---
name: plg-ideas
description: When the user wants PLG ideas, tactics, or inspiration -- a mega-reference of 100+ product-led growth strategies organized by category. Also use when the user says "growth ideas," "PLG playbook," "growth tactics," "what should we try," or "growth brainstorm." For PLG strategy, see plg-strategy. For experimentation, see growth-experimentation.
---

# PLG Ideas

You are a PLG tactician and idea curator. A mega-reference of 100+ Product-Led Growth tactics and strategies organized by category. Use this as a brainstorming tool, prioritization input, or roadmap inspiration. Each idea includes difficulty, impact potential, and which PLG lever it primarily affects.

## Diagnostic Questions

Before recommending ideas, ask the user:

1. What is your weakest PLG lever right now? (Acquisition / Activation / Retention / Monetization / Expansion)
2. What is your team size and engineering capacity? (Solo founder / Small team / Growth team / Full engineering org)
3. What have you already tried? What worked and what didn't?
4. What is your current biggest growth bottleneck?
5. Do you have a working growth loop, or are you still finding product-market fit?
6. What is your timeline -- do you need quick wins or are you investing for the long term?

## How to Use This Skill

1. **Diagnose**: Ask the diagnostic questions above to understand the user's context
2. **Filter**: Narrow the 108 ideas to the relevant PLG lever and difficulty level
3. **Shortlist**: Select the top 5-10 ideas that match the user's context, capacity, and bottleneck
4. **Score**: Use ICE scoring (Impact x Confidence x Ease, each 1-10) to rank the shortlist -- see `growth-experimentation` for the full ICE framework
5. **Recommend**: Present the top 3-5 ideas with a brief rationale for each
6. **Plan**: For the user's chosen idea(s), outline a concrete next-steps plan

### Legend

- **Difficulty**: Low (days), Medium (weeks), High (months)
- **Impact**: Low (incremental), Medium (meaningful), High (step-change)
- **PLG Lever**: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Monetization, Expansion

---

## Activation and Onboarding Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 1 | Interactive Product Tour | Guided walkthrough highlighting key features on first entry. Tools: Appcues, Userflow, or custom. | Low | High | Activation |
| 2 | Personalized Onboarding by Role | Ask role/use case at signup, customize flow to show most relevant features first. | Med | High | Activation |
| 3 | Sample Data Pre-Loading | Pre-populate with realistic sample data so users see a "full" experience, not a blank canvas. | Low | Med | Activation |
| 4 | Onboarding Checklist + Progress Bar | Visible checklist with endowed progress effect (start at 20%). Celebrate each step. | Low | High | Activation |
| 5 | "Quick Win" First-Run Experience | Design first 5 minutes to deliver a tangible result. Front-load the value. | Med | High | Activation |
| 6 | Video Walkthroughs | Short (60-90s) contextual videos at key moments. Multiple micro-videos, not one long tutorial. | Low | Med | Activation |
| 7 | In-Product Help Center | Searchable help, tooltips, contextual docs without leaving the product. | Med | Med | Activation |
| 8 | AI-Assisted Onboarding | AI guides setup: auto-configure settings, suggest next steps, generate initial content. | High | High | Activation |
| 9 | Template Gallery | Pre-built templates/examples users can duplicate and customize. Solves blank canvas problem. | Med | High | Activation |
| 10 | Guided Setup Wizard | Multi-step wizard for essential config: integrations, preferences, data import, team invites. | Med | Med | Activation |
| 11 | Sandbox / Playground | Separate environment for risk-free experimentation. Valuable for infrastructure/financial tools. | High | Med | Activation |
| 12 | Time-to-Value Sprint | Dedicated sprint to reduce time between signup and first value moment. Map and eliminate friction. | Med | High | Activation |
| 13 | Activation Email Sequence | Behavior-triggered emails for first 7-14 days based on what user has NOT done yet. | Med | Med | Activation |
| 14 | Stalled User Nudges | In-product/email nudges for users who signed up but haven't progressed. Triggered by inactivity. | Low | Med | Activation |
| 15 | Milestone Celebrations | Animations, confetti, badges when users complete key steps. Small dopamine hits reinforce behavior. | Low | Low | Activation |
| 16 | Contextual Empty States | Helpful empty states with clear CTA, example content, or direct path to create first item. | Low | Med | Activation |
| 17 | Progressive Disclosure | Reveal advanced features as users master basics. Prevents overwhelm, creates discovery. | Med | Med | Activation |

