Xiaohongshu’s ROI is terrible. Brands should check themselves for these 11 pitfalls!

Half a month ago, I discussed Xiaohongshu brand marketing with the founder of the new national style brand. We talked about a lot in more than two hours, especially about brand, data and ROI. Although the brand has received capital funding, every penny of the brand founder needs to be spent wisely. The ROI of Xiaohongshu is half a problem of the brand itself and half a problem of Xiaohongshu's strategy.

This article is written based on the content discussed above, plus the content supplemented by the author, hoping to be inspiring to those who operate brands. If you find it helpful, share it with your friends who are scratching their heads.

Contents of this article

1. Focus on penetration rather than virality

2. Clarify the purpose of each Xiaohongshu note

3. Number and probability of Xiaohongshu notes

4. Unique selling points and packaging that suit Xiaohongshu users

5. Xiaohongshu’s Halo of Trust

6. Xiaohongshu Note Content Structure

7. Xiaohongshu Notes Comment Area

8. Branding is only part of marketing

9. Uniqueness of the Category

10. Long-termism and the urgency to sell

11. Can the product help users show off?

01 Focus on penetration rather than virality

In the article "Selecting Bloggers", the author talked about finding matching bloggers based on the portrait of the brand's consumer group, looking at the fan portraits in the background of the blogger's account, and using this as a reference for selection. Because we want to penetrate the audience accurately, we also follow this standard when looking for bloggers.

In the past few years, various brands have been studying Perfect Diary’s gameplay on Xiaohongshu, so Xiaohongshu blogger’s advertising model - the pyramid model has become widely circulated. At this point, we might as well think about whether there is a possibility that Perfect Diary did not decide to use the pyramid model at the time, but only selected a large number of KOC amateurs in order to save money. Of course, today is different from the past, and the rules of Xiaohongshu are also different.

During last year’s Double Eleven, the maternal and infant brand operated by members of the Content Villa community won the top spot in the Tmall category. However, looking through the notes they posted, the rate of viral articles was not high. After communicating with the person in charge, I learned that the traffic of the Tmall store has skyrocketed. Yes, the sales of 2 million to 3 million around Double Eleven in 2021 all came from the Xiaohongshu channel, and the notes and comments area were all discussing this product.

Summary of Xiaohongshu Marketing

When we focus on the explosive article rate, we will get a lot of explosive articles, and even multiple articles with over 10,000 interactions. The brand manager should be ecstatic. However, there is no growth in product sales, the so-called ROI. If the content of the notes is focused on scenario needs and products, with a low explosive rate but effective in reaching the crowd, this is the right direction. Therefore, even if the explosiveness rate of an article is low, as long as it is effective note content, it is the result that the brand wants. For details, please read the article "Fake Hot Articles and Effective Hot Articles".

Note: The blogger’s fan portrait is not the only way to accurately reach the target audience. Other content tags, topics and copywriting are also crucial.

02 Clarify the purpose of each Xiaohongshu note

In the past articles, the author (Zhuang Jun) wrote about the seven types of notes on Xiaohongshu: a single product notes, b horizontal evaluation, c vertical life, d dry goods single product, e multi-product collection, f tutorial strategy, and g pain point solution. Each type of note has a different purpose and focus. Some focus on selling products, some focus on product promotion, and some notes are used to report brand words, etc.

1) Product recommendation + information flow = accurate sales

If the product is not particularly attractive, or the integration of the product and the scene is very attractive, the rate of a single product note becoming a hit will indeed be very low. If you want to sell goods directly from the beginning and are in a hurry, you might as well invest directly in information flow.

2) Horizontal evaluation + comment area = vertical sales

Horizontal evaluation is a type of note for vertical sales on Xiaohongshu, but the official also mentioned in the document that relying on this type of notes for soft implantation will be hit. Therefore, when placing blogger notes, try to be objective, do not exaggerate, and do not let your product content account for too large a proportion. It is better to be safe than sorry.

3) Tutorials + high interaction = brand exposure

In our past research notes, things like hair braiding tutorials, makeup tutorials from ugly to beautiful, and emotionally conflicting food tutorials generally have good exposure, but the comment section must be interactive to introduce the brand, otherwise the user's discussion direction will change. If the note becomes a hit, users will search for the brand name in the Xiaohongshu search box.

