Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis, Morgan Brown
Hacking Growth
Introduction
“growth hacking is a team effort, that the greatest successes come from combining programming know-how with expertise in data analytics and strong marketing experience…”
“they ran a host of experiments to find growth, most of which failed, before they campe up with the Craigslist hack, and they have continued to grow the business through rigorous experimentation and testing with strategies that are completely aboveboard.”
Chapter 2: Determining if your product is must-have
“you must not move into the high-tempo growth experimentation push until you know your product is must-have, why it’s must-have, and to whom it is a must-have: in other words, what is core value, to which customers, and why.”
Remember that viral word of mouth can work two ways; it can supercharge growth or it can stop it in its tracks.”
The aha moment: “this is the moment that the utility of the product really clicks for the users; when the user really get the core value – what the product is for, why they need it, and what benefit they derive from using it.”
“Often, people have to use a product a certain amount of time before they truly have this experience with it, or perhaps they have to use a certain feature to really get the full-force aha hit.”
”Certain user might already be wildly enthusiastic about it. So a vital step in determining whether your product has the aha potential is to seek out truly avid fans by mining user data and feedback and then to search for any similarities in the ways these people use the product for hints about what value they get from your product that less enthused user perhaps aren’t.”
The must-have survey
How disappointed would you be if this product no longer existed tomorrow?
- Very disappointed
- Somewhat disappointed
- not disappointed (it really isn’t that useful)
- n/a – I no longer use it
What would you likely use as an alternative to name of our product if it were no longer available?
- I probably wouldn’t use an alternative.
- I would use…
What is the primary benefit that you have received from name of our product?
Have you recommended name of our product to anyone?
- No
- Yes (Please explain how you described it)
What type of person do you think would benefit most from name of our product?
How can we improve name of our product to better meet your needs?
Would it be okay if we followed up by email to request a clarification to one or more of your responses?
“If 40 percent or more of responses are “very disappointed”, then the product achieved sufficient must-have status”
“If 25 to 40 percent of responses answer “very disappointed”, then often what’s needed are tweaks either to the product or the language used”
“If less than 25 percent answer “very disappointed”, it’s likely that either the audience you’ve attracted is the wrong fit for your product, or the product itself needs more substantial development before it’s ready for a growth push”
Whom to survey?
“to get at least a few hundred responses to the first question to be a reliable guide”
“Target the survey at active users”
“Active users … will be much more familiar with the product or service and as a result will often have much more specific and detailed responses.”
Chapter 4: Testing at high tempo
“standardize the format so that ideas can be quickly evaluated”
- idea name
- idea description
- hypothesis
- metrics to be measured
Stage 3: Prioritize
“ICE score system (…) standing for Impact, Confidence and Ease” (…) a ten-point scale.”
“the team begins experimentation with the hight-scored ideas in the area of focus chosen by the growth team.”
“the team may decide after discussion in the team meeting that there are reasons to go with a lower-scoring option.”
Chapter 5: Hacking acquisition
“Marketers commonly make the mistake of believing that diversifying efforts across a wide variety of channels is best for growth. As a result, they spread resources too thin and don’t focus enough on optimizing one or a couple of the channels likely to be most effective.”
“There are two phases in which to home in on your best channels: discovery and optimization.”
The three categories of channels:
- Viral/Word of mouth
- Social Media
- Embeddable Widgets
- Friend referral programms
- Online video
- Community engagement
- Contests and give-aways
- Platform interactions
- Crowdfunding
- Games, quizzes
- Organic
- SEO
- Public relations
- Speaking gigs
- Content Marketing
- App Store Optimization
- Free Tools
- E-Mail Marketing
- Community Building
- Strategic Partnerships
- Contributed articles
- Website Merchandising
- Paid
- Offline ads
- Online ads
- Affiliate advertising
- Influencer campaigns
- Radio
- Retargeting
- Ad networks
- Sponsorships
- Native content ads