--- name: plg-audit description: "Audit a product-led motion end to end: fit for self-serve, the free model, activation and time to value, in-product onboarding, feature adoption, expansion and invites, upgrade paths, product-qualified leads, sales assist, in-app messaging, education and product analytics, with a stage-by-stage funnel sized by revenue at stake and a 90-day plan. Use whenever someone asks for a PLG audit, product-led growth review, why sign-ups don't convert to paid, freemium performance, free trial conversion, moving to product-led growth or where to start with PLG." license: CC-BY-4.0 metadata: author: Afeez Adebayo author_url: https://afeezadebayo.com author_linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afeez-adebayo/ author_x: https://x.com/za_icon source: https://afeezadebayo.com/skills-md/marketing/product-led-growth/plg-audit/ category: marketing subcategory: product-led-growth version: "1.0.0" created: "2026-10-10" updated: "2026-10-10" --- # Product-Led Growth Audit Product-led growth (PLG) means the product itself does much of the work that marketing and sales do in other companies: people discover it, try it, get value, invite colleagues and upgrade, often before talking to anyone. Many companies add a free plan or trial and call themselves product-led, then wonder why sign-ups don't turn into revenue. The usual causes sit between the pieces: a free offer that gives away too much or too little, onboarding that never reaches the moment of value, no signals telling sales which accounts are ready, upgrade prompts that appear at the wrong time and no loop that brings in new users. This skill audits a product-led motion end to end: strategy and fit, free model, activation, in-product onboarding, feature adoption, expansion and invites, upgrade paths, product-qualified leads, sales assist, in-app messaging, education and metrics. It finds the biggest leaks and hands each to a specialist skill. It is the entry point for the Product-Led Growth set. ## Operating principles 1. **Value before payment.** Users should reach real value before being asked to pay or talk to sales. 2. **Measure the user journey in the product.** Sign-ups mean little without activation, habit and expansion data. 3. **Free must serve growth.** The free plan or trial should drive adoption, word of mouth and upgrades, not just support costs. 4. **Product and go-to-market work together.** Product, marketing, sales and success share PLG metrics. 5. **Fix the biggest leak first.** Usually activation, then conversion to paid, then expansion. ## Audit areas | Area | What to check | Typical finding | |---|---|---| | 1. Strategy and fit | Is PLG right for the product, price and buyer? | Complex enterprise product forced into self-serve | | 2. Free model | Freemium, trial, reverse trial, limits and gates | Free plan covers most needs; few reasons to upgrade | | 3. Activation | Activation definition, rate, time to value | Activation undefined; most sign-ups never reach value | | 4. In-product onboarding | Empty states, checklists, tours, templates | Product tour nobody finishes; empty first screen | | 5. Feature adoption | Use of key features that predict retention | Valuable features hidden | | 6. Expansion and invites | Seats, workspaces, sharing, collaboration | Inviting teammates is buried in settings | | 7. Upgrade paths | Prompts, paywalls, limits, self-serve checkout | Upgrade asked on day one, never again | | 8. Product-qualified leads | Signals of readiness, scoring, routing | Sales calls every sign-up; ready accounts missed | | 9. Product-led sales | Sales assist motion, playbooks | Reps cold-call free users with generic pitches | | 10. In-app messaging and education | Announcements, tips, help centre, academy | Messages fire for everyone at once | | 11. Metrics and data | Product analytics, cohorts, PLG dashboard | Only sign-ups and revenue reported | ## When to use, and when not to Use it when sign-ups grow but revenue doesn't, when adding a free plan or trial, when moving from sales-led to product-led (or adding sales to PLG), before pricing or packaging changes and in annual planning. Don't use it for sign-up form fixes (the CRO `signup-flow-optimisation` skill), lifecycle email programmes (the CRM and Lifecycle skills) or pricing strategy itself (the Product Marketing `pricing-packaging` skill). ## Inputs to ask for, in one message 1. Product, pricing, free model and target users and buyers. 2. Funnel data: sign-ups, activation, weekly active use, free-to-paid conversion, expansion, churn. 3. Activation definition and the key actions that predict retention. 4. Onboarding flows and in-app messaging tools. 5. How sales and success engage with self-serve users. 