There's little point in wasting precious marketing dollars on attracting punters to your carnival show if you can't persuade them to pay for the amusement rides because your roller coaster and Ferris wheel look like a relic from the past. Still with us?

If overly-long metaphors aren't really your thing then let us break it down for you into some Twitter-speak that may help you assimilate the message better:

@GrowthHackerWannabe Get.Users.To.Use.Your.#KickAssProduct.Often.

Acquiring a customer is all well and good but if they're not logging into your app on a regular basis then you have failed. Whatever your activation goal, you need to make sure that your customers are reaching the end of that long, dark tunnel.

This is where all sorts of product management trickery comes into play. From throwing your free plan out the window, to setting up progress meters, to hacking your shopping cart process, and anything and everything in-between. Possible activation hacks are limited only by your imagination and supply of RedBull.

To lighten the burden of having to start from scratch, we've come up with a list of hacks that will get you started on the path of turning your slick app into a sticky one. Because, as any adult film star will tell you, stickiness pays.