User Friction & Growth (Growth Design Monthly)

October 2021

Dear Readers,Happy Halloween! My name is Shane Fontane and I am the lead product designer for growth at Grammarly. This month, I am excited to share an experiment that leveraged a previously existing hypothesis reimagined for a different target audience. An experiment that would introduce friction into the user experience 😳 [cue dramatic music] — and drive a 40% increase in our target business metric! You’re better than basic,ShaneGrammarly Lead Growth Designer

Welcome to the Funnel

The world view looks something like this: our acquisition team drives new user growth via ads and our consumer growth team connects those users with existing value-driving conversions and renewals via in-product AB tests.It’s important to know, our users are segmented by the following definitions. Anonymous user — didn’t sign up and is using the free Grammarly product Free user — signed up and is using the free Grammarly product Premium user — signed up and is using the paid Grammarly product

Find More Users, Pivot

We rely on advertising to help with new user growth. To ensure our bookings remain on track, we look for opportunities to get more free users who may convert to become Premium users.How can we mitigate the risk of missing booking projections? Consumer growth pivots from conversions and retention to driving new user growth. We target our existing anonymous users who have yet to register.But how do we motivate tens of millions of users who have yet to register, to register?

Inspiration in Past Experiments

In 2020, we ran an experiment that introduced the idea of presenting free users a “locked” Premium suggestion that could be unlocked by upgrading to Premium. The hypothesis assumed free users would be curious enough about the unknown suggestion that it would motivate them to upgrade to Premium. And it did. However, we were worried about a bait-and-switch experience and did not roll it out.

Question Long-Held Assumptions

Fast forward to 2021. Our consumer growth product manager challenged the team with the question: what if we apply those same techniques of creating friction and relieving pain to today’s anonymous users?So with this challenge, we set forth a new hypothesis: If anonymous users are restricted to a daily limit of one-click transforms (clicking the suggestion to apply the suggestion), then the pain of manually applying the suggestion will motivate anonymous users to see the value in registering.Within one week, we saw a 40%+ increase in anonymous users registering. And not only did it make free more valuable, but we created a clear visual cue to existing users that were accidentally signed out who missed the value of being signed in!

Concluding thoughts

And there you have it! Friction, and the removal of, can be used to increase the value of your product while still balancing the needs of the user. In this experiment, we NEVER took away the core value proposition that motivated a user to install our product — to get help with their writing. Instead, we removed the convenience factor of this help to signal the increased value of becoming a registered user.

About the Author

Shane Fontane is the lead product designer for growth at Grammarly. He has a passion for helping teams unlock the path of least resistance between the user and product value. He is a San Francisco techno friend, DJ, and fan of Siamese kitties.

5th Anniversary Event -The State of Growth DesignCan you believe it has been five years since Lex Roman started the GrowthDesigners.co community?! In this anniversary event, community facilitators will hold space for reflection on how far we've come and what's next. 

Thursday, November 4, 10:00 AM PT | 1 PM ET | 17:00 GMT

Join the Growth Designers SlackConnect with growth designers in our Slack channel. Share ideas, discuss challenges and learn from each other. 

Looking for Work? Hiring?

Well have we got some resources for you! Check out our Jobs page and our Growth Design Directory.