10 Growth Hacking Techniques used by Top Companies

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Every top company has growth in mind, and they aim to turn profits and keep investing and working towards their vision. For emerging entrepreneurs and companies, the goal is constant growth as time passes, in this article unveil 10 growth hacking technique that companies used to scale exponentially.

What is Growth Hacking?

Growth Hacking is a term coined by Sean Ellis, the founder and CEO of GrowthHackers. Also known as growth hacking marketing, Ellis describes a growth hacker as an individual whose ‘true north’ is growing. The end goal for growth hacking is growth which is why it is an excellent business strategy and is used by top companies. 

Anyone who practices growth hacking is a growth hacker. Growth hacking involves using creative methods like various initiatives, techniques, and tools to achieve consumer growth. An ideal growth hacker will be well-versed in marketing and engineering. Not only developing new ideas is essential, but also testing them to understand the results. 

Growth hackers constantly strive to develop new and effective strategies to expand their customer base. Growth hackers target new customers to bring in business through product innovations, technology-based development, and new distribution channels. Following are some growth hacking techniques used by top companies around the world: 

Growth Hack #1. A Referral Hack Always Works

Top companies like Dropbox use a referral scheme so that customers have started asking for referral codes among themselves. Referrals benefit both the customers and, by extension, the company. The best part about referrals is that customers benefit from the referral codes and the companies get to expand their business and customer base. 

Growth Hack #2. Unexpected Freebies

If you want to attract new customers, sending them emails detailing how well your product or service works might not be the best approach. Such emails are often considered spam and end up in the bin. But customers will read the entire email if they are being offered something for free. 

Carvana, a car retailer, used the same tactic and offered their customers their competitors do not. If the regular customer is not used to such a treatment, they would obviously gravitate toward the business 

For example, completing a survey to get a product is not a deal most customers would consider making? It will get to more potential customers and give them a chance to know the product quality by themselves and then decide if they would like to buy your products. What’s more? They would be more vigilant towards the content of your emails following this offer. 

Growth Hack #3. Be Trustworthy and Accept Criticism

Any company’s website makes customers suspicious. Allow customers to see every review, whether it’s excellent or unsatisfactory. Growth hacking means building trust, turning customers loyal, and capitalising on trust as many top companies do. Upwork has been providing freelancers with a trustworthy platform that pays off well in the long run. 

Growth Hack #4. Reward Programs

Another way to build a loyal customer base is through a reward program. As necessary to get new customers, it is equally important to retain the ones you have already got. Giving out a reward or points for each purchase encourages customers to shop more from that company.

If the points enable the customers to access something desirable, they will continue buying from the company. GrubHub is a perfect example of a company that offers a loyalty program. They began theirs in 2011 and have since experienced significant growth.

Growth Hack #5. Ask for Immediate Action

If you show a sense of urgency behind a product or service, customers are more likely to see what the fuss is about. Top companies present limited period offers and discount sales now and then to promote their products and draw in more customers. Countdown timers and emails notifying about the deadline are all growth hack techniques used by top companies to boost sales. 

Another thing to note here is that the deal should appear to be benefitting the customers, so if the product is unappealing, all the efforts would be for naught. For instance, if you look at Groupon, they offer their services for a limited time which allows users to act quickly, hence boosting business. 

Growth Hack # 6. The Pufferfish Survival Tactic

If you have seen a pufferfish, you know it expands to three times its size when it realises it is in danger. The increase in size makes the threat back away. Top companies often display their business thriving internationally, making their company seem more significant. It encourages more people to buy, which is how they keep growing. Pipetop, a startup, went into the big leagues via just this tactic.

Growth Hack #7. FOMO is Real

Fear of missing out or FOMO is another growth hack to attract customers. It is used mainly by top companies when they want to promote a new service. Top companies often limit access to certain services until a certain member is not subscribed. This works as more and more customers sign up to avail themselves of the exclusive benefits. 

Gmail had very few users when it started out. The creators banked on the fear of missing out and made sure that the platform was accessible by invite only. This created a feeling of being included in something exclusive. 

Growth Hack #8. Piggybacking 

Many companies use networking tactics to accelerate their growth. New companies that are now leaders in the industry began by piggybacking on already popular networking platforms and banked on the connectivity of their current customers to get new ones to sign up. This is easier than a referral and just as effective. Optimizely used their resources to network their services across major platforms. 

Growth Hack #9. Be Visible and Available

Emails and advertisements can make you visible, but marketing strategies need to be effective enough to lead the viewer into becoming a customer. Accessibility or availability is another aspect of growth hacking that all top companies have mastered. AussieKart is a Sydney based toy eCommerce company that uses targeted advertising to be available to their consumers and built their business. 

With call-to-action links and easy accessibility to their products & services without investing a lot of time, top companies have increased the number of users. Visibility can include sponsoring shows and other campaigns, while accessibility simply means reachability, so customer service must always be on their toes. 

Growth Hack #10. The Freemium Model

Many companies cater to a large client base for free and simultaneously offer exclusive services for a portion of that large customer base for a fee. As a new business, you have to begin as most companies did; by offering certain basic services. 

Tap into the potential of distribution channels and get more subscribers. Then it is upon your service to persuade those subscribers to become premium members. Companies like Spotify and Grammarly rely on this model to create a growing customer base. 

Spotify provides music streaming free of cost to all users but interrupts the flow with ads every three to four songs. For customers to opt for the ad-free version, they would have to go with premium. Similarly, Grammarly works to provide basic grammar correction in writeups. However, it only helps to a certain extent. For specific corrections in tone and theme, one would have to get a premium. 

The Takeaway

Growth hacking by top companies teaches all emerging entrepreneurs to be resourceful in their approach. Growth hacking and creativity go hand in hand. To tap into the potential of exponential online growth, Our proprietary growth hacking framework Helium1™ has scaled over 55+ businesses to attract customers at a lightning-fast speed. 

Reach out to us to see if we’re a good fit to scale your business to the next level