Definitive guide

Real-time statistics on growth hacking

Growth Hacking Statistics 2025 – 61 Key Figures You Must Know

Are you looking for growth hacking statistics?

Perhaps you want some actual numbers on growth hacking to back up an article you’re writing. In any case, you found the right article.

Let’s dive into some actual key figures and facts about growth hacking.

Want to read more about growth hacking? Here are 80 interesting articles about it, or click here to read a case study I wrote.

1. Every month, 53,000 people do a Google search for ‘growth hacking’

2. Growth Hacking seems to be the most popular in France. Every month 8,200 people do a Google Search for ‘growth hacking’

France is followed by Brasil (7,500) and the United States (3,500) per month.

3. Setting up an automated follow-up increases your chances of converting a lead by 900%

Using automated email, Whatsapp, or Messenger messages increases the conversion of leads.

4. Paypal’s referral program caused a 7-10% daily revenue increase.

To launch Paypal, they launched a referral program that gave existing customers $20 when they invited a friend. The friend would also receive $20, making their cost of acquisition (CAC) $40. Paypal invested $60 million in this campaign.

5. Hotmail used a viral strategy that gained them 3,000 daily signups right after their launch

Back in 1996, Hotmail added an automated signature to every email stating: “P.S. I love you. Get your free email at Hotmail”.

6. There has been a 138.035% increase in “growth hacking blogs” listed in Google in the last 2 years.

Type “growth hacking blogs” in Google and you’ll get 18,900,000 results in 0.35 seconds as of April 10, 2024. While typing “growth hacking” will give you a result of 260,000,000 websites or web pages in a matter of 0.29 seconds.

In 2022, there were 7,940,000 blogs written about growth hacking. This translates to a 138.035% increase in growth hacking blogs over the last two years.

7. 68% of all business-to-business startups work without having a clear funnel strategy

This causes a huge opportunity for growth. If you are able to identify your funnel, you’ll be ready to start hacking it.

8. 98% of the website visitors do not purchase

Only 2% of all website visitors continue to purchase on average. This makes the revenue phase the most appealing for growth hacking.

9. Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products compared to new customers

Upselling to your existing customers will yield greater results compared to acquiring new ones.

10. Only 18% of all startups focus on customer retention

This is a huge opportunity for improvement, as existing customers are worth more than potential new customers.

11. Referral customers are worth 16% more compared to normal customers

People who found your company via their network will be more likely to stick to your brand.

12. The most popular article about growth hacking was shared 26,800 times on Twitter.

It’s a Medium article with 10 proven growth hacks for startups. You can read it here.

13. There are 193,000,000 websites in Google on “What is growth hacking?”.

As of April 12, 2024, typing “What is growth hacking?” on Google will give you 193,000,000 search results in 0.27 seconds. This shows growth hacking is still a buzzword among businesses across the globe. However, the search results don’t reveal how many people search for it.

Accordingly, 31,200 people searched for “What is growth hacking?” in 2022. This translates to 2,600 people every month.

14. A 2-second delay in page speed will increase your bounce rate by 103%

Having a fast website is critical to hacking your on-page results. We recommend WPX hosting for page speed optimization.

15. 45% of your website visitors are less likely to purchase if your website loads “slower than expected”

16. The number of LinkedIn profiles categorized as “growth hacking” services increased by 171.43% in 2025.

In 2022, 7,000 profiles provide growth hacking services on LinkedIn. This number boomed to 19,000 in April 2025, showing a 171.43% increase after three years.

Most of these profiles are professionals engaged in various types of growth hacking services. However, when you type “growth hacking agency” in LinkedIn’s search bar, only 24 listed companies are classified as such.

17. Retargeting reduces cart abandonment by 6.5%

18. Social media shares contribute greatly to growth hacking through its 5.17 billion global users as of 2024.

Social media users have grown by 30.5556% in two years. Data from Statista show that there were 3.96 billion social media users in 2022, which became 5.17 billion in 2024 worldwide. Sharing website content as a social media post would then help greatly to a business’s growth.

