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How Behavioral Science Can Build Products that Sell Themselves: The Pirate Funnel Toolkit

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Apr 26, 2023

Introduction

Recently, a friend of mine shared his dilemma as a SaaS product founder in a post on LinkedIn: “To be successful, you need to do both of these things even though they are the opposite: build a human connection with every customer and make everything a (scalable) funnel.” 

This is a delicate equilibrium, and there’s no silver bullet. How can we address the challenge of balancing human connection with scalability? In this article, we’ll explore how behavioral science can boost the application of product-led growth (PLG).

What is Product-Led Growth?

Driven by the dual forces of software development cycle acceleration, and the consequent downward push on sales cycle durations, the idea that “products that sell themselves” is a compelling frontier of building and commercializing tech.

PLG is a growth model in which product usage drives customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. To succeed in PLG, products must independently attract users, onboard them, and on top of that, provide an intuitive UX that’s sticky enough to keep them engaged. 

References

  1. OpenView. (2023). 2022 Product Benchmarks. OpenViewPartners.com. Retrieved from https://openviewpartners.com/2022-product-benchmarks/
  2. OpenView. (2023). Product Led Growth Index. OpenViewPartners.com. Retrieved from https://openviewpartners.com/product-led-growth-index/
  3. Koivisto, J. & Hamari, J. (2019). The rise of motivational information systems: A review of gamification research. International Journal of Information Management, Vol 45, 191-210.

About the Author

Riya Chhabra's portrait

Riya Chhabra

Riya Chhabra is a technology growth leader, and is passionate about understanding and leveraging behaviour science towards positive personal and organisational outcomes. She draws on her business experience as a growth strategist at Meta, strategy consultant at McKinsey, and a growth leader at Milaap, an Asian digital crowdfunding startup. Born and raised in India, she has lived and worked in New York, Singapore, Paris, and now lives in London. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, and is currently doing a part-time MSc in Behaviour Science from the London School of Economics to connect the dots between behaviour science and technology.

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I was blown away with their application and translation of behavioral science into practice. They took a very complex ecosystem and created a series of interventions using an innovative mix of the latest research and creative client co-creation. I was so impressed at the final product they created, which was hugely comprehensive despite the large scope of the client being of the world's most far-reaching and best known consumer brands. I'm excited to see what we can create together in the future.

Heather McKee

BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST

GLOBAL COFFEEHOUSE CHAIN PROJECT

OUR CLIENT SUCCESS

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Annual Revenue Increase

By launching a behavioral science practice at the core of the organization, we helped one of the largest insurers in North America realize $30M increase in annual revenue.

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Increase in Monthly Users

By redesigning North America's first national digital platform for mental health, we achieved a 52% lift in monthly users and an 83% improvement on clinical assessment.

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Reduction In Design Time

By designing a new process and getting buy-in from the C-Suite team, we helped one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world reduce software design time by 75%.

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Reduction in Client Drop-Off

By implementing targeted nudges based on proactive interventions, we reduced drop-off rates for 450,000 clients belonging to USA's oldest debt consolidation organizations by 46%

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