9 Winning Growth Experiment Ideas to Try in 2026

Here at Growth Division, we know that the only way for startups (and ambitious businesses) to unlock meaningful growth is by running growth experiments. 

And not in a ‘let’s give this a go’ kind of way, but in more of a ‘if we change this copy to be more value-focused, we anticipate a 15% increase in conversions’ kind of way. 

We’ve worked with over 130 ambitious and high-growth businesses to date, and our systemised growth experimentation process is a core part of this – because we know it works. 

It’s how we’ve grown our own agency, and it’s how we grew the startup that we founded (and sold) before we started Growth Division. 

But we also know how much easier it is to be confident in an experiment idea when you have proof that it has worked in an equivalent scenario. With lots of ideas inevitably on the table, this can be a good prioritisation ‘shortcut’. 

The generous sharing of other founders helped us a lot when we were running that first startup, and we’re always looking to pay that forward. Which is why we’re sharing 9 winning growth experiments that we’ve either run for our own agency or for our clients:

1. How repurposing content into an email series gained us 39% more subscribers in a month
2. How switching up our offer 10x’d our outreach conversion rate
3. How rewording the pop-up promoting a lead magnet drove 150% more submissions for our client
4. How cutting conversation starters increased our client’s outreach conversion rate by over 15%
5. How getting us listed on ‘top 10 agency’ lists drove organic traffic and discovery calls
6. How setting up a low-key side event at Web Summit gave us more meaningful networking opportunities
7. The simple promotion experiment that helped us fill the spots at our Web Summit side event
8. How building location-focused organic landing pages drove 27 extra conversions for our client in 3 months
9. How we proved the concept for our LinkedIn newsletter

If you enjoy this article, you’ll love our newsletter, Thoughts on Growth. Every month, we share: 

✅ One growth experiment we ran for ourselves or our clients, and the results (just like the 9 included in this post) 

✅ How we’re tracking against our own North Star Metric here at Growth Division

✅ One growth channel insight

✅ One growth resource we rate

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But first, 3 lessons we can learn from these growth experiments

1. Small copy changes = big impact. It’s easy to become blind to CTAs and microcopy. Many of these experiments highlight the importance of continuing to test and iterate on these very powerful bits of wording, even when you already have a combination that works well.

2. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Aside from a couple of left-field experiments in here, a lot of them are kind of... boring. And that’s exactly how a good experimentation process should look (especially when you have a structured way of prioritising them). It’s not all endless wild ideas – that’s more a ‘growth hacking’ thing than straight-up growth marketing.

3. It always comes back to genuine value. When you offer your ICP genuine value, the results often follow. Bake this into every marketing move you make. 

Now, on to the experiments…

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1. How repurposing content into an email series gained us 39% more subscribers in a month

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Email marketing. 

👤 Client or Growth Division: Growth Division.

📋 The hypothesis: By launching an educational email course that provides free value, we expect to increase the number of monthly subscribers to our newsletter. 

#️⃣ The variable metric: Number of subscribers.

📈 The expected outcome: We expect an increase in monthly subscribers of at least 15%. 

🛠️ The execution: We created a short email course to help startups and ambitious SMBs narrow down their marketing channels and start testing them effectively. We promoted the course with a non-invasive pop-up on the homepage.

📊 The result: We gained 39% more subscribers than normal in the month that this experiment was live. 

💡 The takeaway: These are topics we know inside out and have written a lot about, so getting this content together was pretty straightforward, and it has proven to be a really worthwhile repurposing option. We framed this as a ‘5-Step Framework’, and this clarity is important – people will still welcome you into their inboxes, but only if you’re clear on how you’ll add value, and when they can expect to hear from you.

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2. How switching up our offer 10x’d our outreach conversion rate

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Direct outreach. 

👤 Client or Growth Division: Growth Division.

📋 The hypothesis: Offering a 100% discount to our Growth Masterclass instead of a 'Book A Call to learn more' will be more engaging to our outreach audience, and ultimately lead to more conversions.

#️⃣ The variable metric: Conversions via the CTA

📈 The expected outcome: We expect to see at least a 25% increase in the conversion rate of this message with this new CTA.

🛠️ The execution: We developed two variations of our outreach message for a specific ICP. One kept the standard ‘Book a call’, while the other used a new CTA, offering a 100% discount for attending our Growth Masterclass. We segmented our list into two balanced groups, and sent one the standard message and one the new CTA. 

We also adjusted our Growth Masterclass to be sure it addressed the key pain points of this ICP.

📊 The result: This experiment worked better than we could have hoped. We had 10 times more conversions than normal in the month we ran this experiment, and we actually had to increase the capacity of this event. 

💡 The takeaway: I’m not surprised that this experiment won (it offered clear, free value instead of just another call), but we were all surprised by just how well it worked. A good reminder to not neglect the fundamentals, and to get creative when it comes to alternatives to a call. 