19. The ideal average target rate for one’s social media network is 12.5% for growth hacking campaigns.

Optinmonster recommends having an ideal target of 10% to 15% of one’s social media network for growth hacking campaigns. This translates to an average of 12.5%, which is more realistic and focused than targeting 100% all at once. This prevents one’s social media network from experiencing advertising or marketing fatigue that may push them to unfollow or block your platform.

20. Optinmonster’s A/B testing feature enables a 158% increase in conversions for growth hacking campaigns.

Using growth hacking tools such as Optinmonster will help startups achieve their targets quickly and conveniently. An example is Optinmonster’s A/B testing feature that was used by Eczema Company for their growth hacking campaigns. The result was a 158% increase in conversions.

21. Google Analytics as a growth hacking tool is rated 4.5/5.

According to Determ, the basic features of Google Analytics 4 are a great tool for growth hacking. It is used for predicting customer behavior and optimizing marketing campaigns, which garnered the 2023-rolled out Google Analytics update a 4.5/5 rating as a growth hacking tool.

22. The number of emails sent daily is projected to increase by 8,966.67% come 2027, making it a vital tool for growth hacking.

Email marketing is one helpful strategy used in growth hacking campaigns. This is because there are 4.5 email users worldwide in 2024. This is expected to reach 408 billion by 2027. While 60% of consumers prefer to receive communication from brands through email. A big boost in the business when tapped for marketing campaigns!

23. Using an exit popup for growth hacking can increase email subscriptions and sales by 30%.

Installing an exit popup tool in your website, which activates whenever a visitor is about to leave, increases email subscriptions and sales by 30%. Exit popups are lead-generation tools that invite website visitors once more to subscribe to a company’s email list for special offers.

It may also directly offer products on sale in exchange for a visitor’s email address and personal info. It’s a perfect growth hacking technique for startups to use.

24. Exit popups save an average of 12.5% of lost website visitors.

According to Intuit MailChimp, using exit popups (also called exit-intent popups) will even save a website’s lost visitors. 10% to 15% of lost visitors, upon seeing an exit intent popup, subscribe to an email list or purchase an item. Thus, increasing conversions through the website.

25. Using key industry influencers in growth hacking campaigns can increase sign-ups by more than 160,000.

Buzzsumo divulged that one of their tactics for growth hacking was the support and advocacy of important industry influencers. Using influencers helped Buzzsumo drive traffic to its website and achieve 160,000 signups in their first year of operation.

26. Buzzsumo leveraged on content marketing as a primary growth hacking technique that resulted in an ARR of $2.5 million on the first year of operation.

Buzzsumo Founder Steve Rayson shared in his blog the secret behind Buzzsumo exceeding their first million on the first year of operation. The exceptional entrepreneur revealed that launching a high-quality content marketing tool was key to their attaining a $2.5 million Annual Recurring Revenue within a year of business.

The partnership with influencers, being growth-focused, decreasing churn rates, engaging in product development, creating data-based quality content, and partnering with complementary techologies also chipped in to attain that ARR.

Buzzsumo’s ARR has doubled into $5 million for the next three years since then. Rayson shared that they have consistently kept a 10% monthly growth rate over the years. This was attainable with clear growth objectives and targets that are well-monitoried.

As such, they achieved their target of $150,000 monthly recurring revenue (MRR) only six months of the first year of operation.

27. There is a 3,900% user growth when engaging in referral programs.

Leadfeeder shared that referral programs is a great growth hacking technique, especially for B2B SaaS companies. An example is Dropbox which offers free cloud storage through a referral program for its app. The referee gets $100 for every referral who subscribes and downloads an app. This catchy program resulted in a 3,900% user growth after 15 months.

28. Using a top-performing classifieds website can funnel the growth of a small website’s subscriber base by 14,900% in a year.

According to Target Internet, Airbnb tapped into Craigslist–coupled with an email campaign–to expand is userbase from 20,000 annual guests to 3 million in its second year of operation. The then-startup replicated their Airbnb posts in Craiglist. The post only allowed booking for a property posted Craiglist to be booked in the Airbnb website. While the email campaign targeted Craiglist property owners to try listing their properties also on Airbnb.

