What Is Growth Marketing, How It Differs and How to Start Testing
Understand growth marketing through the AARRR framework, how to write hypotheses, run small experiments and read results your team can act on, with a Thai example.
The marketing team at a small food delivery app increased its ad budget every month. Downloads went up, but orders barely moved. When they traced the data, they found many new users were giving up while entering their delivery address. The problem was not the ads; it was the sign-up page. Looking at the whole customer journey like this, then testing fixes for the biggest bottleneck first, is the heart of growth marketing.
What is growth marketing?
Growth marketing is marketing that looks at the entire customer journey, from discovering the brand and first use to coming back and recommending it to others, and uses measurable experiments to find what actually grows the business. Unlike traditional marketing, it does not stop at acquiring new customers, and it does not judge campaigns by gut feeling but by experiment results.
Growth marketing is not a shortcut or a one-off growth hack. It is a way of working that marketing, product and data teams do together, continuously.
The AARRR framework: a map for growth
A popular framework is AARRR, also called Pirate Metrics, which splits the customer journey into five stages.
- Acquisition: where people discover you and come from
- Activation: whether they have had a good first experience, such as completing their first food order
- Retention: whether they come back
- Referral: whether they tell or invite others
- Revenue: whether they generate revenue for the business
Your first job is to find which stage leaks the most. If many people arrive but nobody returns, adding acquisition budget is like pouring water into a leaking bucket.
The experiment loop: the heart of growth work
1. Write a measurable hypothesis
Use this format: If we [change something] for [which group], then [which metric] will increase, because [reason]. For example: if we let new users pick their address on a map instead of typing it, first-order rate will increase, because address entry is where most people drop off.
2. Choose experiments you can run quickly
Rank ideas with three questions: how big is the impact if it works, how confident are you it will work, and how much effort does it take? Start with high-impact, easy ideas.
3. Test and read results honestly
Use an A/B test when you have enough users. If you do not, compare before and after carefully and note other factors that may have an effect, such as festive seasons. Do not stop a test the moment you see good numbers on day one.
4. Record and share what you learn
Experiments that fail are valuable too, because they tell you not to spend more time on that route. Write a short note each time: hypothesis, what you did, the result and what you will do next.
Example: an online skincare shop
A skincare shop selling through its website and LINE OA found that most customers bought once and disappeared. The leaking stage was retention. The team hypothesised that sending a reminder shortly before the cream runs out, with tips on using it well, would bring more customers back. They tested it with half their customers while the other half received no message, then compared repeat purchases after one month. The result tells them whether to roll it out to everyone or try a different message.
Skills growth marketers need
- Data literacy: using analytics tools to read funnels and cohorts
- Understanding customer behaviour: talking to real users, not just looking at numbers
- Working with product and developers: knowing enough to propose product changes
- Copywriting and content, because many experiments are changes to wording or offers
Things to watch out for
Do not chase short-term numbers at the cost of trust, for example sending so many notifications that customers delete the app, or using false urgency. And do not run several experiments on the same group at once, or you will not be able to tell what worked.
Growth does not start with the cleverest idea. It starts with knowing where your customers drop off.
How to start
- Map your business's customer journey with AARRR and add the numbers you have for each stage
- Pick the one stage that leaks the most
- Write 3 hypotheses for that stage
- Choose the easiest one and test it within 2 weeks
- Record the result, share it with the team, and start the next loop
To understand the foundations growth marketing builds on, read What is a marketing funnel and How to start data-driven marketing. If you want to strengthen your data or digital marketing skills, browse partner courses at Plants.work Learn.