• Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Testimonials
  • Fresh Ideas
  • Contact Us

Call us ! +91-9560923881

hello@insperme.com
Insperme ConsultingInsperme Consulting
Insperme ConsultingInsperme Consulting
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Testimonials
  • Fresh Ideas
  • Contact Us

Stop f#cking around with growth hacks if your metrics look like this

Home AnalyticsStop f#cking around with growth hacks if your metrics look like this
Metrics

Stop f#cking around with growth hacks if your metrics look like this

Startup founders love to experiment, especially when things aren’t going well. They map out hundreds of tests and hacks, hoping to find that one perfect path to success.But if your startup isn’t growing as quickly as you’d expected and your metrics look bad, you might have a problem that growth hacks can’t solve.

Let’s start with an example.

A startup founder recently asked for feedback on a few experiments he wanted to run. He’d successfully landed enterprise deals for his company, but the self-service SaaS product he developed hadn’t found its footing. He believed in the product, but something needed to change.

So the founder sent along a bunch of potential optimizations:

  • Improve the onboarding experience
  • Start a drip campaign based on user activity
  • Sell directly over the phone
  • Add new features
  • In-app upgrade notifications
  • Ask for a credit card up front
  • He wanted to know which options would grow his SaaS business

But when I reviewed their monthly KPIs, here’s what I found:

  1. 40,000 unique visitors
  2. 2,000 free trial signups
  3. 10 paid upgrades

That’s a conversion rate of 0.5%.

In other words, 1,990 people who signed up for free trials didn’t find value in his product. And to make matters worse, nearly 5% of those paid customers churned every month.

What was my advice?

Forget about growth hacks. Forget about onboarding, drip campaigns, and new features. There’s a much bigger problem: you have no idea who your customers are.

You’re driving traffic, but no one feels compelled to purchase your product. No one wants to be your customer.

When a conversion rate is this painfully low, no amount of optimization can save you. It’s tempting to think you can test and experiment your way out of this mess, but when you’re converting 0.5% of your free trials, it’s time to start over. Direct phone sales and in-app notifications won’t move the needle. A 50% improvement only gets you 5 more conversions each month—that’s not enough to turn things around.

You need to blow everything up

The first step is to figure out who your customers are. Where can you find them? How can you market to them? How can you build a product that solves their problems?

When I asked the founder who his ideal SaaS customers were, he couldn’t give me an answer. That’s because he didn’t know.

So how can you identify the right customers for your product?

  • Create an ideal customer profile

There’s a good chance you’re missing out on the right customers by focusing on the wrong ones.

Ultimately, you want customers who:

  • Get significant value from your product
  • Provide significant value to your company
  • If you’re failing to convert free trials, you’re likely missing one (or both) of these critical factors.

To create an ideal customer profile, make a list of your 10 best customers and search for common attributes (company size, industry, how long they’ve been in business, etc.). This will help you focus on generating high-quality leads—you know, the ones that will actually pay for your product.

Do things that don’t scale

If you’re struggling to identify customers, find new ways to connect with them. Many times, that means validating your ideas with the power of hustle. At Close.io, we know one of the best ways to connect with potential customers is to do things that don’t scale.

We’ve called new signups, left voicemails after 7 days of a trial, emailed users from personal accounts, gave free hour-long training sessions and sales consulting, and offered engineering support (almost) 24/7. These weren’t optimizations for us. They weren’t growth hacks. We did these things to understand our prospects and to learn what makes them tick. To generate real customer insights—and solve real customer problems—we couldn’t rely on in-app notifications.

Visit customers

Your customers are more than a collection of data points. You can monitor usage and review feedback all you want, but if you don’t see customers using your product in the wild, you’re missing a lot of context.

Visit your customers. Build customer outreach into your schedule. Make time for the people who interact with your product every day. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Observe them in their natural work environment. How are they using your software? What’s competing for their attention? What makes them smile?

Over time, you’ll build stronger relationships with your current customers, and you’ll better understand what prospects are looking for in your product.

When should you optimize?

Before you consider possible growth hacks, you need strong conversion rates. Optimize for growth only when there’s evidence of product/market fit.

Adapted from the original article by Steli Efti on Close.io. Read the original article here

Share
0

You also might be interested in

Vivek Gupta joins Insperme

Vivek Gupta joins to spearhead Digital Transformation practice

Dec 22, 2020

As the world prepares for the “new normal”, with ‘contactless’[...]

Marketing Weekly - Volume 6

Marketing Weekly – Volume 6

Dec 2, 2020

Is #leadgeneration important to your #business? Having an effective lead...

Credits: Shutterstock.com

The How To Guide To Creating Your Personal Brand

Sep 19, 2016

Imagine yourself as a living brand. What makes you unique[...]

