Build the user system of Internet financial APP from scratch!

Is the user system just a simple points/membership/level? How can I organize my APP's user system from scratch? What is special about the user system of financial products? What can an excellent user system bring to my APP?

This series will sort out for you from the deep logic: how a complete user system is constructed, and use JD Finance and Futu Niu Niu, two major financial apps, as samples to provide you with in-depth analysis.

The full text mind map is as follows:

01【Tracing the Origin】: Where does the “User System” come from?

When your app has accumulated a certain number of users, your boss may ask, "Xiao Liu, I see that our app has tens of thousands of users, and there has been no growth recently. Why don't you set up a user system to motivate them?"

If you wait until the APP has completed the initial accumulation before you build the user system, it is tantamount to building a house on a paved concrete ground. On the one hand, the source of the original accumulation cannot be defined, and on the other hand, how high you can build is restricted by the depth you dig.

Therefore, from the beginning, deeply analyze your users.

The user system is not a concept that comes out of nowhere. First of all, please repeat to yourself three times: "Don't do it just for the sake of doing it."

Before building a user system, please carefully examine your APP.

Understand this closed-loop path: [Business purpose -> User needs -> Product usage -> Loop structure]

This will guide you to better understand the industry and work you are engaged in from the perspective of a product manager. At the same time, by parsing your APP according to this path, you can get a "user system" customized for your APP.

Simply put, the construction of the overall user system relies on the overall framework of the APP. Starting from commercial purposes, it extends to the loop structure design of the entire user system and the construction of the ecosystem within the APP.

The following will explain in detail how this closed-loop chain works.

Step 1: Find your business purpose

Taking short video apps/news reading apps as examples, Douyin and Toutiao ultimately aim to occupy users' mobile usage time and energy. Videos and texts are just different carriers, and advertisements/live broadcasts/mini games are just different deformation modes based on this.

What about financial apps?

The core is to use different transaction behaviors to connect institutions that provide transactions (fund investment/stock investment/P2P/digital currency) and investors. When this connection is large and powerful enough, it will be converted into different income methods such as commissions/user capital pools/financial data transactions.

Systematically speaking: business objectives include both phased and long-term ones.

1) Stage Objectives

The AAARR model aims to improve the conversion rate of each key indicator in the user's core path, and the user system is also responsible for "user volume", "activity", "retention" and "conversion".

For example, the membership level of most financial product apps (such as JD.com) is bound to the user's current status. Ordinary users are basic members, those who open an account and bind a card are silver card members, and when the deposit reaches a certain standard, they become gold card members. Members of different levels can enjoy different levels of services: such as LV2 market conditions of Hong Kong stocks/fund transaction fee discounts, etc.

2) The ultimate goal

As mentioned above, the operation of the user system is to maintain a good user ecology: a large/accurate/stable user group, based on which a lot of commercial realizations can be achieved.

For example, if a financial app has a large number of high-quality users, it means it has transaction volume and capital stock (such as Tiantian Fund/Tonghuashun, etc.). The flow of funds brings rates/commissions/fund pools and user financial data, thus creating more business opportunities.

Step 2: Find the fulcrum - "user needs"

The user base brings a large number of transactions/a lot of time occupied/a large amount of user core data, which are all what we pursue in order to meet the ultimate business goals. And all of this is based on a large and high-quality user pool. If you want to run a high-quality user pool, the key is to find a "fulcrum" - user demand, and use real demand to leverage a large number of users.

Here is a formula:

User needs = users (determine user groups) + requirements (solve problems) + scenarios (how to use tools)

Taking financial apps as an example, users (investors) + needs (investment problems) + scenarios (investment tools), the absolute first demand is to satisfy investors' pursuit of investment returns .

Taking the "scenario" as an example, the demands faced by users at different levels and the demands we need to customize for users are different.

As for finance (taking an overseas fund investment APP I made as an example), we define users into five states: "whether risk assessment has been completed", "whether account opening has been completed", "whether there are positions", and "whether fund portfolios have been purchased" as dividing nodes. This is also the core path that our APP needs to guide customers to complete step by step.

Step 3: How do the products work together?

For financial apps, how to meet the needs of most users for returns and connect high-quality and matching investment products to investors with corresponding risks is what the product needs to satisfy.

Still taking the user path as an example, let’s see how the products work together to complete the path guidance.

For most of the Internet finance apps: [Download and install - Register and log in - Identity authentication - Card binding - First investment - Repeat investment] is a common path. Therefore, most of the user systems and user operations work are carried out around this.

