Why?Because Numbers Don’t Lie.
Cassie Lancellotti-YoungHead of Marketing and Analytics, HighTable.com
What are we here to talk about?
Last 6 months in the life of yours trulyHint: You can’t spell “customers” without “users”
McClure’s “Startup Metrics for Pirates”How do you seize the booty?
Where are my opinions from?
media/tech banker at Citigroup
online acquisition and subscription analytics at TheLadders
independent analytics consultant while MBA’ing
marketing and analytics at Savored
demolition and reconstruction at HighTable
2012
2003idiot intern at About.com
Cassie’s Law/Caveat: No Silos
Always have a comprehensive portrait of engagement – email, site, revenue metrics all in one place.
(No more “firing” customers just because they don’t open emails!)
Example: bringing the user into GA
Example: tight revenue tracking
Sailthru
HighTable 1.0 Disaster
Quora for professionals??
6 key site activities:1. ask question2. answer question3. vote on answer4. follow person5. follow topic6. follow question
May 2012: The “Oh Shit!” Moment
§ low activation§ minimal product trial§ low repeat usage
§ 85% of activity on day 1§ many “inherited” users
from GLG’s business
June: Tackling the usage puzzle…
What information can we get about users (and non-users)?
Which site components actually drive engagement?
What about customer satisfaction?
July: Road to RecoveryStep 1: Pushing for wins at the margins…
Prioritize user education – tell the
Reiterate that with a simplified
153% increase in questions/visits136% increase in answers/visits
August: Road to RecoveryStep 2: Big bets with small MVPs
new product concept test for startup members
tested willingness to state business challenges as well as to list other people
developed sense for
September: HighTable 2.0
68% usage from membership (vs. <10% with old product)
Viral coefficient at 0.5+ in just first two weeks
70% fulfillment in 5 days or less
The biggest lesson of all
The biggest lesson of all
Keep it simple, stupid.
Decide what actually qualifies as usage
Beware of “false engagement” signifiers
Start with ONE thing and layer up
Think Facebook pre-photos, newsfeed, etc…
On to the pirates…
McClure’s Startup Metrics for Pirates
AcquisitionActivationRetentionReferralRevenue
Acquisition: invest in infrastructure
Hyper-granular tracking is mission-critical to marketing investment decisions
Acquisition: CPA(R) vs. CPA(C)
There is fundamentally a huge difference between a registrant/email subscriber (CPAR) and a customer (CPAC – credit card required!).
Acquisition: CPA(R) vs. CPA(C)
There is fundamentally a huge difference between a registrant/email subscriber (CPAR) and a customer (CPAC – credit card required!).
Maybe you think your CPA is $5, but if there’s only 5% customer conversion, your CPA(C) is actually $100!
Acquisition: intake curves
You know CPA(R) today; you can use historical data to forecast CPA(C) today, too.
Activation – how quickly do they do what we want them to do?
Know what makes sense for your business – i.e. B2B vs. B2C, product pricing
Understand bow-tie marketplaces and develop “magic numbers.”
It’s about demand AND supply…
More from Savored…
And remember, business is more than just marketing…
Retention: 3 things to think about
§ Email/mobile (push)§ Product marketing (pull)§ Customer satisfaction/NPS
Retention: push marketing
§ Regular updates about inventory and features
§ Promotions and win-backs
§ Abandonment§ Shameless
manipulation of customer demand!
§ Optimization!
Optimization can be very basic…§ Increasing number of restaurants in digest from
4 to 15 increased RPM by over 300%.
And remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
And remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
(watch your competitors – and copy them)
Retention: product marketing
§ Is the funnel as simple as it could be?
§ Is your site content relevant to your users?
§ KILL THE DEAD END STREETS!
And be sure not to sacrifice quality…
Retention: delighting your customers
Use your customers as an
idea factory!
Retention: Know the numbers
Retention: I <3 cohort analysis
Referral (+Social, Viral, Whatever)
sharing = traffic = viral coefficient = $$$
Which content is most likely to be shared; how can you promote that?
How can you incentivize referrals?
Revenue – at the highest level…
§ Know your LTV (and have confidence in your calculation)
§ Understand your revenue drivers – and what foreshadows them…
(email vs. social, mobile vs. desktop)
§ Develop some easy hacks (prepaid credits, ancillary products, etc.)
Revenue – maximizing WTP
Always start with maximum willingness to pay (sticker price) and move along the curve from there
Revenue – cash is still king.
§ Little hacks (wording, default option, etc.) can go a long way where revenue is concerned.
§ Understand the balance sheet.
Revenue – I don’t have any!
§ Develop proxies for revenue – a post, a Tweet – but make sure those proxies are truly valuable behaviors.
§ If revenue comes from advertising vs. users, think about relationships (e.g. page views).
Another note on the numbers…
Remember that you have TWO lenses for analysis:
customer lenswho is the customer and what does he do?
“transaction” lenstags, patterns, time, etc.
…and one more…
Be sure to understand the “why” of what’s happening – typically one of 3 buckets
product/marketingdeliberate changes to messaging, site, etc.
business ecosysteminventory issues, technical problems
“macro” factorsindustry trends, economic climate, press
…and (of course) make sure those numbers are significant!
Let’s get (growth) hacking.
Let’s get (growth) hacking.
Cassie Lancellotti-YoungHead of Marketing and Analytics, HighTable.com