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 Els Aerts shares her journey. You can follow Els on LinkedIn, Twitter or via the AG Consult website.
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi there! My name is Els and I’m a user research advocate.
I’ve been doing user research and optimizing web sites and online applications for about 20 years. The work of Jakob Nielsen, Gerry McGovern and Steve Krug has been absolutely instrumental in my early years of UX research and optimization.At its core, I feel the essence of my work has remained the same over the course of my career. How can I help make customers happier and businesses more successful? For me, those things go hand in hand.
Of course my life is not all about user research and optimization. I’m also a bit of a foodie, 4×4 enthusiast, adopted Australian and ailurophile. And I like to expand people’s vocab by making them Google silly words like ailurophile.
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
I’m one of the founders of AGConsult, together with my business partner and great friend Karl Gilis. We’re a UX research and optimization agency based in Belgium.
Together with our team I help companies make better business decisions, based on research and experimentation.
I also share what I know about user research and optimization at inhouse trainings and conferences. If you’re going to NIO Summit in Dallas (USA) or Conversion Hotel in Texel (NL) this fall, come say hi!
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation related role?
I actually feel that my very first job, as a copywriter for a movie web site in the late 1990’s, was also my first job in experimentation.
Figuring out how to attract readers, getting them to read as many movie reviews as possible and making them subscribe to our daily (!) newsletter was how I learned to experiment and optimize.We didn’t do any AB-testing because we didn’t have the tools back then. Hell, we didn’t even have Google Analytics. We used a tool called Clicktracks to monitor and analyze traffic and user behavior. (If you know Clicktracks, hello fellow experimentation veteran! )
So that’s what we did: we analyzed the data, adjusted, measured again and kept optimizing. We also had a very loyal base subscribers who gave us lots of feedback on what they did and didn’t like.Fun detail: the company that owned the movie website was my current business partner Karl’s company. For a brief moment in time, he was my boss. That didn’t last very long. 😊
How did you start to learn experimentation?
By reading a lot about it and by sparring with valued colleagues. And by doing it, really. And doing it wrong at first. Because that’s part of learning.
I remember when AB-testing tools became more readily available on the market. It was really exciting. Finally we could see what the effect would be of a proposed change before actually implementing it.
What we quickly noticed was that AB-tests rooted in research had a higher success rate than tests based on our opinions or experience as UX experts. It was a very humbling time. 😊
This is what we still see today, that proper research is crucial for successful optimization. Especially if you work with clients who have a limited bandwidth for AB-testing.
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
A lot of reading and talking with trusted colleagues about their experiences.
I’m very lucky to be able to reach out to people like Ton Wesseling, April Dunford, Joanna Wiebe and Erin Weigel to get their take on things.
And of course, at AGConsult the very smart people in our team are always thinking about ways to optimize our processes and the methods we use. I learn a lot from them as well.
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: great decision! It’s a very interesting industry to be in.
I’d say: get a broad basic foundation in all the elements that make up our industry. You don’t have to know everything in-depth but it helps if you have a good grasp of the fundamentals.
Also: find a group of folks to exchange ideas with. I can highly recommend joining the Test & Learn Community, run by Kelly Wortham. It’s a very open space, free of judgement and you will meet the absolute smartest people to learn from. And if you identify as a woman, there’s also Women in Experimentation.
I’d also say: educate yourself about business. What you’ll be doing in experimentation is helping companies make better business decisions. Whatever it is you’re experimenting with should have a value for the business and their users.
How will AI change how experimenters work?
I’m all for using AI for repetitive tasks. I think it has great potential for data analysis.
And I’m really curious to see how much we will be able to leave to AI and where the human touch will remain important.Because I am convinced it will. As someone with roots in qualitative research, I would say that, wouldn’t I?
Do you want to share anything else?
If you can speak Dutch, hit me up if you’re looking for a job in experimentation.
We’re always looking for more smart people to join our team. 😊
Which other experimenters would you love to read an interview by?
Karl Gilis (AGConsult), Manuel DaCosta (Effective Experiments), Annemarie Klaassen (VodafoneZiggo), Kelly Anne Wortham (Test & Learn Community), Juliana Jackson (Technical Marketing Expert)
Thank you Els for sharing your journey with the community.
