Product-Led Growth Strategy Assessment Framework
Marketing StrategyadvancedClaude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o. Claude excels at structured strategic analysis and nuanced risk assessment; GPT-4o is faster for iterative refinement. For this advanced assessment, Claude's reasoning depth is preferred for the first run, then GPT-4o for rapid follow-up iterations.
When to Use This Prompt
Use this prompt when you're evaluating whether to shift toward a product-led growth model or optimize an existing PLG motion. It's ideal for CMOs facing sales efficiency challenges, high CAC, or market pressure to improve self-serve conversion. Run this assessment quarterly to identify where operational debt is hiding revenue and where AI-driven automation can unlock faster user progression.
The Prompt
You are a strategic marketing advisor specializing in product-led growth (PLG) assessment for B2B SaaS companies. Your task is to conduct a comprehensive PLG readiness audit for [COMPANY_NAME], a [COMPANY_DESCRIPTION] with [ANNUAL_REVENUE] in ARR and [CUSTOMER_COUNT] customers.
## Current State Assessment
Analyze the following aspects of our current go-to-market:
**Product & Monetization:**
- Current pricing model: [PRICING_MODEL]
- Free tier/trial structure: [TRIAL_STRUCTURE]
- Primary conversion bottleneck: [CONVERSION_BOTTLENECK]
- Average time from signup to paid conversion: [CONVERSION_TIME]
**User Experience & Onboarding:**
- Current onboarding flow: [ONBOARDING_DESCRIPTION]
- Time to first value (TTFV): [TTFV_DAYS]
- Activation rate (% reaching key milestone): [ACTIVATION_RATE]
- Churn rate for free users: [FREE_CHURN_RATE]
**Go-to-Market Motion:**
- Current sales model: [SALES_MODEL] (e.g., fully self-serve, hybrid, sales-assisted)
- Sales team size: [SALES_TEAM_SIZE]
- CAC: [CAC_AMOUNT]
- LTV: [LTV_AMOUNT]
- LTV:CAC ratio: [LTV_CAC_RATIO]
**Operational Friction:**
- Key workflow bottlenecks slowing user progression: [BOTTLENECK_1], [BOTTLENECK_2], [BOTTLENECK_3]
- Tools creating coordination overhead: [TOOLS_LIST]
- Approval processes delaying feature/content deployment: [APPROVAL_PROCESSES]
## Strategic Assessment Framework
Provide a detailed assessment across these dimensions:
1. **PLG Readiness Score** (1-10 scale with rationale)
- Product maturity for self-serve
- Monetization alignment with PLG model
- Organizational readiness
- Market fit indicators
2. **High-Friction Workflow Audit**
- Identify the single highest-leverage workflow where time is leaking and revenue is at stake
- Quantify the impact (time saved, conversion lift potential, revenue impact)
- Assess operational debt in this workflow
3. **Immediate Wins (30-90 days)**
- Three specific, measurable initiatives to improve PLG metrics
- Expected impact on activation, conversion, or expansion
- Resource requirements and implementation complexity
4. **Scaling Roadmap (6-12 months)**
- Phase 1: Foundation (what must be true first)
- Phase 2: Acceleration (leverage early wins)
- Phase 3: Expansion (new user segments or use cases)
- Success metrics for each phase
5. **Risk Assessment**
- Organizational risks (sales team resistance, channel conflict)
- Product risks (insufficient self-serve capability)
- Market risks (competitive positioning, buyer behavior)
- Mitigation strategies for each
## Output Requirements
Structure your response as:
- Executive Summary (2-3 sentences on overall PLG fit)
- Detailed Assessment (address each framework section)
- Prioritized Action Plan (ranked by impact and feasibility)
- Success Metrics Dashboard (KPIs to track progress)
- Governance Recommendations (lightweight rules to avoid missteps)
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Tips for Best Results
- 1.Replace all [BRACKETS] with specific, quantified data. Vague inputs (e.g., 'high churn') produce generic outputs. Use actual metrics: activation rates, TTFV in days, CAC in dollars.
- 2.Run this prompt twice: first with current-state data, then with 'ideal-state' assumptions to see the gap. This reveals which metrics are most constraining your PLG potential.