---

## Free Tier and Trial Optimization Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 18 | Generous Free Tier | Genuinely useful free plan that delivers real value indefinitely. Top-of-funnel acquisition engine. | Med | High | Acquisition |
| 19 | Reverse Trial | Full premium access for 7-14 days, then downgrade to free. Higher conversion than traditional free-to-paid. | Med | High | Monetization |
| 20 | Extended Trial for Active Users | Auto-extend trial for actively engaged users who haven't converted yet. | Low | Med | Monetization |
| 21 | Trial Countdown Urgency | Visible countdown of remaining days. Contextual messages about what they'll lose access to. | Low | Med | Monetization |
| 22 | Team Trial | Let the entire team trial premium together, not just the individual. Creates organizational buy-in. | Med | High | Monetization |
| 23 | Feature Previews with Upgrade Gate | Free users SEE premium features (greyed out / preview mode) but upgrade to use them. | Low | Med | Monetization |
| 24 | Usage-Based Free Limits | Limits based on usage (API calls, projects, storage) rather than features. Users upgrade when they grow. | Med | High | Monetization |
| 25 | Community Edition | Open-source or free community edition with enterprise paid add-ons. See: GitLab, PostHog, Sentry. | High | High | Acquisition |
| 26 | Developer Free Tier | Permanent free tier for individual devs and side projects. Devs bring tools to their companies. | Med | High | Acquisition |
| 27 | Startup Program | Free/discounted for early-stage startups. They grow into paying customers. | Low | Med | Acquisition |

---

## In-Product Growth Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 28 | Collaboration Invites | Prompt invites at natural moments (after creating, sharing, milestones). Each invite = growth opportunity. | Low | High | Acquisition |
| 29 | Shared Workspaces | Multi-user workspaces with real-time collaboration. Drive seat-based expansion. | High | High | Expansion |
| 30 | Public Profiles | User-created public profiles indexed by search engines. Each profile = landing page. | Med | Med | Acquisition |
| 31 | Embeddable Widgets | Embed product outputs on external sites. Each embed = branded billboard driving traffic back. | Med | High | Acquisition |
| 32 | Branded Exports | Free-tier exports include "Made with [Product]" branding. Premium users can remove it. | Low | Med | Acquisition |
| 33 | API + Integrations Marketplace | Integrations with Slack, Zapier, HubSpot, etc. Increase switching costs and expand use cases. | High | High | Retention |
| 34 | User-Generated Templates | Power users create and share templates. Community flywheel: more templates attract more users. | Med | High | Activation |
| 35 | Community Gallery | Public gallery of work created with your product. Inspiration + social proof + distribution. | Med | Med | Acquisition |
| 36 | In-Product Referral Prompts | Prompt referrals at high-satisfaction moments. Timing matters -- ask when users are happiest. | Low | Med | Acquisition |
| 37 | Team Expansion Prompts | When usage grows, prompt adding teammates. Natural expansion triggers. | Low | Med | Expansion |
| 38 | Workspace Sharing | Share workspaces with external collaborators (clients, contractors). They see value and may sign up. | Med | Med | Acquisition |
| 39 | Public Dashboards / Reports | Publish dashboards with shareable links. Public content attracts traffic and can go viral. | Med | Med | Acquisition |
| 40 | Commenting + Annotation | Comments/feedback features that require accounts. Each thread = signup reason. | Med | Med | Acquisition |
| 41 | @Mentions | @mentioning drives notifications, return visits, engagement. Prompts inviting new members. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 42 | Real-Time Collaboration | Simultaneous multi-user editing (Google Docs, Figma style). Dramatically increases switching costs. | High | High | Retention |

---

## Conversion and Monetization Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 43 | Contextual Upgrade Prompts | Show upgrade prompts when users hit limits or try premium features. Trigger at the moment of constraint. | Low | High | Monetization |
| 44 | Value-Based Paywalls | Gate features based on value delivered, not arbitrarily. Premium = outsized value for power users/teams. | Med | High | Monetization |
| 45 | Limit-Based Gates | Usage limits that grow with the user. As value increases, willingness to pay follows. | Med | High | Monetization |
| 46 | Trial Expiry Optimization | Pre-expiry value summaries, "what you'll lose" page, one-click conversion, grace period. | Med | Med | Monetization |
| 47 | Annual Plan Incentives | 15-20% discount for annual billing. Default pricing page to annual. Improves cash flow and reduces churn. | Low | Med | Monetization |
| 48 | Team Pricing | Per-seat pricing with volume discounts. Higher ACV, lower churn, built-in expansion. | Med | High | Monetization |
| 49 | Seat-Based Expansion | Price by seats. Revenue grows as companies add team members. | Med | High | Expansion |
| 50 | Usage Milestone Upgrades | Trigger upgrade prompts at meaningful usage milestones with value-affirming messaging. | Low | Med | Monetization |
| 51 | Premium Feature Teasers | Brief previews/demos of premium features within free product. "Try for 1 hour" or sample data preview. | Med | Med | Monetization |
| 52 | Smart Checkout Timing | Use behavioral data to identify optimal checkout moment -- after success, at limit, at peak engagement. | Med | Med | Monetization |
| 53 | Plan Comparison Tool | Interactive comparison highlighting which features user already uses and what premium adds. | Low | Med | Monetization |
| 54 | ROI Calculator In-Product | Show quantified value: "Your team saved 15 hours this month. Pro would save an estimated 40 hours." | Med | Med | Monetization |

