Testing Mind Map Series: How to Think Like a CRO Pro (Part 84)

Interview with Felipe Henrique Fogarolli

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 get buy-in when the numbers aren’t pretty.

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 Felipe Henrique Fogarolli, Head of CRO at Monks and Ambassador at CRO Brasil.

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

My passion for experimentation largely stemmed from my undergraduate studies. I have a degree in Engineering Physics, and during my course, I took over 10 experimental subjects. When I saw that I could bring all that knowledge to the digital world and generate business impact, I dedicated myself entirely to adapting the content and helping companies grow.

What’s the one resource you recommend to aspiring testers & optimizers?

I believe the big step is finding people we can talk to about the subject! Even if we do our research in the best way possible, at some point, we will face difficulties, and that’s when our friends will be able to help us see paths we aren’t currently seeing. Experimentation is necessarily a team game.

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

Developing consistent hypotheses and analyzing results.

You’ve been a CRO lead and a Growth lead. In today’s AI landscape, how can optimization/experimentation drive better growth?

AI certainly brings much more efficiency to our processes. We can use it to refine our hypotheses, think about different copy models, and generate ideas much faster. This allows our team to be much more precise and efficient.

Predictive models are definitely going to become increasingly powerful over time. The CRO professional will need to increasingly understand the notion of impact and focus on prioritization to leverage AI and generate the maximum possible results.

What mental models should optimizers looking to work in growth teams adopt?

I joke that the CRO person is a born diplomat, haha. We have to have the mindset of listening to everyone, understanding the scenarios, and knowing very well when to use our ‘No’s.’

Knowing how to use test segmentation effectively and understanding the tradeoffs related to traffic allocation and user segmentation is definitely essential for us to advance in our negotiations.

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

Tests involving lead qualification are certainly the most incredible ones. Understanding that at times we will have to sacrifice our conversion rate to acquire users who truly make sense for the company is always a challenge, both in test management and in communication with stakeholders.

Working with more sophisticated CACs—not just what we see in paid media—and especially the LTV of the users we are acquiring, is very motivating, as it allows us to generate sustainable growth.

Where do you think the experimentation scene in Brazil is headed?

The experimentation scene is definitely growing, and growing fast here in Brazil. Decision-makers are increasingly understanding that even things that seem ‘obvious’ might not work, and making changes without properly tracking the impact can generate a loss for the company.

At Monks, we are succeeding in creating a culture with our clients where we certainly aim for an increase in results, but we also strive to be a partner that primarily guides our stakeholders toward more assertive decision-making.

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, and Merritt Aho.