Growth hacking uses creative, low-cost, data-driven experiments to rapidly acquire and retain customers. Focus on product changes, referrals, and viral loops over traditional marketing.
Growth hacking (term coined by Sean Ellis) is about achieving rapid growth through product and data, not expensive marketing campaigns. Core principles: (1) Product-led growth—product itself drives acquisition (Dropbox referral, Hotmail signature), (2) Data-driven—run experiments, measure everything, double down on what works, (3) Cross-functional—growth hackers know marketing + product + data + engineering. Famous growth hacks: Dropbox referral program (500MB per friend), Airbnb Craigslist integration (auto-posted listings), Hotmail email signature ("PS: Get your free email"), PayPal $20 signup bonus, Facebook "7 friends in 10 days" activation metric. Growth hacking process: (1) Identify north star metric (users, revenue, engagement), (2) Map growth funnel (awareness → acquisition → activation → retention → revenue → referral), (3) Find biggest bottleneck in funnel, (4) Run 10 experiments to fix it, (5) Measure, iterate, repeat. Modern growth stack: Analytics (Mixpanel, Amplitude), A/B testing (Optimizely), Email automation (Customer.io), Referral programs (Viral Loops), Landing page builders (Unbounce).
Referral program gave 500MB per friend (both users got storage). Referrals increased signups 60%, saved $50M in marketing. Pure growth hack.
Integrated with Craigslist—auto-cross-posted Airbnb listings to Craigslist (10x larger audience). Gray-area hack, drove early growth.
Added "PS: Get your free email at Hotmail" signature to every email sent. 12M users in 18 months with $500K budget (vs $20M traditional marketing needed).
Growth hacking lets startups compete with big companies on tiny budgets. Traditional marketing requires millions. Growth hacks can drive equal results for thousands. Every unicorn used growth hacking early on.
Marketing: Brand campaigns, ads, PR (expensive). Growth hacking: Product changes, data experiments, viral loops (low-cost, scalable). Growth hacking requires technical skills.
Add referral program, integrate with larger platforms, use email signatures, create free tools, write viral content, A/B test onboarding, reduce signup friction, add social proof.
Yes, but harder. Platforms closed loopholes (can't scrape Craigslist anymore). Focus on sustainable growth systems: referrals, product-led growth, content marketing, community building.
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