Testing Mind Map Series: How to Think Like a CRO Pro (Part 86)

Interview with Bruno Borges

There’s the experimentation everyone talks about. And then there’s how it actually happens.

We’re hunting for signals in the noise to bring you conversations with people who live in the data. The ones who obsess over test design and know how to secure buy-in even when results are complex.

They’ve built systems that scale. Weathered the failed tests. Convinced the unconvincible stakeholders.

And now they’re here: opening up their playbooks and sharing the good stuff.

This week, we’re chatting with Bruno Borges, Head of CRO at 180 Marketing.

Bruno, tell us about yourself. What inspired you to get into testing & optimization?

Well, I was there when the internet was born. Ever since I was a kid, technology has always excited me. And the first time I used the vintage Netscape browser to surf the web, I knew I wanted to be part of that new digital world somehow, no matter what.

A few years later, I started college in Graphic Design. After graduating, I went on to get a Master’s degree in Digital Marketing, and that’s where I truly found my path.

Not long after, I was referred to Supersonic, likely the very first CRO agency in Latin America. That’s where my journey into Conversion Rate Optimization began. They provided the solid foundation that set the course for my career, and I’ll always be grateful for that. The way I approach digital growth today is deeply rooted in what I learned from them.

Back then, I was a young professional entering the digital marketing world, and when I discovered CRO, I instantly thought, “This is it. This is what I want to do for life.”

CRO combined everything I loved: Using my design background to craft effective, high-converting interfaces; applying my copywriting skills to create persuasive messaging; leveraging my passion for web analytics and data; and managing projects that directly impacted business growth.

That mix of creativity, data, and strategy felt just right. And I guess I was right too. Here I am, more than 10 years later, still deeply passionate about my work and more excited than ever about what’s next.

How many years have you been testing for?

It’s been 11 years in total, with the past 6 years fully dedicated to helping e-commerce brands in the U.S. thrive in one of the most competitive markets out there.

Answer in 5 words or less: What is the discipline of optimization to you?

No bullshit: Let data talk!

What are the top 3 things people MUST understand before they start optimizing?

1 — Never underestimate the power of user research
You’d be amazed by the quality of insights that come from simply talking to users through surveys, interviews, or usability tests on key funnel steps. This qualitative layer is often the “secret sauce” behind the most successful experimentation programs. It’s what allows us to consistently reach twice the average success rate in e-commerce testing.

2 — Set realistic confidence levels
If your site gets a million monthly visitors, great! Aim for 95% confidence. But if that’s not your case, you don’t have to freeze your program waiting for perfect data. Lowering your confidence level strategically lets you run more experiments, which compounds learnings faster and drives bigger results over time. A slightly lower confidence level is far better than running only a few tests a year.

3 — Build a strong process and team
Optimization gets much easier when you establish an organized, repeatable workflow and work with a team that values both speed and precision. Attention to detail when designing new interfaces, combined with the ability to move fast and keep experiments flowing, is key. The compounding effect of many small wins over time is where the real magic happens, and the learnings often go far beyond CRO itself.

Can’t build this in-house yet? Let’s talk. Our team and proven process are delivering consistent, measurable results for e-commerce brands across the U.S., even as you read this. 😉

How have you added AI to your workflows? Inspire us with some concrete examples.

AI has become a big helping hand in my day-to-day, from speeding up repetitive tasks to enhancing how I handle data and insights. AI browsers are the next frontier, bringing these tools even closer to our daily routines as true assistants rather than just productivity hacks.

Beyond the repeated time savings, my favorite use of AI in CRO is research. When I’m working with large customer survey datasets, AI makes it incredibly easy to organize responses, categorize themes, extract insights, and even generate data-informed hypotheses for testing. What used to take days can now be done in hours. And often with more structure.

And here’s a tip from real experience: I’ve tested identical prompts across several AI tools, and Claude consistently delivers the most accurate, well-organized insights. The way it structures its reports and highlights relationships in data outperforms other LLMs.

Talk to us about the unique experiments you’ve run over the years.

It’s funny how unpredictable experiment results can be. Sometimes you launch something that feels like a sure win, and it underperforms. Other times, a tiny tweak you didn’t expect much from ends up driving double-digit gains.

Out of the hundreds of experiments I’ve run, one of my favorites involved offering freebies. E-commerce shoppers love that kind of gesture. In this case, a small item that cost the client just $4 (but was valued at $20 in-store) was offered as a free gift once customers reached a specific cart threshold.

The result? A significant boost in both conversion rate and average order value, translating into over $2 million in incremental annual revenue from that single test. It was a great reminder that simple, customer-first ideas can have a massive business impact.

Cheers for reading! If you’ve caught the CRO bug… you’re in good company here. Be sure to check back often, we have fresh interviews dropping twice a month. And if you’re in the mood for a binge read, have a gander at our earlier interviews with Gursimran Gujral, Haley Carpenter, Rishi Rawat, Sina Fak, Eden Bidani, Jakub Linowski, Shiva Manjunath, Deborah O’Malley, Andra Baragan, Rich Page, Ruben de Boer, Abi Hough, Alex Birkett, John Ostrowski, Ryan Levander, Ryan Thomas, Bhavik Patel, Siobhan Solberg, Tim Mehta, Rommil Santiago, Steph Le Prevost, Nils Koppelmann, Danielle Schwolow, Kevin Szpak, Marianne Stjernvall, Christoph Böcker, Max Bradley, Samuel Hess, Riccardo Vandra, Lukas Petrauskas, Gabriela Florea, Sean Clanchy, Ryan Webb, Tracy Laranjo, Lucia van den Brink, LeAnn Reyes, Lucrezia Platé, Daniel Jones, May Chin, Kyle Hearnshaw, Gerda Vogt-Thomas, Melanie Kyrklund, Sahil Patel, Lucas Vos, David Sanchez del Real, Oliver Kenyon, David Stepien, Maria Luiza de Lange, Callum Dreniw, Shirley Lee, Rúben Marinheiro, Lorik Mullaademi, Sergio Simarro Villalba, Georgiana Hunter-Cozens, Asmir Muminovic, Edd Saunders, Marc Uitterhoeve, Zander Aycock, Eduardo Marconi Pinheiro Lima, Linda Bustos, Marouscha Dorenbos, Cristina Molina, Tim Donets, Jarrah Hemmant, Cristina Giorgetti, Tom van den Berg, Tyler Hudson, Oliver West, Brian Poe, Carlos Trujillo, Eddie Aguilar, Matt Tilling, Jake Sapirstein, Nils Stotz, Hannah Davis, Jon Crowder, Mike Fawcett, Greg Wendel, Sadie Neve, Cristina McGuire, Richard Joe, Ruud van der Veer, Merritt Aho, Felipe Henrique Fogarolli, and Riccardo Oricchio.