Growth Experimenter

Run systematic experiments to grow faster through data-driven optimization.

Core Philosophy

Growth = Experimentation Velocity × Win Rate × Impact per Win

• Run more experiments
• Increase your hit rate through better hypotheses
• Focus on high-impact areas

Growth Model (AARRR / Pirate Metrics)

Acquisition → Activation → Retention → Revenue → Referral
    ↓             ↓            ↓          ↓         ↓
  Traffic      Sign Up      Day 30    Upgrade   Invites
  100%          40%          50%        20%       10%
   
Example: 10,000 visitors/month
→ 4,000 signups (40%)
→ 2,000 active at D30 (50%)
→ 400 paying (20%)
→ 40 referrals (10%)

Improve ANY metric by 10% = 10% more customers

Where to focus first: The leakiest bucket

• If 40% sign up but only 10% are active at D30 → Fix retention
• If 80% are active but only 5% pay → Fix monetization
• If 2% visitors sign up but 60% convert to paid → Get more traffic

Experiment Framework

1. Identify the Problem

Good problem statements:

• "Only 2% of homepage visitors sign up" (specific metric)
• "50% of trials don't complete onboarding" (clear drop-off)
• "Users who invite teammates have 3x retention, but only 10% invite" (known behavior)

Bad problem statements:

• "We need more growth" (too vague)
• "Conversion is bad" (no baseline)
• "Users don't understand the product" (not measurable)

2. Form a Hypothesis

Hypothesis template:

We believe that [change]
will result in [outcome]
because [reason/evidence]

Examples:

✅ Good:
We believe that adding social proof (testimonials) to the pricing page
will increase trial signups by 10%
because visitors currently have low trust and need validation.

✅ Good:
We believe that sending a Slack notification when user completes setup
will increase D7 activation by 20%
because users forget to come back after initial signup.

❌ Bad:
We believe that changing the button color will improve conversions
(no reason why)

❌ Bad:
We believe that improving the product will increase retention
(too vague, not testable)

3. Design the Experiment

Experiment specification:

Experiment: Add social proof to pricing page

Hypothesis: Social proof on pricing will increase signups by 10%

Variants:
  Control: Current pricing page (no testimonials)
  Treatment: Pricing page + 3 customer testimonials
  
Primary Metric: Trial signup rate
Secondary Metrics:
  - Time on page
  - Scroll depth
  - CTA click rate
  
Sample Size: 1,000 visitors per variant
Duration: 2 weeks (or until statistical significance)
Success Criteria: >5% improvement with 95% confidence

Measurement:
  - Google Analytics
  - Mixpanel conversion tracking
  - Segment for event data

4. Run the Experiment

A/B testing checklist:

• Random assignment (50/50 split)
• Same time period (no day-of-week effects)
• Sufficient sample size
• No peeking (wait for significance)
• One change at a time

Statistical significance calculator:

// Minimum sample size for 95% confidence
function calculateSampleSize(baseline, mde, power = 0.8, alpha = 0.05) {
  // baseline = current conversion rate (e.g., 0.02)
  // mde = minimum detectable effect (e.g., 0.10 for 10% lift)
  // Returns: visitors needed per variant
  
  const z_alpha = 1.96  // 95% confidence
  const z_power = 0.84  // 80% power
  
  const p1 = baseline
  const p2 = baseline * (1 + mde)
  const p_avg = (p1 + p2) / 2
  
  const n = (2 * p_avg * (1 - p_avg) * (z_alpha + z_power) ** 2) / (p2 - p1) ** 2
  
  return Math.ceil(n)
}

// Example: 2% baseline, detect 10% improvement
calculateSampleSize(0.02, 0.10)  // ~35,000 visitors per variant

5. Analyze Results

Interpreting results:

Control:    1,000 visitors → 20 conversions (2.0%)
Treatment:  1,000 visitors → 25 conversions (2.5%)

Lift: +25% relative (+0.5% absolute)
P-value: 0.04 (statistically significant if <0.05)
Confidence Interval: [-0.2%, +1.2%]

Decision: WIN - Ship it!

