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 Charlee-Mai McKane shares her journey. Charlee is Associate Consultant at the leading experimentation agency: Conversion, based in London, United Kingdom.
My biggest success in understanding my own Mental Health was building strategies and experimenting on which worked best, before I found my absolute must-dos in order to keep my Mental Health in top shape.
Charlee-Mai McKane
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello! I’m Charlee and I am a 23 year old University graduate living on a small island in the South of the United Kingdom called Guernsey.
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
I work at the leading experimentation agency, Conversion, as an Associate Consultant. My primary role involves working alongside my senior consultant in executing and overseeing our clients’ website experimentation strategies. This entails running the client experiment strategy end to end from; ideation, concepting, moving experiments into production and of course calling and reporting on the experiment results.
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation related role?
Shortly after completing Sixth Form, I was offered an Apprenticeship scheme with Specsavers, where I had the opportunity to rotate around their digital marketing team, learning each specialist channel whilst studying a Bachelor’s Degree with Solent University. It was on this Apprenticeship, that I was introduced to the big wide world of Conversion Rate Optimisation and Experimentation.
How did you start to learn experimentation?
The moment I was introduced to Conversion Rate Optimisation, I knew I had found the career for me. I immediately began having conversations with my manager at the time, regarding moving into a CRO focused role full time, and from there I never looked back. My day to day role became entirely focused on studying the fundamentals of CRO; just by following blog posts, reading online training materials and taking short and free courses. I did this whilst also assisting our CRO Manager in executing the experiment roadmap for Specsavers.
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life? (what are you tinkering with or always optimising?)
Outside of my working life I found passion in studying Psychology, and more specifically, Mental Health. This was something I originally began doing for my own personal benefit, before I realised they were skills I could use to help others. My biggest success in understanding my own Mental Health was building strategies and experimenting on which worked best, before I found my absolute must-dos in order to keep my Mental Health in top shape. This was trying to understand; What is the optimum time I should sleep? When should I exercise? How many times a week should I dedicate to myself and when should I see family and friends? Experimentation (literally) is my life!
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
I subscribe to a few industry blogs and newsletters, those with authority and those I can trust, to keep up to date with the latest tech and experimentation updates. Particularly in the last few months reading the process of migrating into GA4 and the inevitable take over of AI.
What recommendations would you give to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry and get their first full-time position?
If you are looking to join the experimentation industry with no, or little, prior experience in such a role; it is so important to know that the only things you need are passion and great soft skills. Soft skills such as good communication, reliability, good time and task management, and of course a willingness to keep learning. When I moved into my first role in the experimentation industry, I had just left school, but you’ll be surprised at how quick you will learn all the important stuff!
Which developments in experimentation excite you? How do you see the field changing in the next 5 to 10 years?
I’ve already spotted my Amazon Alexa running experiments on me, sending me push notifications to order more coffee. Whilst it did unnerve me that I had become so predictable that my Alexa knew I was due another Nespresso order… the idea of having a real life digital personal assistant excites me the most!
Is there anything people reading this can help you with? Or any parting words?
If you have a desire, passion or a dream, whether it is in your personal or professional life, absolutely work for it and make it happen! Even if you believe it can’t happen to you, I promise you it will. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn too should you have any questions or are interested in additional advice!
Which other experimenters would you love to read an interview by?
Thank you Charlee for sharing your journey and insights with the community.
