October 11, 2013
Three Growth “Hacks”
Josh Elman @joshelman

Josh Elman

Three Growth “Hacks”
1. The Double Viral Loop
2. The Learn Flow
3. User accounting
3

The Double Viral Loop

Single viral loop
5

Single viral loop
5

LinkedIn invites (2004)
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7

Single viral k-factor
k = 1 new user
x % who invite
x avg # invites sent
x open rate
x click-through rate
x registration rate
8

Viral but slow
• < 25% new users typed at least one email address
• Most people had 1 connection
9

10

Viral but still pretty slow
• < 10% uploaded their address book
• # invites per inviter increased to > 30
• Most people still had one connection.
• BUT... > 90% had one position on profile
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12

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15

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Reconnect increases overall usage
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Reconnect Increases Overall Usage
Reconnect stats: 87,000 senders (600,000 reconnect messages)
(since April 29): 327,000 recipients
Guest Invitations: +16%
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
Profile Positions: +28%
0
2000000
4000000
6000000
8000000
10000000
12000000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
Page Views: +41%
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
2/5/01 3/5/01 4/5/01 5/5/01
Searches: +33%
*All % are May improvements over April
Reconnect Increases Overall Usage
Reconnect stats: 87,000 senders (600,000 reconnect messages)
(since April 29): 327,000 recipients
Guest Invitations: +16%
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
Profile Positions: +28%
ary-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
age Views: +41%
1 3/5/01 4/5/01 5/5/01
earches: +33%
*All % are May improvements over April
Reconnect Increases Overall Usage
Reconnect stats: 87,000 senders (600,000 reconnect messages)
(since April 29): 327,000 recipients
Guest Invitations: +16%
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
Profile Positions: +28%
0
2000000
4000000
6000000
8000000
10000000
12000000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
Page Views: +41%
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
2/5/01 3/5/01 4/5/01 5/5/01
Searches: +33%
*All % are May improvements over April
Reconnect Increases Overall Usage
Reconnect stats: 87,000 senders (600,000 reconnect messages)
(since April 29): 327,000 recipients
Guest Invitations: +16%
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
Profile Positions: +28%
0
00000
00000
00000
00000
00000
00000
February-05 March-05 April-05 May-05
Page Views: +41%
0
000
000
000
000
000
000
000
000
000
2/5/01 3/5/01 4/5/01 5/5/01
Searches: +33%
*All % are May improvements over April
• Reconnect stats:87,000
senders (600,000
messages)
• Since April 29:
327,000 recipients
Page views: +41% Guest invitations: +16%
Searches: +33% Profile positions +38%

Double viral k-factor
k = 1 new user
x % who invite
x avg # invites sent
x open rate +
x click-through rate
x registration rate
1 new user
x % add old users
x avg # adds sent
x acceptance rate
x old users who reinvite
x avg # invites sent
x ... 19

Find your double loop
1. Choose the simplest way to connect people
2. Enable new users to nudge existing users
3. Push existing users to invite/share upon returning
20

The Learn Flow

When someone signs up...
• “I’ve read somewhere this cool”
• “My friend said she loves it and wants me to try it”
• “I feel like I’m the last one to try this”
• “Free trial, I’ll give it a shot”
22

YOU HAVE MORE ATTENTION NOW
THAN YOU EVER WILL AGAIN
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0
Twit·Vid
n. a simple video sharing
option for your tweets.
Home
@stoptest7
Direct Messages
Favorites
Retweets
Search
Lists
Trending: Worldwide
Following
RSS feed
© 2010 Twitter About Us Contact Blog Status Goodies API Business Help Jobs Terms Privacy
Home Profile Find People Settings Help Sign out
What’s happening? 140
TweetTweet
What to do now:
1. Tell us what you’re doing in the box above
2. Find some friends and follow what they’re doing
3. Turn on your mobile phone to update your friends on the go
Home
stoptest7
0 tweets
0
following
0
followers
0
listed

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29

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Slow down, it’s ok to explain
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But don’t just tell, get users to engage
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Give context and framing
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Ask when it’s appropriate, not first
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User accounting

Regulars or visitors, how do you know?
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Visitors Regulars
just use once use daily/monthly
come via a prompt come directly
don’t remember your
name
top of mind

Track who goes inactive
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How many people are
really using your product?
39

Step 1: Determine who is “core”
40
0%#
10%#
20%#
30%#
40%#
50%#
60%#
70%#
80%#
90%#
100%#
1# 2# 3# 4# 5# 6# 7# 8# 9# 10# 11# 12# 13# 14# 15# 16# 17# 18# 19# 20# 21# 22# 23# 24# 25# 26# 27# 28# 29# 30# 31# 32#
Reten%on'Rate'based'on'#'%mes'used'in'month'1'

Step 2: Understand activations
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CORE
CURIOUS NEW CASUAL
COLD
20%
90%
40%
40%
40%
8%
50%
10%
95%
4%
1%

Step 3: Figure out why
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Following more than 30 accounts 1/3 - mutual follows
2/3 - one-way follows

Step 4: Track it daily
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(+) New User Registrations
(+) Resurrected Users
(-) Deactivations
(-) Gone Inactive
--------------------------------------
(+/-) Net Change
(+) 20,000
(+) 1050
(-) 50
(-) 10,000
--------------------------------------
(+) 11,000 (4mm MAU/year)
--------------------------------------
Net Active Users
--------------------------------------
1,011,000 total users
Total Active Yesterday
--------------------------------------
1,000,000 total users
--------------------------------------

What do I do next?
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Be Creative.
Use your data.
Build features.
Ship. Test. Learn.

August 14, 2013
Three Growth “Hacks”
Josh Elman @joshelman
http://medium.com/@joshelman