Product-Led Growth (PLG) is the most misunderstood strategy in tech today.
Often, it’s mistaken for introducing a trial to the product or operating under a freemium model. While these elements can be part of PLG, they’re far from defining this strategy. PLG isn’t about one-off tactics, but about fundamentally changing how you build and deliver value with your product.
A successful PLG strategy demands a user-centric approach.
It requires you to build your product in a way that prompts users to go through a full cycle on their own, independently realizing the product’s value. It also demands a user journey that anticipates the emotional rollercoaster users will inevitably go through.
You don’t achieve this with hacks like trials and freemium. It goes much deeper and it might require you to restructure your Product organization completely.
Let me tell you why…
The Rollercoaster of Excitement in PLG Strategy
When a user interacts with a new product for the first time, they feel a rollercoaster of emotions.
At first, there is excitement. The product might solve their problem or offer an innovative experience. But frustration inevitably creeps in when they face a learning curve, requirements, or even a technical hurdle.
If this frustration is left unmanaged, users will abandon the journey.
This is where telemetry becomes invaluable. By tracking user behavior, you can anticipate moments of friction and proactively address them. These insights help you adjust the experience, balancing frustration with excitement to keep users engaged.
This emotional cycle is at the heart of PLG success.
As an example, Instana introduced a low-setup public demo that allowed users to experience the product with minimal effort. This built excitement right from the start. Later, in the trial phase, users had to integrate their own data – a more demanding task that brought some frustration. But the product had already established trust, so users were willing to push through and dive into the trial.
A true PLG organization masters these ups and downs.
Sounds complex? It becomes easier when you think of the user journey as made up of three phases: Discover, Try, and Buy.
Your PLG Strategy Should Manage User Emotions
Each phase of the user journey presents unique challenges and opportunities. To guide users effectively, focus on designing experiences that balance excitement and frustration in these stages: Discover, Try, and Buy.
1. Discover: Building Initial Excitement
Discovery is where PLG starts – and first impressions matter.
Your first goal is to invite users to explore the product with minimal commitment and low friction.
Take Instana as an example. The public demo we mentioned above allows users to interact with the product in a low-effort (no setup required), high-impact way (the users get a clear sense of the capabilities).
Instana’s example is a classic one. But there are ways to get creative in this. Take Dash0 and its OTelBin, for example. Instead of using a subset of their product, they created a separate tool that helps configure openTelemetry. This worked perfectly! It lets users complete a first step, building trust and excitement before using Dash0’s core offering.
In this phase, your product should spark curiosity and lay a strong foundation for users to move forward to the next one: Try. Excitement is the driver that takes users from one phase to the next.
2. Try: Guiding Users to “Aha”
In the Try phase, users engage with your product more in-depth.
The challenge is to balance the natural friction of learning and setup with enough excitement to keep them moving forward.
Returning to Instana’s example, the trial phase asks users to integrate their own data into the platform. This step requires effort but the upside is clear: users can realize the product’s value by seeing it in action in their real-world scenario.
When done right, this leads users to an “aha” moment.
To leverage PLG in this phase:
- Tailor the trial experience to solid needs (Jobs To Be Done),
- Be deliberate about what Activation steps are needed,
- Identify and eliminate unnecessary friction points during onboarding,
- Ensure the value you deliver outweighs the effort.
If users don’t reach their “aha” moment here, they’re unlikely to move to a purchase.
3. Buy: Keeping Momentum
In the final phase, convert users’ enthusiasm into commitment.
Your product must have delivered on its promise while making the transition from Try to Buy. Users who’ve experienced value during the previous phases are more likely to commit. But be mindful – the buying process must not introduce unnecessary friction!
To ensure users follow through, focus on three things:
- Highlight the benefits they just experienced and those they will get post-purchase,
- Keep a simple pricing strategy,
- Facilitate the involvement of decision maker and buyer, if different from the users thus far, by:
- Making it easy for the power user to prove value to the decision maker,
- Facilitating the purchase flow with collaboration. The power user could set up all the purchase elements needed so that the buyer gets invited to simply swipe the card. No need for him/her to overthink the what should be purchased.
This will make buying the natural next step in their journey.
The Right PLG Strategy Requires Organizational Transformation
PLG demands a holistic perspective, but many product organizations are structured around features. Siloed teams work on isolated functionalities, often at the expense of the seamless user experiences on which PLG depends.
To overcome this, teams must collaborate across traditional boundaries to create a unified user journey. A holistic view allows organizations to guide users effectively through the Discover, Try, and Buy phases.
For example, the path to “aha” often involves several features working together. Without cross-functional coordination, you risk frustrating users, undermining their excitement, and causing them to leave before realizing the product’s value.
To succeed with PLG, you might need to transform your entire Product organization.
A PLG structure focuses on delivering user outcomes rather than siloed feature releases. It requires:
- Aligning teams around user value and user experiences,
- Centralizing insights to identify friction points and opportunities for improvement,
- Breaking siloes to foster cross-functional collaboration.
This transformation allows your organization to express the full potential of Product-Led Growth, driving user satisfaction, and increasing business revenue.
Conclusion
PLG is about putting users at the center of your product strategy, empowering them to discover, try, and buy with minimal friction.
Success lies in finding the delicate balance between excitement and frustration, designing experiences that deliver value at every stage. But this often demands a fundamental transformation of your product organization.
The companies leading the way in PLG understand this. They’ve restructured their teams, broken down silos, and adopted a user-first mindset.
Do you want to challenge your organization to make this shift? Start by asking:
- Is your product delivering excitement at each phase of the user journey?
- Do your teams collaborate to create seamless experiences, or are silos holding you back?
- Are you prepared to rethink your product organization to unlock PLG’s potential?
At Blu Estates, we specialize in helping companies embrace this shift and reap the rewards of Product-Led Growth. Let’s explore how we can support you on your journey.