Product growth,
practised.

ICPs

ICP Prioritisation

From the ICP Prioritisation Framework, we can see that ICP 1 and ICP 2 can be focused upon since the market for these users is large enough and the users have a good use case for the product. Now, when we dig deeper into fleshing out the acquisition strategies, we will target them towards ICP 1 and ICP 2.

JTBD & Validation

Teardown

For Groww, the onboarding is successful when it reduces anxiety, speeds up KYC, and gets the user to a first meaningful investing action quickly. Since its a fintech app involving investment and government regulations, Groww’s onboarding is a compliance-heavy but guided flow that moves users from discovery to KYC to account readiness.

Point of discovery: user discovers Groww through ads, referrals, YouTube, search.

Signup process: user enters mobile number, verifies OTP, and begins account setup.

• —Permission screen - This screen is necessary but often a friction point because users may not immediately understand why permissions are required. It works if the app explains that permissions improve the investing experience. It does not work if it appears too early or feels intrusive; better microcopy would explain each permission in plain language.
• —PAN entry and confirmation - This is a key trust and compliance screen and likely one of the first serious steps in the journey. It works because it confirms identity and moves the user toward activation. It does not work if the user is not prepared with documents; a pre-onboarding checklist would help.
• —Occupation details - This screen works if it is short and helps personalize the account experience. It does not work if it feels like unnecessary data collection. A better approach would be to ask only what is required and explain why it matters for suitability and account setup.
• —Aadhaar / Digilocker verification - This is usually a heavy but essential step, and the user must understand why it is happening. It works because Digilocker can reduce manual upload effort and speed up verification. It does not work if the process feels uncertain or technical; the improvement would be stronger guidance and clearer progress indicators.
• —Live selfie - This is a trust-heavy verification step, and it works when the instructions are simple and visual. It fails when users are unsure about framing, lighting, or privacy. Better onboarding would include a simple preview, face framing guide, and reassurance about secure verification.
• —E-signature - This screen works because it finalizes the account legally and moves the user close to activation. It does not work if the legal language becomes overwhelming. The improvement is to summarize what the signature means in one or two clear lines before the user proceeds.
• —Success screen This is the first true aha moment if it immediately tells the user they’re ready to invest and shows the next best action. It works best when it gives a clear next step such as explore stocks, start SIP, or watch a learning video.

First-time user experience: user sees PAN, Aadhaar, Digilocker, selfie, and e-sign steps with progress indicators.

Feature discovery: user learns about stocks, mutual funds, SIPs, F&O, learning content, and portfolio tools.

UI/UX: user experiences simple, guided, trust-led design that reduces KYC fear.

First success milestone: user completes KYC and becomes eligible to invest or places the first SIP/trade.

Continuous engagement: user receives learning content, notifications, portfolio updates, and reminders to keep investing

What is working well

Groww works well when it makes a complex financial journey feel paperless, guided, and secure. Its onboarding is strong if the user sees quick progress through KYC and feels that the platform is built for first-time investors. The learning content and product breadth also help users move from setup into active usage.

What is not working

The main risk is friction in identity verification and permission-heavy steps, because these can interrupt trust and increase drop-off. Another risk is that feature discovery may happen too late, so users complete onboarding but do not immediately understand what to do next. If the app does not connect onboarding to the first value moment quickly enough, the user may finish KYC but still not activate. Basically, the app should suggest the investment type and suggestions based on the user’s ability of understanding the market. During onboarding there questions asked about user’s understanding of the markets and what they’re looking for and what are their goals. There are other features in the app as well that makes the decide on how to go about this but if the user initially skips those questions or answers them wrong then there might be a discrepancy in the strategy and the goals.

Where the aha moment is

For Groww, the aha moment is likely when the user completes KYC and sees a clear path to their first investment. For beginners, it may happen when they see a simple “start investing” path with low risk and educational support. For SIP users, it happens when recurring investment feels easy and automated.

Activation Metrics

For Groww, activation should be measured through early investment behavior, especially first investment, first SIP, KYC completion, and watchlist creation. These metrics indicate whether the onboarding flow successfully turns new users into confident, engaged investors.

Activation hypotheses:

These activation metrics are useful because they focus on customer behavior that signals real intent, not just logins or app opens. For Groww, the goal is not only to acquire users but to help them cross the trust barrier and complete a first meaningful investment action. The best activation metric should show that the user understands the product, feels safe using it, and has started building a habit. Since Groww is a fintech product, time-to-value matters a lot. The faster the user reaches the first investment or SIP, the stronger the activation.

Core value proposition

Swiggy’s core value is making everyday consumption decisions faster and easier by combining discovery, ordering, delivery, and convenience in one app. The app’s differentiator is not just food delivery; it is the blend of speed, value, selection, and accessibility across multiple user needs. Swiggy also increasingly leans on loyalty, deals, and adjacent offerings to make the app more habit-forming.

