Achieving conversions and adoption is vital for the stability and growth of any business. When you have a ton of signups, but those customers fail to stick around, it's a clear indication of a problem. Driving conversions (activation, engagement, monetization) may initially seem overwhelming, as there are multiple areas to focus on. It's not a matter of fixing just one or a few elements in the funnel. Instead, you need to consider the bigger picture and adopt a platform-oriented approach. Unfortunately, in my experience, businesses lack a specific framework or platform to drive these outcomes.
In this blog post, we will explore effective frameworks and strategies that can help you optimize your conversion and adoption rates, leading to better ROI.
Before delving into frameworks, it's important to acknowledge the obvious: your product must address a specific pain point for your target audience. By providing a genuine solution to a problem, you create a compelling value proposition. A good product experience is essential in attracting customers and motivating them to take action.
The "Find it, Want it, Do it" Framework
The "Find it, Want it, Do it" framework, discussed in a previous post titled Growing New Product Adoption is an Art, provides a valuable model for understanding the customer journey. However, it may not explicitly emphasize the importance of a targeted approach to user experience. To personalize user experiences and drive desired product outcomes, it is crucial to focus on the right set of users. This is where the second framework comes into play.
Objective; Segment, Personalize, Track
The success of your conversion efforts hinges on effectively targeting your audience. Here's how you can achieve this:
Define Objective: I am an advocate for a business approach centered around metrics and execution. Therefore, the initial and probably the most important step is to clearly define the desired outcome you aim to achieve. This could involve increasing activation conversion rates, enhancing user engagement, or maximizing monetization potential. Generally, this translates into create first project, repeated product usage, and upgrades to paid milestones. Once the objective is established, you can then concentrate on brainstorming personalized strategies that can effectively drive the desired outcome.
Segment: Many software products are generic and fail to understand the diverse user base they serve. For instance, the product behaves the same whether the user comes from a small two-person company or a large enterprise. To make sense of your users and provide personalized experiences, you can automate the understanding of their persona and behavior in the product lifecycle. For example, if Figma recognizes that a user searched for Android mockups before landing on their site, they can offer Android templates to help users get started and enhance activation.
By identifying user needs based on their background and behavior, particularly activation for the core product, you can tailor your messaging and strategies accordingly. It is essential for the entire company to have a shared understanding of user segments, utilize common tools, and avoid organizational silos that slows down execution.
Personalize: There is a common misconception that targeting and communicating with customers is solely the responsibility of marketing and sales teams. This is where functional silos become detrimental. Your product is your most significant platform to reach and communicate with users. Naturally, your user communication through the product needs to be targeted and focused, and this is where segmentation becomes crucial.
To drive better conversions and adoption, you must utilize both in-product and out-of-product channels. Communication encompasses various touch points, from in-app CTAs and nudges to emails, slacks, and SMS. The "Find it, Want it, Do it" framework is helpful in guiding the specificity and personalization of your messaging. Proper placement of your communication is critical, and consistency is essential across channels. Investing in processes and tools that streamline communication efforts will save time and increase efficiency.
Track: If you have been following along so far, you can likely anticipate where we are heading. Once you create targeted native product experiences, it becomes crucial to determine if these experiences are producing the desired outcomes. Tracking user behavior is pivotal in understanding what works and what doesn't. However, one risk associated with growth strategies is the potential creation of UI clutter in your product, which can negatively impact the user experience. Therefore, experimentation and the ability to remove clutter are critical for building delightful product experiences. By monitoring and analyzing the impact of different communication strategies and segment targeting, you can identify impact on the original objective. This allows you to double down on successful tactics and make data-driven decisions.
Remember, conversions and adoption are not rocket science; rather, they constitute an ongoing process of understanding your users, effectively reaching them through various channels, and continuously measuring outcomes. Leveraging frameworks like "Find it, Want it, Do it" and the "Segment, Reach, Measure" model can help structure your approach to conversion and adoption strategies.
We would love to hear about your experiences in driving conversions. If you have any insights, tips, or success stories to share, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at aj [@] getfulcrum.io.
