Growth Hacking

I’ve been reading a book calledGrowth hacker“By Sean, the father of growth hacking. At first glance, the name looks strange. I think it has something to do with hackers. No, the book’s focus is on the first two words:. There was a paragraph under the name:

How to achieve explosive growth at low cost

That’s the focus of the book, the focus of the book is on users, how do you keep them and monetize them, in other words, how do you keep them coming back, increase the revenue that they bring to the company, and continue to grow over the long term


Comparison of China and the United States

The theory of growth hacking originated in the United States and was first proposed by Sean in 2010. His theory of growth hacking broke out of the marketing cycle at that time.

At the time, it seemed that even small companies were getting better at collecting, storing, analyzing and tracking user data. They were always trying to test new features at lower cost, faster speed and with greater accuracy.

At the same time communicating their new methods and features to users, thus spawning a practice of driving growth through high-velocity, cross-functional experimentation, hence Sean’s concept of “growth hacking.

The growth hacker’s only mission is growth, he argues. In everything they do, they strive to bring the possibility of continuous growth to their products, and focus on user experience and value should be the goal of corporate growth.

If you are not growing, then you are dying

In the United States, many well-known companies have their own growth teams, which have generated significant profits and revenues for their companies: Facebook, Airbnb, linkedin, Dropbox, etc.

The book’s translator, Zhang Ximeng, founder of GrowingIO, is also a growth hacker. Slowly, the concept and culture of growth hacker was introduced into the country.

Some big companies are also starting to focus on building growth teams. For example, one company posted a job Posting:


There are four differences between China and the U.S. in the field of growth hacking:

  • Have a deep understanding of the value of data
  • Master data-driven systems and methods
  • Whether to use data to guide the operation of various business units
  • Are you good at using analytical tools instead of human labor

GrowingIO, an important user behavior analysis tool, focuses on:

  1. Marketing channel optimization
  2. Ascension into
  3. Improve retention and liquidity, etc

Silo structure

Most companies now follow the traditional business model, with product management, marketing, technology research and development, and engineering management as silos, separated from each other. They have their own mission schedules and cross-functional interaction is limited.

Product department: responsible for market research, product specifications and market size evaluation

Technical department: implement the product, and gradually optimize, iterate, etc

Marketing Department: develop marketing plans, work with third party agencies to develop advertising and promotion plans, etc

The traditional silo structure prevents companies from adapting to the changing needs of consumers and technological developments in a timely manner, as well as undertaking new capacity building, product improvement and channel expansion to attract new customers.

Growth hacking enables teams and organizations to adapt more flexibly and quickly to changing market needs, accelerate the introduction of new products and features, and accelerate the development and implementation of marketing and sales strategies that attract, activate, and monetize new customers.

  • Flexibility: Team flexibility
  • Efficiency: product launch and iteration are more efficient
  • Innovation: More innovative marketing strategies

Growing hacker advantage

  • Growth hacking disrupts the traditional silo structure within a company, bringing together people from departments such as data analytics, engineering management, product management and marketing into a cross-functional team
  • Growth teams are not a replacement for traditional departments, but a complement and help them improve the way they work
  • Through the powerful combination of data analysis, technical knowledge and marketing capabilities, quickly find more potential growth means

One of the key features of growth hacking is to experiment at the fastest possible pace. Another is to help companies tap into the data gold mine by leveraging huge amounts of customer data. Growth hacking maximizes the power of big data by facilitating collaboration and information sharing.

Growth team

Growth hackers can be people from all walks of life: entrepreneurs, marketers, engineers, product managers, etc. The authors suggest:

In small companies, the growth team can be led by the founder, and the entire company can be involved. Larger companies, because of structural and cultural differences, can have separate growth teams, or even dedicated to a project for a short period of time

The size, scope, and responsibilities of a growth team can change over time.

The core of the growth hack method

  1. Diversity: Create a cross-functional team or teams to break down the traditional silos between marketing and product development departments and pool the company’s talent
  2. Focus on users: conduct qualitative research and quantitative data analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of user behavior and preferences
  3. Efficient implementation to get feedback: New ideas are generated and tested quickly, test results are evaluated and acted upon against strict metrics.

Successful cases

  • Airbnb’s Craigslist case: Users of Site C click on A link to redirect to Site A without paying for advertising
  • Dropbox user recommendations: User surveys, in-depth analysis of user data, recommendation of a friend, an extra 250 MEgabytes of storage
  • Audience growth for online games: There’s free advertising for Beds’ games on websites, there’s showcase for beds, and there’s more users
  • Wal-mart’s “low price catcher” example: An APP designed by engineers that automatically gives users walmart cash back if other stores offer lower prices
  • YouTube: Via embedded video player widgets
  • LogMeln: Switch to a freemium model by accessing files, emails, etc., on your home or office computer via the Internet

Common Marketing methods

  1. Website marketing
  2. WeChat marketing
  3. Search engine marketing
  4. Social media Marketing

Digital operation

Digital operations are rapidly growing their business through its core product development and anticipating user experiences. Especially in the retention of users, it is necessary to improve the conversion efficiency of each link, optimize in each channel, and quickly optimize and iterate with data

Digital operations are no longer focused solely on marketing, but throughout the entire customer life cycle, through collaboration between various departments, to provide customers with a holistic and continuous best experience

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