Decoding Product-Led Growth: Exploring the Differences Between a Product-Led Offer, Product-Led Motion, and Product-Led Company

Product-led growth. Never has a term seemed so clear, yet meant so many different things to different people. Through 100s of conversations with companies doing product-led growth, I've come to the conclusion that there are 3 different motions. Maturities really.

Product led offer, motion, and company.

In reality, pointing people to a demo form for a manually provisioned free trial is just very different from bottoms-up PLG. Let’s break it down.

Product-led offer

These are companies using a “free trial” CTA as a means for generating additional inbound activity. The user cannot actually sign up for a product online and oftentimes free trial signup is no different than demo form. Their sign up volume is typically very low. A good example is Lattice.

Product-led motion

A true product-led product with online signup, but may require some setup and may not allow just anyone to use. Usually they do not have a freemium model as a way to keep COGS (cost of goods sold) minimal. Oftentimes to box out smaller vendors, capture minor revenue, or use lower ACV (annual contract value) users for other reasons (more G2 reviews, etc). A good example is Sendoso Express.

Product-led company

A true PLG motion as most people think about it. Anyone can signup and use, and it’s fully self-service with a clear expansion mechanism and sales is fed “bottoms up.” A good example is Calendly.

Which kind of product-led motion do you have?

By understanding the distinctions among these three motions, you can identify which type of product-led growth strategy your company aligns with and make informed decisions.

Inflection is a customer communication platform built for the modern data stack. Despite your chosen PLG motion, you can guide your users to quicker onboarding, better adoption, and get more revenue and pipeline with Inflection. Request a demo to know how.