What is killing your PLG motion?
And 2 simple solutions
Most companies onboarding for their PLG motion looks something like this:
User #1 signs up and immediately abandons > gets sent onboarding flow A.
User #2 signs up and does 20 things > gets sent onboarding flow A.
User #3 signs up and stops logging back in after their initial sessions > gets sent onboarding flow A.
See a problem with any of this?
These users couldn't be on more different journeys with the product.
Building a successful PLG motion is hard enough. Too many companies make it even harder by ignoring one of the most important elements of a successful PLG motion - the onboarding email flow.
So why are companies treating them the same?
It isn't a technology issue. Just about any email provider in the world can do personalization.
Often marketers will cite the fact that they don’t have access to the product data in order to send personalized campaigns.
But if you push on this often you will find that the most common blocker is companies struggle to make sense of the unlimited ways and things people are doing within the product. How do you systemize something when all 1,000 sign-ups are doing something completely unique?
The marketer doesn’t have the data because they aren’t clear about what data they need or they are asking for all of it. So instead of trying to boil the ocean when it comes to personalization, start small.
Here are 2 simple strategies for segmenting users into distinct buckets:
1) Engagement Level: Track how often and how long a user interacts with the product. Are they a heavy user, a moderate one, or a ghost? Each of these requires a different communication approach.
2) Feature Usage: Identify which features are being used and which are ignored. A user only touching one specific feature might need a different nudge compared to someone who's trying a bit of everything.
While there are a million other ways to personalize the flows, crawl before you walk and just start with something simple. Using these 2 buckets will limit the data you actually need and the complexity of any email campaigns.
You can continue to add complexity as you go.
Remember, the goal is not just to send the emails. The goal is try and guide each user through your product.
You can only do that if you meet them where they are.
Thanks for reading
- Adam