A psychologist on a team full of analysts and conversion managers. Does that make you a maverick or the engine behind the culture of experimentation? In the series about working at Online Dialogue, I like to introduce my colleagues to you. Today it's the turn of psychologist Joost Baalbergen.

Making behavioral knowledge applicable

As lead psychology expert, his duties include the knowledge maintenance of the team. He provides a work environment in which his team members can work happily and healthily, working for clients such as DPG Media, Vattenfall and Van der Valk. But before joining Online Dialogue, he worked at Tabula Rasa, a behavioral and communication consultancy in The Hague. Here he worked as a psychologist on various social campaigns. For example NIX18, ‘BOB, say it out loud’ and the famous green bicycle parking signs in the center of The Hague, to reduce the number of stray bicycles in the city.

‘I've always enjoyed making psychology applicable. Whether it's in a government campaign aimed at reducing alcohol intake among young people, or improving attention in traffic. Using behavioral knowledge in different ways is what I like doing best.’

Organizational psychology and experimental culture

Joost graduated from Utrecht University as an occupational and organizational psychologist and social psychologist. Applying psychological knowledge was central to this. Something he was able to make his own at Tabula Rasa and now applies at Online Dialogue. For example, he and his team supervise an experimental program at DPG Media, the largest publisher in our country.

‘We help teams develop a culture of experimentation in which decisions are made based on data, user research and experimentation. As a process facilitator in the process, we started with a culture scan. In that culture scan, we hold the work culture up to the light and see how we can spread the evidence-based way of working further into that. This is very varied. For example, last month we organized the DPG awards show with superhero theme to help the team remember how well they are doing.

Psychology in marketing makes more impact

The idea of an awards show did not come out of the blue. It was well thought out. The approach is based on various psychological theories. ‘We chose an awards show because we want to give the team at DPG Media a boost of confidence. As a CRO team within a large organization, you have to contend with opinions from all layers and it can be quite difficult to deal with resistance. Confidence in your own ability makes you dare to occupy more space, and thus make a greater impact within the organization. And of course it is also nice to reflect on the hard work and all the beauty that the team's work has produced. I get a lot of energy from this project. I believe that having fun together motivates people to do their best.’

Highlights at Online Dialogue

After working at Online Dialogue for over 4.5 years, Joost has experienced a few things. Great clients, new colleagues, a promotion to Lead Psychology Expert, the 10th anniversary and lots of events. His favorite? ‘Conversion Hotel of course! This three-day event (for crew four days, Thursday to Sunday) on Texel gives such a huge boost to the field. As a crew you make long days and work hard to give the best experience to the participants. And you also meet a lot of new people and learn from the best people in our field.’

When I ask him about his most bizarre outing in recent years, he says beaming, ‘I went to CODE [Conference on digital experimentation, ed.] a few years ago. This is organized at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. With a number of colleagues we flew to America to learn from the brightest minds in experimentation. That was quite a special experience. But it 10-year existence of Online Dialogue in Belgrade is also one of my best memories of working at OD. We go on an outing every year (in 2022 we went to Bled), but this was still extra special.’

Online Dialogue 10 years

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Tips for (future) psychologists in marketing

Work as a psychologist at a CRO agency is multifaceted and never boring. In his work, Joost is a driving force behind projects and can make a difference with psychological insights. And that is exactly what he wants to give prospective psychologists. ‘It's great fun to often be the only one in the company as a psychologist or behavioral expert. You really have something new to bring in. A new set of glasses to look through that gives different insights. It can also be hard to be ‘the only one,’ but you can really add something because of that. You can really be of value.’

And the best thing about working at Online Dialogue? ‘Working with fun and smart people who all have the same goal. The moment you find out that you bring out the best in each other. That's what I experience at OD. And I really enjoy looking inside other companies. There's so much going on that you don't see at first glance.’

That's psychology. Making the invisible visible. Want to know more about Joost or his fellow psychologists? Or curious what we can do for your organization? Feel free to send a message via info@onlinedialogue.com. For more information about our job openings, click here.