Natural frequency

Swiggy’s natural frequency depends on the user type:

• —Casual users: 2–3 times per month.
• —Core users: 6–7 times per month.
• —Power users: multiple times per week.

That makes Swiggy much more frequent than a low-frequency utility app and much more habit-driven than a one-time purchase app.

Engagement framework

For Swiggy, the main engagement metric is depth, especially:

• —Order frequency per user.
• —Time to order.
• —Repeat order rate.
• —Cross-category usage across food, Instamart, Dineout, and other services.

A user is “active” when they have experienced the CVP, meaning they have used the app to discover, decide, or complete an order in a way that clearly reflects Swiggy’s value. For Swiggy, this could mean a user who has ordered at least once recently, reorders often, or uses multiple app surfaces like food delivery and quick commerce.

User value and active users

Swiggy users usually value:

• —Speed.
• —Good deals.
• —Reliable delivery.
• —Easy discovery.
• —Convenience when deciding what to eat.

The active user is not just someone who opens the app; it is someone who repeatedly gets value from ordering, reordering, or exploring relevant offers and categories.

Customer Segmentation

Swiggy’s usage pattern is naturally frequency-driven because users return whenever they need food, groceries, or dining options. That means the product should not be segmented only by demographics; it should also be segmented by behaviour, order frequency, and feature adoption. The subscription base is especially important because Swiggy One users order more frequently than the platform average, which makes them a clear high-value cohort.

Engagement framework

For Swiggy, the best engagement framework is:

• —Depth: order frequency, basket size, vertical breadth, and repeat ordering.
• —Retention: how often users return across 7, 30, and 90 days.
• —Cross-sell: how many users move from food delivery to Instamart, Dineout, or Swiggy One.

You can validate these segments through:

• —User interviews for preference and value discovery.
• —Order-frequency data to confirm casual, core, and power tiers.
• —Cohort analysis to see retention changes over time.
• —Subscription usage to identify high-value users.
• —App reviews and surveys to understand why users churn or stay.

Product Hook and Engagement Campaigns

“Make deciding what to eat and getting it delivered feel effortless, rewarding, and timely.”

This works because Swiggy’s product value is not only delivery, but also reducing decision fatigue, surfacing the right option fast, and making repeat ordering feel convenient and worthwhile. The strongest hooks should lean on speed, deals, personalisation, and habit formation.

Campaigns:

Retention Design

Swiggy’s retention curve is expected to drop sharply in the first week and then flatten among loyal, high-frequency, and subscription users. Churn is mainly driven by price-value mismatch, delivery friction, and inconsistent experience, while retention is strongest among users who order frequently and use multiple Swiggy services.

The curve drops sharply in the first 2–3 months, which is typical for food delivery apps because many users are still trialling the product or comparing alternatives. After that, the curve flattens gradually, which reflects the loyal base made up of frequent users, subscription users, and multi-vertical users. This means Swiggy’s retention is mainly won in the first few months, not at the end of the year.

Swiggy’s retention curve is expected to drop sharply in the first week and then flatten among loyal, high-frequency, and subscription users. Churn is mainly driven by price-value mismatch, delivery friction, and inconsistent experience, while retention is strongest among users who order frequently and use multiple Swiggy services.

Why users churn

The main churn drivers for Swiggy can be grouped like this:

Voluntary churn

• —High delivery fees or hidden charges.
• —Better offers from competitors.
• —Poor food quality or wrong order.
• —Late delivery or lack of transparency.
• —Too much app clutter or decision fatigue.
• —Users feel the app is only useful occasionally.

Involuntary churn

• —Payment failures.
• —Address issues.
• —App or checkout friction.
• —Out-of-stock items in Instamart.
• —Poor ETA reliability or cancellation issues.

If you have to pick one main churn reason, it is usually perceived value not matching cost, especially when users feel delivery charges, fees, or overall basket cost are too high for the convenience they receive. In other words, users churn when Swiggy stops feeling like the easiest and best-value option.

Negative signals to track

For Swiggy, the most useful churn-warning signals are:

• —Declining order frequency.
• —Longer gaps between orders.
• —Reduced response to offers or notifications.
• —Low NPS.
• —More support tickets around late delivery, refunds, missing items, or pricing.
• —Low CSAT after an order.
• —Fewer category visits across food, Instamart, and Dineout.

The highest-retaining users are typically:

• —Power users who order multiple times per week.
• —Swiggy One users who already see recurring value.
• —Multi-vertical users who use food plus Instamart or Dineout.
• —Loyalists who have favourite restaurants and repeat routines.