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3. How rewording the pop-up promoting a lead magnet drove 150% more submissions for our client

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Email marketing. 

👤 Client or Growth Division: Client.

📋 The hypothesis: We believe the 'Free 2026 Tours' brochure will drive more form submissions compared to the 'Free Cycling Holiday' pop-up because it’s a clearer, time-specific offer. 

#️⃣ Variable metric: Form submissions

📈 The expected outcome: We expect a 40%+ increase in form submissions with the new brochure pop-up.

🛠️ The execution: We created two versions of an on-brand, unintrusive pop-up to help promote the lead magnet, which was a brochure with free cycling tours for the following year. 

📊 The result: ‘Free 2026 Tours’ drove 150% more form submissions than the ‘Free Cycling Holiday’ message in the month that we tested this. 

💡 The takeaway: Again, this is proof that it pays to be down in the detail, testing small but significant pieces of copy. The ‘Free 2026 Tours’ works better because it is more specific, and adds time pressure to the decision to sign up, without it feeling at all aggressively salesy. 

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4. How cutting conversation starters increased our client’s outreach conversion rate by over 15%

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Direct outreach.

👤 Client or Growth Division: Client.

📋 The hypothesis: Using a 'value-first' approach in our messages will lead to a higher conversion rate compared to a 'conversation first’ approach. In this case, we believe the audience will respond better to us communicating our value upfront. 

#️⃣ The variable metric: Conversion rate.

📈 The expected outcome: 15% increase in conversion rate for the value-first copy. 

🛠️ The execution: We developed two versions of this outreach message. One version went straight into the value of potentially working together, while the other opened with lighter small talk to engage the audience first. 

📊 The result: We ran this experiment for just under a month, and the conversion rate for the value-first message was more than 15% higher than the control message. 

💡 The takeaway: This is an interesting one. I see a lot of conversation about how it’s better to build rapport with someone before pitching them. Maybe this experiment means we’ve come full circle, and some groups of people would rather we just get to the point more quickly. It just goes to show that even best practices need testing. 

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5. How getting us listed on ‘top 10 agency’ lists drove organic traffic and discovery calls

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Target market blogs.

👤 Client or Growth Division: Growth Division. 

📋 The hypothesis: Being listed on relevant top 10 agency lists (with backlinks) will improve our exposure to potential clients who are researching their marketing agency options. As it’s a third-party website, this will also build trust in our agency. 

#️⃣ The variable metric: Discovery calls attributed to features in these lists (although we also closely monitored organic traffic and conversion rate from these calls). 

📈 The expected outcome: 5 Discovery calls driven from mentions on these sites during a six-month period.

🛠️ The execution: This was not a quick experiment. It required building real relationships with partner websites and clearly communicating why Growth Division deserved to be included in their relevant lists. We were selective in the lists we approached for this, operating within our own very specific niche. 

📊 The result: We booked 10 calls during this period (and continue to book them as a result of our placement in these lists). In the first month after completing the experiment, we saw a 100% increase in inbounds on-site from referral traffic. 

💡 The takeaway: It’s worth taking longer on experiments if you’re confident they’ll work, and over time, this has proven to be one of the best ones we have ever tried. As well as boosting our referral traffic and number of discovery calls, it has also supported our GEO efforts, increasing the number of times we’re recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT

The other takeaway: if you don’t ask, you don’t get – just make sure you’re asking in the right way! 

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6. How setting up a low-key side event at Web Summit gave us more meaningful networking opportunities

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Events.

👤 Client or Growth Division: Growth Division. 

📋 The hypothesis: Hosting an engaging side event in Lisbon during Web Summit will provide valuable networking opportunities for founders, and lead to more enquiries about our services.

#️⃣ The variable metric: Number of attendees. 

📈 The expected outcome: At least 20 founders will attend our event. 

🛠️ The execution: We found a co-working space close to the event and reserved a portion of it, then created an outline for how the event would look (balance of coworking, networking, and some speakers). We invited attendees from our network, and also promoted it via various paid and organic channels (we also ran one low-effort but left-field promotion experiment – see below). We collected RSVPs via Eventbrite so that we’d be able to monitor how attendance at this event translated into future calls. 

📊 The result: 20 founders attended the event. 

💡 The takeaway: This opened up how we thought about networking going forward, setting a standard for how we wanted to get the most out of these larger events. We didn’t put a lot of pressure on this first event, instead using it to establish a baseline for future iterations. 

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7. The simple promotion experiment that helped us fill the spots at our Web Summit side event

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Events.

👤 Client or Growth Division: Growth Division. 

📋 The hypothesis: We believe that people are interested in attending side events while they’re in Lisbon for Web Summit. If we share a list of these side events with people attending the event, we’ll increase sign-ups to our own event at the same time. 

