Lauryn Isford
Lauryn Isford is a product growth leader and practitioner, who most recently led Growth at Airtable, and is about to start something new 🤫. Lauryn describes how overhauling Airtable’s onboarding led to a 20% increase in activation rate, the company’s unique segmentation process, and why North Star metrics are so vital. Lauryn also shares her framework for a PLG growth funnel, and how to use a reverse trial to leverage the benefits of both freemium products and trials.
Growth Skills
The PLG funnel (Join, Evaluate, Upgrade, Expand) functions as a loop where expansion within an organization fuels new user acquisition.
"The first step is join, the second is evaluate, the third is upgrade, and the fourth is expand. This funnel represents the journey of a customer in a PLG product as they advance and develop in their l..."
A 'reverse trial' (combining freemium and a limited-time trial of premium features) allows users to experience the full value of the product before settling into a free tier.
"Personally I'm in the camp of offering a reverse trial. Funky name, but what that means is offer a trial but also offer freemium. Do both. The reason why I like this is you get an opportunity when som..."
User onboarding is the most critical growth lever because it dictates all downstream retention and monetization metrics.
"Onboarding is that first really important choke point that from which downstream of onboarding so many important metrics and results flow for the business, from converting someone to a paid customer t..."
Hiring & Teams Skills
To avoid over-experimentation, leaders must build a culture that values customer impact and qualitative success over purely quantitative experiment results.
"The only way to escape the trap of experimenting everything is to have a very intentional culture about doing right by customers and doing the right thing for the business... there shouldn't be, espec..."
Leadership Skills
Experimentation should be viewed primarily as a risk mitigation tool for major changes rather than a requirement for every product update.
"Generally my advice is to experiment when you need to and to primarily see it as a risk mitigation tactic when you're making dramatic changes and to let the product development process do more work. S..."
Product Management Skills
A high-bar activation metric that only a small percentage of users reach is often more valuable because it correlates more strongly with long-term retention.
"An activation rate that falls in a lower percentage range, maybe for most companies five to 15%, is better than one that falls in a higher percentage range because it means that there's likely much hi..."
North Star metrics should be dynamic and evolve to reflect the current business strategy rather than remaining static forever.
"A north star metric should really be a measure of what you plan to do, the strategy you plan to deliver is delivering results for the business on the other side, rather than the other way around."