Product‑Led Growth: A Playbook for Onboarding & Viral Loops
A great product sells itself only when you intentionally design it to. For early-stage companies, the two levers that move the fastest are the first few minutes of a user’s journey (onboarding) and the loops that carry your product from one person to the next (virality). This playbook provides the patterns, metrics, and checklists you need to design and ship both effectively.
PLG on One Page
Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a go-to-market strategy that relies on the product itself as the primary driver of customer acquisition, activation, and expansion.
The Goal
- Turn cold traffic into activated users as quickly and efficiently as possible.
- Turn those activated users into a distribution channel for the next cohort of users.
Two Numbers to Watch
- Activation Rate: This measures the efficiency of your onboarding.
Activation Rate = Activated Users / Sign-ups
- Viral Coefficient (k): This measures the effectiveness of your viral loops.
k = (Invites sent per active user) × (Invite acceptance rate)
Aim for a k ≥ 0.1 in the early days. A k
greater than 1.0 signifies exponential growth but is rare and often fragile. Remember, the cycle time (t)—the time it takes for a user to invite others—matters as much as k
. A shorter cycle time compounds growth much faster.
Your North Star
Choose a single weekly metric that is deeply tied to the core value your product delivers. Examples include "weekly active teams," "documents shared weekly," or "tasks completed by more than one collaborator." This keeps your entire team focused on what truly matters.
The First-Mile: Design for Time-to-Value (TTV)
The first five minutes a user spends with your product are the most critical. Your only goal is to get them to the "Aha!" moment—the point where they experience the core value—as fast as possible.
Define “Activation”
Before you do anything else, you must define what "activation" means for your product. It's not just logging in; it's the smallest, measurable action that correlates with long-term retention. Be specific.
- Examples: "Created their first project and invited one teammate," "recorded and shared their first video," or "sent their first API request that returns a 200 OK status."
Choose one definition, instrument the tracking for it, and commit your team to improving this number above all else.
First-Mile Checklist (Ship this before any growth spend)
- Friction Audit: Remove or defer every single field you can from the signup form. Ask only for an email and a password (or better yet, a single sign-on option).
- Opinionated Defaults: Don't drop users into a blank slate. Start them in a ready-to-use workspace, either with sample data or a one-click template.
- Single Clear Path to "Aha!": Ensure there is a visible, primary call-to-action (CTA) that guides the user toward the activation event across their first three screens.
- Smart Empty-State Design: Teach users by letting them do. Use inline hints, pre-filled examples, and editable demo objects instead of static images.
- Import Fast-Lane: Your users' work already exists somewhere else. Make it easy to import from CSV, Google, Slack, Notion, GitHub, or wherever they live.
- "Done" Moments: Use confetti, checkmarks, or subtle success states to reward task completion. This reinforces progress without interrupting their flow.
- Safety Guardrails: Implement features like autosave, undo, and safe retries to reduce users' fear of making a mistake.