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 Dorian Crespo Gonzalez shares her journey. She is currently a Personalisation & Experimentation Specialist at Samsung, but will be relocating back to Mexico in September. Dorian is open to new roles in experimentation, CRO, or digital product optimization. Remote-first or hybrid would be ideal. Feel free to reach out to her.
Don’t wait until you “know everything.” You’ll never feel fully ready, and that’s okay. What matters most in experimentation is curiosity, critical thinking, and the willingness to learn.
Dorian Crespo Gonzalez
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi! I’m Dorian, originally from Mexico but living in the Netherlands since 2019. I studied Mechatronic Engineering back home and later moved into the digital world with a Master’s in Digital Business & Innovation at Nyenrode. I’m a dog lover, a total foodie, and I absolutely love dancing.
I’m also neurodivergent, which plays a big role in how I see and interact with the world. My mind is always overthinking scenarios, scanning for patterns and looking for ways to improve things. I question everything, and I love diving deep into how people think and why they make certain choices. That curiosity and need to optimise is precisely what pulled me into experimentation. In a way, experimentation gave structure to how my brain already works, allowing me to test ideas, identify friction points, and constantly iterate.
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
I currently work at Samsung as a Personalisation & Experimentation Specialist for the BENELUX market. I run A/B tests across all product divisions, from the newest smartphones to refrigerators and washing machines. One day I’m optimising the PDP of a just-launched Galaxy phone, the next I’m testing a landing page for home appliances.
A big part of my role now is focused on personalisation, which I find super interesting. Because before we go live with a personalised experience, especially during peak moments like Black Friday, I need to be sure it actually improves conversion. So I don’t just launch ideas; I test and validate them. I’m in charge of the full personalisation strategy: from the initial idea, through hypothesis building, all the way to execution and go-live. It’s super hands-on and gives me a lot of space to experiment (literally) and learn!
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation-related role? Share your origin story here.
My path into experimentation didn’t start with a job… it started with rats. Back when I was studying Mechatronic Engineering, we had a course where we learned about logic structures, operators, and coding, you know, if-else statements and all that. But the twist? We also studied conditioning. We trained rats using reward and punishment to teach them how to push buttons or even drive tiny cars in order to obtain food. That class completely blew my mind. It made me question if I had picked the wrong major; maybe I was supposed to study psychology.
What stuck with me was the idea that you could observe behaviour, adjust variables, and actually learn how decision-making worked, not just in animals, but in humans too. Later, during my bachelor’s studies, we developed a video game based on those same conditioning principles. That connection between tech, behaviour, and interaction got me hooked.
However, my first actual experimentation job came years later at YourSurprise, where I had the chance to work closely with the amazing team from Online Dialogue. That was when I really dove into the beautiful world of A/B testing, hypotheses, behavioural insights, and structured experimentation. And honestly, I haven’t looked back since.
How did you start to learn experimentation?
I actually started learning about experimentation while working as a social media marketer. I was setting up Meta campaigns, testing ad creatives and copy, those were technically my first A/B tests, even if I didn’t call them that back then. I realized I loved the process of testing, tweaking, and trying to understand why certain versions performed better than others.
Then, when YourSurprise offered me the chance to become a CRO Specialist, I immediately said yes, it sounded like the perfect mix of strategy, behavior, and data. That’s when I really started to go deep. I took courses at CXL, and I was lucky to have mentoring sessions with Desiree van der Horst from Online Dialogue. She introduced me to the structured side of experimentation and helped me connect the dots between curiosity, psychology, and methodology.
She also told me I was good at it, and that maybe I should make it my full-time thing. Turns out, she was right. I fell in love with it.
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life? (what are you tinkering with or always optimizing?)
For me, experimentation is not just a work skill, it’s how I navigate the world. Being neurodivergent, I’ve always had to figure things out a bit differently. What works for most people often doesn’t work for me, so I’ve learned to treat life as a series of tests, with curiosity, not judgment.
Even in my relationships, I experiment with how I communicate, testing tone, structure, and even the wording of a message to see what creates the best connection. Living between cultures (Mexico and the Netherlands), I’ve also had to test what “normal” even looks like for me.
And of course, with my Akita, it’s a full-on experimentation lab. From the best training routines to which shampoo keeps his coat soft without overstimulating him, it’s all a cycle of observing, adjusting, learning.
So yeah, I guess I don’t “apply” experimentation to my personal life, I live it.
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
To be honest, sometimes I panic a little, it can feel like the world is moving way too fast. I keep up by taking courses on the weekends or reading about new tools and frameworks. But then there are moments when I need to step back and remind myself: it’s okay not to know everything.
I do my best to stay updated, but when it becomes overwhelming (which, with the internet, happens frequently), I take a pause and focus on what truly matters for the work I’m doing now. Yes, AI and all these insane tech innovations are out there, and I’m genuinely curious about them, but at the same time, I ask myself: how many companies are actually using these things well?
I think it’s crucial to balance learning with perspective. The industry evolves fast, but implementation usually takes longer. So I focus on continuous learning, but without burning out. There’s always time to catch up, as long as you stay curious.
What recommendations would you give to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry and get their first full-time position?
First of all: don’t wait until you “know everything.” You’ll never feel fully ready, and that’s okay. What matters most in experimentation is curiosity, critical thinking, and the willingness to learn.
Start by getting hands-on. You don’t need to be in an official CRO role to experiment, if you’re in marketing, product, or UX, start running small tests or analysing behaviour. Take online courses (CXL Conversion Optimisation minidegree is great or The complete Conversion Rate Optimisation course from Ruben de Boer), read case studies, follow people in the field, and just start doing.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of community. Reach out to people, ask questions, and find mentors. In my case, I was fortunate to have people like Desiree van der Horst and Lucia van den Brink, who believed in me and helped me grow. And that made a huge difference.
Which developments in experimentation excite you? How do you see the field changing in the next 5 to 10 years? What will stay the same? What’s not going to change in the next ten years?
I’m really excited about how experimentation is becoming more connected with personalization and AI. But at the same time, I think we need to be careful. More tech doesn’t always mean better decisions. Ultimately, experimentation is still about understanding people. Their behaviour, their context, their irrationality.
In 5 to 10 years, I think more companies will finally realise that experimentation is not “just a CRO thing” but something that should be part of product, design, content, everything. Tools will get smarter, but the real challenge (and opportunity) will still be in asking the right questions. That’s something no AI will fully replace.
While the tooling and data capabilities will evolve rapidly, I believe what will remain constant is the need for empathy, critical thinking, and a strong testing culture.
Is there anything people reading this can help you with? Or any parting words?
I’d love to connect with others who are just as curious about human behaviour, personalisation, and experimentation as I am, especially if you’re also navigating this industry in your own unique way. Neurodivergent? Figuring it out as you go? Same here. Let’s talk.
Also, if you’re doing something weird, creative, or a little unconventional in this space — I want to hear about it. I love learning through real stories.
✈️ Quick note: I’m relocating back to Mexico in September and open to new roles in experimentation, CRO, or digital product optimization. Remote-first or hybrid would be ideal. Feel free to reach out!
Which other experimenters would you love to read an interview by?
Desiree van der Horst, Raquel Serrano and Florien Cramwinckel.
Thank you Dorian for sharing your journey and insights.