#️⃣ The variable metric: Clicks on the trackable link.

📈 The expected outcome: We expect 300 clicks on the list link within a one-month period.  

🛠️ The execution: We created a simple list of all the side events we could find (including ours), and put this together in a document with a trackable link. We shared this within community groups and via our LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.   

📊 The result: Over 720 people clicked on the link. 

💡 The takeaway: We could have just promoted our event directly in these groups, but I think that by adding extra value with a bigger list, we were able to stand out in a time when there was a fair bit of event promotion on. Definitely something we’ll repeat for the next Web Summit. 

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8. How building location-focused organic landing pages drove 27 extra conversions for our client in 3 months

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: SEO.

👤 Client or Growth Division: Client.

📋 The hypothesis: By creating location-specific landing pages relating to where our client is based (and targeting low-competition keywords), we’ll be able to increase our number of organic conversions in a relatively short space of time.

#️⃣ The variable metric: Conversions from organic search traffic attributed to these new landing pages. 

📈 The expected outcome: 25 organic conversions from these pages in a three-month period. 

🛠️ The execution: We created landing pages that targeted the keywords we found that related to our client’s location. Each one was unique, rich in helpful content, and followed SEO best practices. 

📊 The result: Our client received 27 conversions from these landing pages in the three-month period. 

💡 The takeaway: Just because SEO is a fairly slow channel overall, that doesn’t mean there aren’t quick wins available. These pages ranked fast, and were able to start adding real value very quickly. To replicate this for your business, look out for highly relevant, low competition keywords with commercial intent, and don’t be put off if the search volume is fairly low. 

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9. How we proved the concept for our LinkedIn newsletter

🎯 Bullseye marketing channel: Community building.

👤 Client or Growth Division: Growth Division.

📋 The hypothesis: LinkedIn has a professional user base and strong networking capabilities. We expect that launching a newsletter on LinkedIn will increase brand awareness and engagement, especially given that both of GD’s founders already post there regularly. 

#️⃣ The variable metric: Subscribers to our LinkedIn newsletter. 

📈 The expected outcome: If we hit 500 subscribers within five months of launching, we’ll consider this experiment a success. 

🛠️ The execution: We created a content strategy for our LinkedIn newsletter, created the content for the first few emails and distribution posts, and optimised our profiles to encourage more subscriptions. We also monitored the follower count on our company profile to see whether this had any impact. 

📊 The result: We achieved 1077 subscribers in the five-month period. 

💡 The takeaway: If you’re already creating great content elsewhere, look for new channels to experiment with. We were pleasantly surprised by how well this newsletter experiment worked, and this has now become a regular part of our marketing cadence. 

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How to set a good goal for your experiment

Setting a goal for your experiment is a tricky one. Make it too ambitious, and you’ll end up writing off good ideas as failed experiments. But make it too easy, and you’ll end up focusing on the wrong things.

Here are four pointers to help you set yours: 

• If you have existing data and it’s a simple change, aim to beat current performance by 15%. This is ideal for small copy or design changes. 

• If the experiment requires more effort, or you’re more confident in it, be more ambitious (25%+). Consider what will make this work worthwhile, and set the target to reflect this (and more). 

• If the experiment is something completely new, establish a baseline. Set an achievable target that covers the effort spent on completing the experiment. Once you have proof of concept, you can focus on bettering these numbers next time.

• Use recent experiments for guidance where possible. If you’re earlier in your marketing journey, successful experiments will likely drive very high results compared to your baseline. If you’re years in, and have already refined a lot, it can be harder to move the needle significantly. Be realistic according to where you’re at.

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A note on our own experimentation tool, GrowthEX 

Recording every part of your growth experiment, from the hypothesis to the result, is essential to building a system that works. 

We tried plenty of tools for this (Trello, Monday.com, etc.,), but none of them were quite what we were looking for; they didn’t give proper visibility on results, they took too long to use, or they weren’t customisable enough. 

So, in the end, we made our own and trained it on the 1300+ successful experiments we’ve run over the years. And we actually took it one step further: we created an in-built AI agent that learns from other playbooks and experiments within the platform, and uses them to suggest what might work for your business. 

We use GrowthEX with all our clients, but anyone can create an account. Give it a go here. 

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Final thoughts

These experiments worked great for us or for our clients, but there were plenty that didn’t, and that’s an important part of the process. If you’re doing it right, you’ll probably have just as many failed experiments as you do successful ones – or even more. 

We really hope these examples give you some fresh ideas for experiments you can start running for your business. If you recreate any of them, come back and let us know how they went!

Looking for advice on which marketing channels to test, and how? Let’s audit your marketing strategy together. We can explore your current channel selection, and explore what to test next. Book your (free) 30-min call.

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