Do you need a practical guide and how-to checklist for starting your growth hacking efforts? Learn how to build your growth funnel, how to run experiments, how to track your key growth metrics, how to identify your points of leverage, what tools to invest in, how to think like a growth hacker, and how to build your growth hacking team.

1. q G
Bryan Ferguson | November 2013

2. Traditional marketing is too slow for rapid growth
Traditional marketers try to buy
the attention of prospects.
This is too slow, risky, and
expensive for high growth
focused companies.
Traditional
Marketing
$
Traditional Marketing
•
•
•
•
Direct Mail
Email Blasts
Print
TV & Radio
•
PPC
•
PR
•
Events
•
Cold Calling
Slow
Expensive
Dropbox Lesson
In 2009 Dropbox launched with paid search
Cost per acquisition: $233 - $388
Price of product: $99. FAIL.
Dropbox Lesson
Adwords didn’t create a lot of new users
Very few searches for relevant keywords
Very slow user acquisition channel

3. Start-ups and high growth
companies are dismissing the high
cost and lower life time value of
traditional marketing for growth
hacking.
Growth Hacking
 It’s cheap
 It’s efficient
 It’s iterative
 It’s practical
 It’s scalable

4. Almost every company that is rapidly acquiring new
users is lead by a growth team and a growth strategy.

5. A growth hacker’s core mission is rapid growth
Behavior Economics
Decoding user motivations to
inspire and create viral growth.
Creative Growth Hacks
Out-of-the box solutions
to rapidly acquire users
with high retention
Funnel Optimization
Obsessing over
testing, measuring and
moving funnel metrics
Product Fit & UI
Constantly refining
product experience for
conversion and growth
Data Analytics
Rigorous, empirical,
scientific approach to driving
conversions and growth
Market Dynamics
RAPID
GROWTH
Pairing market trends,
supply, demand and pricing
to product fit and strategy.

6. While Growth Hacking is primarily focused on online
companies and start-ups, examples of innovative growth
hacking can be seen in more traditional industries.
McDonalds – 1950s
McDonalds was quick to understand
the dynamics of America’s new
interstate network as a new channel
for reaching customers. They rapidly
acquired new customers by setting up
golden arches along highway exits.
Today, online distribution channels and social networks are
being redrawn, creating massive change and opportunities
for almost every industry to reach and connect with people
in new and innovate ways.

7. Acquisition
Getting People to Your Site
Activation
Getting Users to the AHA Moment
Retention
Delivering Product Value Early and Often
People come to your site from various channels
Users sign-up or create accounts
Repeat use of product & features
Referral
Getting Users and Advocates to Share
Revenue
Turning Users and Activity into Revenue
Growth via sharing & WOM
Monetize user behavior

8. Have one clearly stated measurable goal for each
point in the funnel
Acquisition
People come to your site from various channels
Examples
15% Increase in Conversion Rate
Activation
Users sign-up or create accounts
5% Increase in New Accounts
Retention
Repeat use of product & features
Doubling return visits to site
Referral
Growth via sharing & WOM
2 Referrals per User
Revenue
Monetize user behavior
20% Increase in ASP

9. Identify or creatively engineer your unique hacks or
data points that will drive conversion at each stage
Acquisition
AirBNB: auto-posted to Craigslist
Mint: Sign-up page for every finance topic
Zynga: built on top of Facebook
People come to your site from various channels
Activation
Users sign-up or create accounts
Retention
Repeat use of product & features
Referral
Growth via sharing & WOM
Revenue
DropBox: easy sign-up with email notice to install
OKCupid: Signup process with animated guide
PayPal: $10 incentive to sign-up
Twitter: 30 Follower is the key to retention
Facebook: 7 Friends is the key to retention
Path: Friends send email when you are inactive
Dropbox: 500MB increase storage for referral
Hotmail: “P.S. I Love You. Get your free email at
Hotmail.com” at the bottom of every email.
Monetize user behavior
Living Social: Free if 3 friends buy
Udemy: Your student – you get 100% of the sale

10. Identify and track your key metrics – run experiments to improve
Unique Visitors
Acquisition
Activation
Time on Site
# of Pages
Visitors by Source & Cost
# of Clicks
Best Performing Source
Unique Visitors – Sign-up
New Account Creation
Sign-up Conversion
Opt-in Conversion
Email Click-Through Conversion
Retention
Returns to Share
Logs in 3 Times of More
Returns to Use X Feature
Returns to Complete Profile
Length of Use
Shares via Email
Revenue
Shares via Social
Referral Conversion
Posts to FB, LinkedIn, Twitter
Viral K Factor > 1
Paid Conversion
Referral
Invites
Activation to Sales Conversion
Leads by Source
Sales
Leads to Sales Conversion
Revenue

