How to escape your growth slump

Hi there 👋,

Companies are just like new relationships in that they have a Honeymoon period. 

Things have gotten serious and everything is going so well. 

During this time, flaws (losing experiments) were easy to ignore; life was bliss. 

In your happiness, you set more stringent targets to hit; you feel invincible.

But then, as the months go by and the shine wears off, you realise you’ve missed your target for a week. 

This dip in results has to be a blip… you prefer to be optimistically daydreaming of those sweet honeymoon memories.

But time keeps passing, and things aren’t getting better. 

You’re in a growth slump, we’ve all been there, so how can you reignite this relationship?

What can cause a growth slump?

There are many potential causes for a growth slowdown. 

It could be something internal, like:

• A channel is milked to its max

• You haven’t got the language right for a broader audience

• You don’t have enough products or variations, etc.

Or it could be an external factor, like:

• You have a new competitor

• Market desires are changing

• Seasonality

• Advertising platforms are getting more expensive

It doesn’t matter what the cause is; you’re smart enough to look into that and figure it out. 

What matters is that you stop. Yes, stop. 

Find out what is missing

Too often we blame marketing channels and think we need another channel to solve it.

But this is only one piece of a larger puzzle, and there are multiple matches you need to get right:

• Product/Market Fit: Are you offering a product your market actually wants?

• Product/Channel Fit: Are the channels suitable for marketing your product?

• Product/Model Fit: Does the business model work for the product you are offering?

• Market/Model Fit: Have you got the right business model and pricing for your market?

• Channel/Market Fit: What are the right channels to match your market?

• Channel/Model Fit: Do the channels work in terms of cost of acquisition for your business model?

If possible, get someone else in to take a look with you; it’s easy to be blinded by working for one company for too long.

The best ideas come from such discussions and looking together at new approaches and perspectives.

From there, develop potential hypotheses about what could be stalling growth. Then, can you research and understand them further.

Recommendation

In every edition of Growth Waves, I also share a related book, individual or newsletter to check out related to the week's topic.

I’ve got two recommendations that can help you to find what isn’t ticking in your company, and get you out of that growth slump.

1. GrowthMentor

This is an incredible community to learn from; you can always find an expert on a specific challenge. I’ve used it for over a year as a mentor and mentee.

Your mentor/mentee might spot something you’re missing, or ask the right questions to push your thinking.

2. Growth Groups

I participate in a few Whatsapp and Slack groups for D2C brands where you can always ask questions and gain knowledge from the resources shared by other members.

I even run my own community of Women in Experimentation which has also been a great learning resource. Get in touch with me to join!

Want to learn more about experimentation, optimisation and growth from some of the leading voices in Conversion Rate Optimisation?

On March 19th, I’ll be speaking alongside several top voices in the CRO community at Conversionboost in Copenhagen, Denmark, about how your failed experiments are your biggest opportunities, and how to learn from them.

There are 7 early bird tickets left - get yours below! Hope to see many of you there 🙂 

Your growth slump is a chance to see what is and isn’t working.

We all love the Honeymoon phase of a relationship, but many of us also appreciate what comes next.

The level at which you get to know your partner and understand them.

A growth slowdown is a chance to get to know your customer better, to discover where your business fits into the grander scheme of things.

Take this for the opportunity it is. 

For more ideas, check out my full article on what to do when growth isn’t happening!

Chat soon,

Daphne