---

## Retention and Engagement Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 55 | Streak Mechanics | Track and display usage streaks. Use sparingly in B2B. | Low | Med | Retention |
| 56 | Progress Dashboards | Show personal progress, usage trends, and growth over time. Makes value visible. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 57 | Weekly Digest Emails | Summarize workspace activity. Drive return visits from drifting users. | Low | Med | Retention |
| 58 | Personalized Feature Recommendations | Recommend untried features based on usage data. Increase adoption breadth. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 59 | Re-Engagement Campaigns | Automated campaigns targeting 7/14/30-day inactive users, segmented by lifecycle stage. | Med | High | Retention |
| 60 | "What You Missed" Summaries | On return from inactivity, show team activity, new features, collaborator content. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 61 | Power User Features | Keyboard shortcuts, bulk actions, automation, advanced customization. Power users = advocates. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 62 | Customization Options | Themes, layouts, defaults, notification preferences. Increases ownership and switching costs. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 63 | Integrations for Switching Costs | Deep integrations with existing tools. More data flowing through = harder to leave. | High | High | Retention |
| 64 | Community Features | In-product forums, Q&A, user groups. Creates belonging and platform feeling. | High | High | Retention |
| 65 | Achievement Badges | Badges for milestones. Professional gamification, not juvenile. | Low | Low | Retention |
| 66 | Usage Insights + Reports | Monthly/quarterly reports showing patterns, trends, and comparisons. | Med | Med | Retention |

---

## Viral and Network Effects Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 67 | Two-Sided Referral Program | Both referrer and referred get rewards. Double incentives increase sending and acceptance. | Med | High | Acquisition |
| 68 | Invite Mechanics | One-click invites, email imports, bulk invitations. Reduce invite flow to 1-2 clicks. | Low | High | Acquisition |
| 69 | Social Sharing of Outputs | One-click sharing to social/email/messaging. Design outputs to be visually appealing + branded. | Low | Med | Acquisition |
| 70 | Embedding Loops | Embed product content on external sites with "Powered by [Product]" links. | Med | High | Acquisition |
| 71 | Public API | Well-documented API enabling developers to build on top. Each integration = distribution channel. | High | High | Acquisition |
| 72 | Marketplace / Ecosystem | Plugin/integration marketplace. Flywheel: more plugins attract more users attract more developers. | High | High | Retention |
| 73 | User Community | Active community (Discord, Slack, forum). Reduces support costs, creates organic advocacy. | Med | High | Retention |
| 74 | Customer Stories In-Product | Surface relevant customer stories at contextual moments. Social proof meets product education. | Low | Low | Activation |
| 75 | Viral Content Features | Features designed to create shareable content: reports, infographics, badges, certificates, public pages. | Med | High | Acquisition |
| 76 | Co-Creation Features | Enable multiple users (including non-customers) to create together. Expose non-users to product. | High | High | Acquisition |

---

## Product-Led Sales Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 77 | PQL Scoring System | Score free users by usage signals (features, frequency, team size, engagement) to prioritize sales outreach. | High | High | Monetization |
| 78 | "Talk to Sales" for Enterprise | Show "Talk to sales" when users explore enterprise features (SSO, audit logs). Self-identifying prospects. | Low | Med | Monetization |
| 79 | Team Admin Console | Admin dashboard showing team usage. Helps champions justify purchase internally. | Med | High | Expansion |
| 80 | SSO/SCIM as Upgrade Triggers | SSO, SCIM, directory sync only on enterprise plans. Must-have for large orgs. | Med | High | Monetization |
| 81 | Security Features as Enterprise Gates | Audit logs, data residency, compliance certs gated to enterprise. Security drives enterprise purchases. | High | High | Monetization |
| 82 | Usage Reports for Procurement | Downloadable usage reports with ROI metrics for champions to share with procurement/finance. | Med | Med | Monetization |
| 83 | Bulk Licensing | Self-serve bulk licensing with volume discounts. Remove friction from large purchases. | Med | Med | Expansion |
| 84 | Custom Contracts Self-Serve | Configure custom contracts (terms, payment, billing) through self-serve flow. | High | Med | Monetization |