29. Giving customers full control over a service that addresses an in-demand daily need enabled Spotify attain a $10 billion valuation in 5 years after launching.

Spotify’s unique service features, pricing range, and royalty agreement with artists redefined the Music industry when it opened in 2008. The royalty agremeent was 30% Spotify’s and 70%’s the artist. Pricing range for paid subscribers was $10/month for limitless radio-type music (no interuption or ads).

Plus, subscribers get to dictate what they listen to. This innovative approach enabled the company to reach nearly $10 billion in value only after five years in operation. As of April 9, 2024, Spotify’s market cap or net worth is $58.38 billion.

30. Selling the solution to a problem people are unaware of helped Slack achieve a 3,233.33% increase in daily users within a decade.

According to GrowthHackers, Slack has become one of the fastest growing B2B SaaS ever. Slack was launched with 15,000 daily users in 2014, which increased by 3233.33% in a decade. There are, as of March 2024, 38.8 million users of this corporate central messaging system patterned after the ’80s IRC.

The company created a new market and sold a solution people are unaware of. By solution, they sold a product that relieves stress at work caused by information overload and removes the difficulty of extracting value from corporate archives.

31. HubSpot realized an Average Customer Value of $6,220 per customer in its sixth year of operation through inbound marketing.

HubSpot was established in 2006 offering inbound marketing software that enables companies “market to humans”. This company impressively experienced a compound annual growth rate of 59% from 2014 to 2020, which is approximately $85 million in international revenue. Previously, they garnerned $29 million in revenue after the first five years of operation. This inventor of the word “inbound marketing” reported a total annual revenue of $2.17 billion in 2023.

32. 86% of agencies offering growth hacking services are not growing.

GrowthThinking surveyed 2,150 growth hacking agencies to look at spending behaviors, in demand growth hacking services, and reasons and costs for switching to agencies. The result showed that a majority of these agencies (86%) are not actually growing.

The primary reasons for the lack of growth of these agencies is difficulty to get top talent (37%). Other reasons for not growing are more competition (24%), “clients keep switching” (22%), higher costs (12%), and “can’t get results for clients” (4%).

33. Growth hacking agencies are #1 when it comes to experiencing difficulties in growth.

Ironically, agencies who provide growth hacking services were found to experience the most difficulty in business growth. Data shows that 86% of growth agencies are not growing. This is 7% higher than freelancers offering the same services and 18% higher than in-house providers.

Accordingly, growth hacking agencies have experienced this stuntedness in the last 36 months. Making growth hacking services secondary to what agencies offer is another reason for their difficulty to grow.

Prioritizing the following services, as per GrowthThinking, actually impedes these agencies’ growth: Web Design, Digital Marketing, SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), Content Marketing, and Influencer Marketing.

Add to that are Conversion Rate Optimization, Viral Marketing, Mobile Marketing, CRM (Customer relationship management), Landing Page Optimization, PPC (pay-per-click), Google Adwords, and Email Marketing.

34. Freelances are sought by 55% of startups for initial growth hacking services.

More than half (55%) of startup companies who initially try growth hacking services resort to freelancers. But these 39% of companies eventually switch to agencies due to “deeper expertise”. In between, only 8% of companies seek the services of freelancers up to the third time. Freelancers are actually the last resort by then.

35. 58% of companies who acquire growth hacking services for the the third time already have a switching pattern.

Switching behaviors could be seen among 58% of companies who acquire growth hacking services for the third time. These behavior entails acquiring first the services of a freelancer before switching to an agency (34%). Then the company switches again but this time to in-house providers (8%).

36. 30% of startups initially choose agencies for growth hacking services.

While most startups or companies prefer freelancers on the get go, 30% of them actually choose agencies first for growth hacking services. 15% of companies prefer in-house growth hacking services on the onset before they shift to freelancers or agencies for the same service on the second time.

