Expanding User Acquisition Through Data-Driven Insights
Why
The internal data analytics tools team at Google wanted to evaluate whether user acquisition had plateaued or if there was still room for growth. This required assessing the current user base versus the potential target market that had yet to adopt the tool. The goal was to uncover why some potential users had not engaged, identify adoption barriers, and recommend solutions to capture this untapped market segment.
How
To answer these questions, I conducted a random sample survey across Google, collecting 88 responses over two days (12% response rate, 90% confidence level, ±9% margin of error) & later following it up by user interviews to get to the root of the problem.
Key insights included:
- 35% aware but not using: Reported challenges included lack of awareness of capabilities, usability issues, access restrictions, or not perceiving the tool as necessary for their workflow.
- 65% unaware of the product: Further analysis identified specific roles and organizations that could benefit, surfacing opportunities to drive adoption through awareness campaigns.
Impact
The research led to actionable improvements for both user segments:
- Aware but not using (35%):
- Enhanced product usability.
- Added in-product certification tutorials.
- Streamlined access privileges to confidential data.
- Designed contextual surfacing of the product when most needed.
- Result: Increased adoption within this segment.
- Unaware (65%):
- Research-informed targeted awareness campaigns.
- Result: 30% increase in engagement among previously unaware users within six months.
Overall, the study helped the team position the product more effectively and expand its user base through a combination of usability improvements and awareness campaigns.
