November 24, 2025
Will AI make us smarter or dumber? The insights of Klöpping, Scherder and Online Dialogue
Reflection on Klöpping × Scherder by Simon Buil (Data Analyst at Online Dialogue)
Whoever thinks of CRO naturally thinks of Online Dialogue. And when you think of Online Dialogue, you also quickly think of Ruben de Boer. This optimization-pro won this year's Practitioner of the Year award at Experimentation Elite and that's no mean feat. In addition to his work as lead conversion manager, he has built a huge network at LinkedIn and serves more than 12,500 students through his instructional videos on online training platform Udemy.com. How he got here you can read in this interview. Let me introduce you to the one and only: Ruben de Boer.
It's like there are more hours in a day with Ruben. Optimizing and experimenting is truly in his blood. Since optimizing his first website in 2008, he worked at several companies as a CRO specialist. As Manager CRO & UX at DPG Media, he came in contact with Online Dialogue. In 2019, he switched from DPG Media to Online Dialogue and also started his own company. With Conversion Ideas, he helps novice professionals with the optimization and experimentation process through instructional videos.
Ruben at Experimentation Elite 2023
If you work in the CRO field, chances are very good that you have met or heard of Ruben. In recent years, he has been a regular speaker at events and a guest on podcasts and webinars. That's where he gets tremendous energy from. “Successfully growing and developing individuals, teams and organizations makes me happy. I find it important to continuously grow and learn myself and try to actively transfer this to those around me. I think we have a super fascinating field, which never stands still. The evidence-based work combined with psychology and hypothesis testing always makes it fun.”
Over the years, that interest has broadened more and more towards organizations. Besides optimizing websites, he now finds it even more fascinating to help teams and organizations move forward and embrace our way of working with the same mindset. “Organizational change and training and leading teams is something I get a lot of energy and pleasure from. The questions we get today are substantially different from the questions we got a year ago. So continuing to learn and discover with smart colleagues and fun clients is great, too.”
Ruben has been working at Online Dialogue since 2019 and enjoys traveling from Amsterdam to Utrecht. Here he works for various clients, including DPG Media, Amsterdam & Partners and Rabobank. “Every organization has different challenges. The culture, way of working, knowledge is different everywhere and the lines of communication are different. It's just like website optimization; what works for one website can be completely counterproductive for another. It works the same way with organizations. Each time, it's learning, discovering, and experimenting what works where to exceed goals.”
The campfire moment
What has stuck with him most from the past few years? His presentations at Conversion Hotel and Experimentation Elite, of course. And also the outings to Belgrade and Bled. “The campfire moment in Bled I found extra special”.
‘The campfire moment’ is a moment more colleagues refer to in their interviews. During the outing to Bled, all colleagues were given an envelope with a list of names of team members in their hands. Behind each name was a blank space meant for a compliment. The completed lists were taken and sorted by name. After a long day of fun activities, everyone received an envelope with all the compliments about a colleague with the assignment: make an ode to the colleague whose envelope you received. That evening, songs, cabaret and poems were recited based on all the compliments from colleagues. An unforgettable evening for everyone.
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Once you've met Ruben, you can feel the infectious energy. This enthusiasm and hunger for life comes in part from the many books Ruben reads on routines and personal growth. “It's fun, educational and gives me energy and happiness to be more broadly engaged in optimization. Also outside websites and organizations. I can recommend it to everyone”. And the latter, he does. He posts almost daily about his work or insights on LinkedIn. Here he shares book tips, advice on A/B testing and blogs about organizational change. And also on stage at Experimentation Elite in London, he knew how to translate optimization within your work into application in your personal life.
Tips for the new batch of conversion managers Ruben has plenty. “Be curious, eager to learn and take your personal growth seriously. Optimization and experimentation is even more a mindset than a method, so apply it everywhere and have fun and enjoy it.
Learn to tune in and connect with others and help others. Visit the events of Online Dialogue (Dialogue Thursday is 3 times a year, free, and you meet lots of nice smart people) and follow my Udemy courses, which I set up to give everyone a chance to learn CRO/experimentation for an affordable price or for free & follow industry experts on social media (LinkedIn).”
Behind every optimization is a strategy. About his five-year plan, he says, “I hope my life will be pretty much the same, but with good growth both privately and professionally, and with new exciting challenges. I also hope to have helped many more individuals, teams and organizations move forward. And in addition, I hope my parents are still in good health, my girlfriend is having a fantastic time at her new job where she is starting later this year, my sister's business is successful and the people close to me are doing well.”
We hope to work with Ruben for years to come and look forward to what the future holds. Want to know more about Ruben or his work at Online Dialogue? Then follow him on LinkedIn and sign up for our newsletter. Here you will find many more blogs, interesting updates and in-depth articles.
Curious about interviews with other colleagues? Read more here:
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