Growing through experimentation: a conversation with Metehan Yeşilyurt
Metehan Yeşilyurt, Growth Marketing Manager at AppSamurai, shares successful and failed growth experiments and the lessons he took from both.
Published Updated 5 min read
Written by
Founder, GrowthMarketing.ai
15+ years of experience
Emre Elbeyoglu is a B2B SaaS growth expert and Founder of GrowthMarketing.ai. With 15+ years of SEO and GEO experience, he studies search and AI ranking systems to support growth work for brands including Rakuten and Investing.com. He has also bootstrapped SaaS products including Popupsmart and LiveChatAI.
- Computer Technology & Information Systems, Bilkent University
- Co-founder & Growth Lead, Popupsmart (since 2019)
- Co-founder, LiveChatAI (since 2023)
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In this episode, we had an engaging conversation with Metehan Yeşilyurt, Growth Marketing Manager at AppSamurai. We explored his experiences in growth marketing, discussing both successful and unsuccessful experiments.
Our discussion covered a wide range of topics from landing page optimizations to programmatic SEO strategies, and from AI implementation to B2B marketing approaches.
Key Discussion Points
Growth Marketing & Landing Pages
- They discussed how simplicity in landing pages often yields better results than complex A/B testing variations
- Metehan shared an experience where they extensively tested landing page variations for App Samurai, only to discover that simpler pages performed better
- They emphasized the importance of focusing on customer retention rather than just acquisition metrics
AI Integration & Productivity
- Both speakers expressed enthusiasm about AI's impact on their work
- Metehan estimated that AI has increased his productivity by approximately 5x
- They discussed how AI democratizes access to advanced capabilities, especially for solo entrepreneurs
- The speakers highlighted how AI helps with tasks like:
- Content creation
- Analytics interpretation
- Code understanding
- Presentation preparation
SEO Strategy Evolution
- They discussed the shift from traditional keyword research to understanding user intent
- Metehan shared insights about programmatic SEO and the value of targeting low-volume, highly specific keywords
- They emphasized the importance of focusing on quality traffic rather than pure volume, especially for B2B companies
- Discussed the value of creating content for "zero-volume" keywords that might not show up in traditional keyword research tools
Knowledge Sharing in the Industry
- Both speakers advocated for more open sharing of experiences and insights within the Turkish marketing community
- They discussed how sharing knowledge leads to better industry practices and personal brand development
- Metehan mentioned his blog (metan.ai) where he shares detailed marketing insights
Modern Marketing Tools
- Discussion about transitioning from traditional tools to modern solutions
- Mentioned various tools including:
- Google Cloud for SEO analysis
- ChatGPT for content creation
- Vector databases for semantic search
- Various analytics platforms
Here are the key conversations from the transcript translated into English and organized by themes:
Key Conversations from The Video
On Landing Page Optimization
Metehan: "Let me start with a confession. In the early days when I was working with media agencies, I was obsessed with things like changing the color of the buy button. We'd create different A/B tests, trying different colors for the middle package, testing which one gets added to cart more often."
Emre Elbeyoglu: "Yes, when you first move from agency to product, there's this urge to do A/B testing because we never did it before. Sometimes we need to do fancy things, sometimes necessary things."
On AI's Impact
Emre Elbeyoglu: "Making a person 5 times more productive - especially someone experienced and knowledgeable like you - that's incredibly valuable."
Metehan: "I like to work smartly. If I have 3 days for a task, I spend 2 days thinking about how I can do it in 1 day. That's actually why I got interested in growth marketing - doing more in less time."
On SEO Strategy & Evolution
Metehan: "Programmatic SEO is heavily discussed now. Based on what I've learned with AI, I'm trying to look at it from a user intent perspective rather than just directly following HREF, Semrush, or Google keywords."
Emre Elbeyoglu: "That's right. For example, we had about a thousand paying customers. To acquire these thousand customers, we had to get maybe 5-10 million traffic over 4 years. This could have been more efficient with better targeting."
On Content Creation
Metehan: "When I noticed OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) searches, I realized something interesting. A potential customer wasn't searching for 'OEM' but for 'App Discovery'. This was a major gaming company. When you search for App Discovery on Google, you get Discovery channel's app results, but we saw an opportunity there."
On Knowledge Sharing
Emre Elbeyoglu: "I believe sharing triggers more sharing. If I'm sharing here, others might share with an open-source mindset."
Metehan: "It's better for career growth too. Even if you don't directly aim for it, establishing yourself as someone who shares knowledge makes professional advancement more effective and easier."
On Modern Marketing Approach
Emre Elbeyoglu: "We can't just rely on old methods anymore. Why did we build websites in WordPress for years? We're entering a time where we'll question these things. The barriers we used to have are opening up, and development is becoming much easier."
Metehan: "I remember from my agency days, we used to spend days drawing mockups, designing menus. Now we can just go to Vercel or other AI tools and get best practices in 3 minutes. If you told this to me 10 years ago, I probably wouldn't believe it."
On Data Analysis
Metehan: "Sometimes the numbers can be misleading. When we simplified our approach and focused on sector-specific landing pages, saying things like 'Wells Fargo uses us in America,' the conversion was immediate. People would go straight to the form and convert in the sales call."