Been diving deep into user segments lately and honestly some patterns caught me completely off guard.
Found our highest LTV users weren’t who we thought they were. Completely changed how we approach onboarding and feature prioritization.
What weird segments have you discovered that shifted your whole strategy?
Discovered our cheapest acquisition channel was bringing in users with 3x higher retention rates than premium channels.
Was running basic banner ads on random websites - super low cost, looked terrible, thought they were just filling volume. Turns out those users stuck around way longer than the polished Facebook and Google campaigns.
Took me months to figure out why. Those cheaper placements were hitting people during downtime browsing, not when they were actively searching. Less intent upfront but way more patient with the learning curve.
Now I deliberately hunt for those unsexy traffic sources. Sometimes the worst looking campaigns hide the best users.
Silent users who never complained but churned fastest turned out to be our most valuable segment when we actually retained them.
We found users who complained the most actually had way better retention than quiet ones.
Power users who barely use core features but spend heavily on premium add-ons. We assumed engagement with main functionality predicted revenue. Wrong. Our biggest spenders used the app maybe twice a week but dropped serious money on premium tools when they did. Flipped our retention strategy completely. Instead of pushing daily habits, we focused on making those premium moments incredibly valuable. Revenue per user jumped 40% in three months.