Spefically, 32% of companies seek freelancers the second time they need growth hacking services. 48% choose agencies and 20% of in-house providers for their second round of growh hacking needs.

Helping clients with internal processes can actually prevent this switching patterns and help providers of growth hacking services to get ahead of the competition.

37. The need for control is the main reason an average of 35.5% of companies seeking growth hacking services switch providers.

Studies show that companies switch service providers of growth hacking services due to a need for more control. Accordingly, 34% of companies switch from freelancers to in-house and 37% switch from agencies to in-house providers for purposes of having more control.

The secondary reason of shifting from freelancers to in-house by 23% of companies is better quality. 19% say they need “better expertise” based on perceiving in-house providers to be better than freelancers. 12% attribute the need to lower costs and another 12% the need for better results as their reason for switching from freelancer to in-house providers.

As such, freelancers need to enhance the quality and scope of their growth hacking services to gain an edge in the competition.

38. 41% of companies shift from agency to freelancers providing growth hacking services due to “deeper expertise”.

On the reverse side, almost half or 41% of companies seeking growth hacking services for the second or third time shift from agencies to freelancers. The primary reason is that they perceive freelancers to have a “deeper expertise” than growth hacking agencies.

21%, on the other hand, choose to do so to lower costs and 18% shifted due to wanting “bigger results”. Only 8% shifted from agency to freelancers providing growth hacking services due to a need for more control.

Agencies then need to give their clients more control of the growth hacking process they engage with to maintain clients.

39. 20% of companies shift from agencies to in-house providers of growth hacking services due to lower costs.

The second reason (20%) companies shift from agencies to in-house providers of growth hacking services is the need to lower costs. 37% of companies who shift from agencies to in-house providers, on the other hand, was due to a need for more control.

Better quality is the reason of 29% of companies shifting from growth hacking agencies to in-house providers and 9% due to getting bigger results. Only 5% attribute the need for better expertise as a reason from shifting from agencies to in-house providers of growth hacking services.

40. Revenue acquisition is the primary (72%) reason companies seek growth hacking services.

Survey shows that 72% of companies were focused on acquiring revenue as a reason to acquire growth hacking services. 23% do so for retention and only 5% do so for growth. Ironically, experts say that a growth leak is created when companies focus more on revenue acquisition than retention. Exponential growth is not possible for a business if the growth system is not optimized for the long run.

41. 64% of growth hacking services are acquired for lead generation purposes.

The primary reason companies seek the services of growth hacking providers is lead generation (64%) during the acquisition phase of a business. Conversion optimization is the reason of 18% of companies for signing up to growth hacking services during the acquisition phase. 15% attribute the need for visibility and branding during the acquisition phase for seeking growth hacking services.

42. Demand stimulation is the main reason (74%) companies seek growth hacking services during the retention phase of a business.

Demand stimulation activities are said to be one of the factors that enhance a business’s growth during the retention phase. No wonder 74% of companies sought the services of growth hacking providers for this purpose during the said period. 18% attribute relationship nurturing and 8% attest streamlined onboarding as their reasons for seeking growth hacking services during the retention phase of the business.

43. 69% of companies seek growth hacking services during the growth phase of the business for product or service enrichment.

Product or service enrichment is inavoidable for any busines to thrive. Thus, 69% of companies in the growth phase of their business say this is their reason for seeking the services of growth hacking providers. 19% credit product or service optimization, and 12% say accelerated acquisition as their reason for signing up to growth hacking services during the growth phase of the business.

44. 30% is the average success rate for 47% of acquisition activities rolled out by growth hacking providers.

Studies show that the success rate for 47% of acquisition activities for growth hacking purposes is 10% to 50% or 30% on average. This is relatively higher compared to retention and growth activities, where the success rate is 10% or less.

45. The highest cost of switching between service providers of growth hacking services is $29,500.00

Studies show that switching from in-house providers to agencies for growth hacking services is pricey. Data shows that switching from in-house to an agency costs $29,500, whereas switching from in-house to a freelancer only costs $18,600. The average cost of switching from in-house to a different type of service provider is a whopping $48,241!

