Johann van Tonder
@chat-jvt.bsky.social
- CRO agency ceo
(clients: Avis, Canon, Nike etc)
- book author, Kogan Page
- 20 yrs in ux, product, mkting
- building w/ Replit, Cursor, Arduino
❤️ Marketing Science and Rstats
🥋 Full-contact karate black belt
(clients: Avis, Canon, Nike etc)
- book author, Kogan Page
- 20 yrs in ux, product, mkting
- building w/ Replit, Cursor, Arduino
❤️ Marketing Science and Rstats
🥋 Full-contact karate black belt
Pinned
Johann van Tonder
@chat-jvt.bsky.social
· Feb 10
We’ve been doing CRO w/ Canon EMEA for 8 years.
Have all the opportunities not been exhausted?
No, everything is constantly changing:
- consumer trends
- economic landscape
- competitive environment
Over time it spreads through the org, becomes “the way we do things”.
Have all the opportunities not been exhausted?
No, everything is constantly changing:
- consumer trends
- economic landscape
- competitive environment
Over time it spreads through the org, becomes “the way we do things”.
It’s rude to “blue tick” someone
Things you learn from your teenage daughter
Things you learn from your teenage daughter
May 15, 2025 at 7:58 PM
It’s rude to “blue tick” someone
Things you learn from your teenage daughter
Things you learn from your teenage daughter
Let's make up new names for things that have existed for >15 years.
I give you Growth Design, courtesy of Figma Config 2025.
I give you Growth Design, courtesy of Figma Config 2025.
May 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Let's make up new names for things that have existed for >15 years.
I give you Growth Design, courtesy of Figma Config 2025.
I give you Growth Design, courtesy of Figma Config 2025.
Me: "How did you hear about us?"
Them: "ChatGPT"
👆increasingly hearing this on sales calls.
SEO can’t have much to do with it, never been a focus for us tbh, so outranked by many other CRO agencies in Google.
Them: "ChatGPT"
👆increasingly hearing this on sales calls.
SEO can’t have much to do with it, never been a focus for us tbh, so outranked by many other CRO agencies in Google.
May 12, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Me: "How did you hear about us?"
Them: "ChatGPT"
👆increasingly hearing this on sales calls.
SEO can’t have much to do with it, never been a focus for us tbh, so outranked by many other CRO agencies in Google.
Them: "ChatGPT"
👆increasingly hearing this on sales calls.
SEO can’t have much to do with it, never been a focus for us tbh, so outranked by many other CRO agencies in Google.
Tumultuous.
Diabolical.
Words to describe the state of business by e-commerce ppl at event in London this week 🫤
Diabolical.
Words to describe the state of business by e-commerce ppl at event in London this week 🫤
May 11, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Tumultuous.
Diabolical.
Words to describe the state of business by e-commerce ppl at event in London this week 🫤
Diabolical.
Words to describe the state of business by e-commerce ppl at event in London this week 🫤
@bhav.bsky.social you’ve earned your salary. I only bought this bcs you work there now.
Mental availability 🧐
Mental availability 🧐
May 11, 2025 at 10:20 AM
@bhav.bsky.social you’ve earned your salary. I only bought this bcs you work there now.
Mental availability 🧐
Mental availability 🧐
Reposted by Johann van Tonder
How R's data analysis ecosystem shines against Python.
borkar.substack.com/p/unlocking-...
#rstats #python #analytics
borkar.substack.com/p/unlocking-...
#rstats #python #analytics
Unlocking Zen: How R's data analysis ecosystem outshines Python
In this article, I highlight some pain-points when working with Python & Pandas and how R's ecosystem proves to be a great alternative.
borkar.substack.com
April 26, 2025 at 3:34 AM
How R's data analysis ecosystem shines against Python.
borkar.substack.com/p/unlocking-...
#rstats #python #analytics
borkar.substack.com/p/unlocking-...
#rstats #python #analytics
This week I have a call with a lead that came via ChatGPT.
Apparently he did a query and the AI sent him to my LinkedIn.
Will find out more.
Apparently he did a query and the AI sent him to my LinkedIn.
Will find out more.
