The CXL institute journey is over

12 weeks ago I started the conversion optimization minidegree by CXL institute. A lot of things has changed in my process and I gained really good skills in such a short time.

In this post, I’ll be talking about the before, the after and what’s next for me?

Before the conversion optimization minidegree

I’ve worked as a UX/UI designer and occasionally did some front-end projects. I was goo at what I’ve done or at least I thought I was.

I got sick of the obsession of UX/UI designers by their process. A process is essential but in UX design, people tend to have a religious like attachment to the process. Also, we tend to believe that we know what makes a good user experience since it’s already in our job title. I was tired of this and I realized that the shared best practices in the field aren’t enough.

I had two goals. I wanted to learn copywriting as I’ve seen that it has a great role in generating sales. Also, it seemed like a skill that don’t die. It’s not that design isn’t essential but it has to play the role of communicating what we’re trying to say. The second goal is that I wanted to understand feedback at its best form: analytics data. In the UX field, we talk about user research a lot and mainly user interviews or surveys.These methods are good but they’re not enough and you can’t see what users do on your website when no one is watching them. Some will say that that’s probably not the role of a UX designer. Well, if you think of it as a job description poste somewhere, well, probably you’re right. But I don’t care about job descriptions, I care about what’s the goal we’re trying to achieve.

I was looking for some advanced courses in UX and as I’ve said before in a previous article, you may not find what you’re looking for. What I was a looking for had a different name: Conversion Optimization (CRO).

In this field you need to understand humans generally (psychology and neuroscience), understand your customers specifically, design and write copy that help the business achieve their goals (mainly increase sales), test and analyze data to get feedback of what’s actually happening. All that? hell yeah! that’s what I’m searching for.

I found the CXL blog and begun reading. I printed the copywriting minicourse by Peep Laja and started with that. I began reading their blog which was super helpful. You know what’s great about this field compared to our beloved UX design field? They always say what they want to say with numbers. I’ve got sick of opinions. Of course you have another opinion about menus and footers. But do you have data? i you do, you have my full undivided attention and my trust hopefully.

I was exploring the CXL conversion optimization minidegree. It was too expensive for me but I still fancied about it. One day, I was rechecking it and noticed that there’s a scholarship. What? Is this real?

I applied and in a few days I got accepted. I told my friends like I was accepted in Harvard. Although I believe the content in the CXL institute is nowhere to be found in whatever college. It actually had more value than my 3 years bachelor degree.

And I started it.

After the conversion optimization minidegree

These days I’ll be completing the program after being trained for 12 weeks.

I learnt how to write good copy, not with tips and tricks but with a clear defined process.

I learned some more best practices that I didn’t know about before to make a website that converts.

I learn how to do a heuristic analysis. I was already doing this before the training but after this, I took my process for heuristic analysis to the next level.

I learnt the basics of understanding Google analytics.

I learnt the process of conversion optimization. The process is so crucial. If you don’t have a process, it just mean you don’t know how to do it.

I learnt the basics of A/B testing and statistics.

I learnt the basics f running a CRO agency.

And I’m sure there are more things that I didn’t mention here.

I’m still not certified yet as I haven’t completed the full minidegree. Just a few days and the journey will be officially over.

But what’s next?

What’s next after the CRO minidegree?

The steep learning curve for conversion optimization is actually humbling. I still need to learn more and most importantly continue to apply what I’ve learnt.

So I won’t be bragging about how I’m a CXL certified conversion optimizer. I’ll use it in my marketing though but with a humble attitude. I won’t be overpromising as I’ve learnt from these great instructors and world class marketers, that humility and experimentation is the name of this game.

Some other resources I’m gazing are :

• The advanced Google Analytics course. I’m not sure if it’s advanced but I’ll be pushing myself to get the google analytics individual qualification certification. I really don’t care much about the certification but it helps me learn more about analytics while also practicing.
• A psychology course by MIT. It’s on YouTube. I think a foundational knowledge of psychology will be really valuable, more valuable than just some tips and tricks and a list of biases to use in design and or marketing.

For the record, this the 12th article of 12 articles I shared what I was 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. 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.