App Masters · Sep 5How to Optimize Growth Funnel (Case Study 2X Revenue Growth)
Started at about 90 downloads a month, with 23% becoming accounts and 67% of those paying $10 a month after a 30 day trial. After growth of over 1,000%, only 16 of 901 accounts paid, and a week-long GIF email series lifted onboarded users 81% and pointed to a 45% margin.
Tips
- Track the full funnel from acquisition down to profit▶ 1:07The same tracking exposed TimeClock's onboarding hole once traffic grew.
- Add traffic to a healthy funnel to expose its hidden leaks▶ 1:06:55TimeClock grew over 1000% and the added traffic exposed a big hole between account creation and paying customer.
- Do not trust early funnel rates built on tiny volume▶ 2:58With 21 accounts and 14 customers in the first month, the funnel looked healthy while the business was barely profitable.
- Drill into the step after signup to find where users drop▶ 4:59Of 42 fully onboarded users, 16 converted, so onboarding to customer was strong; the failure was getting users onboarded.
- Diagnose a funnel hole with surveys plus interviews of leavers and buyers▶ 6:13The interviews revealed the target user and the exact onboarding steps they needed.
- Design onboarding around the real buyer's technical skill▶ 7:36The majority of downloaders were construction companies with small back offices, and the office manager made the purchase decision.
- Simplify terminology, steps and clutter to focus users on one action▶ 8:40
- Validate a funnel fix first with a low-effort email series▶ 9:05Within a month, fully onboarded users rose 81%, which nearly pulled in the same lift in new customers.
- Let user research dictate the content, timing and wording of lifecycle emails▶ 9:36
- Fix one funnel metric at a time and keep pounding it▶ 10:43The share of users fully onboarded went from 5% to 8%, which was still low but funded further work.
- Use a small funnel win to fund reinvestment in the app▶ 9:56Margin moved to a 45% trajectory, set to take a $100K company to $200K this year.
