5 Growth Pillars to Utilize in 2020

Q1 2020 is almost done, and we at Refreshworks take a look back at last December, where we hosted an awesome growth hacking event in The Hague. The event welcomed Jean Bonnefant from Growth Tribe who gave a session on the growth mindset and also participated in a panel alongside Lisanne Sanders from Inner Circle, Ferdinand Goetzen from 3D Hubs.
Ebel, our Head of Growth, asked the panel what they believe the future of growth hacking will be, and the crowd was quite interested in hearing what they had to say! From the basics of the basics, they all advocated embracing data top-down or bottom-up, accepting failed experiments and learning how to quickly adapt, and finally understanding that what works for other businesses may not work for yours. One thing that also came up was branding and telling a genuine brand story.
So mindset + data + brand = recipe for growth. But what are some growth pillars that you can focus on in 2020 that can really help boost your sales? In this post, we will explore what is more relevant growth hacking pillars in the Benelux region, so without further ado, here we go!
SEO OPTIMIZATION
SEO Optimization will continue to be one of the most important growth factors you need to account for. One of the key (potentially disregarded) must-haves is a good mobile UX. This will highly affect your rankings on Google mobile page index. Check metadata, image and video size and format, and use the same data structure. Another trend is voice search which is growing in The Netherlands too following the release of the Google Home in Dutch. To prepare your website for this, make sure your content answers your customers’ most frequently asked questions. Similarly, as the number of zero-clicks searches grows, we advise implementing more long-tail keywords.
EMAIL AUTOMATION
Email Automation is definitely here to stay. It’s true that in 2019, email opening rates did drop globally, but there’s been a fluctuating trajectory over the years which can imply that rates will go up in the future. Did you also know that in the Benelux, even with a lower-than-average opening rate, the click-through rate of email is higher than countries where opening rates are higher? This tells you that readers tend to be more invested. With email automation, we advise dedicating time to think through the automation workflows so that you spend less time making sales and more time planning other aspects of your businesses.

Speaking of email, it’s key to make sure your website is fully optimized for mobile and that users won’t drop off at any point due to low-hanging fruits. Research shows that 37% of all email campaigns are opened on mobile in the Netherlands – DDMA – “Nationale E-mail Benchmark 2019” (2019)
PERSONALIZATION
Personalization is also very important, specifically in your email strategy. Customers are most responsive when they feel like the brand is actually speaking to them. This applies also for your e-commerce platform where customers expect to receive recommendations that they are likely to buy, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. This may sound like old news, but it works! But how can you tailor-make messages without going too micro? It’s simple: by clustering your customers to lookalike audiences, you can include key messages that speak to a narrower audience and this, in itself, will make users feel your email is more personalized. When automating emails, think of how you can be more personalized when it comes to the user journey even if that entails multiple parallel e-mail campaigns.
DATA-DRIVEN CONTENT
Data-driven content will continue to grow in 2020 as data tracking and analysis become more commonly adopted. This is one of the pillars of what we do as an Agency, and it is indeed a broad term that can apply in various ways. From one-off campaigns to continuous experimentation on what works best on social media, using data as the base of content will always help you grow your business. Whether you’re learning about what does not work or whether you’re nailing your content and conversions, data-driven content is always a winning approach.
CONVERSATION, CONVERSATIONS, CONVERSATIONS.
Conversation, Conversations, Conversations. Growth hacking is not only about keeping an eye out on the latest tools or running experiments. It’s also about growing your business through creative ways. It’s about building a brand through small hacks. An example of that is the use of chatbots and chat platforms where you can walk your customers through their requests and making sure your customer support game is extra. In the past, customer support was known to be reciting questions from a pre-approved list. Although this is still important and relevant to maintain a consistent tone of voice, it’s all about keeping in mind that you are humans talking to humans at the end of the day.
To round-up, 2020 is still the year of combining content with data to better understand your consumers and create content that will truly speak to them. By making your brand even more accessible and personalized, you will increase your chances of getting happy, quality customers who trust you. We also advise that you invest in a growth hacker, whether it’s outsourced or internal. Did you know that the second most emerging job in the Netherlands is for growth hackers? This is based on a recent report by LinkedIn.

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