Activation is likely the most important metric for you startup. Unfortunately it's poorly understood, and poorly tracked. This presentation provides evidence on why it's so essential, how to monitor it, and how it affects long term retention of users. Activation is the first time someone experiences the core value offered by your product or service. That initial sense of delight. The reason why they signed up.

1. Activation Workshop
Will Egan | me@willegan.com | @willegan

2. Overview
1. Setting the scene
2. Understanding core value prop
3. Tracking and analysing activation
rate in live time

3. Context
Subscription Software is
fundamentally based
around the following
concepts.
Physical services or
products can benefit from
this thinking substantially
as well.

4. Growth Hacking

6. Not this

7. Quick Definition
Then we’re into it.
Growth hacking is a process of rapid
experimentation across marketing
channels and product development to
identify the most effective, efficient ways
to grow a business.

8. Five Key Stages
These are the pirate metrics (Dave McClure). We could also add resurrection.
Acquisition - how do customer’s find you?
Activation - do they find immediate value?
Retention - do they come back for value?
Revenue - do they pay?
Referral - do they tell their friends?

9. Activation
The first time someone experiences the
core value offered by your product or
service. That initial sense of delight.
The reason why they signed up.
Activation for a physical product is the first step towards long term use (eventually buying your product/service).

10. Activation
The first time someone experiences the
core value offered by your product or
service. That initial sense of delight.
The reason why they signed up.
Why? It’s the single biggest driver of long
term growth. Let me explain…

11. Activation in the Path to Conversion

12. Activation in the Path to Conversion
75% Lost

13. Which one has better growth?

16. Why?
• The base of engaged users underpinning the second graph (the
layers) indicates good long term retention.
• Every month when a new cohort of users is acquired, they are
simply added to the layers of retained users from previous months.
• In the first graph, users are churning, with retention ultimately diving
towards zero.
• Both of these graphs are driven by activation.

19. Core Value Prop

20. Quick Definition
Think: problem solution fit > product market fit.
The one job your product or service was
employed by a customer to do.
By using your product, what do they get?

21. Identifying Core Value Prop
• Product market fit equates to one function done really well.
• That one function should align directly with your core value
proposition. In fact, every other product function is secondary to this
goal and should only exist to make you better at delivering on your
core value proposition.
• Now ask yourself: how fast does your product deliver on its core
value proposition? The best products do it immediately.

22. The best products…

24. Google
• Core value proposition: a search engine that “understands exactly
what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.”
• Core function: a search bar and instant results.

26. Uber
• Core value proposition: transportation in minutes.
• Core function: one button that lets you ‘Set Pickup Location’.

28. Snapchat
• Core value proposition: Snap a photo or a video, add a caption,
and send it to a friend.
• Core function: take a photo/video.

29. In a nutshell
Product market fit is when you have a core
feature that delivers on your value proposition
so well, that you can increase value simply by
improving that core feature.

30. But…
It is, however, easy to lose product market fit.
For example, the transition from Elance to
Upwork has made it much harder to hire a
freelancer.

32. Upwork
• Core value proposition: find freelancers to tackle any job, any size,
any time.
• Core function: … where would you click?

33. Identify for yourself

34. Tracking Activation

35. Going to need some tech.
• Track the actual action of activating on your website or app using a
javascript event.
• You could use Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics or Segment.
• Next, you’ll need to get said data into a warehouse (Redshift) or DB.
• Query and visualise data using Mode/SQL.

36. How it Works
User
Website
App
Service
3rd Party
Segment
Data
collection
Database
User Data
RedShift
Unstructured
Non relational
Everything
Mode
Graphing
Visualisation
Transforming
User You

37. What does this actually look like?

39. How it Works
User
Website
App
Service
3rd Party
Segment
Data
collection
Database
User Data
RedShift
Unstructured
Non relational
Everything
Mode
Graphing
Visualisation
Transforming
User You

40. Final Points
• Beware of the velocity you track at. Daily might be very noisy early
on in the product.
• If your activation rate is 50%, 5 out of every 10 users you acquired
didn’t get to experience the value your product suggested it would
offer them.
• Similarly, your retention rate will never be higher than your activation
rate.

41. Thank You