# Growth Hacking

**Growth experiments, viral loops, and acquisition strategies**

## Growth Framework

### AARRR (Pirate Metrics)
1. **Acquisition** - Getting users to your product
2. **Activation** - First great experience
3. **Retention** - Coming back
4. **Revenue** - Monetization
5. **Referral** - Viral growth

## Growth Experiments

### Experiment Design
1. Form hypothesis
2. Define success metrics
3. Set sample size
4. Determine duration
5. Analyze results

### A/B Testing
```typescript
const experiment = {
  name: 'CTA Button Color',
  variants: {
    control: { color: 'blue', traffic: 0.5 },
    variant: { color: 'red', traffic: 0.5 }
  },
  successMetric: 'clickthrough_rate',
  duration: '2 weeks',
  minSampleSize: 1000
}
```

## Acquisition Strategies

### SEO & Content
- Long-tail keyword targeting
- Content clusters
- Guest posting
- Backlink building

### Paid Acquisition
- Facebook/Instagram Ads
- Google Ads
- LinkedIn Ads
- Retargeting campaigns

### Viral Loops
- Referral programs
- Social sharing incentives
- Network effects
- Word-of-mouth triggers

## Activation Optimization

### Onboarding
- Welcome email series
- Product tours
- Quick wins
- Progress indicators
- Checklists

### Aha Moment
- Identify core value
- Time to value (TTV)
- Remove friction
- Guide to success

## Retention Tactics

### Email Campaigns
- Drip campaigns
- Re-engagement emails
- Feature announcements
- Usage tips

### In-App Engagement
- Push notifications
- In-app messages
- Feature highlights
- Gamification

## Referral Programs

### Program Design
- Incentive structure (both sides)
- Sharing mechanics
- Tracking system
- Fraud prevention

### Examples
- Dropbox: Free storage for referrals
- Uber: Ride credits
- Airbnb: Travel credits

## Metrics & KPIs

### North Star Metric
- Single most important metric
- Reflects core value
- Leads to revenue
- Easy to understand

### Supporting Metrics
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
- LTV (Lifetime Value)
- Churn rate
- Viral coefficient (K-factor)
- NPS (Net Promoter Score)

## Tools

- Mixpanel / Amplitude (analytics)
- Optimizely / VWO (A/B testing)
- ReferralCandy (referrals)
- Intercom (engagement)
- HubSpot (marketing automation)