Strategies: Growth Funnel (AARRR)

Guides growth using the AARRR framework (Pirate Metrics)—five stages of the customer lifecycle. Created by Dave McClure (500 Startups) to focus on actionable metrics over vanity metrics. Use this skill when diagnosing growth bottlenecks, prioritizing improvements, or aligning product, marketing, and customer success.

When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

AARRR Framework

| Stage | Question | Key metrics | |-------|----------|-------------| | Acquisition | How do users discover you? | CAC, CPA, conversion by source | | Activation | Do users reach "aha moment"? | Activation rate, time-to-first-value | | Retention | Do users return? | D1/D7/D30 retention, churn | | Referral | Do users recommend? | Referral rate, NPS, viral coefficient | | Revenue | Do users pay? | Conversion rate, ARPU, LTV |

Principle: Define behavior-based events per stage; analyze by cohort. Quality over volume—channels bringing fewer but more activated users often outperform.

Per-Stage Actions

| Stage | Actions | Related skills | |-------|---------|----------------| | Acquisition | SEO, paid ads, content, partnerships, directories, marketplaces | cold-start-strategy, seo-strategy, paid-ads-strategy, directory-submission, distribution-channels | | Activation | Onboarding, use-case guidance, FAQ, case studies, free trials, trust signals | conversion-optimization, faq-page-generator, customer-stories-page-generator | | Retention | Support, churn analysis, feedback, loyalty, dunning | retention-strategy, email-marketing | | Referral | Referral program, affiliate, case study sharing | referral-program, affiliate-marketing | | Revenue | Pricing, conversion optimization, CAC vs LTV analysis | pricing-strategy, conversion-optimization, paid-ads-strategy |

Tactics by Stage

| Stage | Tactics | |-------|---------| | Acquisition | Google ads (keywords, display); organic SEO; social (LinkedIn, YouTube, X, blog); partnerships (NGOs, SMBs); directories, marketplaces | | Activation | Use-case guidance; video + blog tutorials; FAQ; case studies; free trials/credits; new-feature promotion; email; trust signals (reviews, media) | | Retention | Timely support; churn analysis; feedback collection; loyalty perks (credits, early access) | | Referral | Referral credits; signup email with referral CTA; enterprise case sharing; affiliate program | | Revenue | Conversion optimization; platform attribution; CAC vs LTV; post-campaign traffic analysis |

Post-campaign: Analyze traffic and conversion by channel; reallocate budget to top performers.

Implementation

Events: Define precise, behavior-based events for each stage
Cohorts: Analyze by cohort, not aggregate; compare cohorts over time
Bottlenecks: Identify stage with largest drop-off; prioritize there first
Cross-functional: Product, marketing, customer success share common language

Output Format

Stage assessment (where are you strong/weak?)
Metrics per stage (current, target)
Actions prioritized by bottleneck
Related skills for each stage

Related Skills

cold-start-strategy: Acquisition for 0→1; first users
retention-strategy: Retention and churn prevention
conversion-optimization: Activation, revenue conversion
referral-program: Referral stage tactics
gtm-strategy: Full GTM; growth-funnel is lifecycle view
integrated-marketing: Channel mix across stages