, which is so often overlooked. My background is working in various digital agencies, in-house and freelancing which eventually turned into a full-time business. My background is in science and psychology, my first degree and job were in biomedicine and after a short while I’ve made a move into the CRO and consumer behavior world.
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
As part of my current role, my focus is experimentation, research and consumer behavior. Generally my work includes everything from running the business, pitching, organizing, executing research and analysis, running experiments and communicating with the clients.
Over the last few years I have also leaned into the well-being and health industry, now over 70% of my clients are in that sphere and I enjoy it more than ever before
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation related role?
I was working as a genetic technologist in a genetics lab utilizing my degree but I wasn’t happy and started looking into other areas I might enjoy working in. I was only in my early twenties, so I knew that I had nothing to lose. Meanwhile, I completed a short post grad qualification in Psychology where I learned about controlled experiments, statistics and some concepts which made me more curious. In addition to that, I had a blog and used to write from time to time which prompted me to explore digital careers. I like to think I was just really lucky because I interviewed only with one agency – David at User Conversion (Now Brainlabs) and they were at a very early stage of their journey back in 2015/2016, I was the 4th person employed (or should I say given a chance to!). Working with David Mannheim and learning most of the skills from him was a phenomenal experience, I will forever be grateful for him taking a chance on me and pushing me in the ways I didn’t know I needed. That was when I hung my lab coat up and never looked back.
How did you start to learn experimentation?
It was from the very first days in my first CRO job, that I was given the autonomy to perform certain tasks that are part of running a successful experiment like a well-oiled machine. I remember once I was put on QA duty for a month and even though it was a very long month, it taught me the importance of every single element having to be correct and fulfilled as requested by the initial brief, it almost made me so much more sensitive to bugs and mistakes.
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life?
I experiment mostly with my toddler, his sleeping patterns, personality and so much more. But on a more serious note, I think human existence is one big experiment with multi-faceted MVTs running all the time. Whether it’s intentional or not, we are always experimenting while making decisions. On a day to day basis, I find experimentation really important and interesting, especially when running a business – you never know what will work better so having a few options is useful and measuring the impact/result is how I do a lot of things
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
- Be open minded – a month of QA might not sound attractive to many who want to dig into analysis and insight generation but it is a very valuable experience, so be open and embrace whatever comes your way.
- Become the customer – I always say that looking at the quant data isn’t enough. We need to embed ourselves into the situations users are in, otherwise we are optimizing for the audience that doesn’t exist. Try and experience those real life issues that customers are facing – it will really change how you optimize the online experience. And remember that the latter doesn’t just start or finish on the site, understand that the customer behavior changes based on habits, patterns and intent.
- Never stop learning – I like to think of myself as a “forever learner” – I am currently finishing an MSc and already looking for something else to learn next. Learning broadens horizons and allows you to see different perspectives, so whether it’s a short course, a workshop or another degree, just give it a go, regardless of the seniority level or where you’re at in your career.
What recommendations would you give to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry and get their first full-time position?
I think in the next 5 years the industry will get stronger, more people will run really high quality experiments and we will finally leave the “button color CTA” tests in the past. But a decade is a long time and I do think that experimentation will probably merge to exist with another subject area such as product as a whole. I really hope that CRO and Experimentation will not be referred to as a channel anymore and gain a more prominent position in the business’s decision making process. I also think that consumers will become more immune to a lot of marketing tactics which will require more advanced and complex optimization efforts.
Which developments in experimentation excite you? How do you see the field changing in the next 5 to 10 years?
I’m extremely excited about people becoming more serious about using behavioral science in all different kinds of fields, and experimentation is one of them. The thing is, when people look at websites or online data, they sometimes don’t realize that behind every click and every scroll, there is a person doing this. To understand what your visitors really want, it’s not enough to know that they spend 1.34 minutes at your site, or that only 13% click on the main CTA in the hero. You need to understand what it is that your customers want, need, and search for. In order to really understand experimentation, you need to understand human behavior. And that’s why I think psychology (or any behavioral science) is a perfect background for an experimentation job. So what I hope will happen in the field is that employers will realize that it is a good idea to invest in people with solid backgrounds in behavioural science and empirical training.
Is there anything people reading this can help you with? Or any parting words?
I appreciate the opportunity to share my journey with the experimentation folk. Of course, if you are interested in help with experimentation or fancy a good old chat about psychology, reach out on Linkedin. I’ve never been very active on it but recently connected with a range of some very interesting people, so I always enjoy that.
Which other experimenters would you love to read an interview by?
I think some people would be great to hear from such as Talia Wolf, Chris Marsh, Chris Gibbins, Lucia van den Brink, Loredana Principessa.
Thank you Gintarė for sharing your journey and insights with the community.