46. Companies switching from growth hacking agencies to other types of service providers shell out moderate costs of $31,912.

On the other hand, shifting from a growth hacking agency to a freelancer costs $12,500. Shifting from an agency to an in-house growth hacking service provider costs $19,300. Companies doing so will experience only moderate costs of $31,912 on average compared to switching from in-house to other growth hacking service providers.

47. Switching from freelance growth hacking professionals to other service incurs an average cost of $4,745.

Shifting from a freelancer to other service providers of growth hacking services is the cheapest alternative for companies. Accordingly, shifting from a freelancer to an in-house provider of growth hacking services costs $1,300. Shifting from a freelancer to an agency, on the other hand, costs only $3,400.

48. Using cupcake giveaways in exchange for survey submissions is the best growth hacking marketing technique by 1.5x.

Advance B2B replicated the marketing growth hack used by B2B SaaS company RJMetrics, who used cupcakes to entice customers to participate to surveys and webinars. For Advance B2B, they gaveaway a dozen cupcakes to a lucky draw winner who would complete their online survey that run for 12 days.

The result was similarly successful like RJMetrics’! Advance B2B hit their goal of 1.5x marketing monthly submissions, which even increased the week after the promotion. The momentum continued until a month after.

49. IKEA used AI as a growth hacking technique to mitigate buying risks by an average of 22.5% during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

According to an analysis paper released by ScienceDirect.com, the use of digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and mobile apps can greatly help companies decrease buying risks. The paper cited IKEA who developed a mobile app that runs on Artificial Intellegence to present an Augment Reality for potencial customers who intend to buy furniture for their homes.

The high-tech app enables customers to see if the furniture they wish to purchase would actually fit in their homes. Through the app, IKEA decreased buying risks such as sales returns from 8% to 37% or an average of 22%. The company’s retail sales returns prior to using the app was already at $2 trillion due to the surge in online purchases.

In addition, IKEA fostered customer retention and loyalty through the app while optimizing pricing strategies.

50. Airbnb used AI as a growth hacking tool increase booking by 3x.

Copy.AI shared how Airbnb increased their online bookings by 3x using Artificial Intelligence. The famous travel website used a targeted campaign with the aid of data analytics and marketing automation. The campaign also integrated personalization tools for their targeted customer segment. Overall, the campaign resulted to a 10% increase in company revenue.

51. Shopify used Google Analytics as one of its growth hacking tools to attain a 20% increase in customer lifetime value.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a tool to estimate the revenue a company will achieve from one customer throughout its business relationship with them. Shopify wanted to achieve a higher CLV from through targeted email campaigns and personalized product recommendations. So they identified high-value customer segments using Google Analytics, Mixpanel, and other data-driven analytical tools. The result was a 20% increase in their CLV and, what’s more, a 12% increase in average order value.

52. Dollar Shave Club used the power of Word Of Mouth as a growth hacking tool to increase sales orders to 12,000 a day.

Banking on the power of word of mouth and video marketing, Dollar Shave Club beat its tough competitor, Gillette, in the United States. The $4,500 video was a product launching advertisement it uploaded in its YouTube Channel that asked two questions to current customers.

The questions were if it was okay for them to spend more than $20 a month for razors and if they felt it necessary for flashy advertisements used for products in the market. The company anticipated that customers themselves will share it to others, being available on YouTube, since it delves on product frustrations.

With a growth hacking strategy as this, the Dollar Shave Club’s video was viewed 26 million times on the first day. It, more importantly, brought in an order of 12,000 in a day!

53. Regularly holding webinars on one’s website was one of the growth hacking strategies used by HubSpot that led to atleast 13,000 signups for a session.

HubSpot accumulated 8,460 customers in only eight years after it began its business in 2004, generating at least $53 million in revenue. This translates to having an average customer value of $6,220 per customer as of 2012. Their secret? The inbound marketing expert said it is having a culture that focuses on business growth rather than revenue accumulation.