4) Strengthen keywords + high interaction volume = search ranking

This part of the notes is mainly for occupying page rankings. Based on the note types with a higher explosion rate, the keywords are strengthened. Once the interaction volume increases, the chances of ranking high are relatively high. However, it is recommended to start with the layout of segmented keywords. Segmented keywords are also called long-tail keywords, and segmented keywords have less competition.

5) Good looks + solid knowledge = trust endorsement

When Xiaohongshu users search for brand words or product demand words, they see beautiful bloggers with high looks also endorsing the brand. The brand will find a blogger with a certain temperament to create content based on what kind of feeling it wants the brand tone to give to users. Of course, good-looking bloggers may not necessarily lead to conversions, so this depends on the brand’s choice.

6) Vertical life + shopping list = vertical sales

Vertical life refers to products that appear at the same time and in the same scene and space. For example, when you get up in the morning and go to the bathroom, there are toothpaste, electric toothbrush, towel, facial cleanser, etc. in front of the mirror. Core Points

Dear readers, please remember the above 6 formulas. If you see similar content in other authors’ articles or courses in the future, please inform Zhuang Jun. As for those authors who don’t even inform me, I will criticize them on the official account.

03 Number and probability of Xiaohongshu notes

Brands that have just joined Xiaohongshu hope that every note can go viral, but this is impossible. But there are still many teams that still have this mentality. In fact, everything is about probability. It is only the operators who have a better grasp of the content that can make the popular articles or effective notes more accurate.

1) Reference industry data

First, let’s take a look at the overall situation of the Xiaohongshu industry/category and the average overall traffic value of the industry, including the average interaction volume of notes in the past 30 days. Runzhi once said: "Without investigation, there is no right to speak."

(Screenshot from: Yien Star)

2) Data of direct competitors and indirect competitors

According to the data, the other party publishes 300 notes and 100,000 information flows every month, and the team has put a lot of effort into product selection and packaging. After seeing the ROI of the competitor's products, we are very satisfied and envious. Only by further exploring the other party's data and content presentation methods can we understand the gap between the enemy and us. I wrote about the process of competitor analysis in the article "Little Red Book Brand Launch: A Guide to Competitive Product Analysis from 0 to 1".

3) Only by knowing the number can we know how high the probability is

I’ve seen people eager to get a result immediately after publishing 20 notes. If there is no hit after publishing 20 notes, the brand manager will conclude: Come here, the hit rate of this note is 0.

In fact, when the product is initially launched, there must be a first round of content testing to know the probability of which content becoming popular. In addition, a popular article may not necessarily sell well, and a non-popular article may not necessarily fail to sell. In short, after testing 20 articles, adjustments were completed and 100 articles were released to summarize the explosive article rate and ROI.

4) A little luck and chance

During the past six months, we have been operating the business ourselves or communicating with students. There have been a few lucky occasions; for example, one note sold tens of thousands of goods, but this was a surprise and could not become a routine operation with certainty. Perhaps only 1-3 out of 100 articles will appear, so luck plays a big role.

The number of Xiaohongshu notes and the overall advertising costs should be compared. It is impossible to summarize the probability of a desperate action. We have all seen wars in ancient TV dramas. When we encounter a city with only 10,000 defenders and our side has 100,000 troops, even if we don't attack the city, Zeng Guofan's method of attacking the city is to surround it and dig big trenches to cut off the food supply of the defenders. The numbers are here. Therefore, skills are insignificant in the face of base number and scale, which is an absolute crushing victory.

04 Unique selling points and packaging that suit Xiaohongshu users

1) The “mechanical text” selling point of factory merchants

In the past five years, I have communicated with thousands of brand founders in the field of Xiaohongshu. Among them, the traditional e-commerce and factory managers’ understanding of selling points is to list "mechanical texts". They are immersed in the self-satisfied world of ingredients and materials. Especially using Taobao’s stiff details page as a selling point.

For example, taking masks as an example, traditional e-commerce people are concerned about whether the price of the masks is low, whether the material is high-quality, and whether there is a qualified inspection report. Use your understanding of the basic functional conditions as a selling point. However, Xiaohongshu’s female users are not focused on this, see below.

2) “Buying Points” as Understood by Xiaohongshu Users

So what are the selling points that Xiaohongshu users pay attention to? When it comes to masks, girls on the Xiaohongshu platform are concerned about whether the masks make their faces look smaller, whether they will smudge their makeup, and whether they will look the same as everyone else when they wear them out. There are many creative designs of masks nowadays. For another example, all selling points are not viewed from the perspective of merchants.

