What do you think of the term growth hacking?

[avni000]

I've heard mixed opinions on whether growth hacking is considered a legitimate endeavor or is a superficial exercise. The tactics seem logical (eg. publish content or create sharing mechanisms) but wanted to see what others thought on the topic.

[getdavidhiggins]

The phrase throws most people off. All it means is 'new fangled and innovative ways to convert users to paying customers`. The ultimate goal of a "growth hacker" is to convert users, via some clever way. The obvious techniques like funnels/mailresponders/sharing/retargeting/onboarding do work, but they're not good enough. I know it's cliche - but growth hacking basically means "thinking outside the box" to convert users.

User Personas are the hot new thing now, where startups try to break a userbase into separate 'types' of typical users. E.G; User set A is young, trendy. User set B is hobbyist. User set C is B2B (business to business), etc

[getdavidhiggins]

Also I think that some of the newer conversion techniques are pushing it a bit, but I see no reason not to default to a baseline level of retargeting/onboarding/mailresponders. At least make the user feel like you're listening!