Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Mastering onboarding | Lauryn Isford (Head of Growth at Airtable)

Feb 12, 2023

Lauryn Isford, a product growth leader with experience at Airtable and Facebook, shares her expertise in optimizing onboarding flows. She reveals how a revamped onboarding process boosted Airtable's activation rate by 20%. Discussion includes the importance of North Star metrics, the transformative effects of personalized user experiences, and innovative concepts like reverse trials. Lauryn emphasizes balancing user experience with metric analysis, and how focusing on user growth can drive long-term engagement and strategic decision-making.

01:04:20

Creator website

Episode guests

Lauryn Isford

AI Summary

Highlights

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Optimizing onboarding flows can lead to a 20% increase in activation rate.

Focus on contextual application and outcomes instead of naming features during onboarding.

Using a specific, precise metric like week four multi-user activation can ensure long-term user loyalty.

Deep dives

Importance of Onboarding in Growth

Onboarding is recognized as one of the biggest levers for increasing user retention and driving growth. It is crucial for products that have a self-serve or freemium element. A well-designed onboarding flow can reduce the cognitive load for users, help them experience initial value, and create a strong foundation for continued engagement.

Airtable - How to Drive a 20% Lift in Activation via Onboarding

01:16

The Pros and Cons of Experiments in Product Development

02:56

The Importance of Multi-User Activation and Collaboration

01:13

Tips for Onboarding Optimization and Avoiding Common Traps

01:52

Intro

3min

Rethinking Experimentation in Growth Strategy

3min

Balancing Metrics and User Experience

4min

Mastering Onboarding for Growth

23min

Shifting Focus from Revenue to User Growth

3min

Navigating North Star Metrics and Onboarding Strategies

14min

Operationalizing Growth Metrics

14min

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Lauryn Isford is a product growth leader and practitioner, who most recently led Growth at Airtable, and is about to start something new 🤫. In today’s episode, we get into the many tactics Lauryn has learned about optimizing onboarding flows. Lauryn describes how overhauling Airtable’s onboarding led to a 20% increase in activation rate, the company’s unique segmentation process, and why North Star metrics are so vital. Lauryn also shares her framework for a PLG growth funnel, and how to use a reverse trial to leverage the benefits of both freemium products and trials. If you’re looking to find growth opportunities within your funnel, this episode is for you.

Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/mastering-onboarding-lauryn-isford

Where to find Lauryn Isford:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurynisford

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurynisford/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

Referenced:

• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days: https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/1442397683

• Blue Bottle coffee: https://bluebottlecoffee.com/

• Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/

• How to determine your activation metric: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-determine-your-activation

• Elena Verna on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/elena-verna-on-how-b2b-growth-is-changing-product-led-growth-product-led-sales-why-you-should-go-freemium-not-trial-what-features-to-make-free-and-much-more/

• The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company: https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Lifetime-Lessons-Learned-Company/dp/0399592091/

• Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon: https://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Men-Odyssey-Astronauts-Journey/dp/081298871X

• Fifth & Mission podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fifth-mission/id1457274965

• The White Lotus on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-white-lotus

• Belfast: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12789558/

• Figma: https://www.figma.com/

• Miro: https://miro.com/

• Zoelle Egner on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/what-pr-is-and-isnt-good-for-according-to-zoelle-egner-head-of-marketing-and-growth-at-box/

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Lauryn’s background

(03:48) Lauryn’s spicy take on experimentation

(06:44) Why doing the right thing for customers should be the ultimate goal

(08:54) How Airtable rolled out Airtable Forms with A/B testing

(11:38) The importance of onboarding

(13:15) Airtable’s onboarding revamp and how it increased activation by 20%

(16:57) How Airtable’s guided onboarding wizard improved the user experience

(18:00) Why reducing reliance on tooltips can be a good idea for complicated products

(20:06) The importance of meeting users where they are

(22:52) How Airtable segmented users by learning styles

(24:10) Airtable’s activation metrics

(27:22) How the week-four multi-user collaboration metric was operationalized

(30:45) Other metrics Airtable used

(34:34) When Airtable changed their North Star metric

(36:26) How much time to give a North Star metric before pivoting

(38:05) Trials vs. freemium and what a reverse trial is

(42:51) How to have self-serve options when you’re not fully self-serve

(46:04) Onboarding experiences that aren’t very helpful

(47:31) How to help users understand features

(48:42) Why user education is more important than pushing premium features

(50:03) The role of guardrail metrics

(51:40) Lauryn’s PLG growth funnel framework

(54:26) How Lauryn’s framework helps teams communicate more clearly

(55:57) How Lauryn structured the growth team

(57:53) B2B growth as an emerging space

(1:00:18) Lightning round

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Mastering onboarding | Lauryn Isford (Head of Growth at Airtable)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Importance of Onboarding in Growth

The Impact of Optimized Onboarding

Avoiding Common Onboarding Traps

Importance of the Week Four Multi-User Activation Metric

Operationalizing Activation Metrics

Airtable - How to Drive a 20% Lift in Activation via Onboarding

The Pros and Cons of Experiments in Product Development

The Importance of Multi-User Activation and Collaboration

Tips for Onboarding Optimization and Avoiding Common Traps

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts