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PlayP02 Growth · Demand through retention · Editorial rank 2 of 12

Remove the dominant growth constraint

A product, proposition, price-clarity, journey or service bottleneck prevents valuable demand becoming customer value.

Decision
Which addressable bottleneck deserves the next unit of delivery capacity?
Primary commercial metric
Incremental contribution net of repair, delivery and support cost, or explicitly qualified observed improvement.
Readiness
Basic
Agent role
None needed; unusual investigations may be assessed under P10 separately.
01

Fit

When to use this Play

Verified leakage, complaints or operating constraints explain a material loss and an owner can change the cause.

When not to use it

The apparent loss is tracking error, the cause is unsupported, or the proposed repair cannot be delivered.

Why it should work

Removing the binding constraint increases useful completion or retained value without simply purchasing more traffic.

Basic version

One verified defect and a documented release/readout using existing tools.
02

Prepare

Required maturity
Basic. Ready if the affected path, credible customer evidence and a repair owner exist. Not ready if the diagnosis is only a dashboard correlation.
Check readiness for P02 (D02)

Inputs

Journey steps, error and service records, customer interviews or feedback, cohort economics, capacity and feasible repairs.

Audience or customer

Customers or prospects affected by the specific defect, proposition gap or capacity limit.

Human role

Product or Service owns delivery; the commercial owner prioritises value; research and measurement challenge the diagnosis.

Systems required

Existing analytics, product/service records, issue tracker and release process.

Guardrails

Service reliability, accessibility, accurate prices/claims, customer trust and downstream quality.

How to configure a Play

Copy the Play you need and complete only the relevant parts of T1–T5. Name the people responsible, define the customer group, agree economic and customer limits, and set a review date before starting. An empty decision threshold is not permission to act. Basic, Connected and Advanced describe how the work is configured; Experimental describes its evidence. AI is optional: compare each AI step with a simpler way of doing the same work.

03

Do the work

Intervention

One material repair to the product, experience, proposition or service; pricing changes retain commercial approval.

Workflow

  1. Verify measurement.

  2. Locate economic leakage.

  3. Inspect customer and operating evidence.

  4. Compare direct repairs with more acquisition.

  5. Choose one change.

  6. Release appropriately.

  7. Evaluate downstream quality and record the next decision.

AI role

Optional assist Optional clustering of permitted feedback and drafting of a repair brief with source references.

Automation role

Funnel/error queries, eligibility and release monitoring.

Agent role

None needed; unusual investigations may be assessed under P10 separately.

Failure modes

  • Changing many variables
  • optimising a superficial click
  • substituting reminders or discounts for a persistent product failure.
04

Measure and decide

Measurement

Track affected eligible users through completion, activation and agreed contribution horizon; separate release effects from simultaneous changes.

Primary commercial metric

Incremental contribution net of repair, delivery and support cost, or explicitly qualified observed improvement.

Leading indicators

Error reduction, task completion, time to first value and support contacts.

Experiment

Test uncertain alternatives where feasible. Fix obvious defects without withholding a necessary repair; use staged monitoring with causal limitations stated.

Guardrails

Service reliability, accessibility, accurate prices/claims, customer trust and downstream quality.
Scale when
Expand a safe repair or tested treatment when the mechanism and economics apply to the next affected population.
Stop / reassess when
Rollback on material regression; stop optional investment if the suspected constraint is unsupported or a cheaper repair dominates.
05

Learn and progress

Learning

Record the cause, affected population, repair, outcome, uncertainty and conditions for reuse.

Practical tool

Next action
inspect the largest economically meaningful drop-off with its delivery owner.
Open T1 Intervention and investment card
06

Optional depth

Advanced versionPrerequisites: see Required maturity above.

Segment-specific experience changes only when distinct needs and incremental benefit cover maintenance and measurement cost.

Evidence for this Play2claims reviewed, with confidence ratings, limits and sources.

Claim classifications

Accepted means a principle or mechanism survived critical review, not that it guarantees a return. Accepted with conditions means prerequisites apply. Qualified means the original claim has been narrowed. Advanced needs substantial readiness. Experimental needs a capped comparison. Unresolved means the evidence cannot settle the claim. Rejected means the recommendation is excluded.

High, Medium and Low describe confidence in the stated target, not the chance of a positive ROI. For a Qualified or Rejected historical claim, confidence applies to the decision to narrow or reject it and to the supported limit—not to the original headline. Read the headline and classification together. An accounting identity or design principle is not empirical evidence of a commercial outcome. Follow the linked chapters, Plays and tools to see where each claim applies.