20k feedback & 5k users in one month: Using Discord to start our AI growth flywheel
The story of using Discord to cold start Opus Clip, our generative AI video editing tool, and spin our growth flywheel.
At Opus Clip, we don't just want to build another generative AI video editing product in the crowd. We want to build the most innovative one - a product that can democratize video content creation and make it accessible to anyone with a story to tell or a passion to share.
We set an ambitious quarterly goal for creator acquisition after launching the private beta in April, and little did we know that we hit our 3-month goal in less than 3 weeks.
This didn't happen by chance. We shipped fast and improved faster to ensure product excellence. We also constantly experimented with our growth marketing and community-led growth. And Discord played a key role in our growth flywheel. Here are some Discord stats in the month of April to give you an idea of just how successful our approach was:
Number of creators joined our Discord: 6,000+
Number of users gained on Discord (excluding web app users): 5,000+
Number of short clips generated: 61,000+
Number of valuable feedback received: 20,000+
Discord user retention: Discord boasts the highest 3-week retention and is 10%+ higher than all other sources
We learned a lot from our Discord experience, and we're excited to share our Discord growth story with you. We hope that it offers valuable lessons to you too!
Why Discord?
Discord was uncharted territory for our team, but we knew it was the perfect place to connect with creators and grow our product. Specifically, we use Discord to:
Create a strong community and gain valuable insights
We knew our creator-centered approach required a platform that focused on community building, so we turned to Discord. There, we connected with creators, received valuable feedback, and built deeper relationships in an intimate and informal setting.
Experiment with things no other competitor is doing
We utilized Discord's highly customizable bot features to allow creators to access Opus Clip directly from within the community, something that no other competitor had done and was loved by creators.
Build in public
We embraced the build in public philosophy from day one. By sharing with our Discord (and Twitter) community our roadmap, product issues and updates, we were able to gain trust and valuable insights from creators.
How did we start our flywheel with Discord?
We didn't just Discord-dance our way to success. We took strategic actions to start our growth flywheel with Discord. Here are the main steps we took.
Learn from the best Discord communities
As novices to the Discord realm, we did extensive research into top-notch Discord communities to discover their innovative approaches to leveraging Discord as a way to acquire invaluable product feedback, foster growth, establish creator credibility, and propel organic word-of-mouth marketing.
Gain our "seed community members" from Reddit
In the nascent stages of our Discord community, our numbers were pitifully low, barely a blip on the radar. Realizing the significance of a "seed community," we set a goal to gather our first 500 users to kickstart our growth engine.
Our weapon of choice? Reddit. We hit up countless relevant subreddits, creating witty posts and replying to others with reckless abandon. Some communities booted us out, while others couldn't get enough of us. Through persistence and a never-ending cycle of trial and error, we were able to hit our target of 500 seed creators by March's end.
Created the Opus Clip bot by adopting the "Midjourney method"
As unabashed Midjourney fanatics, we took a page out of their playbook and turned our Discord community into a hotbed of product testing, feedback sharing, and camaraderie. In a bold move, we decided to launch our private beta on Discord first instead of our website, giving users a one-stop-shop for all things Opus. With Discord's intimate setting, we could experiment and iterate at lightning speed, without the risk of setting the world ablaze.
We unleashed the Opus Clip bot at the beginning of April, and the response was electric. All users had to do was enter the "/clip" command in the "get-your-clips" channel, drop their YouTube link, and voila, their clips were ready in minutes. Our innovative AI product coupled with this seamless process won hearts left, right, and center, ushering in the first wave of user growth.
Fail fast and iterate faster
Our Opus Clip bot launch was a milestone, but like most milestones, it wasn't flawless. We received heaps of feedback post-launch, and our team worked tirelessly to try to address all issues within a 72-hour window. Here are some of the issues we faced and how we leapfrogged them:
Issue No.1: Confused creators struggled to use our bot.
To remedy this, we revamped our channel structure and server onboarding to make navigating Opus Clip as smooth as butter. We also provided clear instructions in each channel and made it a point to respond promptly to any queries.
Issue No.2: Our "Project Complete" card was a bore.
Our original bot only showed a "Project Complete" card when a project was ready. We realized 3 days after the bot launch that the true "aha" moment was seeing the actual clip. So we jazzed up the results by replacing the snooze-inducing text card with a visually stunning clip. This tiny tweak propelled our user growth even further and inspired more engagement and feedback.
Issue No.3: Hard to find clip results.
Finding clip results in the "get-your-clip" channel was like playing Where's Waldo due to sheer amount of clips generated every hour. We addressed this by having the bot DM creators their results as soon as they're ready, so they could bask in the glory of their clips without any hassle.
Stay active 24/7 and build a thriving community
At Opus, we know that building a community is not a one-time event, it's a marathon. So we made sure to stay active and engage with our creators around the clock, 24/7. We responded to their feedback, answered their questions, and cracked jokes with them, always keeping the community lively and upbeat. It was hard work, but reading all the amazing feedback from creators made it all worthwhile. Plus, who needs sleep when you have such a fun community to be a part of?
Hosted "Clip-A-Thon" contest to further boost creator engagement
We want to see creators flourish like a field of daisies. That's why we hosted the "Clip-A-Thon" contest where creators went head-to-head to post the best clips and win some serious cash and product usage. Not only did this contest give creators a chance to shine (many gained hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of followers within a week), but it also brought us some sweet brand exposure on social media. Such exposure further fueled our user adoption and product development.
What went right?
With Discord, we dabbled like mad scientists and discovered a few concoctions that worked like charm. Here are the top three that helped us to achieve explosive growth.
Observe closely and iterate fast.
Our keen observation and high work ethics allowed us to quickly identify issues and improve upon them in lightning speed. This helped us stay ahead of the game.
Build in public
Building in public is like dancing in your underwear - scary but liberating. By being transparent and open about our development process on Discord, we not only built trust with our community, but also gained valuable feedback that helped shape our product.
Engage like your life depends on it (because your product's life does)
We tried our best to engage with our community 24/7. This not only kept our community lively and upbeat, but also helped us build a strong brand and loyal fanbase.
What’s next?
Our Discord strategy won us more than 20,000 valuable product feedback and a thriving community, but we decided to say "goodbye" to our Discord bot early May and "hello" to more web app development. This is by no means an easy decision, as our Discord bot is like our first baby. But as a small team, we need to centralize our resources and focus on perfecting our web app to give creators a powerful and delightful user experience.
However, just because we're shifting focus doesn't mean we're leaving our Discord community behind. We will continue to work hard to come up with creative ways to engage with our community. Whether it's through contests, events, or just silly memes, we want to create a space where our community feels heard, seen, and appreciated.
After all, our mission is democratize video content creation and make it accessible to anyone with a story to tell or a passion to share, and we can't do that without a strong and supportive community.