The main strategies they employed to achieve business growth entailed the use of webinars, free user tools or resources, blogs, and inbound marketing. Their webinars alone initially got them 3,000 registrations in 2008 to 13,000 in 2011 alone.

54. KVR increased target leads by 12% by implementing growth hacking tools on their website.

Top-performing software development company KVR achieved a 12% growth in target leads through their website by implementing a chatbot and a pop-up quiz. KVR partnered with Dashly to target prospective buyers who are not ready to purchase and need more nurturing time.

Dashly customized a pop-up quiz for their target website visitors where they provide their contact number. The quiz helps customers choose the best software for them. In addition, Dashly integrated the chatbot into the website to qualify visitors according to the interests they have for improving workplace processes.

The result was a 12% in their orders thanks to this growth hacking strategy. It also showed orders to be 60% targeted.

55. Red Bull sponsored a high-impact event as a growth hacking strategy to achieve an earned media value of $6 billion.

Reinforcing its identity as an adventurous and adrenaline source brand, Red Bull sponsored the skydiving event of Felix Baumgartner from the stratosphere. The recordbreaking event was livesreamed on YouTube, which generated 8 million viewers and $6 billion earned media value.

56. Oreo capitalized on real-time events as a growth hacking technique that earned them 525,000 interactions.

Growth hacking needs agility and responsiveness to succeed. This was what Oreo exhibited in 2013 during the Superbowl blackout. Oreo tweeted “You can still dunk in the dark”, which garnered 525,000 interaction within hours of being posted.

57. Coca-Cola personalized their bottle packaging as a growth hacking technique to increase sales by 2%.

Coca-Cola proved that emotional connections are created with customers through customization. The number 1 soda company simply printed names on their bottles. Then they created TV commercials that encouraged customers to find “their bottle” and share it with friends. This simple growth hacking technique increased the company’s sales by 2%, which Licera Marketing reported reverted a decade’s decline.

58. YouFoodz turned to co-branded marketing and influencers as growth marketing strategies to achieve at least a 3,000% revenue growth.

Australian-based ready-to-eat delivered meals provider YouFoodz proudly shared with ReferralCandy that it tapped 81 influencers across social media channels to generate a 700% increase in revenue. The influencer marketing campaign involved posting on Instagram 167 content pieces and more than 162 Instagram Stories.

This generated 69,938 direct engagements and 507,909 impressions on their campaign content. Plus, the content resulted to a social reach of 1,457,142 across Facebook & Instagram. Eventually, their revenue exploded by 3,000% after increasing retention rates and decreasing churn rates.

59. Providing free-to-use tools was the growth hacking technique used by Lightful to achieve an average 8.5% conversion rate.

Lightful provides online support to charities and nonprofits raise funds and develop digital skills. The company tied up with Kurve to increase email subscribers. The campaign involved embedding a free Twitter engagement comparison tool on Lightful’s website, which also entailed free ebook guides.

Accordingly, the campaign was successful after receiving a conversion rate of 12.6% from Facebook and conversion rate of 4.4% on Twitter.

60. A lifetime affliate offer proved as one of the successful growth hacking techniques of ClickFunnels, earning them a 400% ARR in 18 months.

Its Fun Doing Marketing reported that ClickFunnels grew their ARR by 400% within 18 months of operation. The company provided a lifetime affiliate offer that was so attractive, resulting in 40% of customers signing up due to this marketing campaign. This was supported by quality content, funnel games, and webinars.

61. Fiver grew their stock price by 797% after 1 year of IPO due to pricing matched with excellent service.

Fiverr Founder and CEO Micha Kaufman revealed in an interview with Nfx that they built a 3-part framework in finding the right market for their business, which was considered a “crazy idea” on the onset. They followed a “Law of Business” where “supply generates demand” and made sure they provided quality products paired with excellent service.

In addition, they also inculcated a culture of innovation—of always seeking ways to improve what they offer—that proved worthwhile when they decided to go public in 2019. This lead them to achieve a 797% growth rate in IPO by 2020.