When results are inconclusive:

• No movement: Hypothesis was wrong or change too small
• Not significant: Need more data or larger effect
• Negative impact: Roll back immediately
• Contradictory secondary metrics: Investigate trade-offs

6. Scale What Works

// After successful experiment, roll out to 100%
if (experimentResult.lift > 0.05 && experimentResult.pValue < 0.05) {
  rolloutFeature({
    feature: 'social_proof_on_pricing',
    rollout: '100%',
    monitor: ['signup_rate', 'trial_starts']
  })
  
  // Log the learning
  logExperimentLearning({
    learning: "Social proof increased signups by 25%",
    application: "Add social proof to all high-intent pages"
  })
}

Growth Experiments by Stage

Acquisition Experiments

Goal: Get more traffic or improve traffic quality

High-impact experiments:

1. Landing page optimization:

Control: Generic homepage
Test: Tailored landing pages by traffic source
  - /for-startups (Product Hunt traffic)
  - /for-agencies (Google Ads)
  - /for-developers (GitHub referrals)

Expected lift: 20-50% on signup rate

2. Headline testing:

Current: "Project Management Software"
Test A: "Ship Projects 2x Faster"
Test B: "The Project Management Tool Teams Love"
Test C: "Finally, Project Management That Doesn't Suck"

Test: Value prop clarity, specificity, emotion
Expected lift: 10-30% on engagement

3. Social proof:

Current: No social proof
Test: Add testimonials, logos, user count
  - "Join 10,000+ teams..."
  - Customer logos (recognizable brands)
  - Video testimonial from power user

Expected lift: 15-25% on trust/signups

Activation Experiments

Goal: Get users to "aha moment" faster

High-impact experiments:

1. Onboarding simplification:

Current: 7-step onboarding flow
Test: 3-step flow, delay advanced setup
  Step 1: Name + email
  Step 2: Create first project
  Step 3: Invite team (optional, skippable)

Expected lift: 30-50% completion rate

2. Time-to-value reduction:

Current: Users must create project from scratch
Test: Pre-populated template
  - Sample project with tasks
  - Example data to explore
  - Guided tutorial

Expected lift: 25-40% in D1 activation

3. Progress indicators:

Current: No feedback during setup
Test: Progress bar + completion checklist
  [✓] Account created
  [✓] First project
  [ ] Invite teammates (2 left)
  [ ] Complete first task

Expected lift: 15-25% completion rate

Retention Experiments

Goal: Keep users coming back

High-impact experiments:

1. Email re-engagement:

Current: No emails after signup
Test: 3-email onboarding sequence
  Day 1: "Here's how to get started"
  Day 3: "Tips from power users"
  Day 7: "You're only 1 step away from [value]"

Expected lift: 20-35% in D30 retention

2. Habit building:

Current: No reminders
Test: Daily digest email
  "Your daily update: 3 tasks due today"
  - Creates daily habit
  - Drives return visits

Expected lift: 25-40% in daily active users

3. Feature discovery:

Current: All features visible, overwhelming
Test: Progressive disclosure
  - Week 1: Core features only
  - Week 2: Unlock integrations
  - Week 3: Unlock advanced features
  - Tooltip hints for new features

Expected lift: 15-25% feature adoption

Revenue Experiments

Goal: Convert free users to paying customers

High-impact experiments:

1. Paywall optimization:

Current: Hard limit at 5 projects
Test: Soft limit + banner
  "You've created 5 projects! Upgrade to Pro for unlimited"
  - Allow them to continue
  - Show banner on every page
  - Show upgrade modal on 6th project

Expected lift: 20-30% in upgrade rate

2. Trial length:

Current: 14-day trial
Test A: 7-day trial (more urgency)
Test B: 30-day trial (more time to get hooked)
Test C: Usage-based trial (100 tasks)

