Glowst

At this scale the comment section is a research panel. I used it to pick title and thumbnail tests.

Glowst reached 2.69 million subscribers and 749 million views while I owned cadence and the weekly read of the audience. The growth lever I controlled was what we tested next, based on what people kept saying.

Problem

Past a couple million subscribers, gut feel titles are expensive. A weak thumbnail is a missed click on a very large base. The comments already contain the language. Most teams do not turn that into a test.

Process

Each week I grouped comment themes and sentiment. Repeated phrases became title tests. Thumbnail tests followed the same theme, so we were not changing two stories at once. Cadence stayed stable so the creative test was the thing that moved.

Solution

• Weekly theme recap, used as the test backlog.
• One change at a time: title or thumbnail, tied to a phrase the audience already used.
• Cadence held still so the read was about the creative.

Results

• 2.69M Subscribers
• 749M+ Views
• Weekly A backlog of tests from real comments
• 1 Variable per test

Justin Moran · Growth Marketer · Chicago, IL · LinkedIn · Resume (PDF)