Why giving another
growth hacking definition?
Before I start giving
you my growth
hacking definition, I would like to tell you why I want to redefine the
concept of growth hacking. In the startup world, I noticed that you can find an
immense amount of resources about growth hacking; there are countless
incubators, boot camps, books, webinars, accelerators, consultants, mentors,
experts, gurus, ninjas and more who keep explaining you how you should grow
your startup by using growth hacking methods.
Ever since we launched
our website Growth Hackers, people from all around the world have contacted us.
They either asked us to help them, or wanted to get more information about
growth hacking. The problem is that they do not necessarily get the responses
they expected from us. In fact, many entrepreneurs or marketers contacted us by
using their own definition of growth hacking based on what they’d heard.
Upon doing some
research, we have found out that the concept of growth hacking is not well
explained, or highly inaccurate; especially on the Internet. (Even if it is
accurate or well explained, it’s lost in the middle of all the junk). Moreover,
we have found multiple definitions that contradicted with other websites. So, I
am going to give you my “definitive” growth hacking definition (it’s ok if you
disagree; a lot of people do actually. Please write a comment below, contact me
or send me a tweet about it. I am not saying that this definition is perfect;
it’s just what I believe growth hacking is.)
What growth hacking is
not
I want to start by
talking about what growth hacking is NOT because I hear a lot of rumors or
stories about it.
Growth hacking is not
a magic formula. Growth hacking is not a few lines of code that you include on
your website or your app to get millions of visitors or downloads overnight. If
it was that easy, I would make an app in one day, put this code, get millions
of downloads, sell the app and retire to French Polynesia.
Most people know that
growth hacking is not that easy but I was surprised when people started
contacting me and asked me to get them 10,000 app downloads a day for each
country they were in + getting 4 million email addresses of relevant and
interested people for their product within a year for each country (This is a
true story, I literally had someone giving me those numbers explaining this is
what growth hacking is all about).
First of all, 10,000
app downloads a day (Not impossible by the way) means nothing if people
uninstall the app after. If you have 10,000 app downloads but 9,900 uninstall
it within a month, then you actually have 100 real downloads (Or 100 new MAU –
Monthly Active Users). But if you have 1,000 downloads but only 100 uninstall
it, then you have 900 actual downloads. Don’t focus on quantity, focus on
quality. If you want quantity, buy downloads from click farms in India or
Bangladesh. But, be aware that retention is as important as (if not more than)
acquisition.
Growth hacking magic
Growth Hacking is not
Computer or Software Hacking even if sometimes they can overlap. The goal is to
hack growth, which means getting substantial growth the quickest way possible
with a limited budget or tools. If I find out that the best way to growth hack
your startup is by giving flyers at the airport: then, this tactic becomes a
growth hacking strategy for your startup because I found that handing out
flyers hacked your growth.
Many people often
believe that growth hacking is obviously linked to computer hacking. Sorry to
disappoint you but this is not always the case. You can hack computers or you
can hack growth as well as many other things such as travel hacking, cooking
hacking, life hacking or almost anything you can think of. Hacking or to hack
is finding a way to manage/succeed in something within a low budget and/or with
a limited number of tools. If you were born in the 70s or 80s, you probably
know Mac Gyver, he was the life hacker of my childhood. If you don’t know the
series, watch it and you will see that hacking is not only about IT.
Growth Hacking is not
the same as traditional marketing even if traditional marketing strategies are
often used in growth hacking.
Growth Hacking is not
just a buzz word in the startup world, this is here to stay.
Growth Hacking is not
unethical even it can be used in an unethical way by some people. If I make you
purchase a product you like, It’s not unethical.
What growth hacking
really is
This is the part you
were waiting for… it’s coming; you’re going to discover (If you don’t know it
already) what growth hacking is.
Growth hacking is a
mix between marketing, engineering, data analysis and madness. Sure, you’ve
heard that one before. You’re not so impressed I guess. Let’s go deeper then.