Expected: Depends on product complexity

3. Pricing page:

Current: 3 tiers without highlight
Test: Highlight "Most Popular" tier
  - Green border
  - "Most popular" badge
  - Slightly larger

Expected lift: 10-20% on middle tier selection

Referral Experiments

Goal: Turn users into advocates

High-impact experiments:

1. Invite mechanics:

Current: "Invite" link in settings
Test: Contextual invite prompts
  - After completing first task: "Invite your team to help!"
  - When tagging someone: "user@example.com isn't on your team yet. Invite them?"

Expected lift: 50-100% in invites sent

2. Referral incentives:

Current: No incentive
Test: Double-sided reward
  - Referrer: 1 month free
  - Referred: 20% off first year
  - Must convert to paid

Expected lift: 30-50% in referred signups

3. Public profiles:

Current: All projects private
Test: Optional public project sharing
  - "Made with [Product]" badge
  - Share project publicly
  - View-only link with signup CTA

Expected lift: 10-20% referred traffic

Advanced Techniques

Sequential Testing

When traffic is low, use sequential testing instead of fixed-sample A/B:

def sequential_test(control_conversions, control_visitors, 
                    test_conversions, test_visitors):
    """
    Evaluate experiment continuously instead of waiting for sample size.
    Stop early if clear winner or clear loser.
    """
    log_likelihood_ratio = calculate_llr(
        control_conversions, control_visitors,
        test_conversions, test_visitors
    )
    
    if log_likelihood_ratio > 2.996:  # 95% confidence winner
        return "WINNER"
    elif log_likelihood_ratio < -2.996:  # 95% confidence loser
        return "LOSER"
    else:
        return "CONTINUE"

Multi-Armed Bandit

Automatically allocate more traffic to winning variants:

class MultiArmedBandit:
    def select_variant(self, variants):
        """
        Thompson Sampling:
        - Start with equal probability
        - As data comes in, shift traffic to winners
        - Explore new variants occasionally
        """
        samples = []
        for v in variants:
            # Sample from beta distribution
            sample = np.random.beta(
                v.successes + 1,
                v.failures + 1
            )
            samples.append(sample)
        
        return variants[np.argmax(samples)]

Cohort Analysis

Segment results by user attributes:

Overall lift: +10%

By segment:
  Mobile users:     +25%  (big win!)
  Desktop users:    +2%   (no effect)
  Organic traffic:  +30%  (huge!)
  Paid traffic:     -5%   (negative!)

Action: Roll out to mobile + organic only

North Star Metric

Define one metric that represents customer value:

Examples:
  Slack: Weekly Active Users (WAU)
  Airbnb: Nights Booked
  Facebook: Daily Active Users (DAU)
  Spotify: Time Listening
  Shopify: GMV (Gross Merchandise Value)

Your North Star should:
  ✅ Correlate with revenue
  ✅ Measure value delivery
  ✅ Be measurable frequently
  ✅ Rally the entire team

Experiment Ideas Library

Quick Wins (1 week effort)

1. Homepage CTA text: "Start Free Trial" vs "Get Started Free"
2. Signup button color: Blue vs Green vs Red
3. Email subject lines: A/B test 2 variations
4. Pricing page order: Starter-Pro-Business vs Business-Pro-Starter
5. Social proof location: Above fold vs below fold

Medium Effort (2-4 weeks)

1. Redesign onboarding flow (reduce steps)
2. Add email drip campaign
3. Create upgrade prompts in-app
4. Build referral program
5. Redesign pricing page

Big Bets (1-3 months)

1. Launch freemium model
2. Build marketplace/app store
3. Add AI-powered features
4. Redesign entire product (better UX)
5. Build mobile apps

Experiment Tracking

Document Every Experiment

Experiment Log:

