If your sales team is still the gatekeeper to your product's value, your brand could very well put your organization at a disadvantage.

“Nobody wants to talk to sales reps anymore” many will say and the research backs this up. “43% of B2B customers prefer to not interact with a sales rep at all,” reports Gartner.

However, the article goes on to say that “purchase regret for those customers preferring a rep-free experience is 23% higher than for customers who interact with a sales rep.”

So where is the middle ground?

How can potential customers get value from your brand while also making sure that the fit is correct? The answer could be product-led growth (PLG).

Though it’s often relegated to being yet another buzzword in the SaaS lexicon, it’s more than that. It's a philosophy that's reshaping how successful companies operate.

Let’s explore what it takes to put your product front and center of the buying experience in a PLG motion and see how it could transform your company's approach to growth.

Product-Led Growth is more Than Just a Fancy Term

In the (thankfully or hopefully) past age of predictable revenue, buying software or services was equally predictable. It meant finding a product, speaking with an SDR, scheduling a conversation with a sales rep, booking a separate call for a demo, and getting the rest of the buying committee to schedule a call.

Then, and only then would you begin negotiating contracts that felt longer than Les Miserable. That could mean the book or the musical, depending on your tastes.

Product-led growth flips that script.

It's about letting your product do the talking (and selling) for you. Think of it as the "try before you buy" approach turned up to eleven. But it's more than just a simple free trial. PLG is a fundamental shift in every aspect of your product, including how you design, develop, and deliver your product.

PLG is built on a few core tenets:

1. Frictionless sign-up: No gatekeepers, no hoops to jump through. Just jump in and get started.

2. Ease of use: If your grandma can't figure it out, you're doing it wrong.
   Jobs-to-be-done focus: What problem are you solving? Make that crystal clear.

3. Ease of purchase: Decided to invest in the full priced product? Friction in the buying process is a no-go.

4. Value through usage: The more they use it, the more they love it. Simple, right?

5. Fast time to value: Don't make them wait for the "aha" moment.

6. Flywheel effects: Create a system where growth fuels more growth. It's like compound interest for your product.

But remember this: none of this matters if you can't measure it, which brings us to...

Implementing PLG: It's Not a Sprint, It's a Marathon (But You Still Need to Run Fast)

Alright, so you're sold on the idea of PLG. You may have even started down the road but now what? Well, here's a rough game plan.

Get your entire org on board

Adopting a product-led growth strategy isn’t putting a new coat of paint over your software solution or tweaking a button. It isn't just a marketing or product thing. It's an “everyone and everything” sort of thing.

When it comes to PLG, content is the bridge between your product and your users. It's how you educate, engage, and ultimately convert.

Think about it: In-product content such as tool tips or interactive guides can get users to that crucial "aha" moment. External content brings new users into your ecosystem. Community content turns users into advocates.

The challenge lies in creating content that's not just informative, but actually helpful and engaging. Because let's face it, with all the AI-generated mediocrity out there, the bar for quality content is higher than ever.

Audit your current customer journey

Going from a standard sales-led growth motion and incorporating product-led growth is a comprehensive shift in go to market strategy.

Before you begin your journey with that single step, start at the very beginning in your customers’ experience. How do users first hear about you? From there, meticulously map out every step from sign-up through to their first renewal and beyond.

Use any analytics you have but don't stop there. Conduct user interviews, watch session recordings, and even try using your product as if you're a new user. Look for moments of confusion, unnecessary steps, or places where users commonly drop off. Pay special attention to the onboarding process and the path to your product's core value.

Your goal here isn't just to identify problems, but to understand why they're happening.

Define your PQLs (Product Qualified Leads)

With your audit data in hand its time to figure out what makes for a qualified buyer. In PLG, traditional MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) take a backseat to PQLs. These members of your user base have demonstrated through their actions that they're ripe for conversion. The secret lies in spotting them.

Start by analyzing your most successful customers. What actions did they take before converting? Did they use a specific feature frequently? Invite team members? Hit usage limits?

Once you've identified these behaviors, create a scoring system. Maybe using feature X is worth 10 points, while inviting a teammate is worth 20. Set a threshold, and you've got your PQLs.

But don't just set it and forget it. Regularly refine your PQL criteria based on conversion data and over time you’ll have a list of clear signals that show someone is ready to talk to sales.

