My guest on this week’s episode of Suds & Search is Els Aerts, Co-founder of AGConsult.

Els and her team work with brands on user research, behavioral psychology and testing. She has developed a reputation as one of the most rigorous researchers in the industry. She’s spoken at numerous conferences, including Yoast Con, CTA Conference, CXL Live, and Conversion Hotel.

This is not a “trust your gut” conversation. This is not a feature dump about the latest trend. If you’re interested in a blunt conversation about how to perform user research based on years on experience from a seasoned pro, then stay tuned.

Els will point out that user research has never been more popular. There’s more money and attention going to collecting good data than ever before. Despite the excitement, user researchers are making all sorts of mistakes. In some cases, bad research and testing can even be dangerous.

What are some common pitfalls of user research? What the first few steps to a good test? What about the thorny issue of bias? I’m going to ask Els these questions and many more.

Grab something cold to drink and join me for a conversation with Els Aerts. We’ll talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of user research, we’ll spend a little time talking about how smaller companies can collect clean data, and we’ll also chat about the best practices of reporting.

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Mark Bealin

Founder and Principal

Mark Bealin is the Founder and Principal at SearchLab, which was founded in March 2017. Under his leadership, Clutch and Manifest both named SearchLab one of the top agencies in Chicago in 2018 and 2019.

Mark has been helping small and medium-sized businesses with SEO and PPC since 2007. He is an in-demand speaker and contributor at events throughout the country, sought out for his expertise in SEO, Paid Search and Analytics.

He is a board member of EO Chicago and a guest lecturer at DePaul University. Mark lives in Chicago with his wife and three children. He's a former varsity high school football coach and remains active at St. Ignatius College Prep.

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