Usually, marketing focuses on getting new people into the door. Online marketing is great, because you can measure conversions. But that is not enough.
If you take a closer look at your metrics, you may discover that up to 90% of your signups / downloads / free-trials don’t get active. Your bucket has holes. So no matter how many new signups you get, you hardly grow.
It’s much more important to focus on the following:
- Activation rate: How many of your new users really get active and experience the value of your product?
- Retention rate: How many of your new users become long-term users, on a daily / weekly / monthly basis?
- First user experience: The first 5 minutes of your product are the most important. That’s where the user either experiences an “AHA moment” (a real quick win), or likely abandons the product for good.
Maximizing and optimizing the complete user-lifecycle, from the first touchpoint until becoming a power-user, that is my definition of “Growth Hacking”.
- How can you expect word of mouth, if 90% of your users don’t get active in the first place?
- How can you expect growth, if you are continually replacing your old users with new ones, because no one sticks around?
- What if you could double your activation rate?
- What if you could double your retention rate?
Now check out the early metrics of Facebook:
- The first version of Facebook was built in two weeks (Remember: Real artists ship)
- 70% of all users used Facebook every single day. Every. Single. Day.
No wonder Facebook is now a $400+ billion company. Do you think it would have worked the same if their activation and retention rate were both 10%? Activation and retention is key!
How to get started with Growth Hacking:
- Start with this podcast episode with Sean Ellis, Ex-Dropbox growth hacker
- Lecture 6 – Growth with Alex Schultz, VP Growth at Facebook
- The Elements of User Onboarding
- Growth Hacking Handbook
- 21 Actionable Growth Hacking Tactics
- How to acquire your first users for free
Today’s idea
Activation and retention is much more important than the number of new signups / downloads / free-trials