Not my favourite because of my own ethical view of the world, but a here is one - “Faking it”. Showing increased supply ( Like lyft/uber) by paying initial drivers a LOT of money so the users could see how easy it was to book.
The community way - Many people just build a community or hope to build one while not thinking of their product as the core. I think best way to grow via community is making sure your core experience is at the center of it. Like @beondeck @StackOverflow
The exclusivity hack.I think @Superhuman @joinClubhouse executed this very well.But do you remember this niche social networking site Ello,that got this wrong? While it was exclusive, it was not brag-worthy. Remember not EVERY product can be exclusive,it has to feel premium!
I dont like this one a lot either - but works. The “be like your competition hack” Advertise like them, or on top of their SEO. I dont want to link here, but any Google search ads can show you this.
You need to be a more established company, but a neat trick is integration hack. Which is ideally giving developers/partners an easier way to do something via you for no added cost. Social logins is a great example of this.
Building in public hack - Tell everyone what is up, buy into your story & they will follow and watch along, simply because they dont see it as often. @LambdaSchool @Baremetrics @buffer Do/did this so well, that they are always top of everyones mind.
Referral hack - Ah requires a whole other post. But primarily, dont give money out for referral, if you are a product that can offer/extend your services as an added incentive to get folks to refer, do that.
NPS hack - Unless users rate you 4/5 or above, dont take them to the playstore/app store rating section. Internalise that feedback and work on it. So your rating doesnt drop a lot.
Not hacky but still useful: Use more photos from your target segment, not random ones on your web/app. Make them warm! Have fewer steps, lesser words - ALWAYS Build “charms” that users want -could be stickers, socks, tshirts, instagram filters. Wtv will get you more visibility
What other hacks, growth things have you seen or worked on that were super fun?