Growth hacking is a
set of cross-disciplinary skills with 1 goal and 1 goal only: to grow a startup
or a business. This means the only focus of a growth hacker is Growth, Growth
and Growth. The ultimate goal is to find a predictable, repeatable and scalable
growth process. Therefore, growth hacking is a process.
Let’s now divide the
process in steps.
Metrics / KPI(s)
First, it’s important
as a startup to choose which metrics or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to
focus on. Each startup needs to have its own metrics.
For example, Facebook
uses the number of monthly active users, Whatsapp the number of messages sent a
day, Youtube the number of videos watched, Uber the number of rides… So, your
metrics can be unique but be careful to not choose vanity metrics (I mean
metrics that can be easily blown up in terms of numbers, or are irrelevant).
The example I mentioned above about the daily number of downloads is a vanity
metric if everybody uninstalls your app right after installing it. Another
example; the number of social media fans is a vanity metric. A better metric
would be the number of sales; you could then for example, focus on the
conversion rate of your Facebook ads rather than the number of likes.
Once you have chosen
which metrics to choose, you can start the growth hacking process accurately.
key performance
indicators kpis metrics analytics
Channels Prioritization
In order to bring
growth, a growth hacker has many channels he can use: SEO, SEM, Social Media
(SMO, SMM), Content Marketing, PR, Email Marketing, online/offline event
organizations, Video marketing, ASO, referral marketing (Viral Growth), UI/UX,
gamification, business development/strategic alliances, Sales… I recommend the
book Traction explaining you 19 different channels you can use for your
startup. The book doesn’t describe each channel in detail but it gives a good
overview of what you can do.
But, what should you
do with all those channels? The thing is, each startup or business is
different. Each industry is different. Their target is different (B2B or B2C,
different demographics, habits, location, culture, language, religion…). So,
you might ask how a growth hacker would know which channels they should be
using. A great growth hacker would say that they wouldn’t know the answer…
unless they conduct a customized testing process for your startup. Even if you
are the founder of your company, do you really know which channels are the most
effective to use to reach your target audience before testing them? No,
absolutely not.
Ideally, the goal
would be to actually try all the existing channels. As a startup you can’t.
Then, you actually need to make assumptions, check what kind of competition
there is in the market, define a marketing strategy, trust your gut feeling in
order to choose which channels you will prioritize and test first.
A/B testing / Experimentation
In my opinion, A/B
Testing is the most important part of growth hacking. You have to be determined
that you need to test everything. It’s impossible to know if something is going
to work without testing it. You can make assumptions but at some point, you
have to test those assumptions.
So, you have to test
several channels but also A/B test those channels. What I mean is that you
need, for example, to test social media, email marketing, PR and online events.
But then, you also need to A/B test those channels. To illustrate this more
clearly, let’s say you want to reach your target customers through social
media. You can use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, LinkedIn, Pinterest,
Tumblr, Weibo or any social media channel that exists under the moon. Let’s
assume you use Instagram. You need to A/B test to find out what works the best.
Post different kind of pictures, different hashtags, post at different times, follow
different people...
The goal is to
literally test every single little detail until you find what works. It's
critical to include relentless experimentation to the growth hacking process. I
will give more insights about A/B testing in another post.
Do you want us to
apply the growth hacking process to your startup?
Growth Hack your
Startup Now!
Data Analysis / Analytics
Growth hacking is
nothing without analytics. Without data analysis, growth hacking would be
ineffective. You need to be able to track what you’re doing. Every action you
take, needs to be trackable, if you can’t, then you cannot see results and you
cannot improve your strategy. Having a data-driven mindset is crucial. There
are so many ways to track your tests. For each channels, there are different
ways. For instance, if you’re using email marketing, MailChimp is great. If
you’re using PR, the way to track would be the number of reviews or the number
of bloggers/journalists answers. For those data, you also need to come up with
and define your own metrics (KPIs).
Users’ feedback
Users’ feedback is
extremely important. During A/B Testing, you need to get feedbacks from users.
Sometimes it can be annoying to get feedbacks, especially when it’s negative
but it is crucial to improve your product and make it more user-centric.