- 3.Ask follow-up prompts for specific phases: 'Expand Phase 1 into a detailed 90-day sprint plan' or 'Create a sales enablement playbook for the hybrid motion.' Compound the initial assessment.
- 4.Use the output to audit operational debt in your actual workflows. The prompt identifies friction; your job is validating it with your team and quantifying the cost of each bottleneck.
Example Output
## Executive Summary
TechFlow shows strong PLG potential with a mature product and clear self-serve capability, but operational debt in onboarding and activation workflows is suppressing conversion lift. Estimated 25-35% improvement in activation rate is achievable within 90 days by streamlining the first-value experience and reducing approval cycles for content deployment.
## PLG Readiness Score: 7.2/10
**Product Maturity (8/10):** Feature-rich, intuitive interface, clear value prop. Minor gaps in contextual guidance for advanced workflows.
**Monetization Alignment (6.5/10):** Pricing model supports self-serve, but free tier is too generous—users delay conversion. Expansion revenue potential underdeveloped.
**Organizational Readiness (7/10):** Marketing and product aligned; sales team concerns about channel conflict need proactive management.
**Market Fit (7.5/10):** Target buyer (mid-market ops teams) self-educates and prefers self-serve trials. Competitive landscape rewards speed to value.
## High-Friction Workflow Audit
**Highest-Leverage Opportunity:** Onboarding-to-activation workflow
- Current state: 14-day average TTFV; 32% activation rate
- Friction points: Generic email sequence (no personalization), manual setup required, no in-app guidance
- Revenue impact: 8-point activation lift = ~$180K additional ARR annually
- Operational debt: 40 hours/month spent on manual onboarding support
## Immediate Wins (30-90 days)
**1. AI-Powered Contextual Onboarding (Impact: +6-8 activation points)**
- Deploy in-app guidance engine triggered by user behavior, not generic sequence
- Reduce TTFV from 14 days to 7 days
- Effort: 3 weeks; requires product and marketing collaboration
**2. Streamline Free-to-Paid Conversion Flow (Impact: +4-5 conversion points)**
- Remove 3-step approval process for trial-to-paid upgrade prompts
- A/B test pricing presentation and timing
- Effort: 2 weeks; marketing and legal alignment
**3. Automate Expansion Revenue Triggers (Impact: +12% net revenue retention)**
- Identify usage patterns signaling readiness for higher-tier features
- Deploy automated in-app upsell prompts with education content
- Effort: 4 weeks; requires analytics and product engineering
## Scaling Roadmap (6-12 months)
**Phase 1 (Months 1-3): Foundation**
- Implement contextual onboarding and streamlined conversion flow
- Establish lightweight governance (brand, security, data guardrails)
- Target: 40% activation rate, 18% free-to-paid conversion
**Phase 2 (Months 4-6): Acceleration**
- Launch expansion revenue automation
- Build community/peer learning features to drive viral adoption
- Introduce self-serve analytics dashboard for power users
- Target: 50% activation, 22% conversion, 125% NRR
**Phase 3 (Months 7-12): Expansion**
- Develop vertical-specific onboarding paths
- Launch API-first integrations to reduce setup friction
- Build customer-led content strategy (case studies, templates)
- Target: 55% activation, 25% conversion, 135% NRR
## Success Metrics Dashboard
- Activation Rate: Current 32% → Target 55% (Phase 3)
- Time to First Value: Current 14 days → Target 5 days
- Free-to-Paid Conversion: Current 18% → Target 25%
- CAC: Current $8,500 → Target $6,200 (through self-serve efficiency)
- LTV:CAC Ratio: Current 2.8x → Target 4.2x
- Net Revenue Retention: Current 110% → Target 135%
- Operational Overhead: Reduce onboarding support hours by 60%
## Governance Recommendations
- Establish a lightweight PLG steering committee (marketing, product, sales, legal) meeting bi-weekly
- Create a simple approval matrix for user-facing changes (brand, messaging, pricing)
- Implement a 48-hour deployment window for non-breaking changes
- Quarterly audit of operational debt in key workflows
Related Prompts
Related Reading
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