67: Laura Schaffer: Layering self-serve into a Sales-led gig at Amplitude
Jul 21, 2024
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Laura Schaffer, VP Product Growth @ Amplitude, discusses launching self-serve paid and free plans, blending sales and self-serve motions, and questioning the need for separate websites. The evolution of digital experiences and integrating marketing in product teams is highlighted, along with challenges of managing cross-functional teams and user support in PLG companies.
Users now expect self-serve product experiences for evaluating products independently, challenging traditional sales approaches.
Product-led growth (PLG) drives sales acceleration but requires clear decision-making and organizational buy-in.
Trials and freemium offerings are effective in onboarding users but must provide substantial value to retain them.
Deep dives
Challenges of Introducing Self-Serve in a Sales-Led Company
Introducing a self-serve motion into a sales-led company can illuminate existing issues, magnifying small problems into significant challenges. This transition is complex as it involves addressing a myriad of issues instead of a single obstacle. Companies face difficulties in adapting due to lacking the necessary expertise in this new arena.
The Evolution towards Product-Led Growth
Over the past 15 years, digital technology advancements have revolutionized sales approaches, shifting from human-centered processes to user-driven experiences. Companies have transitioned from sales-led models to product-led growth strategies, focusing on providing self-serve product experiences that align with user expectations. This evolution emphasizes the significance of allowing users to independently evaluate and engage with products, contributing to accelerated sales processes for companies that embrace this approach.
The Fusion of Marketing and Product Experiences
The future of digital experiences involves a merging of websites and product interfaces to reduce friction and enhance user value. The delineation between marketing content and product interactions diminishes as companies strive to seamlessly integrate these elements. Enhancing user experiences by blurring the lines between marketing promises and product functionality leads to a more cohesive and engaging user journey, emphasizing the need for collaborative efforts across marketing, product development, and engineering teams.
Focusing on Integrating Marketing Skills with Product and Engineering Teams
Bringing together marketing skills with product and engineering teams is crucial for cohesive development. Marketers may face challenges in product positioning within their own products, lacking a clear path for improvement. By merging different skill sets, such as marketing and customer success, into core product management functions, companies can enhance growth strategies.
Emphasis on Offering Interactive Demos and Self-Serve Experiences
Prioritizing trials and interactive demos can be pivotal for sales-led companies to attract and convert customers. Starting with trials can significantly increase prospects in the pipeline, providing more insights and data for decision-making. Developing an interactive demo that aligns with different customer segments can offer executives a firsthand experience of the product, influencing their decision-making process positively.
Laura Schaffer, VP Product Growth @ Amplitude shares her experience of launching a self-serve paid plan and a free plan at Amplitude, a sales-led organization.
We discuss the changing landscape of selling, the power of self-serve product experiences, and the expectations of users. The conversation also delves into the tensions between sales and self-serve motions, the importance of buy-in and clear decision-making frameworks, and the structure and purpose of trials and freemium offerings.
We also talk about the disappearance of classical websites, questioning the need for a separate website and sign-up flow. What’s the role of Product, Growth and Marketing in that future?
Takeaways
The digital landscape has changed, and users now expect self-serve product experiences that allow them to try and evaluate products themselves. Product-led growth (PLG) is a powerful approach that can drive pipeline and accelerate sales, but it requires buy-in and clear decision-making frameworks. Trials and freemium offerings are effective ways to lower the friction of pricing and onboard users, but they need to provide enough value to get users over the next hurdle. Digital web experiences and digital product experiences are becoming more similar, and the need for a separate website and sign-up flow is being questioned.
Sound Bites
"Whenever you layer in a self-serve motion into a sales led company, it will shed spotlight on any issues that are there at the company." "Companies will start merging the website and product experience to avoid losing potential customers in the funnel." Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Challenges of Implementing Self-Serve Motion
06:42 The Changing Landscape of Selling and the Power of Self-Serve Experiences
13:54 Tensions Between Sales and Self-Serve Motions: Navigating Conflicts and Gaining Buy-In
21:02 Trials and Freemium: Lowering Friction and Onboarding Users
26:02 Balancing Self-Serve and Sales-Led Motions: Serving Lower-End and Enterprise Segments
29:09 The Blurring Line Between Digital Web Experiences and Digital Product Experiences
37:01 Merging Website and Product Experiences
44:30 Measuring Success in a Product-Led Growth Model
50:36 The Importance of Support in the Self-Serve Environment
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