Growth Hacking A Personalised Print Business Using Strava Segments
I’ve recently started to document my endeavours in getting my personalised print business off the ground and generating a bit more revenue. This post is my first attempt at documenting and formalising one of the growth hacks I’m experimenting with. I’ll work to a standardised format when I do write them up and I hope the process might spark more ideas for the future, or even for you the reader.
I’ve already experimented informally with this hack. I’ve previously created two or three segments on Strava that have driven a small amount of traffic to the website. The segments were not on especially busy routes, but they did create mixed reactions. For good or for bad, people publicly tweeted at us…
Loving the way @madewithsisu is growth hacking using Strava segments. Really caught my eye. https://t.co/44Nd4E6OkP
— Daniel Bower (@danielbower) August 13, 2016
Not appreciative that @madewithsisu is spamming strava segments as a way of advertising - quite counter-productive.
— Sefi (@TigaSefi) May 26, 2016
What’s the hack?
Create segments on Strava that include a URL, linking back to Sisu.
A segment is a section of your run or ride that has an associated public (if you choose) leaderboard for competing against others who pass over it.
Pros of the hack
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It’s free.
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I can create as many segments as I like (for now 😂).
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I can name the segment anything I like (perfect for A/B testing).
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Strava users are my target audience.
Cons of the hack
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It looks spammy.
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URL’s in segment names aren’t clickable on the Strava app or website.
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There are 000’s of segments on Strava. Standing out from the crowd will be hard.
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Strava users can flag my segments if they don’t like them. This could lead to my account being blocked.
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It might be hard getting enough traffic volume from the experiment to prove that an AB test is statistically significant.
The AB test
I will set up segments on two busy routes to start with: London Bridge & Tower Bridge. Each route will have two identical (almost) segments: A & B.
Variant A will have a title of “Sisu - Your exercise data as art!” followed by the shortened Google URL. Variant B will be titled: “Sisu - Is that all you’ve got?”, again followed by a Google shortened URL.
Update: A small glitch in the planned experiment as reported by TFL (Transport for London)…
The City of London Corporation is planning major essential maintenance works to Tower Bridge from Saturday 1 October to Friday 30 December 2016.
As a result of the above, I have chosen another route in addition to London Bridge and Tower Bridge to experiment with. I’ve added two running segments to Victoria park, a popular destination near my office that I run myself.
How will I measure the hack’s success?
Google URL shortener will provide me with short urls that I can use in segment names, with viewable (and public) analytics for measuring performance too. It’s a free service.
Caveats
In my attempt to be as informative as possible about my experiment, it’s possible to get hold of the Google shortened URL’s that are in in the titles of the segments. This could quite quickly lead to the downfall of the experiment if they end up being abused online. 😬
Cycling Segments
Tower Bridge
Variant A) “Sisu - Your exercise data as art!”
Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/13413887
Analytics: https://goo.gl/#analytics/goo.gl/KqQAhm/all_time
Variant B) “Sisu - Is that all you’ve got?”
Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/13421132
Analytics: https://goo.gl/#analytics/goo.gl/BEFjc4/all_time
London Bridge
Variant A) “Sisu - Your exercise data as art!”
Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/13413873
Analytics: https://goo.gl/#analytics/goo.gl/WL2404/all_time
Variant B) “Sisu - Is that all you’ve got?”
Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/13421123
Analytics: https://goo.gl/#analytics/goo.gl/M8YQb7/all_time
Running Segments
Victoria Park
Variant A) “Sisu - Your exercise data as art!”
Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/13421175
Analytics: https://goo.gl/#analytics/goo.gl/bsS6Us/all_time
Variant B) “Sisu - Is that all you’ve got?”
Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/13421200
Analytics: https://goo.gl/#analytics/goo.gl/kpZj4E/all_time
Conclusion
…I’ll update this once I’ve collected some data and have some results to share.
Followup Ideas
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Offer incentives to the segment leaderboard winners at the end of each week, month or year.
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Celebrate the winners of the leaderboard on social media every week, month or year.