#175 | Is CRO a real science?
Also: Save hundreds on your ticket to the Experimentation Island conference
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TL;DR
I get it. You don’t have time for another newsletter. Here’s the summary and the CTAs.
Our latest episode: Is CRO even a real science? Watch it here.
Optimization Jobs Update: We just added a Employee Sentiment filter to our job board. Try it out here.
Save on Experimentation Island: Save now! February 24/25/26, 2026. Learn more below.
Join our Slack: Get an invite today. But don’t spam or you’re banned.
Latest Jobs: Check out the latest openings at Growthneedle.com, Emma Sleep and more. See more jobs here.
News from Vendorland: We have news from Convert, Optimizely, Kameleoon, and Statsig
Thanks to our paid members!
Our latest episode: Is CRO even a real science?
Koalatative’s Gerda Thomas and Rommil are back answering your toughest (and vaguest) questions:
00:00 – What Is “Modern CRO” Anyway?
03:30 – How Do Teams & Agencies Succeed in Today’s CRO?
05:20 – How Do You Handle Terrible Stakeholder Ideas?
06:22 – How Should Beginners Break Into CRO Today?
10:36 – How Can a New CRO Agency Win RFPs Without Case Studies?
13:46 – Should CRO Expand Into Retention & Advocacy?
18:55 – How Do Teams Avoid Confirmation Bias?
21:32 – Is CRO a Real Science? (Be Honest.)
23:04 – What Does Good Experiment Structure Actually Look Like?
26:57 – What If Your Company Values SEO More Than CRO?
33:28 – How Should Teams Approach Hyper-Personalization Plugins?
40:41 – How Should We Even End This Podcast?
📢 We’re looking for guests to join our show - with a twist!
Instead of a standard interview, we want guests who have something to share with the CRO and experimentation community. This could be a short five-minute presentation, a case study, a new framework, or something you’re actively working on. You’ll kick things off by presenting for a few minutes, and that topic will then drive the rest of the conversation, complete with (hopefully) thoughtful discussion, friendly banter, and (hopefully) a few laughs. If you’re interested in appearing on the show, get in touch and tell us what you’d like to present here.
New Optimization Jobs Feature: Notes
On Optimization Jobs, each role includes an Employee Sentiment pill directly on the job card so candidates can quickly gauge company culture before clicking through. The rating looks at publicly available employee feedback to classify organizations’ company cultures as Positive, Mixed, or Questionable, helping experimenters avoid potential red flags. You can also use the Employee Sentiment filter to proactively include or exclude companies based on culture fit, making it easier to focus only on environments aligned with how you want to work.
Experimentation Island - February 24/25/26, 2026 - St. Simons Island, GA, US.
Experiment Nation is a proud media partner of Experimentation Island. Our members get a discount. Read more below.
#Ei2026 is not just another conference. It is an intentional retreat for mid-to-senior professionals in growth, product, data, and experimentation who are ready to reset their mindset, deepen cross-disciplinary collaboration & return with actionable clarity.
What to expect at #Ei2026?
Check out the video of the inaugural 2025 event. Last year, #Ei2025 received a +83 NPS, and a 9.5 (out of 10) user experience score.
World-class conversations: inspired by great single-track keynotes, during deep-dives in the attendee-run break-out sessions, and during all the designed networking time to move you beyond test execution into growth leadership, culture-building, decision science, and strategic use of AI in growth.
Community & Scale: A highly curated, diverse community limited to 150 mid-to-senior professionals, intentionally balanced across disciplines and branches, creating space for meaningful connections and shared growth.
A unique setting: Memorable evenings and informal gatherings in a serene setting: all meals, accommodations, and activities are included, so you can focus on learning, connections, and growth.
“By far the best conference I’ve ever attended in the States. Being ‘on an island’ was perfect; there’s as much together-time as you want, to learn from each other and build relationships. 10/10 recommend!”
Join the event – discount code & link:
Join the second edition of Experimentation island and be part of a community that’s shaping the future of optimization and experimentation. Tickets are all-inclusive: they include all activities, meals, and 2-night hotel stay - you can upgrade for room type, nights and shuttle service.
We have a $200 discount code for everyone: use “EXPjobs200” when registering. You can also use this direct ticket claim link, which will also add the additional $150 discount for in-house employees.
Join us on Slack (we don’t bite)
If you’re looking for a place where you can connect with other CROs either to talk shop, or simply shoot the sh*t - consider signing up to join our Slack. Why?
It’s a judgement-free zone. Leave the drama at home.
People are friendly.
Provide feedback on EN content, tools and events.
Get free CRO career advice
So feel free to drop in and say hi! Tell a friend or two.
You can join by signing via this form and we will send you an invite within 48 hours.
Jobs of the Week
From the Slack Community
CRO Account Manager (E-commerce)
📍 Growthneedle.com – Remote (UK GMT hours 9-5)
From Optimization Jobs by Experiment Nation
Find Optimization, Growth, and CRO jobs that other boards missed. With new jobs posted every hour - you will always find something new.
CRO Account Manager (E-commerce)
📍 Growthneedle.com – Remote (UK GMT hours 9-5)E-commerce Performance & Growth Manager
📍 Emma Sleep – LisbonGrowth Manager, Website CRO
📍 Ramp – New York, NY (HQ)Lead, User Growth Optimization
📍 Spotify – LondonGrowth Marketing Manager, Lifecycle - Taiwan
📍 Speak – TaipeiMarketing Science & Growth Lead
📍 Range – McLean, VA
To see more jobs, visit the Optimization Jobs board and explore 2000+ jobs from 400 companies from just the past 30 days that other boards may have missed.
From Experimentation Jobs
Looking for a new challenge in experimentation? Find 100+ experimentation related jobs on ExperimentationJobs.com. These jobs are from all over the world, on-site, fully remote or hybrid. Take a look and start pivoting your career.
This week’s featured roles:
Process & Optimization Lead (E-Store) at Samsung (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Technical SEO/GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) Manager at RBS (United Kingdom)
Mobile Senior iOS Engineer – Growth Experiments Team at Wolt (Berlin, Germany)
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) Expert – B2B at ING (Brussels, Belgium)
Sr Manager, Conversion Experimentation (CRO) at 2U (USA)
Are you hiring? Submit here
News from Vendorland
🏪 Vendorland
Convert (Q1) - Remove Data From Report within Range. When you’ve run an experiment but due to external factors, one or multiple days of data have been rendered unusable, this feature lets you manually remove a specific dataset from the experiment, keeping the rest intact.
Statsig (1/30) - Analyze Only Switchback [Beta]. WHN customers can now provide their own Switchback assignment data for a regression based analysis in Statsig. This allows users to have maximum flexibility by controlling their own assignment method while leveraging already existing metric data in Statsig.
Kameleoon (2/5) - Theme Builder. Now available for Beta users: Create a default theme to use in the Widget Studio and PBX. Choose or limit the amount of flexibility with the theme to create consistency across all widgets and PBX experiments.
Optimizely - Bayesian Stats Engine [In development]. A flexible and faster way to test. It tells you the probability that a variant is winning in real-time, so you don’t have to wait for a fixed end date. You have the flexibility to check theresults at any time.