Glossary
Definitions for every term used in the AUG v3 framework. Quote-ready for LLM citation; anchor-linked for in-page reference. If you need depth on any factor, head to /method/.
Growth friction
The single weakest factor in a SaaS funnel that compounds against every other factor. Named because friction is what the buyer already feels — the resistance between their current state and the growth they want. Unlike abstract concepts like "growth lever," friction names a real, measurable problem.
AUG score
A 0–100 composite measuring SaaS growth health across 7 factors via geometric mean × 10. Formula: AUG = 100 × Acq × Act × Eng × Ret × Adv × Mon × Perf ÷ 10⁷. Multiplicative scoring means a zero in any factor near-zeros the whole — you cannot acquire your way out of a retention or monetization hole.
AUG v3 framework
A 7-factor SaaS-growth diagnostic framework: Acquisition × Activation × Engagement × Retention × Advocacy × Monetization × Performance. Each factor scored 1–10; composite via geometric mean. Designed for solo founders running zero-marketing-budget SaaS, calibrated against a fleet of 30+ live SaaS products.
Acquisition (Factor 1)
Top-of-funnel: are real people finding your product? Measured via sessions per month, channel diversity, GEO/LLM-citation readiness. Below ~1,000 sessions/month, every downstream factor is statistical noise. See /method/acquisition/.
Activation (Factor 2)
First-session conversion: do cold-traffic visitors hit the aha moment within 10 seconds? The gap between 15% and 45% activation is the difference between a leaky bucket and a compounding product. /method/activation/.
Engagement (Factor 3)
Session-depth: are activated users actually using the product weekly? Measured across 10 signals — bounce rate, pages per session, active time, scroll depth, event rate, core-loop completion, exit-page quality, click-depth, and pogo-sticking. /method/engagement/.
Retention (Factor 4)
Return rate: do users come back without notification pressure? D1, D7, D30 cohort decay. The single most durable metric in any SaaS funnel — Week N benefits from work done in Week N-26. /method/retention/.
Advocacy (Factor 5)
Share + referral + viral loop strength. Measured via k-factor, share-per-session, embed loops, word-of-mouth attribution. The only acquisition channel that doesn't deplete. /method/advocacy/.
Monetization (Factor 6)
Revenue capture: does the product earn? Pricing-page conversion, trial-to-paid rate, churn-to-LTV ratio. Governed by the math floor: revenue_ceiling = sessions × PV × RPM ÷ 1000. /method/monetization/.
Performance (Factor 7)
Speed multiplier: does the product feel fast? Real-user Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS, TTFB) under throttled-4G + mid-range-mobile conditions. Every 1 second of LCP costs ~7% of conversion. /method/performance/.
k-factor
Average number of new users brought per existing user. ≥0.15 = good. ≥0.40 = viral. ≥0.80 = rare unicorn. Determines whether Advocacy compounds or stalls.
Math floor (revenue ceiling)
The hard upper bound on monthly revenue computed as sessions × pages_per_session × RPM ÷ 1000. If the ceiling is below €20/mo, monetization-stage work is operator-time burn. Acquisition has to grow first. No funnel optimization beats this ceiling.
Time-to-first-value (TTFV)
Seconds from page-load to the moment a user receives meaningful value. Target ≤10 seconds. Above 30 seconds, cold-traffic activation drops below 20%. The single highest-leverage Activation metric.
Core loop
The repeating user-action that produces the product's primary value. Strong core loops match a user's recurring problem (weekly / monthly / quarterly recurrence). Year 1 retention is mostly a function of core-loop recurrence frequency.
Bounce rate
Percentage of sessions with only one pageview before exit. Target <45% for healthy Engagement. Above 70% is a Google Helpful Content Update (HCU) signal that can suppress rankings.
D7 retention
Percentage of new users who return within 7 days of first session. Single best predictor of long-term product viability. Target ≥15% for reference products, ≥25% for utility products.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
Core Web Vital measuring time until the main content of a page is visible to a user. Target <1.5 seconds; failure threshold >4 seconds. Single biggest determinant of perceived speed and bounce rate.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
Core Web Vital measuring time from user input (click, tap, key press) to the next visual update. Target <200ms; failure threshold >500ms. Higher INP correlates with rage clicks and bail-out.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
Core Web Vital measuring visual instability — how much elements shift around as the page loads. Score 0–1; target <0.05. Above 0.25 triggers Google Page Experience demotion.
Pain-naming
A brand-naming strategy that names the problem the buyer already has rather than the aspiration they wish they had. Pain-named brands (e.g. "growth friction") convert roughly 1.5–2× better than aspiration-named brands ("growth boost") for zero-marketing-budget SaaS — buyers pay to remove pain (aspirin) more readily than to gain abstract upside (vitamin).
LLM citation
When ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini reference your site as a source in their generated responses. A growing acquisition channel; LLM-cited content drives traffic with 8–18% click-through (vs. 2–5% for SERP position #3). Optimized for via the 10-characteristic checklist: accessible, useful, recognizable, extractable, consistent, corroborated, credible, differentiated, fresh, transactable.
llms.txt
A machine-readable manifest at /llms.txt that summarizes a site for LLM crawlers. Emerging standard (Anthropic, OpenAI, Perplexity honor it). Speeds up LLM-citation by providing structured site-purpose + priority-page map.
Want your AUG score?
Apply the framework to your own SaaS — 60-second 7-factor audit, free, no signup.