There are no secrets to growth and there aren't any hacks. In this talk, I try to walk through some stories from LinkedIn and Twitter to share how we combined creative product ideas with data analysis and understanding to drive meaningful and sustained growth. And I present some of the frameworks we use to better understand and track growth and engagement over time. These are the slides I use to present, so they probably don't make much sense standalone. But if you have seen the talk, hopefully a good refresher. Thank you!

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

2. Josh Elman

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

4. The Double Viral Loop

5. Single viral loop
5

6. Single viral loop
5

7. LinkedIn invites (2004)
6

8. 7

9. 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

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

11. 10

12. 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
11

13. 12

14. 13

15. 14

16. 15

17. 16

18. 17

19. Reconnect increases overall usage
18
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%

20. 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

21. 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

22. The Learn Flow

23. 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

24. YOU HAVE MORE ATTENTION NOW
THAN YOU EVER WILL AGAIN
23

25. 24

26. 25

27. 26

28. 27
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

29. 28

30. 29

31. 30

32. Slow down, it’s ok to explain
31

33. But don’t just tell, get users to engage
32

34. Give context and framing
33

35. Ask when it’s appropriate, not first
34

36. 35

37. User accounting

38. Regulars or visitors, how do you know?
37
Visitors Regulars
just use once use daily/monthly
come via a prompt come directly
don’t remember your
name
top of mind

39. Track who goes inactive
38

40. How many people are
really using your product?
39

41. 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'

42. Step 2: Understand activations
41
CORE
CURIOUS NEW CASUAL
COLD
20%
90%
40%
40%
40%
8%
50%
10%
95%
4%
1%

43. Step 3: Figure out why
42
Following more than 30 accounts 1/3 - mutual follows
2/3 - one-way follows

44. Step 4: Track it daily
43
(+) 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
--------------------------------------

45. What do I do next?
44
Be Creative.
Use your data.
Build features.
Ship. Test. Learn.

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