Thread by @heykahn

I've grown 5 products to 7 million+ users.

These are the 5 core principles of growth every marketer should know:

Growth is a system with 5 key parts:

1. Acquisition (channels)

2. Activation

3. Engagement

4. Monetization

5. Retention

Most marketing teams focus solely on marketing channels (aka acquisition).

But acquiring new users isn't enough to sustain growth.

To grow, you need new users to:

A. Use your product

B. Pay you

That's why the best marketers understand all 5 inputs to growth:

1. Acquisition:

Growth begins with acquisition channels.

SEO, Email, Paid Ads, Virality, and so on.

What channels can you use to acquire new customers?

Example: Airbnb uses multiple channels like SEO, content & ads to acquire new users.

2. Activation:

After you acquire a user, how can you get them to experience the value proposition?

This is how you activate a new user.

Example: Uber gave users free $ to take their first ride.

3. Engagement

Great job on helping the user experience the aha moment.

Your next job is to incentivize them to use the product regularly.

Example: Tinder's app reminds you to come back daily with phone notifications.

4. Monetization

Now that people are using your product regularly, it's time to nudge them to pay you.

Example: After your 30 day trial expires, you have to pay to keep using Netflix.

5. Retention

Recurring revenue is how million-dollar start ups become billion-dollar unicorns.

Your final job is to incentivize users to keep paying you.

Example: UberEats sends you free $ coupons if you haven't used the app for a while.

Remember:

Big acquisition numbers at the top of the funnel are just the beginning of growth.

Good marketers are experts at acquiring new users.

Great marketers are experts at helping those users to stay and pay.

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I write about marketing, tech, and psychology. I share my insights along the way.