1. Acquisition (Acquire)
Key question: Where are users coming from?Goal: Get people to visit your site or download your app.Tactics: SEO, paid ads (Meta / Google), viral content, content marketing, partnerships.Key metrics: CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), traffic volume.
2. Activation (Activate)
Key question: Did new users have a good first experience?Goal: Get users to their first "aha moment" where they experience the core value of the product.Example: For Twitter, activation is not just sign-up, but following a certain number of people.Key metrics: Conversion rate from sign-up to first key action.
3. Retention (Retain)
Key question: Do users come back?Goal: Turn one-time users into repeat users. In growth, retention is king. Poor retention makes acquisition like pouring water into a leaky bucket.Tactics: Email sequences, push notifications, in-product nudges, habit loops, gamification.Key metrics: Churn rate, DAU/MAU (Daily Active Users / Monthly Active Users), cohort retention.
4. Referral (Refer)
Key question: Do users tell others?Goal: Turn happy users into a growth engine by creating viral loops that reduce CAC.Example: Dropbox offering extra storage for inviting friends.Key metrics: Viral coefficient (K-factor), NPS (Net Promoter Score), invite-to-sign-up rate.
5. Revenue (Revenue)
Key question: How do we make money?Goal: Convert active users into paying customers and maximize customer lifetime value.Tactics: Pricing plans, upsells, cross-sells, add-ons, subscriptions.Key metrics: LTV (Customer Lifetime Value), ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), payback period.
It does not matter if you get 10,000 visitors (Acquisition) if 99% of them leave immediately (Activation) and never come back (Retention).
The Modern Twist: RARRA
In modern growth, especially for mobile apps and SaaS, many teams flip the funnel to RARRA:
Retention: Fix the leaky bucket first.Activation: Ensure new users see value fast.Referral: Let happy users bring friends.Revenue: Monetize engaged users.Acquisition: Only then scale paid acquisition to pour fuel on the fire.