After I published “Rise of the Growth Copyists” where I said that really successful SaaS growth hacking is creative and that most just copy others, the guys over at GrowthHacker.tv reached out to me and wanted to setup an interview with me.
Definitely check it out… a good time was had by all…. but before you do, read the rest of this post!
During the 75-minute video interview, we deep-dive on such questions as:
- What should a SaaS company be thinking about or doing before they start production, to set themselves up for success?
- How do smart SaaS companies role out a beta product and what are they trying to achieve?
- How should a SaaS company price their offerings? What about freemium?
- What is an acceptable churn rate in your experience and what are some ways to lower churn and increase retention?
- What are the biggest mistakes that you see SaaS companies make during your consulting?
- How did Lincoln Murphy get started working with SaaS companies? <== you probably don’t know this story!
But don’t just go watch the video yet… there are a couple of things to look out for.
A Lesson in SaaS Growth Hacking
While you’re watching the video, pay close attention to what growth hacking the Growth Hacker TV (GHtv) guys are doing.
For starters, I’m writing about them and giving you a link watch my video on their site.
However, to watch other videos, you’ll have to pay them.
Oh, I don’t get anything for sending traffic their way (no affiliate links here; in fact, offering a kickback to those on their interview list would have likely turned them off), but I’m happy to do it since being interviewed by a third-party like this gives me all sorts of street cred.
They have 78 interviews up as I type this – with a bunch more in the hopper – and that means 78 people telling their followers, friends, mailing lists, etc. to go to GHtv and watch their stuff… and some percentage will want to watch other stuff.
And those 78 people who they’ve interviewed so far have the audience that GHtv is looking for and who they think they can get to become customers.
In fact, most of who they’ve interviewed have a very large audience… and that audience knows, likes, and trusts them.
And there’s a lot of overlap in those audiences, from interviewee to interviewee. Those who follow me likely follow Sean Ellis, for example. We’re both on there, we both send traffic there.
The level of trust the traffic sent by the interviewees already has BEFORE they ever get to GHtv is amazing.
GHtv must capitalize on that, because it isn’t just getting other people to send traffic their way… it’s what they do with it once it’s there.
Traffic Means Nothing if You Can’t Capture Value From It
They immediately give first-time visitors a one-time-offer to sign-up and get a free month.
Since it’s a one-hour offer, it’ll be there during the entire time you’re watching most interviews. When you’re done consuming your first interview, you take advantage of that offer. Simple; though my interview is 75 mins, so they might need to tweak the offer a bit.
Also, before you click play you’ll see a piece of social proof that says “Warning: 1 out of 29 people who click play become members.”
That little blurb does a lot! It sets the tone that there is a “membership” and thus manages expectations that you will – at some point – likely need to sign-up.
It also says that other people – just like you – also become members once a certain action is taken… the latter acts as a simple seed planted in your brain that makes you think you should be consistent with others like you.” Maybe 1 out of 29 isn’t a lot… but it says “the smart ones become members…”and that Growth Hackers are still an elite crowd.
So it actually invokes at least two of Robert Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion: Social Proof + Consistency… maybe a little Scarcity thrown in there, too.
And then there’s the orchestrated viral expansion, the further CTAs where they ask for the sale, etc.
