This document discusses virality in SaaS products and the different types of virality that can lead to $0 customer acquisition costs. It outlines the 5 main types of virality: 1) Network effects, 2) Value virality, 3) Exposure virality, 4) Referrals & Invites, and 5) Word of Mouth. It then analyzes which types of virality worked best for different companies, finding that Word of Mouth resulted in 44% of signups on average, while Exposure virality and Network effects resulted in less than 2% of signups. The document concludes with design principles for achieving $0 CAC, such as spending to grow frugally, having low prices and simple plans

1. Virality in SaaS
What works and what doesn’t
OpenView Product-led Growth Summit
Olof Mathé, CEO & Co-founder, @Mixmax.

3. Key take-aways on your journey to $0 CAC.
You’ll learn about:
1. The 5 kinds of virality
2. What works and what doesn’t
3. Not all virality is created equal
4. Design principles for $0 CAC

5. Bad news
The only way to get $0 CAC
is to create a viral product

6. Good news
There are several different
kinds of virality

7. The 5 kinds of virality
1. Network effects
2. Value virality
3. Exposure virality
4. Referrals & Invites
5. Word of Mouth (aka Brand)

8. Network virality

10. Your users work to get other users on your product because it
makes the product better for them

12. X-company vs. Intra-company

16. Value virality

17. Your customers provide value to other people and make their
lives easier, simply by using your product

18. Value virality

19. Value virality

20. Exposure virality

21. Your customers show off your product,
(because it makes them look good).

22. What’s that penthouse you’re
staying in?
How did you take that amazing
picture?
“Sent from my iPhone”

23. Notes on Exposure virality
1. It’s not about value
2. It’s about social proof (status)
3. It needs to be spectacular to be effective

24. Invites and referrals

25. Your customers get rewarded by you
for sharing your product

26. Invites & Referrals

27. Invites & Referrals

28. Word of mouth / Brand

29. Word of Mouth / Brand

30. Poor person’s word of mouth: Content Marketing

31. Recap, the 5 kinds of virality
• Network effects
• Value virality
• Exposure virality
• Referrals & Invites
• Word of Mouth (aka Brand)

32. What worked and what didn’t

33. <1% of signups
Network virality

36. 1-2% of signups
Exposure virality

38. New user growth attributable to signature
≈
Immediate user churn on sign up

39. Reasons to keep the signature
1. Number of signature clicks ≠ number of impressions
2. Signature provides social proof
3. Users that churn immediately likely aren’t core
audience

40. 12% of signups
Referrals

42. Notes on Referrals
1. Do it early in customer lifecycle
2. Works if your product has broad appeal
3. Replace NPS with actual referrals

43. 14% of signups
Value virality

46. 44% of signups
Word of Mouth (aka Brand)

49. Share of signups
Word of Mouth,
44%
Value virality,
14%
Referrals, 12%
Exposure virality,
2%
Chrome Store,
21%
Other, 7%

50. Not all virality is created equal

51. 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10%
Network virality
Chrome Store
Exposure virality
Referrals / Invites
Value virality
Word of Mouth / Brand
Conversion rate to paid
n/a

52. Design principles for $0 CAC

53. Received wisdom
• Spend to grow
• Charge a lot
• Build a platform

54. What if it’s actually
• Spend to grow Instill a culture of frugality
• Charge a lot Don’t get pricing right
• Build a platform Enhance an existing workflow

55. Most startups after funding

56. Constraints breed creativity, creativity breeds $0 CAC

57. Received wisdom on pricing
You think you want:
1. High prices
2. Annual plans
3. Multiple plans

58. Get pricing wrong, the right way
What if you actually want:
1. Low prices
2. Monthly plan only
3. Single plan!

59. Change behaviors
Enhance an existing workflow

60. Build on top of an existing platform

63. Thank you!