This email doubled activation

How Sonic Jobs doubled their activation by tweaking a single email.

Every once in a while, I see a growth experiment that’s sublime... So elegant in its simplicity yet instantly effective, and that brings me joy. (Is that weird?)

How Sonic Jobs doubled their activation by tweaking a single email.

Sonic Jobs helps workers find jobs and submits applications for them using an AI agent. For each worker they place, they earn a fee. Only it wasn’t working so well.

Here’s how they uncovered that problem and fixed it in week 4 of our coaching program:

First, they mapped their growth model to discover their rate-limiting step. They discovered that activation was their bottleneck – lots of people signed up for the app, but few applied for their first job.

Second, they identified their customers' desired outcomes. We thought it was obvious – “get a job.” But they discovered that nobody just wants “a job.” Each new signup had a specific job in-mind.

Third – they worked on finding language/market fit: using the exact words in customers’ heads, so prospects would feel confident they’re on the right track, and continue. This is where Sonic Jobs was getting stuck.

Not only did prospects want a variety of specific jobs, they described jobs differently, e.g., some said "waitress" while others said "hospitality."

Here’s how they put it all together

Before this test, each new signup got a welcome email with links to browse job general categories (e.g., Hospitality, warehouse). Sonic Jobs updated the email with a much longer list, using their customers’ exact language (e.g. Amazon, Warehouse operative, delivery driver, part-time, Tesco, Sales assistant, cleaner, retail assistant, waiter, waitress, etc.)

The results

Adding more links with prospects’ exact words in the welcome email instantly doubled their activation rate, cutting their CPA by in half

Key takeaway

Sometimes simple tests can lead to huge outcomes. The key is in the focus. Don’t just have a random brainstorm, follow this process:

1. Find your rate-limiting step and focus there.

2. Find the exact goal that’s in your prospect’s brains, and 

3. Show it to them in their own language.

If you’d like our help, our coaching program guides companies through this exact process and trains teams on each of these steps. We’ve helped 200 startups, and many have achieved 10X growth. The next cohort is now accepting applications – read the details and apply, here.

Credit: Shout out to Gianluca Cerutti, VP Product at Sonic Jobs for this bit of genius!