Behavioral Insights: WFH, Zoom Fatique, FLoC, CRO, Ronny, Books, Cover Your Tracks...
Behavioral Insights.
Hi there! You're receiving this email because you signed up to Behavioral Insights, a weekly newsletter by Kevin Anderson at the intersection of experimentation, analytics and behavioral science. Thank you for being here.
👋 Hi, it is now one year since I have worked in an office. And to be honest, I don't miss it. I miss seeing my colleagues, but I don't miss going to an office space every day. With some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, it's also time to think about how we will work together when things are back to normal. But what is the new normal?
I liked Rory Sutherland's tweet on this subject:
"People keep talking about spaces 'which generate serendipitous encounters' and 'which help tightly bonded teams to form.' But what you're describing there, isn't an office — it's a pub."
Most companies will probably adopt some hybrid model, some time in a co-working space and the rest somewhere else. Only time will tell.
Ok, and now on to this week's Behavioral Insights. These are the articles I found worth sharing:
1. Zoom fatique 💻
Stanford study on why video conferencing can be so draining on your energy:
close-up eye contact is highly intense,
seeing yourself all the time,
you are moving less,
higher cognitive load
The article also shares some simple solutions
2. Google will stop tracking individuals 🔀
Last week Google announced that it plans to stop stop selling ads based on individuals’ browsing across multiple websites. I shared earlier their first experiments with FLoC: ads based on groups of people with similar interests, but without the need of tracking each and every individual.
This sounds like good news for our privacy, while still offering users and advertisers the promise of a relevant experience. Although (of course) some think FLoC is a terrible idea.
It's all still work in progress. One thing is clear: third party tracking is dead.
3. Is CRO dead? 💀
Last Thursday I joined an interesting discussion with Ben Labay, André Morys and Peep Laja on the question: is CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) dead?
My take: CRO in the narrow meaning is indeed dead. It's not about hacking the website to get to a higher conversion rate.
But the hypothesis, test and learn process thinking is as alive as possible. Some people call that CRO. I rather call it research & experimentation.
Read the summary of the discussion or watch the replay.
4. Google Data Analytics Certificate
Google will soon be offering a certificate program for people who want to break into a role as Data Analyst. Google quotes research stating that there are 337,400 job openings in this field. Read more about the program
5. Ronny Kohavi is back on the market 💼
The 'Godfather of A/B testing' announced on LinkedIn that this will be his last full time week at Airbnb. After almost 15 years at Microsoft and the last 1,5 years at Airbnb, he will now be looking for a new opportunity. Is your company serious about expanding on experimentation? This might be a great chance to get some good advice from an industry leader.
6. Two book tips for Data Scientists 📚
Causal Inference: The Mixtape by Scott Cunningham
Business Skills for Data Scientists by David Stephenson
7. Cover your tracks 😎
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has this really well made tool to see in what way tracking technology follow your trail around the web.
As always, if you're enjoying this newsletter, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. You can send them here to sign up.
I try to make it one of the best emails you get each week, and I hope you're enjoying it. And should you come across anything interesting this week, send it my way! I love finding new things to read through members of this newsletter.
Until next week, keep experimenting.
— Kevin