Product-Led Growth has moved from a tactic / buzzword to a mainstream mindset for more and more SaaS companies.
So what is Product-Led Growth and what does it look like in a B2B SaaS company?
This talk will give an overview of 'PLG' and some key factors to address when becoming product led.
6. Help, Iâve got a leak!
When can you get here?
Thanks for calling! First I need
to book you in for a sales callâŠ
âŠhow about Thursday next
week?
đ€Ż
Photo by Unsplash
7. Habits are changing
75% of B2B buyers would rather self serve through an
app or website rather than go through a salesperson*
AND
They are prepared to spend 6 ïŹgures via automated
signups**
* Forrester
** McKinsey
Photo by Evoke Creative
8. Margins are getting squeezed
â Costs of acquisition and retention have
gone up 60% in the last 5 years
(BusinessWire)
â Customers want to pay less
Photo by Rui Matayoshi on Unsplash
How do you grow and scale eïŹciently
whilst keeping costs low.
How do you maximise revenue per
employee?
9. What actually is Product Led Growth
The
Product
Sales
Marketing
Customer Success
Engineering
Design
Outstanding
User Experience
10. Example PLG B2B Companies
Product OïŹer PLG Super Power
Dropbox
Store and share your
most important ïŹles
â Native experience (integration)
â Share right away (bringing others into the product)
Airtable
No-code / low-code
platform
â Templates / Airtable Universe
Zoom Real time collaboration â Speed to start, invite others to, and join a call
14. Product Led Sales Pipeline
Marketing QualiïŹed Lead
Sales QualiïŹed Lead
Product Usage
Top of funnel
Purchase
Product QualiïŹed Lead
Word of mouth
15. For this to work, you MUST
get users to value
ASAP
ó°€
Second Rule of PLG
18. ïżœïżœ
ïżœïżœ
In Product
â Welcome messages
â Product Tours
â Progress bars
â In app messages
â Check lists
â Onboarding tooltips
â Empty states
Out of Product
â Onboarding emails
â Customer Success
chats, emails, calls
â Help articles
â Sales outreach
19. Product Metrics
Marketing
metrics
(ToF)
Focus Metric
Key metric that tracks customer getting to value / success
Reach Activation Engagement Conversion Retention
Volume of leads
landing in the
product /
website etc
% Signups % Engaged with
key value
features in a
given period of
time
(you can âgo
deepâ here)
% who
actually
purchased
30 day
retention
60 day
retention
90 day
retention
Predictability of revenue
20. Activation and Habituation thresholds
Activation is when a customer gets to value (it is not the same as the âaha momentâ)
To understand your activation rate (as a percentage), divide the users who reach activation
by the number of user who sign up to the product (and multiply by 1oo).
Leading PLG companies are at between 20% - 40% activation
Retention is when customer continue to use the product because their is ongoing value
24. Acquisition and Pricing strategies
Free Trial
Give users full access to all
features for a limited time
(typically 7, 14 or 30 days)
Must be conïŹdent users can get
value within the trial period
Should âmanagedâ by CS (and
sales)
Easy to set up, so is good for
âdipping your toeâ in the PLG
water!
Freemium
Give users full access to a limited
set of features for ever, with the
intention of moving them onto a
paid plan
Need to thoroughly understand
the value and usage of your
products features and model
revenue
Must deliver some value in the free
plan
đ” All pricing must be based around value and usage (not seats)! đ”
25. When Product Led Growth isnât the best strategy
â Your product is particularly technical
â Your product requires complex set-up / integrations
â Your users have at least some direct buying power (or your freemium model
accommodates for this)
â Your users can get value quickly and become champions, before hitting a paywall
26. A PLG Strategy
Acquisition Conversion Retention Expansion
The focus is on giving users
value and a great experience,
BEFORE charging for it
Generally a âbottom upâ marketing
and acquisition strategy
Marketing and lead gen activities
are concentrated on getting
users (not necessarily buyers) into
the product (rather than a sales
call)
Customers can use the product
immediately, with no support /
set up requirements
You oïŹer a freemium or free trial
period
The product may include
features which drive acquisition
and growth in themselves
The product solves the problem
the user hired it for
Users need to purchase either to
keep using the product or access
broader features
Users can self serve purchase of
the product.
The product tracks usage and
drives engagement to conversion
(e.g through automated emails and
in product nudges)
Users can get support through
chat bots, help docs etc
The product becomes part of the
users core workïŹow, for the
problem you are solving
The product automatically drives
engagement, prompting how to
get further value, next steps, help
articles etc.
Users can add their own
integrations and customisations
building a personalized experience
that they can tailor to their needs
User can add colleagues, create
teams, share etc
Users can easily move between
payment plans themselves
Pricing is generally usage based
driving revenue as accounts
expand
The product may include
features which drive acquisition
and growth in themselves
27. Key Steps to moving to a PLG Strategy
#1
Understand your core value,
communicate it, and deliver it
28. Key Steps to moving to a PLG Strategy
#2
DeïŹne and optimise your core
user journey
(getting users to value)
29. Key Steps to moving to a PLG Strategy
#3
Identify Growth Loops
30. #4
Create a dedicated team to
focus on moving towards PLG
Key Steps to moving to a PLG Strategy
31. Key Steps to moving to a PLG Strategy
#5
Edge into it and experiment!
32. â Product Led Growth book by Wes Bush
â Product Led Foundation (productled.com)
â reforge.com/blog/growth-loops
â Lennysnewsletter.com interview with Ben
Williams from Snyk
Resources