03 - How to build a High-Performing Growth Design Team | Kate Syuma (Head of Growth Design, Miro)
Mar 12, 2023
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Kate Syuma, Head of Growth Design at Miro, shares insights on building a successful growth design team, including the role of growth design within a cross-functional team, collaboration and team structure, the importance of feedback and qualitative metrics, and optimizing user onboarding. She also answers lightning questions about her profession, recommended books for designers, and favorite products.
Optimizing the onboarding process is crucial for product growth, focusing on showcasing value, understanding user motivations, and guiding users towards desired actions.
Best practices for user onboarding include personalization, simplicity, and creating a delightful experience through iterative improvements based on user feedback.
Measuring team performance in growth requires a balance of qualitative and quantitative metrics, adherence to growth design principles, and fostering a learning culture.
Deep dives
The Importance of User Onboarding and its Impact on Product Growth
User onboarding is a crucial aspect of product growth, serving as the foundation for engagement, retention, and monetization. It is the initial experience that users have with a product, and if done well, it can lead to the desired 'aha' moment. Optimizing the onboarding process to be personalized, simple, and delightful can significantly impact user adoption and overall growth. Onboarding should focus on showcasing value, understanding user motivations, and guiding users towards desired actions. It plays a vital role in both product-led growth and sales-led strategies, setting the stage for subsequent funnel experiences. Continuous experimentation and improvement in the onboarding flow is necessary, as it is never truly complete.
Best Practices for User Onboarding
When it comes to user onboarding, some best practices include personalization, simplicity, and delivering a delightful experience. Personalization of the onboarding flow can help tailor the experience to different segments and provide a more relevant user journey. Simplifying the onboarding process by focusing on key questions and removing unnecessary steps can enhance the user experience. Creating a delightful onboarding experience involves understanding the desired 'aha' moment and designing the flow in a way that guides users towards that realization. It also requires constant observation of user actions and feedback to inform iterative improvements.
Utilizing the Onboarding Funnel in Growth Strategies
The onboarding funnel serves as the base for various growth strategies, such as product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led growth. In product-led growth, optimizing the onboarding process is crucial as it influences subsequent engagement, retention, and monetization efforts. A successful onboarding experience sets the stage for users to fully explore the product's value and drives top-of-the-funnel growth. Sales-led growth strategies can also benefit from onboarding practices by providing personalized experiences that guide potential customers towards conversion. While PLG focuses on self-serve user onboarding, sales-led growth may involve high-touch onboarding experiences that benefit from a human connection.
Key Metrics to Evaluate Team Performance in Growth
Measuring team performance in growth can be challenging, as qualitative and quantitative metrics both play a role. While quantitative metrics like the number of successful experiments or velocity can provide some insight, they may not capture the full picture. Qualitative metrics such as quality of work, level of autonomy, and adherence to growth design principles are crucial in evaluating performance. Trust and a learning culture are foundational to team success. Assessing adherence to growth mindset principles, like optimizing for fresh learnings, thinking big but starting small, and knowing hypothesis and loving data, can also guide team evaluation and performance assessment.
Building a Successful Growth Team and Designing Effective Onboarding
Building a successful growth team involves hiring for diverse skill sets, culture fit, and growth mindset. Trust and collaboration are foundational to team productivity. Designing effective user onboarding requires personalization, simplicity, and a focus on the desired 'aha' moment. Continuous experimentation and improvement are necessary, as onboarding is never done. Personalization and simplicity in the onboarding experience can enhance the likelihood of user adoption and subsequent growth. Feedback-sharing sessions and fostering a learning culture within the team can support growth and ensure successful onboarding experiences.
Kate Syuma is growing the product at Miro as head of growth design. She started as an individual contributor designer and became a design growth leader. She embodied the user experience through craft in Onboarding, Engagement, Monetisation, and 0→1 experiences.
In this episode, we'll explore the critical components of building a successful growth team (from scratch) and discuss strategies for fostering a culture of innovation and experimentation. We'll also discuss the challenges & lessons of hiring & building a growth team. How to drive & measure team performance.