Resurrection Campaigns

Swiggy’s resurrection campaigns should be segmented by churn reason and prior usage pattern, with tailored win-back messages for dormant, price-sensitive, service-frustrated, membership-lapsed, and cross-vertical users.

1) Free to paid conversion experiments

Experiment 1: Feature milestone paywall

Experiment 2: Behavior-triggered email nudges

Experiment 3: Time-limited premium trial

2) Cross-sell and upsell experiments

Experiment 4: Smart bundle recommendations

Experiment 5: Usage-based upsell prompt

Experiment 6: Industry-specific bundle upsell

Substitute Pricing

What customers are paying for

HubSpot customers are paying for:

• —Time saved through automation and fewer manual follow-ups.
• —Revenue lift through better lead tracking and conversion.
• —Operational clarity through one shared customer record.
• —Team coordination across marketing, sales, and service.
• —Scalability as the business grows and needs more advanced workflows.

Where HubSpot stands out

HubSpot stands out in three main ways:

• —Ease of use: easier for teams to adopt than heavier enterprise CRMs.
• —All-in-one workflow: marketing, sales, and service live together.
• —Strong freemium entry: users can start free and expand as needs grow.

It also stands out because it has a natural upgrade ladder from free CRM to paid hubs, which makes monetization smoother than products that force a hard upfront purchase. That makes it especially strong for SMBs and growth-stage teams that want value before commitment.

HubSpot should be positioned as a business growth platform, not just a CRM. The message should be: “Bring your customer data, campaigns, and sales workflow into one place so your team can grow faster with less friction”.

That positioning works because buyers are willing to pay a premium when the product reduces complexity and improves revenue outcomes. The strongest positioning angle is convenience + visibility + growth, rather than just “more features”.

Substitute pricing logic

If a customer does not buy HubSpot, they may satisfy the same need with a mix of cheaper alternatives:

• —a lower-cost CRM,
• —a separate email tool,
• —a workflow automation tool,
• —and manual reporting or spreadsheets.

Pricing factors to consider

Before setting pricing, focus on:

• —Value delivered per seat or account.
• —Size of customer and number of users.
• —Depth of usage across hubs.
• —Need for automation and reporting.
• —Sensitivity to onboarding and implementation fees.
• —Competition from cheaper alternatives.

For HubSpot, the “whom to charge” section should be built around which users are already getting clear business value and therefore have the highest willingness to pay with the lowest churn risk.

Monetization intro

HubSpot has already passed the litmus test because it solves a high-value business problem: helping teams manage marketing, sales, and customer relationships in one system. That means monetisation should not be random or universal; it should target users who are already deeply engaged, have recurring workflows, and see direct revenue impact from the product. In short, the best users to charge are the ones who depend on HubSpot for daily operations and are least likely to leave when pricing is introduced.

Who to charge

For HubSpot, charge the users who sit in the Core and Power segments first, then gradually expand into highly engaged Casual users as they grow. These users usually have the strongest RFM profile: they use the product recently, use it frequently, and are more likely to generate meaningful revenue. In practice, that means startup teams that are scaling, growth-stage sales teams, agencies managing multiple clients, and enterprise revenue teams.

RFM-based segmentation

Baseline scenario

A reasonable baseline is:

• —Casual users: many remain free, because charging them too early creates high churn.
• —Core users: convert a meaningful portion to paid with a tiered upgrade path.
• —Power users: pay for advanced hubs, automation, seats, reporting, and enterprise features.

For example, if 100 free users are active and 20 of them are Core or Power users, charging only those users at a monthly plan can generate far more sustainable revenue than trying to monetise everyone equally. The key is that the product should earn money from users who already see it as essential, not from those still testing it.

Elasticity by segment

• —Casual users: very price sensitive, so pricing should be light or delayed.
• —Core users: moderately price sensitive, so they respond well to trials, feature gating, and value-based upgrades.
• —Power users: less price sensitive, because the cost of not using the product is higher than the subscription price.

This is why HubSpot should lean on freemium → upgrade → expansion pricing, rather than a hard paywall.

Price points

A practical pricing strategy for HubSpot would be:

• —Free tier: for small teams and light usage.
• —Entry paid tier: for Core users who need more contacts, automation, and reporting.
• —Premium tier: for Power users who need advanced workflows, team collaboration, and deeper analytics.
• —Enterprise tier: for the highest-value accounts that need scale, control, and customisation.

Whom to charge first

The best groups to charge first are:

• —Growth-stage B2B sales teams
• —Marketing teams with active lead generation
• —Agencies managing multiple clients
• —Customer success teams with retention workflows
• —Enterprise revenue teams

These groups are already using the product for critical work, so charging them is more likely to increase revenue without creating immediate churn.

