CXL conversion optimization minidegree — Week 11
This the 11th week of the scholarship granted by CXL institute for the conversion optimization minidegree.
How important is this minidegree
If the past few years taught me anything is that I don’t take anything for granted. This is a great opportunity to go to the next level.
How important is this degree for me? Well, I made some mistakes in the near past in my professional career and some bad things happened. If I were to go back again I’d let it be the same way even with the bad stuff because this led me in this direction and to this training to become a conversion optimizer.
Will I become a conversion optimizer at the end of this training?
It’s a mix between a yes and a humble but realistic “not yet”. Let me explain.
From a UX/UI designer to a conversion optimizer, you need to add several skills and a complete process to follow in your CRO work. Using Google Analytics for example is humbling as it comes with a steep learning curve. I’m actually lucky enough that I’m applying what I’ve learnt ina client project (even though they didn’t ask for a full conversion optimization work). I think this will take more and more time to really become useful at this.
However, it’s not about being a conversion optimizer, it’s about changing your mindset to make decision based on data. Data-driven is a great word for this even though it has reached the cilché point and some marketers are starting to getting annoyed by it. But adding the power of data, and becoming a data driven designer is what this training giving me.
The scholarship and why it works
Normally to continue this degree, the CXL institute estimates a 6 month period to complete the material there. However in the scholarship, we’re given 3 months. Each week we need to write an article sharing what we’ve learnt (but for this article it was my choice to write about my experience rather than sharing what I’ve learnt). Writing a 1000+ words article each week will force not only to learn but to teach what you’ve learnt and make the knowledge stick more and more. I get it, it’s meant to be marketing for them but they don’t ask for positive reviews, just honest-to-god stories of our experiences and even just sharing what we’ve learn i conversion research, A/B testing, analytics, neuromarketing or whatever subject we choose.
Time scarcity of the scholarship
The scholarship is granted for 12 weeks. Compared to the educational content there and including that we need to apply this knowledge (after all we’re not learning for just getting a degree to put on the wall), the duration is a bit short. And this adds to the motivation to study. I’ve taken many courses but I also dropped many courses. For these 11 weeks, I’ve taken 20+ courses and completed them all. And by the way you need to complete every course so you can pass the certificate.
Certificates? pff. Well, not really
I’ve always hated the hype for certificates and always tried to resist the temptation to brag with certificates I got from online courses.
You’ve probably got sick of it too. People sharing meaningless certificates of introductory shallow courses.
For the CXL conversion optimizer certificate, it actually matters. I’ve resisted the temptation to share some certificates of single courses like the google analytics course or the heuristic analysis one. But the big one, oh boy I’m going to share that one with a big celebration because it matters. You have to complete 32 courses and almost everyone of them is of very high quality.
I mean look at this curriculum:
Track 1: Foundations
CRO foundations
Best practices
Intro to conversion copywriting
Product messaging
People & psychology
Social proof
Intro to neuromarketing
Developing & testing an emotional content strategy
Influence & interactive design
Google Analytics for beginners
Total time ~24h
Track 2: Conversion research
Conversion research
Using analytics to find conversion opportunities
Google Tag Manager for beginners
Fast and rigorous user personas
Heuristic analysis frameworks for conversion optimization audits
Conducting an analytics audit
Total time ~20h
Track 3: Testing
8 common testing mistakes and how to avoid them
How to run tests
Testing strategies
Statistics fundamentals for testing
Statistics for A/B testing
A/B testing mastery
Advanced experimentation analysis
Total time ~24h
Track 4: Optimization strategies
Optimizing for B2B
Customer value optimization
Creating a segmentation strategy
Digital psychology & behavioral design training
Applied neuromarketing
Total time ~9h
Track 5: Conversion optimization program management
How to design, roll out, & scale an optimization program
Evangelizing for optimization in enterprise
Building your optimization technology stack
Optimize your
optimization program
CRO Agency masterclass
Total time ~3h
The missing element.. the unfortunate gap
As awesome as the minidegree is, there’s a missing element in the courses and that is the element of application. A final project for the course would’ve been a great way to try to apply all the knowledge we got. But the problem here, this isn’t a design course. If it was we could make a fake project and apply what we’ve learnt. The problem here is that we need a real world project with already some traffic coming into it. And that’s hard to find. For employees within other companies, it’d be easier to apply the knowledge than independent professionals like myself. But again, this is up to us to do.
This the 11th article of 12 articles I’m going to share what I’m learning from the CXL conversion optimization minidegree. I’ve written one blog post every week.
So if you want to join me learning, enroll in their in their minidegree or follow me if you need some more motivation. I’ll give you 1 more. only 1 final blog post. The journey is going to end soon and hopefully I don’t get emotional. Ok, I’m kidding. But I’m still grateful for this opportunity to learn from the best in the field. It’s crazy how we take some things for granted.So please if you decide to go for this scholarship, go all the way and don’t take it for granted.
