Silos Are Killing Your Growth Strategy š«
Welcome to your latest edition of Welcome Tomorrow Insights, your go-to source for the latest in growth marketing strategies and impactful industry updates.
TL;DR:
Paid media isnāt always the problem . More often, the real issue lies in poor alignment between product and marketing.
Most funnels donāt break at the top, they fall apart at activation.
And if your growth strategy doesnāt consider retention from the start, youāre not growing , youāre just burning through budget. š„
Itās a pattern weāve seen far too many times. The growth team is spending big on paid media, reporting healthy numbers on impressions, CPMs, and even installs. Everything looks great until you zoom in on product metrics, where retention is low and activation is almost non-existent.
And yet, when things start slipping, the blame tends to circle back to media performance:
āMaybe our ads need refreshing.ā
āLetās revisit targeting.ā
āWe should run a brand lift campaign.ā
But hereās the uncomfortable truth: the issue often isnāt with your ads , itās with how disconnected your teams are. Marketing is pushing one narrative, product is building another, and users are caught in the middle.
That disconnect? It shows up in your funnel.
The root of the problem šš¾
Many teams still operate with this classic growth model in mind:
Awareness ā Acquisition ā Retargeting ā Repeat
While that framework isnāt wrong, it misses two of the most crucial components of real growth: activation and retention.
When those steps are overlooked, you end up with campaigns that drive traffic but very little traction.
Most funnels fail at activation ā ļø
Activation is the turning point where a new user goes from simply signing up to actually taking a meaningful action that reflects the productās value. It might be ordering a first ride, sending money, listening to a playlist, or checking out a cart.
Unfortunately, most products aren't built with that moment in mind and it shows.
Mobile apps, in particular, are brutal. Churn is sky-high: 85% on iOS and 95% on Android. That means if youāre paying $2 per install, your cost per retained user after a month could easily be $40 or more.
Thatās not just a leaky funnel ,itās a financial drain.
Still, so many teams keep tweaking top-of-funnel media, hoping that better creative or sharper copy will fix what is actually a product and alignment issue.
The moment of value should guide everything š”
Every product has a core value-driving action and your growth strategy should be designed to make it happen as early and easily as possible.
š For Uber, itās getting that first ride.
šøFor a fintech app, it's sending or receiving money.
š§For Spotify, itās listening to a playlist tailored to you.
šļøFor e-commerce, itās completing a checkout.
The faster a user reaches that moment, the higher your retention and the more efficient your paid media spend becomes.
Yet, in siloed teams, this gets lost. Acquisition teams celebrate sign-ups, while product teams are left to handle disengaged users with no context on the promises that got them in the door.
Marketing and product rarely speak the same language š¬
Hereās a typical scenario:
The marketing team runs ads shouting about āinstant loans.ā The messaging is strong, conversion rates look good. But after clicking, users land in an app onboarding flow that starts by talking about savings, referrals, and virtual cards not loans.
Itās a disconnect. And users bounce.
This isnāt just a UX oversight. Itās a silo problem. The teams building the acquisition funnel and the teams building the product experience are operating on separate tracks and users are the ones falling through the cracks.
Great growth requires cross-functional thinking š ļø
The best growth examples donāt come from isolated campaigns or clever ads. They come from moments where product and marketing are working in sync.
Spotify Wrapped wasnāt just a campaign ,it was a feature that doubled as shareable content.
Notion AI didnāt need a massive launch. It lived quietly in the product, spread through word of mouth, demos, and content.
In all these examples, growth wasnāt treated as a separate channel, it was baked into the user experience. Marketing didnāt work around product; it worked with it.
Retention doesnāt start with CRM š¬
Too many teams treat retention as a problem to solve after the user drops off ,with emails, push notifications, and re-engagement flows.
But by that point, itās often too late.
Retention starts with how fast and clearly a user experiences value. Thatās a product decision, supported by marketing not the other way around.
If your onboarding is confusing, if your first session lacks direction, if thereās friction before valueā¦ no Day 3 email is going to change that.
So what should growth teams do differently? š§
Stop blaming media performance. If your funnel breaks after install, your problem is activation not CTR.
Make your moment of value the centre of your strategy. Donāt just know what it is , optimise everything to get users there fast.
Tear down the silos. Product marketing should be a bridge, not an afterthought.
Track retention with the same rigour as CAC. Not āour CPC dropped,ā but āour cost per activated user fell from $25 to $7 after we rebuilt onboarding.ā
So, next time someone says, āWe need to fix the funnel,ā donāt just fire up Ads Manager or rewrite your copy.
Instead, ask:
Are users getting to value fast enough?
Are product and marketing aligned on what that value is?
Are we designing growth as a system or running campaigns in isolation?
Because your funnel isnāt broken.
Your teams just arenāt building it together. š
App Growth Summit Africa 2025 š²
Thank you to everyone who joined us in Joburg ! weāre so grateful you came, and weāre excited to bring more of these conversations to cities across Africa.
You came, you saw, you networked šš¾
Now hereās the photographic evidence š
This space is all about learning together šš¾
Got your own lessons or fresh insights to add? Drop them in the comments, weād love to hear from you. š¬
And if youāve got a question for the Welcome Tomorrow team ,weāre all ears. Letās keep the conversation going! šāØ
Join Our Community š„
We invite you to join our community by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media. Stay connected and be part of the conversation as we continue to navigate the dynamic world of growth marketing. š¤š¾
Weāre Your Growth Partner š¤
At Welcome Tomorrow, weāre more than a marketing agencyāweāre your growth partner. From refining strategies to uncovering new opportunities, we walk alongside you every step of the way. Letās work together to unlock your businessās full potential. Reach out to us today, and letās start building tomorrow, together. š„