3) The sentiments of the brand founder and the “feelings” of Xiaohongshu users towards the content

In 2019, I communicated with the founders of brands with a market value of 300 million yuan. At that time, they had just established their team. Although the team also came from traditional media, they really knew little about Xiaohongshu. The content must stick to the theme, and the reviewers must also express their advertising. Their understanding of communication is only in the way the public account is disseminated. Later, a group of Xiaohongshu bloggers decided to cancel the cooperation after revising the draft twice.

The content and selling points presented must be accepted by users at the beginning. The 1.0 e-commerce sales platform uses keyword entrances to showcase its product advantages and the brand sentiment of the brand founder. The greater the achievements made in other fields in the past, the more conceited and self-willed they may be. Even if consumers are looking for something new, there will still be a good purchase rate.

05 Xiaohongshu Halo Trust Endorsement

Xiaohongshu’s halo of trust endorsement is often referred to as word-of-mouth marketing and word-of-mouth accumulation. When Xiaohongshu users learn about a brand from another note, they will search for the brand in the Xiaohongshu search bar, which is often referred to in the industry as the "return search rate."

Blogger notes with brand word notes at the top, bloggers in vertical fields who are influential, or Li Jiaqi's notes, will increase the order rate of Xiaohongshu users. Or young female users of Tmall stores, they basically go to Xiaohongshu to search for related products.

For example, when the Turtle Dad children's care brand was doing marketing on Xiaohongshu in the early days, it also found Cui Yutao Nursery and Dad Review as trust endorsements. When users see the brand in the notes of amateurs or junior experts, no matter where the target users see Turtle Dad, they will go to Xiaohongshu to search for the brand word.

After searching, I found that Dad Review has endorsed it, so I can buy it with confidence. This is also the reason why many brands need Li Jiaqi and celebrities to sell their products through live streaming.

06 Xiaohongshu Note Content Structure

E-commerce merchants can feel this. Every picture of the product is trying to persuade visitors. It is exactly the same on Xiaohongshu, but the form is slightly different.

1. Some note structures are used to plant grass

As long as the cover is attractive enough, don’t worry too much about whether it is exquisite. In Zhuang Jun’s previous series of articles analyzing popular articles on Xiaohongshu, you can also see many popular article covers that are not too exquisite. After the content is lifelike and becomes a popular article, it is enough to let people know the brand.

2. Some note structures are used for sales

The advertising purpose is very strong, the brand professional accounts are also burning information flow, and the blogger notes that should be reported have also been reported. For horizontal evaluation notes, the focus is also on the company's own products, clearly telling users that their own products are superior.

3. Some note structures are used to create character settings

Notes on building an expert persona usually appear on our brand’s Xiaohongshu professional account. The content may not even mention the product, but the Xiaohongshu users can be informed through more popular science knowledge. Through the content of the notes, users are also encouraged to follow Xiaohongshu’s professional accounts and then read other notes.

Notes that highlight a person's personality will make a deeper impression on the brand, notes that reinforce a product's selling points will bring in quick sales, and notes that merely promote a brand will only increase exposure by creating explosive posts and letting users know about the brand. The content structure of each note will make the user's behavior different.

07 Xiaohongshu Notes and Comments Area

In "How to Go from 0 to 1 in Xiaohongshu Marketing with Insufficient Budget", it was mentioned that notes need to be guided in the comment area. Although Xiaohongshu now strictly bans or "swallows" comments in the comment area, this step still needs to be done. What needs attention is the frequency of occurrence and the “cleanliness” of the account.

In the above article it is mentioned that the comment section is the biggest salesperson;

1) Introduce the brand name and reinforce it again;

2) Lead to the purchase address, with clear goals;

3) Elicit the audience's concerns and resolve them;

4) Introduce comments and justify them;

5) Introduce usage, reinforce selling points and reinforce usage methods.

The weather vane of the comment area is very important. If it is guided properly, Xiaohongshu users will focus on a certain point for discussion. If left unattended, it will also affect ROI.

08 Branding is only part of marketing

In the diagram of "Little Red Book Content Ranch Theory", it is mentioned that the brand placement on Little Red Book is only part of the marketing action, and the rest needs to be handed over to consumers. If in the middle and late stages, the penetration of content still needs to be done by the brand itself, then it will still account for a large part of the budget investment.

I will explain this in detail later in the article.

Of course, if a brand has money, it can create popularity by force. Looking at LV’s advertising on Xiaohongshu, the content is not novel, but with the “halo of an international brand” and a good marketing budget, it can get good exposure by buying traffic with money.

