1. Focus first on acquiring and improving supply to solve the chicken-and-egg problem and improve conversion rates. 2. Systemically improve the customer experience through better supply and metrics like HouseTrip's recommendation algorithm. 3. Only focus on increasing Net Promoter Score (NPS) once the product is working well to drive growth through word-of-mouth recommendations.

1. @nilanp
NPS driven growth
OR
How to grow without spending a
TON on marketing
Nilan Peiris
VP Growth TransferWise

2. @nilanp

3. Startups
@nilanp

4. Startups Tequila
@nilanp

6. X

7. Opinion is an outcome of
experience

8. Back to traction
@nilanp

9. Revenue

10. Revenue

11. Revenue

12. Death Zone

13. Revenue

14. How do I get
out of the
death zone ?

15. A typical founder
conversation

16. Anonymised using
characters from the
Wire

17. x

18. GROWTH
Dude - we’re running
outta cash in 6 months

19. GROWTH
Lets go see the Man -
he can give us funding

20. Introducing the Man
@nilanp

21. GROWTH

22. GROWTH
Come back when you
have traction…

23. GROWTH
We need to get
traction, we need to
find customers, you
know what we need ?

24. GROWTH
Marketing

25. GROWTHWord.
Marketing is what we
need… but marketings
expensive. You know
what we need ?

26. GROWTH
Money… lets go see
the Man.

27. GROWTH

28. How do I get
out of the
death zone ?

29. 4 principles for NPS
driven growth
@nilanp

30. 1. Supply is your biggest scaling lever
2. Systemically improve your
experience for your customers
through curating supply
3. Once product is working, focus on
building NPS to drive growth
4. Once product is growing add
marketing
@nilanp

31. Supply is usually your
biggest scaling lever
PRINCIPLE 1

32. Focus on supply or
customers first ?

33. Chicken Egg
OR

34. Chicken Egg
OR
I came first

35. SUPPLY CAME FIRST

36. SUPPLY IS THE
BIGGEST DRIVER OF
YOUR CONVERSION
RATE
@nilanp

37. e
Drivers of
conversion rate

38. Availability of
product
I WANT A T SHIRT

39. Availability of in
right size / date
I WANT A MEDIUM T
SHIRT

40. Availability at
price point
ITS GOT TO BE
UNDER £30

41. MARKETING
BULLSHIT (CRO)

42. 1. Availability of product
2. Availability of product
on right date / size
3. Availability at right price
point
4.Marketing bullshit (CRO)
Drivers of conversion rate

43. Start with one market and
build from there
@nilanp

44. Summary
1. Acquiring supply solves the
chicken / egg problem
2. Focus on availability of product
at price point
3. Figure out how to scalable
acquire supply and get clear over
time on your value proposition to
suppliers
4. Focus on growth through
systemically improving your
supply base
@nilanp

45. PRINCIPLE 2
Systemically improve the
experience of your
customers

46. Practical advice
Focus on single
users
credit: Klinger.io

47. Figure out your
supply curation
metrics
@nilanp

48. HouseTrip’s
recommendation
algorithm measures
quality of stay

49. Facebook’s
news feed
optimises
for
engagement

50. 1. Systemically improve
your customer experience
by improving the quality of
supply
2. Focus on outcome
metrics for your customers
Summary

51. Focus on NPS and
your business will
grow
PRINCIPLE 3

52. Would you recommend us to
your friends?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Detractors Neutral Promoters

53. Would you recommend us to
your friends?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Detractors Neutral Promoters
Total
Promoters - Detractors
= NPS

59. If promoters >
detractors you WILL
grow

60. N.B. This is fucking
hard.

61. It works !
(But barely)

62. It works !
(But barely)
It works with
no significant
issues !

63. It works !
(But barely)
It works with
no significant
issues !
It works. Wow that
was slick

64. It works !
(But barely)
It works with
no significant
issues !
It works. Wow that
was slick
You’ve just blown
my socks off that
was fucking
incredible

65. ONLY focus on NPS
once the product is
working

66. Every app
on your
phone has
an insanely
high NPS

67. What drives
recommendation ?

68. Rational Emotional

69. Rational Emotional
• Product • Brand

71. You can’t copy
that !

72. ONLY focus on NPS
once the product is
working

73. Summary
1. Focus on NPS and you will grow
2. Understand the drivers of NPS
and align your product and
marketing organisation behind
this

74. Once product is
growing add
marketing
PRINCIPLE 4

75. 1. Performance
marketing
2. Viral growth
3. Inbound
marketing

76. Money in Money
out
1. Performance
marketing

77. Money in < Money out

78. Practical advice
When to focus on
performance
marketing ?
1. If your unit economics are
better than anyone else in
the industry
2. You can target relevant
traffic
@nilanp

79. Viral growth

80. Viral growth =
Word of Mouth
Referral programs
Crazy social sharing

81. Focus
Give away value
NOT money

82. Focus
=

83. What amplifies viral
growth rate ?

84. Frequency of use
Relevance
Shareability

85. Practical advice
Pre-requisites
1. Have a great product
2. Have your first 1000
customers
3. Customers are part of high
trust networks with other
target customers
@nilanp

86. Inbound marketing

87. Build acquisition into
your app

91. NPS driven growth
4 principles

92. 1. Supply is your biggest scaling lever
2. Systemically improve your
experience for your customers
through curating supply
3. Once product is working, focus on
building NPS to drive growth
4. Once product is growing add
marketing
@nilanp

93. @nilanp