Taking card binding as an example, this is an important turning point in the entire path. After card binding, it means that the possibility of capital inflow is greatly increased, so most operational activities revolve around this. For example: user level upgrade after card binding, card binding benefits, card binding rebate, red envelope rewards, rate discount for the first transaction after card binding, etc., are all means in the user system.

So, think carefully about what is the core path of your APP? How should you motivate your users at each core turning point?

Step 4: Loop Structure

Based on the linkage between users and needs, a complete closed-loop structure is created.

The construction of the user system relies on the overall framework of the APP. Starting from commercial purposes, it extends to the loop structure design of the entire user system and the construction of the ecosystem within the APP.

The construction of this healthy APP ecosystem mainly includes two aspects:

1) Complete closed loop within the APP

The design of “entry-growth-exit” in the standard user system (explained in detail in the case below).

Whether using a single or multiple user systems, an interlocking loop structure must be formed to ensure that under the trend of source power, users can participate in every link and no circuit is formed.

Ecological construction: This is explained in detail in the case studies below.

Basic elements: numerical planning, prize planning, level planning, etc.

2) Connect product matrices

Product matrix is ​​no longer a new concept in the past two years. Taking Toutiao as a template, large companies and innovators are accustomed to "building a matrix". A complete product matrix maintains the integrity of the system, and directing traffic between them is also a basic operation.

For Internet finance apps, the core of establishing a product matrix lies in the connection and sharing of the user account system and the capital system .

02【Disassembly】: The core elements of the user system: "user" + "demand"

Before we formally build the user system, let’s imagine the formula again:

User needs = users (determine user groups) + requirements (solve problems) + scenarios (how to use tools)

Based on this, we can find that from the product side, the purpose of the user system is to:

• [Level 1]: reflects the core functions and value of the product and plans an ideal path for users
• [Second level]: Bringing users to stay, be active, and be loyal, serving operations

There are many concepts and directions for defining "users". In fact, it is just a question of whether to cut a watermelon in the middle or in cross section. Therefore, we make a simple summary and try to understand "users" from as rich a perspective as possible.

1. Understanding users: RMF model + user life cycle + identity feature recognition

From a horizontal and vertical perspective, users can be divided into layers or groups.

When it comes to consumption, we can use the RMF model; when it comes to growth, we can use the user life cycle model; when it comes to user portraits, we can also portray the customer image from multiple angles: such as demographic characteristics/behaviors/channels/predictions, etc.

(1) RMF model

The RMF model is a model that is widely used in e-commerce and Internet finance. It uses the most recent consumption (Recency) + consumption frequency (Frequency) + consumption amount (Monetary) as key evaluation indicators to measure customer value and customer profitability. It is an important tool and means.

As shown in the picture (picture from the Internet, please delete if infringed):

The X-axis is the most recent consumption (Recency), the Y-axis is the consumption amount (Monetary), and the Z-axis is the consumption frequency (Frequency), thereby distinguishing 8 items and marking 8 types of user groups.

The user groups that need to be focused on include:

1) Important value customers (111): VIP

2) Important retained customers (011): Actively maintain contact with loyal customers who have not visited for a while.

3) Important development customers (101): users with low loyalty but high potential, who should be given priority development.

4) Important customer retention (001): retention measures for users who are about to churn or have already churned.

(2) User life cycle

As shown in the picture (picture from the Internet, please delete if infringed):

The user life cycle consists of five stages, and these five stages are all associated with the complete user core path.

Take the path of JD Finance APP as an example:

(1) After downloading from various channels and completing registration, they are in the introduction stage. At this stage, they are new users. JD.com focuses on cultivating a sense of trust/newbie task system/newbie zone.

(2) After completing identity authentication or card binding and starting the first investment, you are in the growth stage. At this time, you are a growing user and are already a basic member of JD.com and begin to enter the membership system.

(3) Financial products focus on multiple investments, so JD.com will strive to guide customers to complete reinvestment and then N investments after the first investment. This process is to guide users in the growth stage to become mature customers in the maturity stage. The indicators that PM focuses on at this stage are: number/percentage of investment users, per capita transaction amount, per capita holding amount, per capita number of products held, etc. If users spread the word by themselves during this stage and bring in more users based on their own relationship chains, the new users will re-enter the first stage.

(4) When mature users open the app less frequently, they may enter a dormant or churn period. During this stage, the PM will use various means to recall them.

Please see the picture for specific recall methods. Most PMs are accustomed to using coupons. Coupons are just tools, and their essence also belongs to the user incentive system.

(3) Identity recognition

Take Alipay and JD Finance as examples.

