Strava · B2C · running and cycling app
Split the big weekly test review into small team meetings once it passes ~70 people
Small meetings work great; cross-team learning still unsolved
Mixedteam-processexperimentation
What they did
A weekly 'experiments weekly' meeting presented every experiment the growth org ran. It worked at five people (debate, follow-up test running within 2 days), but at ~70 invitees only leads spoke. After one team started its own small version with great brainstorming, the big meeting was cancelled in favor of per-team meetings. To keep cross-team learning, the director reads all recent experiments on flights and sends pre-written Slack questions.
What happened
Per-team meetings work well; building a shared narrative of learnings across teams remains unsolved.
- Stage
- Scale (scaling)
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Lessons From Building a 70 Person Growth Team — Jason van der Merwe, Strava“we got to the point where we had like 70 people on this invite last year. And the only people that were speaking were, you know, the leads of leads kind of thing, right?”
“Then, we canceled the big meetings, and said, "All the small teams have their own meetings." And that's been great, apart from for people like me”
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All 23 Strava tacticsMore from this episode
- Strava: Put words like 'GO' on your icon-only record buttonsOne of the biggest wins ever for first uploads; new-user retention rose a lot
- Strava: Ask new users to add a profile photo during signupLater removed; it added too much friction
- Strava: Count a new user as active once they upload one workout and follow one person in 7 days
- Strava: Get more people to share workout links, then turn link visitors into signupsDrove new registrations, guest says; base of several hundred thousand shares a month
- Strava: Show 'Follow back' on anyone who follows you, wherever their profile appearsBiggest jump in follow rate Strava has ever seen, despite data predicting little gain
- Strava: Once a quarter, let every team member run any test they want on 10% of usersSurfaced ideas data had ruled out, including the biggest follow-rate win
- Strava: Build one tool for in-app tips, then test removing all tips once teams overuse itOnly growth used it for ~2 years; now so widespread a removal test is running
- Strava: Test which sport and gender appear in welcome-screen photos before signupRunners were put off by cyclist photos; women preferred seeing women
- Strava: Test the words on signup buttons, like 'Continue with' vs 'Sign up with'Copy changes had huge measurable impact; brand photos in product lowered conversion
- Strava: Keep crash-free sessions at 99.99% and ask happy users to rate the appGuest says more five-star ratings help ranking; no numbers
- Strava: Add videos to your store page that show clearly what the app doesVideos really helped, guest says; screenshot tests were hard to trust
- Strava: Test store page designs on a fake App Store web page firstTried; a lot of work, not kept
- Strava: Supply special artwork when Apple offers to feature you in a countryStrava benefits from these features; no numbers
- Strava: Start a growth team on new-user activation, then add teams where tests keep winningGrew from one team to five teams of 70+ people
- Strava: Report every test through one shared query and dashboardBecame the source of truth for nearly every experiment
- Strava: Give staff a switch to use the app as a free user
- Strava: Drive a van to local bike races and upload riders' GPS data for themHow Strava got its first cyclists; no numbers
- Strava: Launch a separate running app to win runners, then merge it with the main appHelped a lot in reaching runners, guest says
- Strava: Get pro athletes onto the app and support local running and cycling groupsMost growth is word of mouth, guest says; no numbers