Quick answer
A growth loop is a closed cycle in which the output of one group of users, such as invites, public content or revenue, becomes the input that brings in the next group, so growth feeds itself instead of relying only on new spend.
Formula: loop multiplier = new users produced ÷ users who entered the loop (per cycle)
What is a growth loop?
A growth loop is a cycle in which new users produce something that brings in more new users. Instead of buying every visitor, the product turns part of its own activity into the next round of acquisition.
A funnel is a line: visitors in, customers out. A loop bends the end back to the start.
Three common types
| Loop | Cycle | Key rates |
|---|---|---|
| Viral | User joins → invites colleagues → they join | Invites per user, invite acceptance |
| Content | User creates something public → search or social brings visitors → visitors sign up | Public items per user, visits per item, sign-up rate |
| Paid | New users pay → revenue funds ads → ads bring users | Revenue per user, share reinvested, cost per user |
A content loop with numbers
Sample data for one monthly cycle:
| Step | Rate | Result |
|---|---|---|
| New users | — | 1,000 |
| Publish a public page | 0.2 pages per user | 200 pages |
| Visits from search and sharing | 30 visits per page | 6,000 visits |
| Visitors who sign up | 2% | 120 new users |
The loop multiplier is 120 ÷ 1,000 = 0.12 per cycle. Every 1,000 users from other channels produce 120 more next month, which produce about 14 the month after. The table also shows where to work: doubling public pages per user doubles the loop, while doubling visits per page takes better SEO.
Metrics to watch
- Each step's rate, measured with an event per step (
page_published, visits to public pages,sign_upwith the source page). - Cycle time, from a user joining to the users their output brings in.
- The multiplier, the product of the step rates, tracked monthly.
Loops are slow to start and easy to break: if public pages stop ranking or invites stop converting, the multiplier drops even when sign-ups from other channels look fine. Related: AARRR.
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Growth Strategist
Explores acquisition channels, activation, and conversion experiments, turning data insights into actionable growth hypotheses and evaluation methods.