Guide
How to Evaluate a Growth Channel: 5 Criteria
Short answer: score every channel on upfront cost, scalability, fulfillment, risk and difficulty. You want low cost, high scalability, easy fulfillment, low risk and low difficulty. If one channel hits all five, hallelujah.
From the video:
The five criteria
- Upfront cost: the minimum you give before the first user shows up. Money, equity or time.
- Scalability: your ability to get more users without doing more work.
- Fulfillment: how hard it is to deliver once the deal is made: the work, the tracking, the payouts.
- Risk: what you lose if it goes wrong, usually tied to time or ownership. Take few risks early; take big bets later.
- Difficulty: how hard the model is to understand, and how much trial and error it takes to work.
The ideal profile
| Upfront cost | Scalability | Fulfillment | Risk | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | High | Easy | Low | Easy |
Using it
Write the five down for every channel you're considering, including the ones you're already doing. The point isn't precision. It's seeing which column each channel fails in:
- "Post more" fails on scalability: more output, more work. (Why "post more" stopped working)
- A marketing co-founder fails on risk. (Should you give one equity?)
- Commission partners fail on fulfillment. (Why they rarely sell)
- Affiliates fail on difficulty: finding and keeping good ones. (Are they worth it?)
A channel that fails one column isn't useless. It tells you what you'd have to fix to make it work, and whether you can afford to.
The mistake to avoid
The most common one is judging a channel only by what it costs upfront. Time is a cost. Risk is a cost. Trial and error is a cost. A "free" channel that needs a year of your time isn't free; it just bills you in the column you weren't looking at.
For the four partnership models scored side by side, see how to get paying users for your SaaS without ads.
Frequently asked questions
Which growth channel is best for a new SaaS?
The one that scores best on these five for you. For us, integrations into products that share our customers.
Should I include time as a cost?
Yes. Founder time is the scarcest upfront cost early on.
What are the five criteria for evaluating a growth channel?
Upfront cost, scalability, fulfillment, risk and difficulty. The ideal channel is low cost, high scalability, easy fulfillment, low risk and easy difficulty.
The channel that scored best for us is integrations with products that share our customer. Join Ordana and start collaborating with them.
Related reading:
- How to Get Paying Users for Your SaaS Without Ads — four partnership models on this scorecard.
- SaaS Partnership Models Compared — risk, scale and skin in the game.
- Why Nobody Can Tell You "How to Do Marketing" for Your SaaS — why the answer is specific to you.