Savvy Navvy · navigation app for boats
Skip sign-up entirely and create a hidden anonymous account instead
Looked great in the test, fell apart at full rollout; support grief erased gains
Failedonboardingexperimentation
What they did
To cut drop-off at account creation, ran an experiment that skipped sign-up and created an anonymous account under the hood. Rolled it to 100% after strong early results and ran it for quite some time.
What happened
Early test results were 'through the roof', but success rates dropped at 100% rollout. Users with several devices couldn't sync or log in, causing heavy support load; the uptick was smaller than measured due to metric issues in the test region.
- Effort
- A/B test then full rollout, run for quite some time
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Why He Crowdfunded Millions Instead of Raising VC — Jelte Liebrand, Savvy Navvy“And initially, the results were through the roof. It was amazing.”
“And then, we rolled it out to 100%. The success rates started to drop a little.”
“And it's just no end of grief, and ultimately, the uptick wasn't as good as we thought it was due to some metric issues that we found in this region.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
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- Savvy Navvy: Tell crowd investors the good, the bad and the ugly in every updateWon Seedrs Entrepreneur of the Year, voted by investors; enabled repeat rounds
- Savvy Navvy: Walk the docks with a clipboard and ask every boater what bugs themShowed the problem went far beyond ocean racers; founder says it convinced him
- Savvy Navvy: Put your app in one standout boat maker's dashboard, then announce itMany more manufacturers came asking than expected; now a B2B business
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- Savvy Navvy: Give boating instructors the app free and build the teaching tools they ask forInstructors send students to it first; founder says no numbers
- Savvy Navvy: Sell a two-year plan at about 30% off to get cash up frontBiggest win of the year; ad spend now paid back as soon as it's spent
- Savvy Navvy: Offer a free tier in the US but charge from day one elsewhere
- Savvy Navvy: Stop all email marketing