11. Use the right set of tools to build your experiments and
validate your assumptions
Website
Analytics
Funnel
Measurement
User
Survey
Landing Pages
& A/B Testing
Google Analytics
MOZ
KissMetrics
MixPanel
Kontagent
Trak.io
Flurry
Survey Monkey
Qualaroo
Opimizely
VMO (Visual Website
Optimizer)
Unbounce
CrazyEgg
PageSpeed Insights

12. Write down your hypothesis
Assemble your resources and team
Have a control group & setup and A/B testing
Run your experiment
Objectively review and measure your results
Implement positive findings
Optimize your experiment and repeat

13. Seeding a platform from zero is extremely challenging and the
demise of most user-driven businesses. Here’s seven popular
growth hacks for gaining critical mass


Piggyback on
Underlying
Network
Provide Stand
Alone Value
Platform
Seeding
Strategies


Seed in Niche
Geo/Industry/
Existing
Network
Pre-Populate
Platform Data
& Activity

Bait User
Sign-up

Recruit High
Profile Early
Adopters

Fake
Activity

14. Take a look at the innovations others in your industry have
used to seed supply and demand on their platform
Piggyback on
Underlying
Network
Pre-Populate
Platform Data
& Activity
Fake Activity
on Platform
Example:
PayPal’s
AutoLink with
eBay
Example:
YouTube
Pirated Early
Content
Example:
Quora Interns
Answered
Questions
Example:
airbnb autoposted to
Craigslist
Example:
Initially used
public domain
content
Provide Stand
Alone Value
Example:
First distributed
Seed in Niche
Geo/Industry/
Existing
Network
Example:
booking system
for restaurants
Facebook
started with
student network
in Harvard

15. Start with a growth hacker with broad skills and mature into a
growth team with specialized roles and defined processes
Phase 1
Phase 2
Growth
Hacker
Growth
Team
Spans multiple functions
Guerilla tactics
Creative genius
Obsessed with goals
I
a
Content
Writer
Process oriented
Specialized roles
Formal planning
Graphic
Designer
Developer
Project
Manager
(leader)
Data
Analytics

16. G
ALLOW DATA TO
DRIVE EVERYTHING
REMOVE EGO
FROM OUTCOME
BE ANALYTICAL &
OBSESSIVE - TEST
EVERYTHING
BECOME
AGNOSTIC ON
METHOD
ALWAYS DELIVER
PRODUCT VALUE
THINK OUTSIDE
THE BOX

17. 1
6
Build your growth funnel
Run your experiments
2
7
Identify your points of
leverage
Test, optimize, measure,
repeat
3
8
Clearly state your
measurable goals
Find your growth hacks
4
9
Define and track your key
funnel metrics
Build your growth team
5
10
Acquire the right tools
Embrace the growth
hacker mindset

18. "Marketing has
always been about
the same thing —
who your
customers are and
where they are.“
Noah Kagan, Founder, APPSUMO

19. "A growth hacker works
within the parameters of
a scalable and repeatable
method for growth,
driven by product and
inspired by data. A
growth hacker lives at
the intersection of data,
product, and marketing.”
Aaron Ginn, HEAD OF GROWTH,
STUMBLEUPON

20. “Growth hacking is a
recognition that when you
focus on understanding your
users and how they discover
and adopt your products, you
can build features that help
you acquire and retain more
users, rather than just
spending marketing dollars.“
Josh Elman, PARTNER AT GREYLOCK PARTNERS

21. "Growth Hacking is the
process and mindset of
searching for ways that
your product to grow. It’s
kind of like a mix between
engineering and marketing.
The key is to find untapped
channels of customers
that are motivated to use
your product.”
Dan Martell, FOUNDER, CLARITY

22. "Virality isn’t luck. It’s
not magic. And it’s not
random. There’s a
science behind why
people talk and share. A
recipe. A formula, even."
Jonah Berger, AUTHOR OF “CONTAGIOUS”

23. About Bryan
As a veteran of high growth start-ups, Bryan
has become an active writer on Sales 2.0,
Funnel Optimization and Growth Hacking. His
eBook - 18 Keys to Revving Up Your Sales 2.0
Engine - is available on Amazon.
Thank you!
858-405-0249
BryanFerg@gmail.com
@Bryan_Ferguson
www.linkedin.com/in/bryanrferguson/
Bryan’s Book
18 Keys to Revving up
Your Sales 2.0 Engine