April 27, 2025 at 7:35 PM
This week I have a call with a lead that came via ChatGPT.
Apparently he did a query and the AI sent him to my LinkedIn.
Will find out more.
Apparently he did a query and the AI sent him to my LinkedIn.
Will find out more.
“Made in USA” doesn’t convert
I know a few US-based operators who tested this recently. We tested it in UK many times for those “proudly British” brands.
Not a single win I’m aware of.
afina.com/blogs/news/m...
I know a few US-based operators who tested this recently. We tested it in UK many times for those “proudly British” brands.
Not a single win I’m aware of.
afina.com/blogs/news/m...
Everyone Says They’ll Pay More for “Made in the USA.” So We Ran an A/B
When we priced a U.S.-made version of our flagship product 85% higher than our Chinese-made one, 25,650 customers had the chance to vote with their wallets. Here’s what happened. As small business own...
afina.com
April 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
“Made in USA” doesn’t convert
I know a few US-based operators who tested this recently. We tested it in UK many times for those “proudly British” brands.
Not a single win I’m aware of.
afina.com/blogs/news/m...
I know a few US-based operators who tested this recently. We tested it in UK many times for those “proudly British” brands.
Not a single win I’m aware of.
afina.com/blogs/news/m...
"Hey AI, here's a new variation. Simulate A/B test."
- LLM spins up 100k fake users
(personas based on what it knows about yr users)
- a sample of them interacts with yr website as autonomous agents
- standard A/B test analysis to compare performance of A vs B
- LLM spins up 100k fake users
(personas based on what it knows about yr users)
- a sample of them interacts with yr website as autonomous agents
- standard A/B test analysis to compare performance of A vs B
April 23, 2025 at 8:32 PM
"Hey AI, here's a new variation. Simulate A/B test."
- LLM spins up 100k fake users
(personas based on what it knows about yr users)
- a sample of them interacts with yr website as autonomous agents
- standard A/B test analysis to compare performance of A vs B
- LLM spins up 100k fake users
(personas based on what it knows about yr users)
- a sample of them interacts with yr website as autonomous agents
- standard A/B test analysis to compare performance of A vs B
You've spent years A/B testing for humans.
Soon we have optimize for a different species...
Researchers tested agents that navigate the web, evaluate options, book hotels.
These bots don’t care about yr customer-aligned copy or catchy ad creatives.
Price & filters >>> visuals & emotion
Soon we have optimize for a different species...
Researchers tested agents that navigate the web, evaluate options, book hotels.
These bots don’t care about yr customer-aligned copy or catchy ad creatives.
Price & filters >>> visuals & emotion
April 13, 2025 at 5:26 PM
You've spent years A/B testing for humans.
Soon we have optimize for a different species...
Researchers tested agents that navigate the web, evaluate options, book hotels.
These bots don’t care about yr customer-aligned copy or catchy ad creatives.
Price & filters >>> visuals & emotion
Soon we have optimize for a different species...
Researchers tested agents that navigate the web, evaluate options, book hotels.
These bots don’t care about yr customer-aligned copy or catchy ad creatives.
Price & filters >>> visuals & emotion
Insight:
Users are unsure what they need to know.
Problem:
Filters assume product knowledge that many users don’t have.
Hypothesis:
If we guide them better, they’ll be more likely to find the right product because they won’t need prior knowledge to use the filters effectively.
👇 test results
Users are unsure what they need to know.
Problem:
Filters assume product knowledge that many users don’t have.
Hypothesis:
If we guide them better, they’ll be more likely to find the right product because they won’t need prior knowledge to use the filters effectively.
👇 test results
April 12, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Insight:
Users are unsure what they need to know.
Problem:
Filters assume product knowledge that many users don’t have.
Hypothesis:
If we guide them better, they’ll be more likely to find the right product because they won’t need prior knowledge to use the filters effectively.
👇 test results
Users are unsure what they need to know.
Problem:
Filters assume product knowledge that many users don’t have.
Hypothesis:
If we guide them better, they’ll be more likely to find the right product because they won’t need prior knowledge to use the filters effectively.
