🏴☠️ ⚡️ Issue #19 - UGC Tactical Experiment to Inform Go-forward Strategy (OKR Teardown)
Welcome! This newsletter is dedicated to acquiring and operating Micro SaaS firms. Join us every Saturday morning for Deal Tear Downs, Operating Concepts and more!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Part 1 — 🎯 DEAL TEARDOWN - [Off-Market] Established SaaS for Countertop Fabricators
Part 2 — ⚙️ OPERATING CONCEPT - The Flavors of a Buyout Investment Thesis
Part 3 — 🛠️ OKR TEARDOWN - Execute UGC Tactical Experiment to Inform Go-forward Strategy
Part 4 — 🤔 MUSINGS - TBD
🛠️ OKR TEARDOWN
📺 WATCH:
📻 LISTEN:
As a point of departure, I’ve included the full OKR below to set the foundation for a teardown of our approach thus far…
OBJECTIVE: Execute UGC Tactical Experiment to Inform Longer-term UGC Strategy
KEY RESULTS:
Establish RICE score for panel webinars
Execute 2nd webinar and measure campaign results
Apply the RICE Framework to Select next UGC Tactic from prioritized Options
Develop a clear hypothesis statement for the chosen UGC tactic (outlining the expected impact on engagement, conversion, and user satisfaction)
Execute the UGC tactic before Dec 15th
Measure campaign results 30 days post-campaign launch
Compare results and provide structured leadership recommendations, including thoughts around what you would/could have differently
ESTABLISH RICE SCORE FOR PANEL WEBINARS
The table above details our point of view on the RICE score for the respective tactics, with Panel Webinars sitting at a composite score of 1.5.
Panel webinars score very well on the following:
Reach/Impact - mainly a function of the exponential effect caused by inclusion of multiple panelists. Put simply, 3x people bring along their 3x established audiences.
Confidence - the main dependencies here are the followership of the respective panelists (driving the exponential effect), and the breadth / depth of their knowledge (driving the value of the resulting content).
On the other side of the coin:
Effort - there is a linear increase in effort, where ~3x panelists each bring a unit of required coordination, expectation setting, etc.
EXECUTE 2ND WEBINAR AND MEASURE CAMPAIGN RESULTS
Unfortunately, the Workflow Design Webinar (our 2nd) demonstrated a decline across all campaigns metrics. In terms of the root cause, there are a range of suspect:
The very 1st webinar naturally created the most buzz
The substance of the 2nd webinar was more niche; thus, the relevant audience was smaller
Diminishing returns for net new and influenced contacts (put simply, each webinar eats up the surface area for net new exposure, which is a function of a mostly fixed established user base)
If we zoom out a bit, there are some compelling spikes across scorecard metrics, which are a bit more difficult to attribute to the webinar itself, though this is the only change / variable to consider in the context of our status-quo channels and operations during that time period. One important thing to note: Trial Signups are a lagging indicator, which is why you see the subsequent 3x weeks highlighted above.
The last webinar created a notable impact on the metrics that matter to us. Now, we transition to measuring results on a relative basis (aka did / do webinars perform better than XYZ?).
APPLY RICE FRAMEWORK TO SELECT UGC TACTIC
Per the above, we’re now looking at the RICE scores for our shortlisted UGC tactics on a relative basis, stack-ranked per composite score.
Hashtag Campaign — this tactic is a relative breeze to implement, thus the effort score is quite low. Effort is the only punitive component in the RICE framework so out of the gate this tactic is likely to land at the top of the pack. Reach potential is also significant, though hashtags can take a very long time to catch on; thus, confidence is questionable. It’s also important to note that hashtags generate a super useful well of re-sharable content. Even if it doesn’t take off, it’s productive for broader content output / quality.
User Spotlight / Live Interview — lots of confidence around quality and assurance you’ll engage the respective user’s followership, though effort involved in coordination and content generation.
Panel Webinars — there’s a glorious exponential effect re audience access, though a linear increase in effort for every panelist that participates.
Social Media Takeover — significant burden on the respective user, which lowers confidence, but solid potential for quality content and respective user audience engagement.
You’ll notice the hashtag campaign as the winner based on the composite RICE score, though the hypothesis statement below details the user spotlight tactic…
We’re a big fan of activities that compound momentum. Put simply, executing an activity that lends toward another activity, collectively creates a larger groundswell than any of the activities could individually. We’ll tie this together with details in the closing thoughts.
DEVELOP A CLEAR HYPOTHESIS STATEMENT
Enabling users to showcase their story (genesis of their business, high/lowlights, etc.) and highlight how they use our SaaS and the value it provides will yield content that improves site / social traffic and content engagement.
RATIONALE —
A user’s business story is highly relatable to existing and prospective users providing strong basis for engagement. Further, nuanced / real-world examples of SaaS usage validate the value proposition in an unbiased manner.
THE EXPERIMENT —
To verify the hypothesis we will: Implement a monthly user spotlight series
Which will require: A selection of engaging users, content creation team, and a content distribution plan
And will take: 6wk to observe trends in engagement
METRICS —
We will measure: Content performance (views, time per page) and social engagement (likes, reach, engagement rate, shares).
Using: Hubspot, Google Analytics, Loomly
The baseline metrics are (90 day averages):
Content Performance: ~15.5 views, ~5sec
Social Engagement:
Facebook: Reach - 110; Engagement Rate - .96%, Shares - .1
Instagram: Likes - 1.4; Reach - 56.2; Engagement rate - 2.76%
SUCCESS CRITERIA —
We are right if: Studio spotlight content demonstrates 15%+ performance and engagement.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
As we alluded to above, we chose to thread 2x tactics together, given the cumulative moment expected. In our case, we chose to proceed via the following:
Establish and announce the hashtag (#poweredbyfirm) to our users, along with a contest…
The 3x posts (ie ‘how firm powers my business’) that receive the greatest engagement will be featured in a user spotlight
…Wish us luck 🤘