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Guest Spotlight: Lina Blackman

Lina Blackman
Squarespace | Data Scientist

About Lina Blackman

Lina Blackman is Director of Product Analytics at Squarespace, where she leads the analytics and experimentation work behind the website builder's onboarding experience. She focuses on using data to challenge long-held product assumptions, including the tests that led Squarespace to kill its blank template and replace it with something measurably better for new users.

Notable Quotes

"Sometimes if you ask a user what they want, what they tell you they want is not actually what they want."

"I heavily believe that failed tests are just as good and we should iterate or not."

"This was actually a bit of a disaster. It was not a good user experience."

"I think teams only need one or two big wins a quarter. It's just not sustainable to have a million hits."

"The tests that are less risky, for sure, have an AI run the analysis, have an AI run the test brief. But then I might question why are we running it then?"

Lina Blackman
Squarespace | Director, Product Analytics

Squarespace killed its blank template and built something better

Go to S1 | E17

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Takeaways

All Takeaways

Close every losing test with two questions: did it work for a granular segment, and is the idea worth further investment?

Go to S1 | E17

Hand AI the mundane parts of the workflow (tracking, assignment setup), but if AI runs the brief and the analysis, ask why you're running the test at all.

Go to S1 | E17

Calibrate certainty to stakes — tight bounds on revenue and pricing tests, wider bounds on engagement tests so teams don't spin on noise.

Go to S1 | E17

One or two big wins a quarter is a healthy hit rate when you run 150–200 experiments a year.

Go to S1 | E17

Stated preference lies: users asked for a blank canvas, but behavior demanded guided design — and only the experiment could referee.

Go to S1 | E17
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