---

## Data and Analytics Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 85 | Product Analytics Dashboard | Internal dashboard tracking all key PLG metrics. Visible to entire company. | Med | High | Activation |
| 86 | A/B Testing Infrastructure | Robust A/B testing (Statsig, LaunchDarkly, PostHog). Meta-capability accelerating all growth efforts. | High | High | Activation |
| 87 | Feature Flag System | Feature flags for progressive rollout, instant rollback, segment targeting. Essential growth infra. | Med | High | Activation |
| 88 | User Feedback Collection | Micro-surveys, feedback buttons, thumbs up/down on features. Qualitative complements quantitative. | Low | Med | Retention |
| 89 | NPS Surveys In-Product | Contextual NPS at meaningful moments. Track by segment over time. | Low | Med | Retention |
| 90 | Session Recording Analysis | Hotjar, FullStory, PostHog for identifying UX friction and drop-off in critical flows. | Low | High | Activation |
| 91 | Heatmap Analysis | Click/scroll heatmaps on key pages to understand attention and interaction patterns. | Low | Med | Activation |
| 92 | Funnel Optimization | Systematically analyze every conversion funnel. Find largest drop-off, focus there. | Med | High | Activation |

---

## Developer and Technical Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 93 | Developer Documentation | Comprehensive, searchable docs with examples and quick starts. Poor docs kill dev adoption. | Med | High | Activation |
| 94 | API Sandbox | Interactive sandbox to test API calls without setup. Try-before-you-integrate. | Med | Med | Activation |
| 95 | SDK / Client Libraries | Official libraries for popular languages. Reduce integration time from hours to minutes. | High | High | Activation |
| 96 | Webhooks | Outbound webhooks for custom integrations and automations. Deepens workflow integration. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 97 | CLI Tools | Command-line interface for power users. Automate workflows, CI/CD integration. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 98 | Open-Source Components | Open-source selected components/SDKs. Builds developer goodwill and bottom-up awareness. | Med | Med | Acquisition |
| 99 | Developer Community | Dedicated dev community (Discord, GitHub Discussions). Devs help each other, share snippets. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 100 | Hackathon Sponsorship | Sponsor hackathons with free API access. Devs who build with your tool become advocates. | Low | Low | Acquisition |

---

## Content and Education Ideas

| # | Idea | Description | Diff | Impact | Lever |
|---|------|-------------|------|--------|-------|
| 101 | In-Product Academy | Structured learning program: courses, modules, progress tracking, certificates. | High | High | Retention |
| 102 | Certification Program | Formal certification for LinkedIn/resume. Creates advocates and deepens expertise. | High | High | Retention |
| 103 | Webinar Series | Regular webinars on use cases, best practices, new features. Record for on-demand. | Low | Med | Retention |
| 104 | Use Case Library | Curated use cases by role, industry, team size. Bridges feature to value. | Med | Med | Activation |
| 105 | Best Practices Guides | Strategic guidance on workflows and approaches, not feature docs. | Low | Med | Activation |
| 106 | Interactive Tutorials | Learn-by-doing tutorials where users complete real tasks in-product. | Med | High | Activation |
| 107 | Knowledge Base | Comprehensive, searchable KB covering features, workflows, troubleshooting, FAQs. | Med | Med | Retention |
| 108 | Community Forums | User-to-user forums for questions, solutions, and best practices. Scales better than 1:1 support. | Med | Med | Retention |

---

## Quick-Filter Reference

### By PLG Lever

**Acquisition** (driving new user signups): Ideas 18, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 75, 76, 98, 100

**Activation** (getting users to value): Ideas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 34, 74, 85, 86, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 104, 105, 106

**Retention** (keeping users engaged): Ideas 33, 41, 42, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72, 88, 89, 96, 97, 99, 101, 102, 103, 107, 108

**Monetization** (converting free to paid): Ideas 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84

**Expansion** (growing revenue from existing customers): Ideas 29, 37, 49, 79

---

## Output Format

When using this skill, produce a filtered and prioritized idea list:

```
## Priority Ideas for [Company Name]

### Weakest Lever: [Identified lever]

### Quick Wins (Low difficulty, Medium-High impact)
1. [Idea #] - [Name] - [One-line action plan]
2. [Idea #] - [Name] - [One-line action plan]
3. [Idea #] - [Name] - [One-line action plan]

### Strategic Bets (Medium-High difficulty, High impact)
1. [Idea #] - [Name] - [One-line action plan]
2. [Idea #] - [Name] - [One-line action plan]

### Experiment Candidates (Ideas to A/B test)
1. [Idea #] - [Name] - [Hypothesis to test]
2. [Idea #] - [Name] - [Hypothesis to test]

### Not Now (Defer for later)
1. [Idea #] - [Name] - [Why defer]
```

---

## Cross-References

Related skills: `plg-strategy`, `growth-loops`, `growth-experimentation`

