Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Get Your Whole Team Testing to Design for Impact
Summary
Experimentation can be intimidating to non-data science folk. But Erin wants to get everyone excited about A/B testing. In this talk, Erin shares the Conversion Design process. It centers A/B testing as a way to gather high-quality evidence to make highly informed decisions to improve your digital product. She also introduces the Good Experimental Design toolkit. These easy-to-follow templates usher teams through the logic needed to design trustworthy experiments that you can learn from.
Key Insights
-
•
Conversion design combines design, science, and business to intentionally create measurable improvements, not just arbitrary changes.
-
•
Ronald Fisher’s 1919 work exposed how poor experimental design led to decades of unreliable scientific data.
-
•
Conversion originates from the Latin word meaning to transform or change, which is broader than just sales or profit.
-
•
Traditional linear product development processes miss the complex, iterative nature of real-world systems.
-
•
Systems thinking offers a more accurate way to understand and manage design experiments within interconnected environments.
-
•
A rigorous conversion design process includes seven phases: understand, hypothesize, prioritize, create, test, analyze, and decide.
-
•
Experiments grounded in well-documented hypotheses based on research have higher success rates than guesses.
-
•
Randomized 50/50 AB testing is the gold standard for isolating the true effect of design changes by evenly distributing confounds.
-
•
Experimentation buckets—product foundations, content/motivation, accessibility/usability, and bug fixes—help prioritize work effectively.
-
•
Ethical considerations and guardrail metrics are crucial to ensure changes benefit all stakeholders sustainably and without manipulation.
Notable Quotes
"Conversion means change, not just sales or profit."
"Design is the rendering of intent — bringing ideas into form that solve the problem."
"Decades worth of agricultural experimental data was garbage because of poor experimental design."
"Most product teams stay on the bottom rungs of evidence, relying on opinions or observational data instead of randomized trials."
"You can never purely test an idea, only the implementation of the idea."
"Randomization is magic — it evenly distributes confounds so the observed effect is caused by your change."
"Not all changes create value; some do nothing or even make things worse."
"You have to think critically about how a change impacts all stakeholders, not just the main business metric."
"Ethics evolve faster than laws; just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical."
"If an experiment I design made the front page news tomorrow, how would I feel about it?"
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Power hoarding, paternalism, perfectionism—these uphold white supremacy culture in design."
Jennifer StricklandAdopting a "Design By" Method
December 9, 2021
"Working in tech was a scenic detour on a long-term career marathon, with more detours ahead but now I have the tools to navigate them."
Chelsey GlassonExit Interview #3: Same as It Ever Was: What Leaving Tech Taught Me About Change
December 17, 2025
"A lot of people think 95% confidence is the only way, but you can adjust confidence levels based on your situation and needs."
Caroline Jarrett Erin WeigelHave fun with statistics?
December 12, 2024
"Failing early is critical because you can’t control the model."
Katie JohnsonDisrupting generative AI products with just-in-time consumer insights
June 4, 2024
"Question your assumptions. What bubbles are we living in?"
Adrian HowardSturgeon’s Biases
September 25, 2024
"Users tend to rate a familiar site better than non-users, especially for Amazon, because they feel more secure and familiar."
Daniela Magaña Flores Ariane Rahn Jeff Ephraim BanderAhead of Competition: Learn What UX Benchmarking Can Do for Your Business Today
March 10, 2022
"These AI tools can do the entire qualitative analysis process at the click of a button."
Savina HawkinsHarnessing AI in UXR: Practical Strategies for Positive Impact
March 26, 2024
"Customer experience refers to the collection of interactions someone has with the brand, agnostic of channel or touchpoint."
Sarah WilliamsA Framework for CX Transformation
June 11, 2021
"I couldn't be as good at this job if I hadn’t been in those leadership roles."
Mary-Lynne WilliamsExit Interview #4: From Product Design Leadership to Sound Healing
January 14, 2026