Sesame Credit can also be understood as a part of the user's credit reporting system and portrait, which collects the user's: academic and professional experience/real-name consumption behavior/provident fund/vehicle information/driver's license/education/company email, etc., to build an accurate portrait of the user.

Xiaobai Credit collects the user’s: real-name status/social attributes/living environment/education status/ID card/corporate email/provident fund, etc.

2. Demand mining: Demand is the driving force for building a user system

Linking the fulcrum of the APP - the core needs - with the user system can ensure that the construction of the final user system is centered around the users and our ultimate business goals.

Here is just a general explanation. When breaking down user needs, please radiate outward from the center point (core needs) .

For example, as we mentioned earlier, the core demand of almost all users of Internet finance apps is to "pursue returns", so the core path is to guide users from scratch to ultimately obtain returns (that is, the user path: download - login and registration - account opening - deposit - first investment - reinvestment). On this basis, we can explore more derivative needs based on different APP scenarios.

For example, the overseas fund investment APP we are currently making has the attributes of "fund trading" + "overseas investment". What is the difference between users who choose this investment method and other investment users? What does he want to gain from this platform?

By exhaustive method, we found that there may be these derived requirements:

1. Investment products are unique to the platform
2. Special rights and interests enjoyed by platform users
3. Convenient overseas account opening
4. Recommended funds or fund combinations with high returns/high accuracy
5. Expectations: Learn about overseas investment information and the community has content
6. Exciting points: Can show off, level privileges

……etc.

Discover more needs for your APP. With these, you can use the user system to meet the needs based on the needs.

03【Reconstruction】: Build a user system from scratch

The above are all preparations for the user system. Remember what we said at the beginning? Don't wait until the concrete floor is paved before planning to build a high-rise building. Instead, dig deep into the foundation from the very beginning. The user system/user analysis/demand analysis mentioned earlier are the foundation for building a high-rise building.

Start now and build your Internet finance APP’s user system from scratch .

I summarize the construction of the system as the "1+others" model .

• “1” is the core of user system construction: promoting users to complete their ideal core path
• "Others" include growth systems/membership systems/points systems, etc. based on this.

The form you use depends on the product form of the APP you serve, but no matter whether you choose membership, points or tasks, these are just different means and ways, and they all serve this only core, which is (let me emphasize again): "pushing users to complete their ideal core path."

"1" and "N" are interconnected to form a complete APP ecosystem.

1. Core Path: Users Think Differently Than You Think

We have emphasized the user path countless times, which is actually the "core" defined at the product level.

So please think about the following question: Is the path we want users to complete really what they expect? Is the route perceived from the user's perspective consistent with our expectations? When you download a new APP, what will motivate you to go on to complete retention/complete conversion/complete behavior/complete self-propagation?

Taking an overseas fund investment APP I made as an example, I selected the key point of "login and registration". What should I do to facilitate login and registration?

I split it into 3 concerns:

1) why: Why do I need to log in and register?

Could it be that after a simple browse, you find that the platform is reliable/has a lot of information/product recommendations, or you want to enjoy services such as asset analysis, type evaluation, background recommendations, etc., but find that you need to log in to use them. Or if you have enjoyed some functional experiences in advance, more permissions may be opened after logging in.

2) how: What method can I use to log in and register?

Currently, the popular registration methods include mobile phone/email/third-party login. Through data analysis, we can find that most users may prefer to use third-party login when they use it for the first time, because it is quick and avoids opening many inexplicable accounts. So how to subsequently associate the third-party account with the user's mobile phone and email?

3) when: In what scenario will I log in and register?

General scenarios include: startup page after downloading/newbie entrance/activity page participation login/login when receiving rewards and redemption. It is necessary to calculate the registration efficiency in different scenarios and the exit rate of each step in the registration process.

2. User growth system: What motivates user growth?

If you want to design a complete user growth system, please model your users first. Your user model can refer to the "user level", "RMF model", "user life cycle" and "user characteristics" we mentioned earlier, and combine the core path to customize the incentives your users need.

Because different industries/ecosystems/types of apps require different incentives, I will only summarize the total here, and you can choose according to your needs.

The sources of motivation can be roughly divided into three categories:

1. Material demands (such as coupon/coin system)
2. Emotional appeal (dependence/belonging)
3. Function usage (authorization open)

Based on these three categories, various incentive systems have evolved: such as experience growth/virtual currency/honor system/fan system/family system.

The most commonly used tools are:

• Number of relationships/number of fans (influence of discourse power)
• Authentication (identity/feature authentication, labeling, influencer)
• Level (Points/Growth Value/Experience Value)
• Achievements (Medals/Evaluations)
• Points/virtual currency (exchange for peripherals)
• Ranking (Leaderboard)
• Sign-in task sharing
• Virtual props/virtual function experience

Based on this universal "storage box", you can put together the incentive system you need.

