Good reasoned work, looking beyond your nose and not calling before 9 o'clock. Working with Desiree is a pleasure in itself. This Brabo manages the biggest projects and makes clients happy with her project management skills and broad marketing background. Today I introduce you to one of our conversion managers who had her passport stamped again to come to Utrecht. Everything is better in the South they say, but in Utrecht we have Desiree van der Horst.

Her career began at one of the larger full-service marketing agencies in the Netherlands. Here she grew from trainee to Growth & Experiment Agitator (... Yes really. That one can go in my personal top 3 extraordinary titles. But it means she teaches people how to experiment in a playful way). And in those six years, she worked on all aspects of Online Marketing. But, she wanted to do more with culture change and conversion optimization. And so, she came to the right place at Online Dialogue. She's been working here as Conversion Manager since 2021.

Getting started as a Conversion Manager at OD

In the middle of the corona pandemic, Desiree starts at OD. And that still produces strange situations. ‘I had done my application process online. So my first time at the office was my first working day. Many colleagues I met physically for the first time only after six months. For example, I talked to Lotte digitally every week and in my head she was a 1.80cm lady. Turns out she was 20cm shorter in real life after all. But a force to reckon with! ♥’

As Conversion Manager, Desiree deals with the ins and outs of the project. And then it often starts with creating an overview. ‘I thrive in chaos. When I get started and there are 25 different problems to solve, I am happy. We are often called in to work on issues that are not easy and quick to solve. Think about culture changes, educating customer in knowledge and process. I help them prioritize, take them by the hand in the process, then teach them to do it themselves so they can do it successfully. That makes me so happy! I work with the client to independently perform a behavioral study, scaling up the fact-act process, fueling the experiment culture in the organization. When they can do it independently, my work is done and I can sit back and gloat.

Maturity Model © Online Dialogue

Favorite projects of late?

Over the past two years, Desiree has managed many great projects. It's a case of ‘kill your darlings’ but she still shares a few of her favorites with you.

1. EDC (easytoys).
   We have a blended Online Dialogue & Easytoys team and truly function as a well-oiled machine. ‘1 team, 1 task’. We blast through tests with great insights as a result. This cooperation goes so smoothly. Every week I see them grow in maturity and that is fantastic to see. We are going to achieve many great things together. And what's more, I wish everyone sexual health without taboos!
2. Printing Deal
   Printing Deal is at the stage of converting velocity testing to better quality. A very difficult step. Through the right sessions with our psychologist Florien and analyst Irene, we offer them the right tools that they pick up with so much enthusiasm. In no time, the CRO team has deployed all kinds of cleverness. I sometimes have to slow them down rather than encourage them 🙂 .
3. Vattenfall
   In the 1.5 years I have been working for Vattenfall, the company has been transformed. And I'm not talking about the energy crisis but the willingness to embrace data-driven validation. 12 teams have enthusiastically started working with Airtable, are independently creating a variation of the FACT-ACT process, have created their own experimentation awards, and have a mega project as a flagship CXO project. That makes me so incredibly proud.

Give this conversion manager a hard time

‘Conversion Manager is a job where you are constantly challenged with reasons why something can't be done. There is no time, not enough money, 0 capacity, an uncooperative CRM, contrary manager, fear culture, etc. As long as you handle this creatively and don't let it stop you, it is possible to still bring about change in the most difficult environments. I always say: give me a hard time! Then we come up with smart solutions.’

There are a few things Desiree would like to pass along to anyone who wants to enter this field. Her start at a marketing agency has been an ideal springboard for the rest of her career. After all, working at a marketing agency is so intensive that 1 year equals 7 years of experience. Especially the interpersonal skills she gained there make her work at Online Dialogue a great fit. And she likes to share some of these insights from her career with you.

‘The most important insights I have gained and want to pass on are these:

• You can't always do everything yourself. Are there tasks that don't require your own skills? Hand it over. In that case, tell your colleagues well what kind of output they need to deliver.
• Everyone wants something from you. Clients, colleagues, management and your home front. Balance can be tricky. Remember: only if the website or campaigns are broken and someone else is in immediate trouble (loss of money, black sheep) as a result is it a blood rush. Otherwise, it can also wait until tomorrow morning. With overtime, you only have yourself .
• Stress: can you do something about it? Then do something about it. Can't do anything about it? Then let it go, because you can't do anything about it, so you can brood for the next 10 hours, but that will only benefit yourself.
• The customer's actual demand is never the customer's real demand. Find out their personal motives in addition to business motives.
• It's more than okay that you don't always have answers to everything. “I'll get back to you” is an excellent answer. You don't have to think of all the scenarios in advance.

I think this Brabant sobriety can help a lot of juniors (and medior/senior as well) avoid getting burned out.’

At Conversion Hotel 2022

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A pragmatic view of complicated matters, making large projects manageable in a short period of time and opening a fresh Radler on the office sofa at 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon. That's Desiree. Do you want to know more about working as a conversion manager or are you curious what she and other conversion managers can do for you? Then get in touch with us.

PS: On April 6, Desiree and her colleagues are hosting a Dialogue Thursday. This 41st edition is about Discovery Sprints. You can read more about the speakers and content on the event page.  You can still sign up now. Hope to see you then!