Growth idea action plan
Add a free-text “How did you hear about us?” field to reveal invisible referrals
Add a short, optional free-text “How did you hear about us?” field on signup or first-run so you can see the real channel that convinced the buyer (friends, WhatsApp, Slack, niche communities) instead of trusting last-click attribution.
Why this can grow a startup
A lot of the decision happens off-dashboard: private chats, forwarded links, and “my mate uses it” recommendations. A simple free-text field captures that missing context so you can invest in the channels that actually create conviction. Even if you do nothing else, the responses become raw copy for your landing page because it’s customers describing the product in their own words.
Ian's take
From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. My bias is to treat this as a small market test first. Make the audience narrow, make the promise concrete, and let the first real response decide whether it deserves more work. For conversion, I would strip the test down to one promise, one proof point, and one next step. Confusion kills good demand. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.
Action plan
- Define one narrow startup segment where add a free-text “how did you hear about us?” field to reveal invisible referrals can create a measurable lift.
- Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Product and Conversion channel.
- Use the evidence from reddit.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
- Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
- Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.
Source-backed example
A founder on r/Entrepreneurs said they added a free-text “how did you hear about us” field in January and expected answers like Google or social. Their top answer for three straight months was: “my mate uses it.”
Source: reddit.com
Last checked: May 27, 2026 15:10 GMT+0800
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