Traction

When we looked at companies really taking off, they were usually employing underutilized channels and channel strategies. If everyone in your industry uses social ads to grow, you might be better off using another channel.

Effective email campaigns A/B test every aspect: subjects, formats, images, timing, and more. Timing is especially relevant to get higher open rates: many marketers suggest sending emails between nine a.m. and twelve p.m. in your customer’s time zone or scheduling emails to reach them at the time they registered for your email list (e.g., for peopl

Inner ring tests are designed to do two things. First, to optimize your chosen channel strategy to make it the best it can be. Second, to uncover better channel strategies within this traction channel.

Another popular approach to building an email list is creating a short, free course related to your area of expertise. These mini-courses are meant to educate potential customers about your problem space and product. At the end of the course you put a call to action, such as asking people to purchase your product, start a free trial, or share somet

How much will it cost to acquire customers through this channel? How many customers are available through this channel? Are the customers that you are getting through this channel the kind of customers that you want right now?

Matthew’s approach exemplifies the benefits of building traction and developing your product in parallel. These tests gave the team a clear idea of the type of product their customers wanted. When they finally built their product, they built something they knew the market would want, not something they thought it would want.

Holding a contest is a great, repeatable way to generate publicity and get some word of mouth. Shopify.com, a popular e-commerce platform, is famous for its annual Build a Business competition (and its six-figure prize). Last year, the contest drove 1,900 new customers and more than $3.5 million in sales on its platform.

One of email’s strengths is that it’s a way to get feedback from your customers. One trick Colin told us about was not to send any email that comes from a “Noreply” email address (e.g., noreply@facebook.com). Instead, use that opportunity to send the automated email from a personal address and allow the recipient to reply with questions or problems

These interactions also get you additional data, like what messaging is resonating with potential customers, what niche you might focus on first, what types of customers will be easiest to acquire, and what major distribution roadblocks you might run into.