Growth Hacking refers to any digital marketing techniques you can use to boost sales, engagement and conversions on your website.
Whilst this previously fell under the broad spectrum of digital marketing, today growth hacking has developed into its own paradigm, with companies and startups now actively seeking growth consultants and growth hacking marketing roles.
Growth hacking can be used for any kind of business and service. Certainly for b2b services, just adding a phone number, live chat box or offer eBooks are all simple and clever examples of growth hacking.
In eCommerce, the role of growth hacking is key to boost and maximise sales and conversions. Taking a case study as an example, we looked at Cosy House Collection, one of the leading online distributors and e-stores for bamboo sheets and pillows across the US – where growth hacking has been implemented to a fine art.
Spin and Win
When you visit the Cosy House website, you are immediately greeted with a clever spin and win wheel, where you can potentially get a discount, free delivery, bedsheet or pillow – and have fun playing a game upon arrival.
If spin, you can claim a prize by entering your email address, an excellent way to capture some customer data and also encourage a sale, since a 10% discount will no doubt be welcomed or the addition of a free pillow to the mix.
With the site built on Shopify, this is a plugin that has been simply added.
Sales Discount
We know that psychologically discounts go a long way to help make a sale or conversion. With this growth hack, Cosy House show the original price of an item and show what it has been discounted to now and how much the customer is saving.
In the mind, this is a positive thing for the customer and they already start to feel like they are getting good value for money. This is also a technique that is used by a lot of eCommerce sites and notoriously used by Sports Direct if you ever visit them in-store.
Use of Trust Signals
Cosy House execute trust signals well, through the combination of reviews, stock availability and how soon the item can be delivered. These are all clever hacks to help move the sale along and instilling trust in the customer. The role of ‘in stock’ is a use of scarcity marketing, something that suggests that the product could be out of stock fairly sooner. Ideally, you want to say that maybe there are only 10 left – since this would really drive a sale. Something that Kylie Kenner does with her makeup brand is always just releasing a limited amount and this creates a real desire for customers to buy as quickly as possible.
Strong Header
I am a big fan of a good website header, after all, its one of the first things that a customer sees and it is on every page. In this case, Cosy House show some great trust signals such as free shipping, zero hassle returns, a real customer phone number and the opportunity to use live chat. As a potential buyer, you feel safe, secure and trusting that you can give your information or speak to a customer advisor if you need to.
Other Good Examples of Growth Hacking
Some other examples of clever growth hacks include:
Sending out emails from an individual, rather than a company – it feels more like a conversation, rather than someone massively trying to oversell to you. Even Daniel From TechRound, is better than just “TechRound”
When someone completes a form, offer something else – If you already have someone enter their details into your form, can you offer them anything else? An eBook? A chance to win something by following you on social media?
Making your site more human – Where possible, show the human side of your business, show individual staff members in the live chat, about us and contact us. As humans, we respond well to other humans, so whether it is in your website’s content, marketing or emails, making it more personalised is always welcomed.
See also:
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Beware Growth Hacks – Don’t Overkill It
Sure, growth hacks are great and can help drive user engagement, sales and indeed profit.
But there is no point doing them for the sake of it and using too many is total overkill. Nobody wants to visit a website where there are tonnes and tonnes of pop-ups or this forces feeling of being sold to.
Start with a handful and keep a close eye on your weekly conversions. If you look at a growth hacking professional, measurability should come into it and seeing the weekly impact of sales and conversions as a result of your growth hacking techniques is a good way to measuring success!