6. Product analytics access (Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog, Heap or similar). ## Workflow ### Step 1. Check fit Can users get value without help? Is the price low enough for self-serve at some level? Do individual users choose tools? ### Step 2. Map the product journey Sign-up, setup, first value, habit, team adoption, upgrade, expansion, with conversion at each stage. ### Step 3. Find the biggest leak Compare stages with benchmarks you trust and your own cohorts; size the revenue at stake. ### Step 4. Review the free model What's free, what's limited, what triggers upgrades, how many free users hit limits. ### Step 5. Review onboarding and adoption Time to value, completion of key actions, use of features that predict retention. ### Step 6. Review expansion and upgrades Invite rates, seats per account, upgrade prompts, self-serve checkout. ### Step 7. Review sales assist and PQLs Which signals exist, how they're used, how sales engages. ### Step 8. Review data and metrics Tracking quality, dashboards, cohort views. ### Step 9. Score and plan Score each area 0 to 3; prioritise by revenue at stake; build a 90-day plan. ## PLG funnel template ``` | Stage | Definition | Users | Conversion | Benchmark or target | Biggest problem | | Sign-up | Account created | 10,000 | - | - | - | | Activated | Reached first value action within 7 days | 3,200 | 32% | 40% | Empty first screen | | Habit | Active in 3 of first 4 weeks | 1,500 | 47% | 55% | Few reminders of value | | Team | 2+ active users in workspace | 700 | 47% | - | Invite buried | | Paid | Converted to paid within 90 days | 400 | 4% of sign-ups | - | Limits rarely reached | ``` ## Signs PLG is not the right primary motion - Value only appears after long implementation or data migration. - Buyers are committees that never use the product themselves. - The minimum price is far above what individuals can approve. - Regulation requires heavy onboarding or verification. In these cases, a product-led sales hybrid or a free assessment may fit better than full self-serve. ## Edge cases and judgement calls | Situation | What to do | |---|---| | Enterprise buyers but individual users | Product-led sales: free usage plus sales assist | | Very low price, high volume | Fully self-serve with automation; minimal sales | | Long time to value | Templates, sample data, guided setup or done-for-you onboarding | | Freemium cannibalising paid | Revisit limits and gates with data | | No product analytics | Instrument key events before deeper analysis | ## Handoffs to specialist skills - Strategy and motion: `plg-strategy` - Free model: `free-model-design` - In-product onboarding: `in-product-onboarding` - Feature adoption: `feature-adoption` - Product-qualified leads: `product-qualified-leads` - Sales assist: `product-led-sales` - Upgrades: `in-app-upgrade-prompts` - Expansion and invites: `team-expansion-invites` - In-app messaging: `in-app-messaging` - Templates and integrations: `templates-integrations-growth` - Education: `product-education` - Metrics: `plg-metrics` - Sign-up flow: the CRO `signup-flow-optimisation` skill - Lifecycle emails: the CRM and Lifecycle `onboarding-activation` skill ## Worked example A collaboration SaaS had strong sign-up growth but free-to-paid conversion under 2%. The audit found activation undefined, a ten-step product tour that few completed, a free plan that covered almost every small team's needs, invites buried in settings and sales calling every new sign-up. The plan defined activation as creating a project and inviting one teammate within seven days, replaced the tour with templates and a short checklist, introduced a project limit on free plans with an upgrade prompt at the limit, moved invites into the first-run flow and routed only product-qualified accounts to sales. Activation and conversion to paid rose over two quarters, and sales spent time on accounts that were ready. ## Output format ``` # PLG audit: , ## Summary (biggest leak, first moves) ## Fit assessment ## Product journey funnel with conversion and sizing ## Findings by area with scores ## 90-day plan with owners and metrics ``` ## Common mistakes - Calling a free trial a PLG strategy. - Measuring sign-ups instead of activation and paid conversion. - Free plans with no reason to upgrade. - Sales calling every sign-up. - No product analytics. ## Questions to ask before you recommend changes - What is the first moment users get real value, and how long does it take? - Why do free users upgrade, in their words? - Which product signals show an account is ready for sales? ## Self-check before you answer - Is PLG fit assessed with evidence? - Is the product journey measured stage by stage? - Are findings sized by revenue at stake? - Does each action have a skill, owner and metric? ## Further reading - Wes Bush, Product-Led Growth (2019) - OpenView Partners product benchmarks (archived research): https://openviewpartners.com/blog/ --- Created by Afeez Adebayo, Marketing, SEO & Growth Expert Website: https://afeezadebayo.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afeez-adebayo/ X: https://x.com/za_icon Source: https://afeezadebayo.com/skills-md/marketing/product-led-growth/plg-audit/ Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). You may copy, share and adapt this skill, including for commercial use, as long as you credit Afeez Adebayo and link to the source URL above. Keep this notice in any copy or adapted version.