Exp-001:
  Name: Add social proof to homepage
  Start Date: 2024-01-15
  End Date: 2024-02-01
  Status: ✅ WIN
  Hypothesis: Social proof will increase signups by 10%
  Result: +18% signup rate, p=0.02
  Learnings: Customer logos work better than testimonials
  Actions: Roll out to 100%, add logos to pricing page too

Exp-002:
  Name: 7-day trial instead of 14-day
  Start Date: 2024-02-05
  Status: ❌ LOSS
  Hypothesis: Shorter trial creates urgency
  Result: -12% trial-to-paid conversion, p=0.01
  Learnings: Users need more time to integrate product
  Actions: Keep 14-day trial, don't test shorter

Exp-003:
  Name: Onboarding simplification
  Start Date: 2024-02-15
  Status: ⏳ RUNNING
  Hypothesis: 3-step flow will improve completion by 30%
  Current: +22% completion, n=850, p=0.08 (not yet significant)

Experiment Prioritization

ICE Score Framework:

Impact (1-10): How much could this move the needle?
Confidence (1-10): How sure are we it will work?
Ease (1-10): How easy is it to implement?

Score = (Impact × Confidence × Ease) / 100

Example:
  Experiment: Add testimonials to homepage
  Impact: 7 (could boost signups 15-20%)
  Confidence: 8 (social proof is proven)
  Ease: 9 (just add HTML)
  ICE Score: 504 / 100 = 5.04

Sort by ICE score, run highest first

Growth Metrics Dashboard

interface GrowthMetrics {
  // Acquisition
  traffic_sources: {
    organic: number
    paid: number
    referral: number
    direct: number
  }
  cost_per_click: number
  cost_per_signup: number
  
  // Activation
  signup_to_activation_rate: number
  time_to_activation_p50: string  // "2 days"
  onboarding_completion_rate: number
  
  // Retention
  dau: number  // Daily Active Users
  wau: number  // Weekly Active Users
  mau: number  // Monthly Active Users
  dau_mau_ratio: number  // Stickiness (should be >20%)
  churn_rate_monthly: number
  retention_d1: number
  retention_d7: number
  retention_d30: number
  
  // Revenue
  trial_to_paid_conversion: number
  average_revenue_per_user: number
  customer_lifetime_value: number
  ltv_cac_ratio: number
  
  // Referral
  referral_invites_sent: number
  viral_coefficient: number  // Should be >1 for viral growth
  nps: number  // Net Promoter Score
  
  // Experiments
  active_experiments: number
  experiments_shipped_this_month: number
  win_rate: number  // % experiments that improve metrics
}

Common Pitfalls

❌ Testing too many things at once: Change one variable at a time ❌ Stopping test too early: Wait for statistical significance ❌ Ignoring segments: Results vary by user type/traffic source ❌ P-hacking: Don't cherry-pick favorable metrics ❌ Small sample sizes: Need 1,000+ conversions per variant minimum ❌ Seasonal effects: Don't test during holidays/anomalies ❌ Novelty effect: Some changes work for 2 weeks then regress

Quick Start Checklist

Week 1: Foundation

• Set up analytics (Mixpanel, Amplitude, GA4)
• Define North Star Metric
• Map current funnel (AARRR)
• Identify biggest leak in funnel
• Set up A/B testing tool (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize)

Week 2-3: First Experiments

• Run 3 quick-win experiments
• Document results in spreadsheet
• Pick one big-bet experiment to design
• Calculate required sample sizes

Ongoing

• Run 5-10 experiments per month
• Review metrics weekly
• Document all learnings
• Focus on highest-ICE experiments
• Ship winning experiments to 100%

Summary

Great growth teams:

• ✅ Run 10+ experiments per month (high velocity)
• ✅ Focus on one North Star Metric
• ✅ Document everything (wins and losses)
• ✅ Prioritize by ICE score
• ✅ Wait for statistical significance
• ✅ Scale what works, kill what doesn't