17 posts tagged with "growth"

Four Steps of Growth Hacking Marketing​

1. Capture and expand PMF (Product-Market Fit) during the product development phase.
2. Identify and nurture seed users.
3. Embed viral growth factors.
4. Support with data, aiming for product optimization, and repeat the above steps.

How User Growth Begins with PMF​

1. ==Product-Market Fit== refers to the degree to which a product meets strong market demand.

2. Start with the simplest viable product and improve based on user feedback.

3. Use the data and information obtained to support the enhancement of PMF.

4. Understand customer needs as early as possible.

   1. For example, Amazon employees provide internal newsletters to gather feedback before a project begins.
   2. For example, Werner Vogels suggests writing FAQs/key user experiences/user manuals for the product you are developing = concept + operation + reference.

5. Find answers using the Socratic method.

   1. Who is this product for? Why would they use it? And why would I use it?
   2. What made you fall in love with this product? What prevents you from introducing the product to others? What is missing from this product? And what are its highlights?

1. Target a few hundred or a thousand key people, not millions.

   1. e.g., Dropbox began with a fun demo video in the initial launch. People can register but in a waiting list to use it. Use something ==new and exciting== to attract users.
   2. e.g., eBay in 2012 partnered with Gogo to provide free wifi access to ebay.com during flights. The brilliant part is that it can track the data to see whether it is beneficial and thus they can continue the partnership.

2. Do not target all people - target the right people

   1. e.g., Uber offered free rides for Austin’s SXSW conference for several years, which attracts thousands of tech-obsessed, high-income young adults.

   2. Hacks

      • Pitch media websites to write about us.
      • Post in Hacker News, Quora, Reddit.
      • Write blogs.
      • Kickstarter.
      • www.helpareporter.com to connect to reporters.
      • Invite users for free or with some incentives.

   3. ==Stunts==

      • Create the aurora of exclusivity with “invite-only”
      • Create fake users to make it more actively than it is. (Reddit did this)
      • Catering to a single platform exclusively (PayPal and eBay)
      • Launching for users group by group (Facebook and colleges)
      • Bringing on influential people for their audience and fame
      • Sub-domain on the e-commerce site to donate (Amazon)

3. Focusing on new user sign-ups (acquisition) instead of awareness.

4. Growth Techniques = marketing + engineering

   1. e.g., Airbnb made tools to make cross-posts to Craigslist.
   2. Sean Ellis: “Focusing on customer acquisition over ‘awareness’ takes discipline… At a certain scale, awareness/brand building makes sense. However, for the first year or two it’s a total waste of money.”
   3. In-effective actions
      1. Big blowout launch
      2. Build it and they will come. (Aaron Swartz: users have to be pulled in.)

1. Target a few hundred or a thousand key individuals, rather than millions
   1. For example, Dropbox started its initial launch with an engaging demo video. People could sign up but had to wait to use it. Attract users with something ==novel and exciting==.
   2. Similarly, in 2012, eBay partnered with Gogo to provide free Wi-Fi access to ebay.com during flights. The clever part was tracking data to determine whether it was beneficial to continue the partnership.
2. Don’t target everyone - focus on the right people
   1. For instance, Uber provided free rides for years during the South by Southwest conference in Austin, attracting thousands of young, high-income tech enthusiasts.
   2. Tips
      • Persuade media outlets to write about you
      • Post on Hacker News, Quora, and Reddit
      • Write blogs
      • Use Kickstarter for crowdfunding
      • Contact journalists through www.helpareporter.com
      • Invite users for free or with some incentives
   3. ==Big tricks==
      • Create exclusivity with “invitation-only” hunger marketing
      • Generate fake users to make it appear more active. (Reddit used this approach)
      • Focus on a single platform (PayPal and eBay)
      • Spread from one user group to another (Facebook and universities)
      • Attract influencers because they have a broad audience and good reputation
      • Make charitable donations on subdomains of e-commerce sites (Amazon)
3. Focus on new user registrations (acquisition) rather than brand awareness
4. Growth hacking = marketing + engineering
   1. For example, Airbnb created tools while cross-posting on Craigslist.
   2. Sean Ellis once said: “Staying focused on customer acquisition rather than 'building brand awareness' often requires restraint... Certainly, once a company reaches a certain scale, brand awareness/branding makes sense. But in the first year or two, it’s just a complete waste of money.”
   3. Ineffective actions
      1. Grand launches
      2. Wishfully thinking that “the best way to attract users is to let the product speak for itself” (while Aaron Swartz believed that users must be attracted to come).

4 Steps of Growth Hacking​

1. Begin with the product-market fit (PMF)
2. Finding your growth hack
3. Going viral
4. Close the loop

How to begin with PMF?​

1. ==Product/market fit== is the degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand.

2. Start with MVP and evolve with feedbacks

3. Use data and information to back PMF.

4. Understand the needs of the customers as early as possible

   1. e.g., Amazon employees give internal press release before developing the project to collect feedbacks.
   2. e.g., Werner Vogels suggests writing FAQs for the product you’re developing / critical UX / user manual = concepts + how-to + reference

5. Develop answers with the Socrates method

   1. Who is this product for? Why would they use it? Why do I use it?
   2. What is it that brought you to this product? What is holding you back from referring other people to it? What’s missing? What’s golden?

AARRR is startup metrics developed by Dave Mcclure.

1. Acquisition - how do users find you?
2. Activation - Do users have a great first experience?
3. Retention - Do users come back?
4. Referral - Do users tell others?
5. Revenue - How do you make money?

Andrew Chen believes rentention is king

What is a growth team?​

A team with the responsibility to measure, understand and improve the flow of users in and out of the product and business. Finance owns the flow of cash in and out of a company. Growth owns the flow of customers in and out of a product.

The Three Mandatory Skills of a Growth Leader​

• Building growth models.
• Developing experimentation models.
• Building ==customer acquisition channels==.

Basic growth frameworks​

Sustainable Growth = multiplication of

• Top of Funnel (traffic, conversion rates)
• Magic Moment (create emotional response)
• Core Product Value (solves real problems)

e.g. amazon's growth = multiplication of

• vertical expansion
• product inventory per vertical
• traffic per product page
• conversion to purchase
• average purchase value
• repeat purchase behavior

Theoretical growth model should be tested with experiments​

More than just A/B tests:

• How do you identify what part of the funnel to focus on?
• How do you identify the most valuable test to run out of a set of experiments?
• When do you run — and not run — that test?

Why does growth rate drops if no new optimization is made? It is because the prev optimization has converted its target cohort. There is always a limit and a S-curve in growth. People have to test out the potential new breakthroughs.

The larger the company, the larger the sample size, the less thoughtful the experiment can be. big companies like small optimizations

• Google engineers testing 40 different shades of blue in a particular sign up button

go deep in funnels and focus on critical points.

A Grabbag of Guidance on Growth​

• You can’t sustainably grow something that sucks.
• You don’t need or want a "growth hacker" to lead. A "hacker" is just a "hacker" - they are just for small start-ups.
• Your growth lead needs to be a product person, which has deep understanding in the business, not just the growth.