How to drive word of mouth | Nilan Peiris (CPO of Wise)
Brought to you by Pendo—The all-in-one platform for product-led companies building breakthrough digital experiences | Wix Studio—The web creation platform built for agencies | Masterworks—Invest in blue-chip art — Nilan Peiris is Chief Product Officer at Wise, one of the fastest-growing (and profitable) tech companies in the world. Wise allows anyone to send money in more than 60 currencies to over 160 countries at low cost, and throughout its history has grown primarily through word of mouth. In today’s episode, we discuss: • Tactical advice on driving word of mouth (WOM) • Strategies for measuring WOM • How NPS surveys helped Wise determine their growth and product strategy • How Wise incentivizes teams to do the hard things • The small change that generated a 3x increase in referrals • How Wise structures its product and growth teams Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, and YouTube. Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT. Where to find Nilan Peiris: • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/nilanp • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nilanpeiris/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Nilan’s background (03:27) A brief overview of Wise (06:11) How word of mouth is measured (07:56) Why Wise leaned into WOM (10:21) Why Wise built their WOM motion using the NPS method (16:13) How WOM solves trust problems (19:16) How to get to 9 or 10 on the NPS scale (21:06) Determining what will wow users (22:12) Common missteps companies make when trying to drive WOM (24:05) Using the “working backward” method at Airbnb (26:26) How Wise is able to offer drastically lower money transfer fees (28:41) The three costs associated with moving money (32:43) Rational vs. irrational reasons behind recommendations (34:52) Prioritizing customer happiness (37:07) How Wise builds conviction (42:41) How Wise approaches experimentation (46:53) Thoughts on performance reviews and general analysis (48:48) How Wise provides a 10x better banking experience (52:39) Advice on how to approach word-of-mouth marketing (54:28) Building a culture of doing hard things (56:40) The macrostructure of international banking and where Wise fits in (1:01:57) How Wise solves for local regulations in their onboarding flow (1:03:17) How Wise structures teams (1:04:07) The small change that generated a 3x increase in referrals (1:08:42) Nilan’s philanthropic endeavors (1:09:55) Lightning round Referenced: • Wise: https://wise.com/us/ • Henry Chen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-h-chen/ • About NPS: https://www.productboard.com/blog/the-power-of-nps-in-your-product-strategy/ • How Snow White helped Airbnb prove that storytelling is the most important skill in design: https://uxdesign.cc/how-airbnb-proved-that-storytelling-is-the-most-important-skill-in-design-15d04ac71039 • Seth Godin: This Is How You Create a Remarkable Product: https://www.businessinsider.com/seth-godin-this-is-how-you-create-a-remarkable-product-2012-10 • Discover the Spotify model: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/agile-at-scale/spotify • Beam: https://beam.org/ • Affinity: https://affinityghana.com/ • Crime and Punishment: https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-Volokhonsky-Translation-Classics/dp/0679734503 • Midnight’s Children: https://www.amazon.com/Midnights-Children-Modern-Library-Novels/dp/0812976533 • Barbie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517268/ • Arc browser: https://arc.net/ Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. You're currently a free subscriber to Lenny's Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
Older messages
Becoming evidence-guided | Itamar Gilad (Gmail, YouTube, Microsoft)
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Listen now (73 mins) | Brought to you by Ezra—The leading full-body cancer screening company | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your
The Magic Loop
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
A framework for rapid career growth
Thank you for supporting Lenny's Newsletter
Monday, September 18, 2023
Thank you for reading Lenny's Newsletter. As a token of our appreciation, we're offering you a limited-time offer of 20% off a paid subscription for your first year. Redeem special offer Here
Picking sharp problems, increasing virality, and unique product frameworks | Oji Udezue (Typeform, Twitter, Calend…
Sunday, September 17, 2023
Listen now (76 mins) | Brought to you by Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian's new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams — Oji Udezue is Chief Product Officer at Typeform and has
How to become a category pirate | Christopher Lochhead (author of Play Bigger, Niche Down, Category Pirates, more)
Sunday, September 17, 2023
Listen now (109 mins) | Brought to you by Mixpanel—Event analytics that everyone can trust, use, and afford | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | Round—The private network built by tech
You Might Also Like
Let's talk about E-S-G
Friday, September 20, 2024
Plus: The French billionaire upping his tech investments; latest deals View in browser Silo flagship Good morning there, Yesterday at one of London's central schmoozing spots a couple hundred
🗞 What's New: YouTube just launched Hype to help small creators get discovered
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Also: Running newsletter ads!
SaaSHub Weekly - Sep 19
Thursday, September 19, 2024
SaaSHub Weekly - Sep 19 Featured and useful products Schedul Threads logo Schedul Threads Boost your Threads following, reach monetization status fast and automate your Threads content publishing for
95 new Shopify apps for you 🌟
Thursday, September 19, 2024
New Shopify apps hand-picked for you 🙌 Week 37 Sep 9, 2024 - Sep 16, 2024 New Shopify apps hand-picked for you 🙌 What's New at Shopify? 🌱 New granular staff permissions for Gift cards Improvement ⸱
[SaaS Club] How firing customers built a 7-figure SaaS
Thursday, September 19, 2024
The SaaS Club Newsletter Hey Reader Here's a quick round up of what's been going on at SaaS Club: In this week's newsletter: 🎧 Discover how firing customers fueled SaaS growth 📈 Turn
The MrBeast Guide
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Today's newsletter is brought to you by LCA. We help companies build their future. From new products to websites, apps, and AI solutions. We work with businesses doing $10M-$10B in revenue. We
Writing Software for Robots
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Tomasz Tunguz Venture Capitalist If you were forwarded this newsletter, and you'd like to receive it in the future, subscribe here. Writing Software for Robots In a few years, most feature flags
KoppieOS, ScrapX, Notch, Magic Inspector, and Entyx
Thursday, September 19, 2024
KoppieOS, where Ai meets Personality. BetaList BetaList Daily Magic Inspector Automate browser testing in natural language KoppieOS KoppieOS, where Ai meets Personality. ScrapX Monitor your competitors
“I’m waiting for the right time”
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Read time: 1 min. 03 sec. "Hey Pat, can I talk to you for a second?" My buddy pulled me aside at a wedding last weekend. I already knew what he wanted to ask... "I really want to do what
Mastering Portfolio Construction
Thursday, September 19, 2024
How to build a strategy that maximizes returns. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