Instrument your product

Think of your product as a black box. Without proper instrumentation, you're flying blind. Implementing robust tracking is akin to installing a bunch of tiny windows, giving you a clear view of what's happening inside.

Start by identifying key user actions and events that align with your product's core value. Are users completing that crucial first step? How many are reaching the "aha" moment?

Track everything from sign-ups to feature usage (more on metrics in a minute).

With the right instrumentation, you'll be able to spot trends, identify bottlenecks, and ultimately, supercharge your product-led growth strategy.

Identify your quick wins

Considering how many stakeholders are involved in an effective PLG motion, momentum is everything.

While long-term strategic changes are crucial, don't underestimate the power of quick wins. Maybe it's simplifying your sign-up form, tweaking the copy on your welcome email, or adding a progress bar to your onboarding process. Look for small changes that can have an outsized impact on user experience or key metrics.

The beauty of quick wins is twofold: they provide immediate value to your users and they energize your team by showing tangible progress. Don't just guess at what might work though. Use the insights from your customer journey audit to identify the most impactful quick wins.

Prioritize your initiatives

With a sea of potential improvements identified and quick wins tackled it's time to separate the “whoa that’s awesome” projects from the “sure that’d be nice” ones.

Start by mapping each initiative on an impact vs. effort matrix. High impact, low effort? That's your sweet spot. Like with quick wins, use data to inform your decisions. Look at user feedback, analytics, and your PQL criteria.

Which initiatives align most closely with driving users towards conversion?

Consider both short-term gains and long-term strategic value. Maybe redesigning your onboarding flow is a big effort, but could dramatically improve activation rates. Prioritization isn't a one-time task. It's an ongoing process.

Keep in mind that as you implement changes and gather more data, be prepared to reshuffle your priorities.

Balance automation with human touch

Efficiency is great but it's easy to go overboard with automation. While automation can scale your efforts, the human touch can elevate your user experience. It’s a balance between algorithms and empathy.

Use automation for repetitive tasks - onboarding emails, usage notifications, feature highlights. It should help free up your team's time. But for high-impact, personal interactions, nothing beats a real conversation.

Don’t forget to leverage genuine human connection as it’s a powerful tool in driving product adoption and loyalty.

Embrace experimentation

Test, learn, iterate. Rinse and repeat.

Start small with A/B tests on key aspects of your user journey. Maybe it's testing different onboarding flows, feature highlight emails, or in-app prompts. But don't just test for the sake of testing. Have clear hypotheses and success metrics for each experiment. And here's the crucial part: be prepared to be wrong.

Some experiments will fail, and that's okay. The goal is to learn quickly and apply those
learnings to your next iteration. Make sure you have systems in place to track and analyze your experiments effectively. Remember, in product-led growth, your product is never "finished" - it's always evolving.

3 Metrics that matter for your PLG strategy

In the world of PLG, there are three key metrics you need to obsess over:

1. Sign-up conversion rate: How many people are actually completing your sign-up process?

2. Activation rate: Are users reaching that "aha" moment where they truly get your product's value?

3. Retention rate: Are they sticking around, or ghosting you faster than a bad Tinder date?

None of these metrics mean anything if the definitions aren’t established with an understanding of how all 3 interact. A high sign-up rate doesn't mean squat if those users aren't activating. And activation doesn't mean much if they're not sticking around.

Pro tip: But don't just collect data for the sake of it.

Make sure you're gathering actionable insights that can drive product decisions. Remember, the goal isn't to drown in data, but to surface the metrics that truly matter for your product's success.

Is your company’s future product-led? Are you ready for that?

Let’s say your organization is ready to make the shift. Are they willing to rethink how you build, market, and sell your product? Are you prepared to put your users in the driver's seat?

If the answer is yes, then PLG might be just the answer for sustainable growth so long as the investment is there.

And if the answer is no, there are still many, many principles you can apply to your existing product.

Maybe you're not ready to let users sign up and start using your product without ever talking to sales. But could you create a self-serve demo that lets prospects explore your product on their own terms?

The choice isn't between "all PLG" or "no PLG." It's about finding the right balance for your business, your product, and most importantly, your users. Because at the end of the day, that's what PLG is all about: putting your users and their experience at the center of everything you do.