June Event Review: “How To Increase Mobile Conversion By 30X” with SC Moatti, CEO & Founder of Products That Count
By Dan Galatin
June 2016 Event
SC Moatti led a thought-provoking discussion of the state of mobile products today and some fundamental techniques that product teams can use to help make their apps stand out in a highly competitive field. SC began by acknowledging the challenges that mobile product teams face: resources are limited both internally and externally. Even physically speaking, teams have limited screen real estate to work with. The good news is that today everything can be instrumented – you can track everything users do with your app.
Of course, it’s expected that product managers define success for their products and how to measure it, but that’s only the first step. Next, you need to map and optimize your funnel. SC contended that traditional “growth-hacking” approaches increase conversions by roughly 20%. These include techniques such as creating new user experiences to make it easier for customers to sign up for your service, or increase engagement – to get past the “newbie threshold,” as SC put it. It’s instructive to consider where PMs for well-known services located this threshold: for Facebook users, it’s connecting with 20 friends; for Pandora users, it’s creating their own stations; for Uber or Lyft, it’s taking two rides with the service.
How do you get beyond the 1.2X improvements that funnel optimizations can provide, in order to catalyze explosive growth? SC introduced three tricks that can increase conversions multiple times. The first is adding a new “layer” to the funnel: that is, a new use case or vertical customer segment. Examples of this technique include improvements to push notifications of updates from Facebook, as well as Airbnb including accommodations that had been listed on craigslist. This technique can typically increase conversions 2X or more.
The second technique that SC discussed was the “shortcut”: a tool to reduce the number of layers in the funnel. Examples include Amazon’s book recommendations and Apple Pay. SC also mentioned a number of features for renters in Trulia that are designed to exploit this technique, including saving user searches, issuing alerts when rentals come up in the user’s market, and even applying for leases on the user’s behalf automatically. SC claimed that this technique can increase conversions by a factor of 3X.
Finally, SC introduced the “hook” technique: including features that make the app almost addictive in engaging on a deep level with the user. Examples SC cited include the Zillow Zestimate and the “poke” feature in Facebook. Using this technique can increase conversions by a factor of 5X.
SC concluded by encouraging the audience to incorporate these tools into their products. Above all, products should engage mind, body and spirit, especially for Millennials and other users who are confident, connected and open to change!
Dan Galatin has over 20 years of combined experience in product management and software engineering. He is Director of Communications for the SVPMA and can be contacted at dgalatin@yahoo.com.