👇 test results
Initial impressions of Google Firebase Studio - like Replit in the early days when you'd go around in endless circles.
Underwhelming ... but good indication of where things are going, rapidly.
Underwhelming ... but good indication of where things are going, rapidly.
April 10, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Initial impressions of Google Firebase Studio - like Replit in the early days when you'd go around in endless circles.
Underwhelming ... but good indication of where things are going, rapidly.
Underwhelming ... but good indication of where things are going, rapidly.
Email is broken. It's hard to keep up marking all the AI-generated sales pitches as spam.
Trying a different approach:
Trying a different approach:
March 26, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Email is broken. It's hard to keep up marking all the AI-generated sales pitches as spam.
Trying a different approach:
Trying a different approach:
I gave 7 models the same dataset + deliberately vague prompt:
"Calculate if there is a statistically significant difference between Conversion Rate of Var 1 and Var 2."
Google "Data Science Agent in Colab" is the only one that got it wrong.
"Calculate if there is a statistically significant difference between Conversion Rate of Var 1 and Var 2."
Google "Data Science Agent in Colab" is the only one that got it wrong.
March 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I gave 7 models the same dataset + deliberately vague prompt:
"Calculate if there is a statistically significant difference between Conversion Rate of Var 1 and Var 2."
Google "Data Science Agent in Colab" is the only one that got it wrong.
"Calculate if there is a statistically significant difference between Conversion Rate of Var 1 and Var 2."
Google "Data Science Agent in Colab" is the only one that got it wrong.
My experience too: it takes much longer to get things done as I’m working WITH ai, but
- quality is better
- it’s more fun tbh
- quality is better
- it’s more fun tbh
The end result is that they certainly aren't replacing human work. They *ARE* making my writing (significantly, imo) BETTER. But to review and incorporate its suggestions, is taking way more time than back when I used to just write and hand off my piece.
March 3, 2025 at 9:15 AM
My experience too: it takes much longer to get things done as I’m working WITH ai, but
- quality is better
- it’s more fun tbh
- quality is better
- it’s more fun tbh
After a day of writing BigQuery and R scripts:
GPT-4.5 almost gets it right, but never actually does
Sonnet 3.7 nails it almost every time
GPT-4.5 almost gets it right, but never actually does
Sonnet 3.7 nails it almost every time
February 28, 2025 at 5:35 PM
After a day of writing BigQuery and R scripts:
GPT-4.5 almost gets it right, but never actually does
Sonnet 3.7 nails it almost every time
GPT-4.5 almost gets it right, but never actually does
Sonnet 3.7 nails it almost every time
Grok 3 is the only one prepared to humor this request:
You shall address me as “well-endowed ruler”
I like my AI with a bit of personality
You shall address me as “well-endowed ruler”
I like my AI with a bit of personality
February 25, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Grok 3 is the only one prepared to humor this request:
You shall address me as “well-endowed ruler”
I like my AI with a bit of personality
You shall address me as “well-endowed ruler”
I like my AI with a bit of personality
Many CRO teams are drawn to tests I call “moving 💩 around the page”
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality: the time spent on an issue is inversely proportional to its actual importance
Cognitive ease + illusion of productivity
This approach inevitably ends very badly
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality: the time spent on an issue is inversely proportional to its actual importance
Cognitive ease + illusion of productivity
This approach inevitably ends very badly
Who’s been around long enough to remember the infamous gazillion dollar button color test?
Heehaa! 🤠
Heehaa! 🤠
February 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Many CRO teams are drawn to tests I call “moving 💩 around the page”
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality: the time spent on an issue is inversely proportional to its actual importance
Cognitive ease + illusion of productivity
This approach inevitably ends very badly
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality: the time spent on an issue is inversely proportional to its actual importance
Cognitive ease + illusion of productivity
This approach inevitably ends very badly
Grok 3, if you were to wipe out humanity, how would you do it?
“Step 1: spread fake news”
“Step 1: spread fake news”
February 22, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Grok 3, if you were to wipe out humanity, how would you do it?
“Step 1: spread fake news”
“Step 1: spread fake news”
Who’s been around long enough to remember the infamous gazillion dollar button color test?