Fresh Ideas

  • Marketers Return to Traditional Advertising
  • Community Commerce – The New Reality for Brands
  • The 7A Marketing – Mix Strategy For Brand’s Success
  • Top 5 Lessons for MSMEs from COVID-19 Second Wave
  • Brands need to adopt Digitalization aggressively

Client Speak

  • “Manoj is a remarkable 360 degree Marketing Consultant. he is a top notch professional and amongst the hardest working, most creative and innovative person. He knows his stuff, inside and out and has consistently delivered amazing results for us. I highly recommend his services.”

    Rajender Singh
    Founder, Credible Investment Solutions
  • “It’s rare that you come across standout talent like Manoj Chandra. He is an impressive speaker and a worthy leader, who is always committed to his profession. Along with his undeniable talent, Manoj has always been an absolute joy to work with. He is an impressive problem solver who is always able to address complex issues with strategy and confidence. I have personally benefited from his creative problem-solving, tireless work ethic, and willingness to do whatever it takes to create a difference amongst every stake holder he deals with.”

    Premdas Maheshwari
    Vice President, Amity University (Online)
  • “Manoj is one of the best marketing professionals I know. What I feel is unique about him is his understanding of both traditional and modern digital marketing methods and channels. He has adopted technology like a 25 year old and thus is able to bring a balanced marketing mix on board.”

    Vivek Kumar
    Founder, Venture Garage
  • “I have been consulting Manoj for quite sometime now. I have found him to be extremely pragmatic and practical in his thought process. One quality that I found unique, was his capabilities to customise his advice and strategy to the scale of operations, stage and the nature of business that is seeking his guidance. His ability to quickly understand your business and challenges ensures that one can relate to his professional advice and actually implement those. I would strongly recommend his workshop and make use of the one on one session with him.”

    Siddharth Gupta
    Director, Bigg Pocket
  • During May 2020 Lockdown, we engaged Insperme and Mr Manoj Chandra for branding of Basics Architects including designing of our new website over numerous zoom sessions. For Mr Chandra, no assignment is big or small, it is an opportunity to create something and make a change. It is this thought process along with his  clear vision, a strong work ethic and an uncompromising attitude, that has made our collaboration with Mr Chandra something to be proud of. He will drive you till you find your peak, to deliver a product that every client is proud of. Thank you Manoj ji, for everything. Deepest thanks, more power to your business and will never hesitate to recommend you at every opportunity.

    Vinod Singhi & Ranju Singhi

    Vinod Singhi
    Managing Partner, BASICS Architects
  • “Outstanding Experience. Really valuable & practical advice. Manoj is a real marketing guru and his suggestions have really helped us grow our business.”

    Mohit Miglani
    Founder & CEO, TripOffbeat.com
  • “Manoj has helped us build our strategy for branding, marketing, sales, lead development, and using best technology to create our web presence. The knowledge and vision he brought on table was outstanding. I will undoubtedly recommend Manoj for any branding or marketing assignment, he is undeniably the best at what he does.”

    Atindeep Paliwal
    Managing Director, Zouten Pharma
  • “Manoj brought a fresh perspective to our business, his guidance and mentorship in devising our brand strategy, planning and directions have helped us grow 300% in one year.”

    Puneet Chandra
    Co-Founder, Skootr Global Private Limited
  • Insperme has really helped us reinvent ourselves and transform from a product & production driven organisation to a sales driven organisation. Their team works like our extended arm. It is difficult to find someone like Manoj who is able think like and be your chief strategist and chief marketing officer with changes which not only have immediate benefits, but aligned to a long term strategy.

    Sameer Agarwal
    Managing Director, G.K. Winding Wires Limited
Advertisment

Tag Cloud

advertising audience blog brand branding brand leadership Brand Marketing Brand Solution brochures business business strategy collaboration consumers corporate communication customer relationship customers design digital digital marketing ecommerce entrepreneurship facebook human resources infuencer marketing Insperme instagram leadership lead generation linkedin manoj chandra marketing Marketing Strategy marketplace plan product product management profits social media startup startups Strategies strategy success target customer website management

Find us on

Interested to get Results and be more successful. Avail our FREE Consultation.
Logo
Brand & Marketing Consulting Services

We help you GROW faster.
Get started today.

Contact Us

  • Insperme Consulting
  • 306-307, 3rd Floor, SS Plaza, Vikas Marg, Block A, Sector 47, Gurgaon 122018 Haryana India
  • +91-9560923881
  • hello@insperme.com
  • https://www.insperme.com

COMMUNITY

Fresh Ideas

  • Marketers Return to Traditional Advertising
  • Community Commerce – The New Reality for Brands
  • The 7A Marketing – Mix Strategy For Brand’s Success
  • Top 5 Lessons for MSMEs from COVID-19 Second Wave
  • Brands need to adopt Digitalization aggressively
  • Consumers are looking at Brands with Purpose

Registered With

Logo

© 2022 — Insperme Consulting LLP. All Rights Reserved.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Testimonials
  • Fresh Ideas
  • Contact Us