Matthew Hearn: Career Interview
CRO weekly #264
Hi,
Welcome to a fresh CRO weekly newsletter, this week a career interview with: Matthew Hearn.
Tom
How to test shipping prices without killing conversion
Shipping thresholds are one of the most underrated yet powerful levers in eCommerce. Set them too low, and you bleed margin. Set them too high, and you risk abandoned carts. This quick guide breaks it down, including key success metrics, so by the end, you’ll feel confident running your own shipping threshold experiments.
Link to article from Convert
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Matthew Hearn: Career Interview
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
I’m a QA Tester focused on experimentation and CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation). I work closely with developers and analysts to make sure A/B tests behave as expected, track correctly, and don’t break anything on the site. I test everything from design tweaks to logic changes—basically, I try to “break things” before customers do. If something’s off, I’ll catch it.
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation related role?
I got into experimentation during my time at Currys plc, a leading omnichannel retailer of technology products, where I was doing broader QA work before being pulled into validating A/B tests. Over time, it became my speciality. I found I really enjoyed the mix of user behaviour, data, and detail—it suits the way I think and work. Now I’m the person teams come to when they want confidence that a test won’t derail the experience.
How did you start to learn experimentation?
Mostly through hands-on experience and curiosity. I learned by working with CRO teams and using tools like Adobe Target and debugging software. I also asked a lot of questions—not just “does this work?” but “why are we testing this?” Being deaf means I often have to find my own way through things, and that’s helped me become independent, observant, and resourceful. I don’t let communication barriers stop me—I just find a way.
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life? (what are you tinkering with or always optimizing?)
I experiment with just about everything—routines, productivity tools, even cooking – placing the experiment on my sons who are honest metrics, ahem, I mean critics and so far it’s been mixed verdicts! I’m always trying to tweak or optimise something. That mindset spills into how I work too: I’ll try out different bug-reporting formats or test strategies just to see if there’s a better way.
In the full interview you will also learn which developments Matthew excites in experimentation. How does he sees the field changing in the next 5 to 10 years? He also shares recommendations to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry.
Job opportunities
Looking for a new challenge in experimentation? Find 100+ experimentation related jobs on ExperimentationJobs.com.
This week’s featured roles:
Product Manager, Subscriptions at Dow Jones (New York, USA)
Engineering Manager – Ads Experimentation Platform at Reddit (USA)
Senior Optimization Manager, CRO Strategy at Launch Potato (Jersey City, USA)
Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) Specialist at Smile White (Leeds, United Kingdom)
CRO and Web Developer at Virtuagym (Spain)
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