The Growth Newsletter #105

Unsubscribe reminders, anchoring bias, and the Google Graveyard.  ‌ ‌ ‌ [Demand Curve]( The Growth Newsletter #105 [Read on our site]( Howdy and welcome to the 3,100 new subscribers this week!  This week we cover unsubscribe reminders, anchoring bias, and the Google Graveyard.  As always, if you don’t find this valuable, you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this email. If you like it, tell your friends to [subscribe here](. It's the number one way to support the newsie.  –Neal   Together with [Amplitude](.  Startups are rough. You need to: - Ensure product-market fit, - Create an amazing product experience, and - Figure out how to grow. It’s gruelling.  And it’s 10x harder when you don’t know how customers are using your product—what they like, where they’re getting stuck, and what keeps them coming back.  That’s why we use and recommend [Amplitude](. It helps you measure conversion, engagement, and retention data. It offers you clear insights into what’s driving those metrics.  And it helps you to test your ideas and take action faster. It's a must-have in your tech stack.  Don't just take our word for it, [try it out yourself](.   Want to sponsor Demand Curve? [Here's what you need to know](.  1. Why we remind people how to unsubscribe Insight from DC + Drew Price.  As you've probably noticed, at the top of every newsletter edition, we tell people how to break up with us... err I mean unsubscribe from the newsletter. Seems counterproductive, right?.  We tell people how to leave after we fought so hard to convert them to a subscriber.  So why do we do it?  It's one of the many things we do to make sure our emails keep ending up in people's inboxes. And that they have a positive impression of our brand.  So first, it builds trust—we’re not here to hold your inbox hostage.  And if someone doesn't want to receive our emails, we don't want to keep hammering them until they're so upset that they mark our emails as spam.  Spam complaints hurt your emails’ future deliverability. That is, they increase the chances of your future emails landing in people’s spam folders.  So make it easy for people to unsubscribe. You’ll be doing both readers and yourself a favor.  Again, this is just a tiny piece of the email deliverability puzzle, if you'd like to find out more about how to improve your email deliverability, check out our [Own the Inbox Sprint](.  As part of our launch, we’re offering a 10% discount (expires February 2nd at 5pm PT). We’ve only got 55 spots left, so get yours before the door closes! [Enroll now](. 2. Avoid the anchoring bias by experimenting Insight from Demand Curve.  Imagine this: You’re not an expert in SEO, and are rather mystified by it, so you decide to hire an SEO consultant. You find an expert on Upwork (for example).  They seem confident, so you decide to work with them. Because you're inexperienced, you're totally unaware that there are gaps in their SEO knowledge.  Later, when someone else offers sound SEO advice that contradicts to what your Upwork consultant told you, you’re more likely to take it with a grain of salt.  This is caused by "the anchoring bias."  We trust the first piece of info we’re given more than newer information.  That first piece of info (Upwork SEO consultant) acts as our reference point—we judge new data against it, letting it skew our opinions on quality.  We naturally lay the burden of proof with the new information, even if we never validated the old information.  Oh humans.  Applied to creative work, the anchoring bias can make us complacent. We get stuck on the same process, messaging, and copy we’ve used for years—unaware that switching things up could lead to better results.  To avoid a stagnant marketing strategy, run interesting experiments. Or try a new SEO consultant, different freelancers, or an AI copywriting software.  We’re not suggesting that you fire any loyal employees or partners—only that you try something new on occasion. See if your marketing efforts benefit from a fresh spin. [Cool stuff]( 3. Bring a shovel to the Google Graveyard Insight from [Bell Curve](. Each year Google kills tons of its own products.  Why?  Because a company like Google needs each product to generate hundreds of millions in revenue (or be strategically relevant) to justify relative to their other products.  It doesn't mean they're bad ideas, they're just too small for Google.  [Killed by Google]( shares every project sent to the graveyard by Google. It's worth going through it regularly to see if there are any ideas worth replicating.  Often these have many thousands or millions of users who suddenly need a new alternative—making them an attractive market to target if you can act fast. 4. Do your own SEO audits Sponsored by [Ahrefs](.  Wish you could get more traffic from Google? Well... A lot of the SEO industry are agencies/freelancers charging for very expensive audits and 6-month contracts. They keep saying "just wait for it to kick in."  Because of how slow SEO is, it can take months to realize that you're overpaying.  The funniest part? A lot of the audits can be done using free and low-cost tools.  Our favorite is Ahref's Webmaster Tools.  A cost-friendlier alternative to expensive audits.  AWT shows which keywords your pages rank for, how Google sees your content, and what changes can boost your traffic. We've been using it for years to increase the visibility of our playbooks and articles. And Ahrefs has a ton of free content to teach you a ton about SEO.  Visit [ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools]( to try it out.   News and links News you can use: - Twitter is testing [Search Keywords ads](. These sponsored tweets show up in the first or second search result when a user types in a specific keyword. - Related: Twitter updated their [Paid Partnerships policy]( this month. So if you're posting sponsored tweets, organically, make sure to include #ad, #sponsored or #paidpartnership to avoid penalties. - Instagram added a [lead form button](. Business accounts can drive traffic to a lead form CTA in their profile to collect 1st-party data (eg name, number, email). - Facebook usage is... increasing? After their toughest year yet, Facebook is starting to bounce back. Thanks to Meta's increased investment in [AI tools](, Reels consumption is up 20% and ad-targeting continues to improve, offsetting the impact of Apple's 2021's privacy update. - Yandex, the 4th largest search engine, had [1,922 search ranking factors]( leaked. How might this help your Google rankings? Yandex is essentially a “Google clone" —both platforms have ~70% match in search results. So if you’re in SEO, studying and testing these insights could potentially help your content climb the SERPs. [Read the full list here](.  Do you need SOC 2 ASAP?*  [Vanta](, the leading Trust Management Platform, has an exclusive program where they'll work closely with you to get your SOC 2 in just two weeks. Close more deals, hit your revenue targets, and start laying a foundation of security best practices — all in just two weeks.  [SOC 2 in 2 weeks. Let's go.](  *Sponsored by Vanta Top new marketing jobs  If you're looking for a top growth role, check out the opportunities below from our [job board](. [Senior Growth Strategist Bell Curve Demand Curve's very own marketing agency. Work with other top strategic minds.](   Something fun From [@jynble](   What did you think of this week's newsletter?  [Loved it]( | [Great]( | [Good]( | [Meh]( | [Bad](  If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing it with a friend. The number one way to support us is to share us with fellow founders and marketers.  Who's [Demand Curve](?  We’re on a mission to help make it easier to start, build, and grow companies.  We share high-quality, vetted, and actionable growth content as we learn it from the top 1% of marketers. We democratize senior growth knowledge.  How we can help you grow: - Read our free [playbooks](, [blog articles](, and [teardowns](—we break down the strategies and tactics that fast-growing startups use to grow. - Enroll in the [Growth Program](, our marketing course that has helped 1,000+ founders get traction and scale revenue. - Check out our [Sprints](: short video courses that are laser-focused on a topic in growth. - Want to build an audience of buyers? Join the waitlist for the [Un-Ignorable Challenge](. - Hire our agency, [Bell Curve](, and we'll grow your startup for you. - Engage with our audience by [sponsoring]( Demand Curve. See you next week.  — Neal, Grace, Joyce, Dennis, and the DC team. [Neal]( [Neal O'Grady]( [Grace]( [Grace Parazzoli]( [Joyce]( [Joyce Chou]( [Dennis]( [Dennis Buckley](   © 2023 Demand Curve, Inc. All rights reserved. 4460 Redwood Hwy, Suite 16-535, San Rafael, California, United States [Unsubscribe]() from all emails, including the newsletter, or [manage]( subscription preferences.