09 Uniqueness of the Category

1. Category/homogeneity

Serious product homogeneity is often seen in factory merchants or traditional e-commerce. The author (Zhuang Jun) is not saying bad things about factory merchants. It is true that there is insufficient awareness and understanding of content-seeking brands.

When the ROI effect is not good, the head of the Xiaohongshu team or the brand founder may blame the Xiaohongshu team members for the effectiveness of the campaign. However, from the top-level design of the brand, there is already a problem with the category positioning. When the first button of a garment is buttoned incorrectly, even if the following buttons are buttoned perfectly, the final result will be unsatisfactory.

2. Category/scarcity

"Either the first or the only one" is a phrase often put forward by people who do brand strategy. Recently, I have been studying the brand marketing of the large-cup bra "Naitang Pie" on Xiaohongshu. Our common underwear positioning is women aged 20-35 or sentimental, and these positionings are easy for other businesses to imitate. On the contrary, the category positioning of Milk Candy Pie can be considered scarce. When girls see the notes on Xiaohongshu, they search in their minds and find that there is indeed no such segmented positioning, which will ignite their desire to buy. (In the next article, I will focus on analyzing this brand’s Xiaohongshu strategy)

10. Long-termism and the urgency to sell

I also agree with the view expressed by the founder of the new national style brand mentioned at the beginning: brand penetration is like voting/investment. As long as the direction is correct, it depends on how big the position is. We are not looking for short-term sales. After all, not all categories of products cost only a few hundred dollars, and consumers will make impulse purchases.

1. Urgent need/urgent purchase

Recently, I have been analyzing Naitangpai's Xiaohongshu advertising strategy and content structure. In terms of the scarcity of the product category, the purchasing power is on the level of eagerness to experience it. In addition, the large-cup bra's "big breasts make the breasts look smaller" selling point makes it a real need for the target group. After all, summer is here and the target group has begun to worry about various sartorial embarrassments. This is an urgent need.

2. Light luxury/no urgency to buy

The reason why people are not eager to buy a product is that they already have a product with similar functions at home. Even if they know about the brand product through Xiaohongshu notes, they will not make impulse purchases. It may also be because of the price. For example, a large household appliance costs tens of thousands of yuan, which makes the decision-making cost of consumers higher when purchasing. Of course, if you put enough effort into the packaging, even if it’s just for fun, you will still have good sales. This is why many small Douy products are so popular even though they are not particularly useful.

If the product category is not something that needs to be purchased urgently and it will also affect the current purchasing decision, then the ROI cycle will need to be longer.

11. Can the product help the target group show off?

It is difficult to build a good category brand in circle business, and you can only build a personal brand. However, for those who make fast-moving consumer goods or want to create a hit product, it is important whether the product can stimulate consumers' desire to share. After this product is placed in a home scene, will anyone want to take a photo and post it on WeChat Moments? Will a blogger want to post a note to promote it after purchasing it?

1. Beiyi Twist Car

This is a low-cost investment in Xiaohongshu on Double Eleven 2021, which achieved sales of approximately 2 million. When many brands are thinking about how to introduce the safety of twisting cars and how good the materials are. Beiyi twisting car appeals to both the visual sense and the psychology of mothers showing off their children. The twisting car + helmet + protective gear give children a sense of being a little hero riding a horse. Every mother wants to make her child more handsome to satisfy the mother's nature of "showing off her child". "Tap water" will also double.

2. The studio of the hair salon

Every time after you get your hair done, the hairstylist wants to take a beautiful photo for you. Don't worry, if the photo is really beautiful and the hairdo is really good-looking, girls can't help but post it on WeChat Moments, or even post a note on Xiaohongshu to record their lives. If this step is omitted, the effect of fission propagation will be reduced.

Now, the communication design of tap water is completed.

Final summary

After 2 months or a quarter, if you find that the ROI of Xiaohongshu is not right, you must stop and think about what exactly affects the conversion. This article lists 11 factors, some of which are problems with the brand’s top-level design, some are problems with Xiaohongshu’s operation, and some are due to insufficient understanding of the content. If you find that the ROI is not right, keep adjusting it. After all, both selling products and brand building require constant improvement.

Related reading:

Xiaohongshu blogger’s money-making rules!

The brand marketing code of Xiaohongshu!

Guide for travel businesses to make the most of Xiaohongshu notes!

Author: Zhuang Jun

Source: Zhuang Jun