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Growth sprint is a methodology that borrows from agile, lean, and growth hacking thinking.
We used that approach to help a client of Pentalog, and the following example illustrates how growth sprint can benefit you.
A simple request, but is it the solution?
Our client is a major publisher, which will remain nameless for this article. We’ve been working with its team for a long time.
The team came to us with a simple request: the IT department wanted to update its eCommerce site backend. It was too slow, complicated for the team to update.
Of course, Pentalog could help with that. But was rebuilding the backend the right solution?
To find out, we first needed to figure out what their “North Star” was.
Clarifying the goal
What is the “North Star”? It’s the company’s overarching goal. Any business initiative should be judged by its alignment with this goal.
Why bother with defining the North Star instead of merely acquiescing to our client” s request of a new eCommerce backend?
Because that’s what a growth sprint approach calls for: you need to know what the goal is before taking action.
In a traditional agile sprint, the business objectives are often not clear at all. In our growth sprint, we need to make sure everything we do moves our business closer to its North Star.
An actionable measure
Our client didn’t have a clearly defined North Star. With our help, they settled on “the number of subscriptions.” As a publisher, that’s a fabulous North Star, because it’s simple to follow.
With such a measure, it’s easy to take action. Everyone now knows that the goal is to increase the number of subscriptions. There’s nothing technical about it.
So whatever has to be done, we know it’s not about making the “technical” better, but about increasing the number of subscriptions. Simple, right?
Two sprints for testing
Once the goal was clear, we analyzed the data to find out that our client was losing a disproportionate number of would-be subscribers on only one specific step of the registration process. Over 70 % of shoppers would drop out at that particular point.
With the team was focused on getting more subscriptions, replacing the backend was no longer justified. Why? Because it was more important to focus on getting more signups.
We decided to risk only two two-week sprints on improving the results. After a little tweak in the process, our client was already getting more subscriptions by at least two digits.
One small change and two-digit growth in two weeks!
The benefits of growth sprint
Yes, the results were that good that quickly.
This outcome springs from what our growth sprint approach brought to the table:
- A clear focus on the one goal that provides a measure of success.
- A look at the whole picture, including everything that’s involved in reaching business goals.
- A commitment to never assume. This allows seeing the hidden hurdles and solutions.
- A time-limited sprint to sweat the small details that could make a huge difference.
This last point is essential: our client could have been spending a ton of money on building a new backend only to find out it didn’t make a difference in the results.
Instead, with a growth sprint approach, they could identify what needed to be fixed first and then keep on improving the platform one issue at a time.
And if the backend needs a replacement, our client can feel confident it is indispensable and invest in its system to get a real ROI.
Isn’t that what we all want?
And you, what issue do you think could benefit from a growth sprint approach?
