GROWTH “HACKING”FROM ZERO TO 100K

Food for Thought from VPO Lab - Yuki Chow

Growth hackers are typically computer engineers that build great marketing ideas into the product during the development process. Growth hackers are pros at hypothesizing, testing, and iterating different version of their products (and promotional campaigns) to create hockey stick growth for their companies.

Many consumer-facing products do not have the embedded virality, but growth could still be achieved after the fact. A growth hacker is a hacker whose objective is to grow the number of users for a specific product. While lots of people consider user growth to be a marketing function, this assumes that there’s only one way to get users (namely, marketing). But this isn’t true. In fact, more and more over the last few years we’ve seen new products grow from zero to millions of users with little to no marketing at all.

There are lots of non-marketing decisions that affect user growth. Building viral product features is the most obvious, but there are many others. As a result, it doesn’t make sense to place growth hacking within a particular department like marketing or engineering. Instead, it should be a cross-functional role.

SO, WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO PROMOTE A BRAND NEW CONSUMER FACING PRODUCT?

Food for Thought from VPO Lab - Yuki Chow

Q::

Stage I - ValidationValidate product assumptions via small-size usability tests and focus groups Stage II - Creative Warm Up

Tying the loose ends and connect all the touch points together. Cultivate innovative channels

Ambiguous Structured

Stage III - Launch BetaTell the press about our story and leverage influencers’ network impact

Stage IV - CampaignOrganic search, contextual ad, blogging, social marketing, SEM. Test through trial and error to determine the cost efficiency ($10-$15k)

Stage V - Automation Automate CRM and strategically encourage referral. Find a AHA moment for the product!

10-WEEK PRODUCT MARKETING ROADMAP

*Each stage is approximately 2-week long which should be aligned with product sprint cycles. The lean start-up process (see next page) should be reinforced so the actionable data and insights can be incorporated into the product in a timely fashion.

THE LEAN METHODOLOGY

Intention: Products are built based on assumptions. During the pre-launch phase, it’s essential to have a non-biased person perform product analysis to identify market fit and validate basic assumptions.

Goal: Collect insightful data to better position the product and create marketing strategies

Tools: Google Analytics, Survey, Usability Tests (10-15 users) in controlled environment

STAGE 1: VALIDATE ASSUMPTIONS

Set up tracking at all touch points so the team can make data-informed decisions accordingly

Report both qualitative and quantitative findings, especially the ones that go against previous bias or existing institutional knowledge

Discuss potential road-blockers with the product team and prioritize appropriate user stories

Form marketing hypothesis about who our audiences are and how to win targeted early adopters

STAGE 1: OUTCOME

INDUSTRY IMMERSION

PRODUCT IMMERSION

STAGE 2: CREATIVE WARM-UP

CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS

Ask WHY not? Test the NEW water

PRE-LAUNCH PREP IS READY?

No major UX hiccupsLanding pages in place

Tracking in place

Negotiate a few event discounts as added incentives

PR effort: outreach to at least a dozen tech media outlets and social network superstars who had previously shown interests to PowerInbox

Implement half a dozen landing pages with different flavors and introductions to facilitate the sign-up

Monitor drop rate and landing page performance during the sign-up stage. Track, track, track!

Establish online brand presence for follow-up conversations and relationship building

STAGE 3: BETA LAUNCH

Recruit over 2000 beta users

Clarify product value propositions

Familiarize with the language potential customers use to articulate their needs and wants

Understand market feasibility and product perception

Simplify feedback loop and implement feasible solutions

STAGE 2&3: OUTCOME

Leverage the learning from previous stages to design suitable marketing campaigns

Try a number of tactics within a short time-frame and then figure out what works best, what’s most effective

Build a bi-weekly budget allocation spreadsheet

Harness the partner relationships to acquire new customers

Get out there in the tech news, Reddit, blogoshphere

STAGE 4: THINK, DEFINE, TEST

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH = CRM AUTOMATION & SOCIAL SHARING

Add an auto-responder after the signup, modify the instructional design languages so it’s more welcoming

If users left the engine in progress, remind them and get their feedback. (e.g. e-commerce shopping carts)

If users choose to unsubscribe, try to hold on one more time. (e.g. Groupon)

Provide strong incentives for social sharing (e.g. Dropbox, LivingSocial)

STAGE 5: AHA! AUTOMATION

Net Promoter Score is the single best indicator of product/service’s embedded virality. Set a benchmark from the very beginning and persistently improve the NPS!

Oh, one more thing!

THANK YOU!

VPO LabYuki Chow@sn0wfl8ke

9.10.13