When To Charge

For HubSpot, when to charge is when the user has already experienced enough value that the paid price feels smaller than the benefit they get from the product. In practice, that means monetisation should start after the user reaches a clear aha moment, and ideally after a second “happy moment” where they see HubSpot helping them save time, organise work, or improve conversions.

Value drivers

HubSpot’s value is mainly functional and financial.

• —Functional: it helps teams manage leads, pipelines, campaigns, and customer communication in one place.
• —Financial: it helps users save time, reduce manual work, and improve conversion or retention.
• —Personal and social goals matter less, but they still exist for managers who want to look effective and in control.

Aha and happy moments

The first aha moment usually happens when a user:

• —imports contacts,
• —creates a pipeline,
• —or sends a first campaign and sees everything connect in one system.

The first happy moment happens when:

• —a lead is tracked correctly,
• —a workflow runs automatically,
• —or the team sees reporting that would otherwise take manual effort.

A second happy moment happens when the product starts saving time repeatedly, not just once.

When value crosses price

The thumb rule is simple: charge when perceived value is greater than perceived price.

For HubSpot, that typically happens after the user:

• —has active contacts in the CRM,
• —has used at least one automation or campaign,
• —sees the tool helping the team work faster,
• —and begins relying on it for daily operations.

That is the point where the product stops being “nice to have” and becomes “hard to replace.”

Competitor benchmark logic

HubSpot does not need to win by being the cheapest option. It needs to win by being the most convenient and complete option for teams that want one platform instead of many tools. If a user can solve the same need with spreadsheets, a basic CRM, and an email tool, HubSpot must clearly show that it saves more time and creates more revenue than that alternative.

If its value is only equal to the next best alternative, charging too early will increase churn. If it offers stronger workflow integration, better automation, and clearer reporting, users will accept a paid price more easily.

Best charging moment

For HubSpot, the best charging moment is usually:

• —after onboarding is complete,
• —after the first lead/contact workflow is set up,
• —after the user sees a real outcome,
• —and before they hit a hard usage limit.

That is when a free-to-paid prompt feels like a natural next step instead of a forced paywall.

Simple pricing curve

You can think of it like this:

• —Early stage: perceived value is low, price should be low or zero.
• —Mid stage: perceived value rises fast, so trial and upgrade prompts work best.
• —Late stage: perceived value is highest, so paid conversion becomes easiest.

What To Charge for?

For HubSpot, the best thing to charge for is access and shareability, with time-based subscription pricing as the packaging format. That fits the product’s core value: businesses pay to use HubSpot’s CRM, automation, reporting, and team collaboration features over time, and they pay more when more teammates need access.

Best pricing fit

For HubSpot, the strongest pricing logic is:

• —Time-based subscription for monthly and annual plans.
• —Access-based tiers for feature depth, automation limits, and reporting.
• —Shareability-based expansion for additional seats, teams, and departments.

This means users are not really paying for a single output. They are paying for ongoing access to a system that becomes more useful as their business grows.

Why not output pricing

Output pricing works best when the value is tied to a single, measurable end result. HubSpot’s value is broader than that, because it helps users manage ongoing operations, not just complete one task. A company does not buy HubSpot just to send one campaign or track one lead; it buys it to run an entire workflow over time.

How Much To Charge

Assumptions

We model pricing for a SaaS CRM product like HubSpot using:

• —100 users in the initial cohort.
• —Monthly pricing.
• —Users upgrade when they exceed plan limits for contacts, emails, workflows, or seats.
• —Revenue comes from both base subscriptions and add-ons.

Pricing table

Formulas

1. Paying users

2. Base monthly revenue

3. Add-on revenue

4. Total monthly revenue

Calculation

Entry plan

• —Paying users = 100×55%=55100 \times 55\% = 55100×55%=55
• —Base monthly revenue = 55×499=Rs. 27,44555 \times 499 = Rs.\ 27,44555×499=Rs. 27,445
• —Add-on revenue = Rs. 2,500
• —Total monthly revenue = Rs. 29,945

Growth plan

• —Paying users = 100×40%=40100 \times 40\% = 40100×40%=40
• —Base monthly revenue = 40×999=Rs. 39,96040 \times 999 = Rs.\ 39,96040×999=Rs. 39,960
• —Add-on revenue = Rs. 6,000
• —Total monthly revenue = Rs. 45,960

Scale plan

• —Paying users = 100×28%=28100 \times 28\% = 28100×28%=28
• —Base monthly revenue = 28×1,499=Rs. 41,97228 \times 1,499 = Rs.\ 41,97228×1,499=Rs. 41,972
• —Add-on revenue = Rs. 8,500
• —Total monthly revenue = Rs. 50,472

Pricing Page

Pricing Page Teardown