Blinkist: 'Onboarding Best Practice' failed 😳

Blinkist: 'Onboarding Best Practice' failed 😳

Proven at brands like Kia, Montblanc, Blinkist, and Blacklane, Ioana’s framework shows how to implement experimentation that actually scales. Find it in this month’s newsletter: ⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠ in this episode... Ioana has built experimentation programs across industries (from automotive to luxury to tech) and she’s not just running tests, she’s building systems that scale learning. currently working as a product growth consultant at Blinkist, she turns experimentation into a true growth engine. this conversation isn’t about surface-level A/B tests. it’s about: → the 5-step framework to build an experimentation program from scratch → why “time to learn” beats perfection in high-performing teams → how to avoid false positives that can cost companies millions → why common “best practices” in CRO often fail in reality → using AI to generate hypotheses and accelerate experimentation Find Ioana & her cohort for women on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ioanaiordache/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ioanaiordache/]

My Job Title is ‘Head of Failure’ (& we do 50 Experiments /Month)

How do you pitch 50 experiments a month? ...by making them impossible to refuse. Steal Grace Miller’s framework for "tiny loss" proposals that guarantee a "Yes" from even the most risk-averse clients, it's in this month's newsletter: https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/ [https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/] in this episode… Grace Miller is building one of the most advanced experimentation cultures in media. she doesn’t just run tests; she turns entire teams into experimenters. as head of experimentation and failure at Flight Story, the company behind Diary of a CEO, she’s scaling experimentation across 15+ teams, from thumbnails to full customer journeys. it’s about: * how to build a culture where everyone runs experiments (not just one team) * “kill the guesswork”: using data to drive decisions across the entire business * why failure, rewards, and rituals (like experimenter of the week) accelerate growth * how to prioritize experiments that actually impact company KPIs * scaling learnings across brands, platforms, and audiences without forcing what doesn’t fit Find Grace on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-miller-linked-in/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-miller-linked-in/]

Stop Trying to Trigger Emotion: Do This Instead

If you enjoy learning about these topics, follow our newsletter to get all the frameworks and insights: https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/ [https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/] in this episode… Talia Wolf has been shaping the CRO industry since its earliest days. she doesn’t just run experiments; she decodes how people make decisions. as the creator of the emotional targeting framework, she’s helped companies move beyond surface-level optimization and into truly understanding what drives conversions: human behavior. it’s about: → why conversions are decisions, and how to reverse engineer them → emotional targeting: understanding pains, desires, and real customer motivations → how to turn customer research into high-impact experiment → creating emotional resonance by meeting users where they already are → getting buy-in: treating stakeholders like customers Find Talia on Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/taliagw [https://uk.linkedin.com/in/taliagw]

Use High Velocity as Stress Test while Scaling Experimentation

get Luiza's playbook in our newsletter: https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/ [https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/] apply to work with us: https://the-initial.com/ [https://the-initial.com/] in this episode... Luiza de Lange has taken companies from zero to over 100 experiments a year. she doesn't just run tests; she builds engines. currently leading experimentation at LeoVegas, she’s an award-winning practitioner who knows exactly where the "handshakes" fail in a growing business. this conversation isn’t about just tweaking button colors. it’s about: → how to move from "gut feeling" releases to validating every piece of code → why high velocity is actually the best way to audit your technical infrastructure → the "avoided loss" metric: how to prove you saved the company millions by not shipping → why "quantity improves quality" in the early stages of a culture shift → clarifying the raci: who is actually responsible for the hypothesis sign-off? Find Luiza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luizadelange/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/luizadelange/]

how a €1M mistake at Booking.com didn’t kill his career

Maarten van Pijpen spent 15 years at Booking.com. a place where experimentation wasn’t a project. it was the culture. now he’s chief growth officer at Unravel. a travel app that feels like TikTok, but lets you book instantly. in his first 35 days, he: – chose an experimentation tool – lined up 10 experiments – started building a data foundation but this conversation isn’t about tooling. it’s about: → how to move from top-down founder energy to bottom-up ownership → why shipping fast without tracking is dangerous → how a €1M mistake didn’t kill his career (but actually strengthened it) → why failures were celebrated at Booking → how to scale leadership so you’re not the bottleneck we talk about culture. trust. empowerment. and what it really takes to build a data-driven company — without killing speed. if you care about experimentation, growth, or leading teams in scale-ups and how all of these dynamics work, this podcast is for you.