Stop Optimising for Everyone: Why Your Best Customers Matter More Than Your Funnel Leaks
Growth teams obsess over users who leave, but the real opportunity lies in understanding the few who stay, buy, and come back for more.
When working on any Product, you’ll come across a scenario where most users don’t perform your desired outcome (e.g. orders, bookings, downloads).
A large share of them come to your product, browse, maybe give it a try and then leave…never to be seen again. The Problem? Growth Teams tend to solve for what’s missing. If there are 100 Users in a funnel and 20 don’t make it through, I’m quite confident people will focus on why the 20 didn’t make it through. Rather than focusing on the 80 that did.
It’s important to realise that a funnel cannot be solved for completely. There are no funnels that don’t leak. It really wouldn’t be a funnel if there were no leak. Focusing on ensuring more people get to the end of the funnel is common practice, but it should not be. Sometimes, it’s about focusing on those who truly find value in your product, use it regularly, make money for you and eventually become evangelists with no added benefits to them.
Let’s take an example. Consider an Online Bookstore that gets 1,000 visitors per month. Of the 1,000, only 100 make a purchase. Most businesses would immediately forget about the 100 that made a purchase and focus on the 900 that didn’t. There are a gazillion different reasons why they didn’t make a purchase, and it takes time to figure those out. While that is an important piece to solve, it shouldn’t be the only one you go after.
Before attempting to get more people down the funnel (buy a book in our case), it’s more important to understand the users who already got there. If someone made a purchase with your current experience and decided to take money out of their pocket, it means they found value in your product. It’s good to know the following:
Why did they do so?
Who are these people?
How often do they visit?
What exactly are they getting here that they can’t get elsewhere?
What was happening in their life before they found you and started buying books from you?
and a bunch more…
You get the point? It matters more to figure out why the select few that use your product actually keep using it, rather than focusing on those that randomly pop up, give your website maybe 10 seconds at best and leave. Think about the number of websites you visit daily. You’re constantly opening products and websites all day, but don’t actually make a purchase or booking. And then think about the ones you open daily, use daily and probably already paid a yearly subscription for. You committed because you found value and trusted the brand.
First, solve for those who already find value in your product. Then, try to get more users in.
Going back to our previous example. Of the 1,000 visitors, only 100 made a purchase. But even within these 100, there would be those that buy 4 books a month vs. those that just purchase once and are never to be seen again. So even within the cohort that performed your desired action, there are those who keep finding value compared to others who find it once and never use it again. That’s also something to look into. Who are these people who keep using your service again and again?
They are a significantly smaller portion of your audience but generate a significantly larger share of revenue.
Remember, they are locked in on your product. Every time they have a need that you can fulfil, you will be top of mind. Solving for them and giving them the ultimate experience makes sure you have evangelists who will bring more similar users into the product. Also, they will continue returning as long as you deliver on your promise. And they help you understand exactly what value you bring into this world, so you can go and find more of them.