Growth Newsletter #055

Most SEO marketers have been in this situation before:

You've tried just about everything to get a page to rank, yet nothing is working.

The problem might be your "semantic relevance" score. Google uses multiple algorithms to decide who to rank and who to tank. TF-IDF is the “relevance-scoring” algorithm used to measure language patterns and discern whose content does the best job of servicing the target keyword.

All things equal, pages with higher semantic relevance scores are rewarded with higher rankings.

If you've got pages that aren't ranking, consider these steps:

1. Download WebSite Auditor, which analyzes the semantic relevance of your competitors’ pages and compares them against your own
2. Install, and navigate to Content Analysis > TF-IDF
3. Copy and paste the laggard’s url and accompanying keyword(s)
4. Click “Run Audit”

When complete, you’ll see a full list of every relevant word and phrase missing from your content, along with recommendations for how to include them on the page.

Add all missing terms (there will likely be many), re-publish, and you're done.

We've seen sites climb to top positions using this simple method.

Viral cycle time (VCT) is how long it takes a user to invite other users to a product.

It's a vital element of growth, even though it's not discussed nearly as often as viral coefficients (how many new users an average user brings in). To experience product-led growth, your VCT needs to compensate for churn.

TikTok has a short VCT. A daily user sees a great video > shares it > recipients become new users. Lower-frequency products tend to have longer VCTs. B2B enterprise products, for instance, typically take more time to get into, learn, and recommend.

Ignoring VCT is like ignoring your payback period when calculating annual revenue per user (ARPU). If it takes years for your product to make money, you’ll have slower growth than products with quicker earnings. (That’s why you should always factor your payback period into your ARPU:CAC ratio.)

VCT has an inverse relationship with engagement: The higher your engagement, the shorter your VCT. Two ways to factor this relationship into your product build:

1. Design your product so its content is meant to be shared on the spot—not bookmarked and saved for later. Examples: Spotify, social media platforms
2. Design your product so users can easily and immediately collaborate or transact with others, and that interaction makes their user experience better. Examples: Slack, Zoom

Note: Nir Eyal discussed VCT at our Growth Summit in November. You can watch his talk here and join the waitlist for the next one.

Consumers shop differently around the holidays than they do during other times of the year.

Purchasing intent may be more focused on gifting—completely different than how they shop for themselves.

Given the difference in intent, consider tailoring your product copy during the holidays. Doing so can make your pitch more persuasive and increase conversions.

There are a few ways to go about this:

• Help customers envision how your product will bring joy as a gift. For example, you might include copy like “Show your partner how much you care with this deep-kneading shiatsu massager to soothe her back and neck tension.” The copy connects the dots for users by framing products they might not have even previously considered as potential gifts.
• Address concerns from other audience segments. This is especially effective for products that are more commonly given as gifts during the holiday season, like video games. Since parents and relatives may be more likely to purchase a video game than the actual game player, tackle the product from their perspective. Consider adding answers to questions like: what rating does it have? Why does it have that rating? What do other parents think of the game? The point is to reposition your products from the viewpoint of new consumers (gift givers).

Ambiguous delivery dates are a conversion killer for ecom companies.

Shoppers want to know exactly when they'll receive their order before purchasing.

So consider this simple tactic to increase conversion: Add estimated delivery dates to your product pages.

Estimated delivery dates satisfy shoppers' urge to know when they'll receive their orders, yet they're less often used by marketers.

If you have a Shopify site with a 2.0 theme, you can easily add estimated delivery dates to your product pages.

Go to Online Store > Themes > in your theme, click Customize. Open Product > Default Product (or a product template if you’re using one). Add a Custom Liquid section to your product page. Then copy this code and paste it into the Custom Liquid box.

Your delivery dates will update automatically.