Negative feedback is the most important actually. You need to take care of
unhappy users/customers, they are the best ones. Why? 96% of unhappy users
leave your product without telling you why, which means you most likely won’t
know what was wrong. The 4% telling you why, explain you and allow you to
improve your product, which means they can become evangelists if they really
like your product’s improvements. If they complain, it is usually because they
need your product the most and they just want it to be perfect.
You don’t need to ask
some experts or gurus about how to get more users for your product. You need to
test. That so-called expert doesn’t know the details. Let’s say your startup
sells a new software to ease the communication between you and your customers
and remove the use of emails. The creator of Pokemon Go had a great experience
because he made the game an incredible success. Of course, he can give you
great input and recommendations. But, does he know your industry? Has he ever
used your product? Does he know your customers? Probably not.
So, who knows? Are you
the one to know? No. In fact, even you don’t know your product… I mean you
don’t know your product as much as your users/customers do. Your customers know
everything about your product. They use it every day. They like it, they know
what’s wrong with it, they know what should be improved… So, listen to them.
They have all the answers for you. Don’t waste your time and money talking to
consultants. Spend that time and money for your users.
Growth
hacking process
Optimization / Prioritization
Once you’ve analyzed
the data, you need to optimize and prioritize your channels and then you redo
your A/B Testing. Don’t forget that testing is a cyclical process and crucial
for your success.
Scalability / Automation
Once you have
optimized your channels and improved your product, it’s time to scale.
Scalability is an important part of the process. There are many ways to scale
your startup (You can scale by going to a new market, automatizing your
channels, there are a plethora of methods which are worth another post.)
It’s also time to
automatize the process, channels, strategies and tactics. Watch out though,
don’t waste your time automatizing something if you’re not sure it’s working.
Can you copy other
startups’ growth hacks?
Some companies contact
us and ask us to implement the same growth hacks that Dropbox, Airbnb or Candy
Crush used. We tell them that we can implement the same process but not the
same exact tactic. A growth hack that worked for another startup will probably
not work for yours. The goal is to run the growth hacking process in order to
find your own startup’s growth hack. Each startup will have a different way to
grow and this is why there is an unlimited number of growth hacks.
The goal: Growth
Hacking allows us to accompany your startup product development
The goal of growth
hacking is growth but it doesn’t work by itself. The best marketer, growth
hacker, designer, developer and data scientist working together will not make
your product a success if your product doesn’t meet users’ requirements and the
market needs.
The goal of growth
hacking is to accompany your startup’s product development. The combination of
an acquisition strategy, A/B testing, channels’ optimization, data analysis and
user’s feedback are meant to grow the product. This is why growth hacking is not
the same as traditional marketing because a growth hacker is involved in
engineering and product development. Therefore, growth hacking is not only to
focus on acquiring growth but also ensuring the product’s growth. A growth
hacker is a multi-talented individual and a growth
hacker job description involves knowledge and experience in fields like
marketing, data, engineering and product development.
What we learned about growth hacking
So, this was my growth
hacking definition. As you can see, this is not magic. This is a process where
you need marketing channels, data analytics, A/B testing, track & analyze
the results, optimization, automation and scalability. Growth hacking goes
further than marketing because a growth hacker also works with the engineering
& product development team in order to grow your product as well as users'
acquisition.
The process I
mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. A growth hacker has many tactics and
tools to implement each step of the growth hacking process.
At Growth Hackers, we
help startups with this process. If you expect us to sell you a few lines of
codes to include on your app that will bring you millions of downloads or that
we can get millions of emails of interested people overnight, this is not the
right place for you. However, if like us you believe that growth hacking is a
process and that you believe we can help you implement it for your startup,
then feel free to contact us. It felt like so many people knew everything but
not that many people were actually executing what they were saying. At Growth
Hackers, we don’t want to be another consulting firm, we execute!
Grow your Startup Now!
Jonathan is the
co-founder and CEO of Growth-Hackers.net. He is an expert in growth hacking,
startups, SEO, social media and content marketing. Follow him on Twitter:
@GrowUrStartup
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