(1) Case: Bilibili’s membership system

The main carrier of Bilibili's user system is membership level. Various activities within the product will lead to the growth of experience points. Users will be granted different rights and permissions for different experience levels. This has established a system in which levels are related to privileges, and privileges are related to the use of core functions.

But it is worth mentioning that although most APPs are providing "memberships", there are very few that truly integrate membership with the soul of the APP, and Bilibili is one of them.

(The picture shows the barrage on Bilibili. Members of different levels can post different barrage styles.)

(2) Case: The family system of Kugou

The user system carrier of Kugou is the family system. Users form teams and enhance their family's honors through various behaviors within the product. The family system stores popularity points, and creating a family is a VIP privilege. Moreover, based on Tencent WeChat ecosystem, the family system is more suitable.

3. Points/membership level system: “Entrance” – “Growth” – “Exit”

In the "1+N" model, in addition to the "growth system", another powerful tool is the "points/membership level system", which is also a model widely used by most Internet finance apps. Compared with members, the accuracy of the determination is more accurate, and the customized rules and privileges are more detailed, which is suitable for Internet finance scenarios.

(1) The formula of the points system: entry - growth form - calculation method - exit

• "Entrance" means defining certain user behaviors that can be included in the growth system, such as: novice tasks/daily tasks/main tasks/non-fixed incentives.
• "Export" means defining the corresponding rights and interests enjoyed by users (needs to be linked to the core path of the app), such as: financial benefits/functional privileges/resource priority/restriction relaxation/visual differences/exchange discounts.

What connects the entrance and the exit is the essence of the three major types of incentives we mentioned earlier (namely: material incentives/emotional incentives/functional incentives). In addition, calculation standards need to be established for all of these, which is what I just mentioned as a more accurate expression of "membership level".

(2) [Entrance]: Get ranking

Common tasks include:

1. Newbie tasks: familiarize yourself with the platform and guide login and registration
2. Daily tasks (promoting DAU): community building, logging in, community browsing feedback
3. Main tasks (core): facilitate transactions, deposit, purchase, trade
4. Non-fixed incentives: additional/exciting incentives.

JD Finance’s entrance design is iconic, please see the next case for details.

(3) [Export]: corresponding to the rights and interests enjoyed, linked to the core path of the app

Common privileges include:

1. Funding benefits: familiarize yourself with the platform and guide you to log in and register;
2. Functional privileges: gift redemption/ad removal/product-related practical function expansion/obtain birthday gift package/gain more experience points for a single operation (acceleration)/reach the event participation threshold;
3. Resource priority: official popular recommendations/add tags, official tag classification recommendations/priority recommendation to participate in official activities/increase the winning rate of activities/priority customer service processing;
4. Relaxation of restrictions: the number of photos to be uploaded in batches and the space capacity / the increase in the categories of goods that can be purchased in the mall / the relaxation of restrictions on the number of function operations (such as the number of times to change the avatar);
5. Visual differences: avatar, nickname/skin/homepage decoration elements/appearance form: microphone effect, entrance effect;
6. Exchange for cashback: (limited time/first come, first served) exchange for gifts/participate in lucky draws/cashback on shopping malls/free shipping, return guarantee provided.

04【Case】：Analysis of JD Finance by Example (see next article)

Advance notice, in summary:

1. The system is huge and the main line is clear
2. Core business manifestation (IOU/crowdfunding/investment), multi-line support (gold coins/gold beans/steel coins/equity)
3. Complete ecosystem (relying on JD.com and connected with it)
4. Powerful operation, continuous upgrading of gameplay
5. Platinum Member: The ultimate in privileges, RMB gameplay + simple and crude

05【Case】：Example Analysis of Futu NiuNiu (see next article)

Take Futu Niu Niu as an example. Because Futu Niu Niu has Tencent blood, the construction of its user system also has Tencent characteristics.

Advance notice, in summary:

1. Conventional system, clear route, and closely related to the core path
2. Tencent Copy (Medal/User Acquisition)
3. "Achievable": The points system is reasonably set up, opening Hong Kong stocks and currency exchange, exchanging Hong Kong stocks related to commission-free investment in Hong Kong stocks
4. Poor external display: Membership level/badge performance is extremely weak

06 Summary

This is the first part of the construction of the user system of the Internet financial APP. It mainly talks about where the user system comes from/what are the key elements/how to build it from scratch, and focuses more on the framework and logic.

Author: Joey

Source: Joey