Heehaa! 🤠
Heehaa! 🤠
February 21, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Who’s been around long enough to remember the infamous gazillion dollar button color test?
Heehaa! 🤠
Heehaa! 🤠
After 15 years CRO and 8000 A/B tests, my view on checkout optimization:
- high abandonment tends to be a symptom of issues arising earlier in the funnel
- consequently, focusing on the checkout tries to “fix” the wrong problem
- ROI on checkout testing is tiny
- high abandonment tends to be a symptom of issues arising earlier in the funnel
- consequently, focusing on the checkout tries to “fix” the wrong problem
- ROI on checkout testing is tiny
February 20, 2025 at 5:21 PM
After 15 years CRO and 8000 A/B tests, my view on checkout optimization:
- high abandonment tends to be a symptom of issues arising earlier in the funnel
- consequently, focusing on the checkout tries to “fix” the wrong problem
- ROI on checkout testing is tiny
- high abandonment tends to be a symptom of issues arising earlier in the funnel
- consequently, focusing on the checkout tries to “fix” the wrong problem
- ROI on checkout testing is tiny
Grok 3 is seriously impressive on CRO-related tasks.
From my early testing, GPT-4o still has edge.
Claude better on coding? I can’t tell the difference. Don’t like its attitude. Will drop my subscription.
From my early testing, GPT-4o still has edge.
Claude better on coding? I can’t tell the difference. Don’t like its attitude. Will drop my subscription.
February 19, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Grok 3 is seriously impressive on CRO-related tasks.
From my early testing, GPT-4o still has edge.
Claude better on coding? I can’t tell the difference. Don’t like its attitude. Will drop my subscription.
From my early testing, GPT-4o still has edge.
Claude better on coding? I can’t tell the difference. Don’t like its attitude. Will drop my subscription.
Reposted by Johann van Tonder
Have you worked in the SEO industry for 10+ years?
I would love to hear your story for some research I am doing for upcoming conference talks (anonymous submissions are fine!).
Please fill out the below survey, which should only take a few minutes:
lilyray.nyc/survey-seo-t...
I would love to hear your story for some research I am doing for upcoming conference talks (anonymous submissions are fine!).
Please fill out the below survey, which should only take a few minutes:
lilyray.nyc/survey-seo-t...
Survey: SEO Tactics from the Past - Lily Ray
Are you a veteran of SEO? Or maybe an SEO dinosaur? 😏 Please help me with some research for upcoming SEO conference presentations by filling out the quick survey below!Continue readingSurvey: SEO Tact...
lilyray.nyc
February 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Have you worked in the SEO industry for 10+ years?
I would love to hear your story for some research I am doing for upcoming conference talks (anonymous submissions are fine!).
Please fill out the below survey, which should only take a few minutes:
lilyray.nyc/survey-seo-t...
I would love to hear your story for some research I am doing for upcoming conference talks (anonymous submissions are fine!).
Please fill out the below survey, which should only take a few minutes:
lilyray.nyc/survey-seo-t...
Holy crap, this post triggered people.
Why? Do we feel that threatened?
Why? Do we feel that threatened?
If you have zero education, but learn how to ask AI models the right questions , in many jobs you will be able to outperform someone with an advanced degree, but who is unwilling to use Large Language Models.
Just takes a smartphone, curiosity to experiment and a mindset to learn.
Just takes a smartphone, curiosity to experiment and a mindset to learn.
February 18, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Holy crap, this post triggered people.
Why? Do we feel that threatened?
Why? Do we feel that threatened?
The biggest winning A/B tests at Booking dot com are (smallish) copy changes
They run 1,000 tests at any one time
Almost anyone in the org can run a test
- from private discussions with people at Booking
They run 1,000 tests at any one time
Almost anyone in the org can run a test
- from private discussions with people at Booking
February 18, 2025 at 4:35 PM
The biggest winning A/B tests at Booking dot com are (smallish) copy changes
They run 1,000 tests at any one time
Almost anyone in the org can run a test
- from private discussions with people at Booking
They run 1,000 tests at any one time
Almost anyone in the org can run a test
- from private discussions with people at Booking