Implement a growth process

1. Validate your product and business model before launching a growth process.

Growth starts with the product. Check your understanding of your value proposition, cost structure, revenue streams, and customer segments before you implement a growth process.

2. Choose a repeatable, data-driven conversion research model or prioritization model.

The growth process is designed to be a positive feedback loop, to find small fixes and optimizations across the business and then compound those over time as fast as possible. For example, choose Growth Tribe’s G.R.O.W.S. process or Brian Balfour’s growth experiment model. All models have a similar flow of steps: Come up with ideas. Prioritize those ideas. Plan out the execution of the highest priority idea. Execute the highest priority idea. Analyze the outcome of the idea. ROI of a growth process is ideation multiplied by execution: Ideation x Execution = ROI. Growth processes are designed to make both ideation and execution smarter and more efficient.

3. Set your goals and your timeframe, objectives, and key results for each goal.

For example, in the timeframe of a year, ask yourself if you could accomplish the following goals: Increase your retention by 30% Increase your average order size by 30% Increase your total number of customers by 30% Use hyper-focused growth cycles by dividing the year into four 90 day growth cycle segments. Focus on one goal per 90-day timeframe.

4. Gather experiment ideas from your entire team and organize them into a backlog.

Brainstorm with your team to boost creativity. Create a backlog spreadsheet and fill it by going through the full conversion research process. Use personalized labels in your backlog spreadsheet: multiplier, channel, product, stage of the funnel, and growth lever. Growth teams can be put together with people from across your organization. For example, Facebook’s original growth team consisted of PM Growth, Analysts, Growth Engineers, Digital Marketers, and Specialists.

5. Prioritize your experiment ideas using a prioritization model.

Choose a prioritization model that works for you and your team. Aim for it to be as objective and customizable as possible. For example, you can rank your idea’s using the ICE model and rates based on impact, confidence, and ease. Alternatively you can use the PIE: Potential, Importance, Ease method, Hotwire’s method, or PXL method. Allocate scores to each idea and sort them from highest to lowest score. Begin experiments on the idea with the highest score.

6. Outline your experiment, develop a hypothesis, and run the experiment to test your highest ranked idea.

Outline your experiment in detail, using an experiment sheet. An experiment sheet has four parts: What you believe How you will verify it What you will measure What conditions need to be met to say whether you were right or wrong with your assumption. Develop the hypothesis you want to test based on your backlog ideas. You can use the following formula to write your hypothesis: If successful, VARIABLE will increase by IMPACT because of ASSUMPTIONS. Execute the experiment that you outlined in your experiment document.

7. Review quantitative and qualitative data and analyze your results with your team.

Ask: Did you execute the experiment properly? If your hypothesis was correct or incorrect, why? Would the results be different if you segmented the data? Should you optimize the experiment and run it again? and What can you take away from the experiment to run smarter future experiments? Run weekly growth meetings to discuss experiments from the previous week as well as the ones in the upcoming week. Cover questions like: How many of the scheduled experiments you were able to run, or not run, last week? What are the new learnings from concluded tests? Are you meeting your goals? What experiments will you run next? To analyze long-term results, ask: Are your hypotheses getting more accurate? Are you getting more wins? Is the quality of your insights improving? and Are you running more tests in a week? Chart this data over time to see how your growth process is evolving.

8. Archive and distribute the learnings from your experiments.

Record your learnings in your experiment document and check that they are clear and accessible. Use a well-maintained, easily accessible, easily searchable archive. For example, you can use a Google Doc, on Google Drive, if it is well organized. Disseminate your learnings company-wide to prove the value of your growth process and get buy-in, and to ensure your insights can be used by other people in other departments.