Analysis of Toutiao’s express version of user operation system!

Data from multiple surveys show that the number of users of Toutiao Express is very high, and its coverage in first- and second-tier cities is also wide. But do you know how it is done? What kind of user operation system is behind it? This article will introduce it in detail.

Toutiao should be familiar to most young people, especially in first- and second-tier cities, where the usage rate is very high. How does Toutiao cover such a wide user base? In this article, let’s talk about the user system of Toutiao Express Edition.

Before the analysis, let's first understand the difference between the official version and the express version of Toutiao:

• The official version is mainly aimed at self-media users and ordinary reading users. It also has background operation functions and dominates retention and conversion.
• The express version is mainly aimed at ordinary reading users. It has relatively simple functions and is mainly used to attract new users and increase user fission.

Attracting new users and fission is one of the core aspects of user operations on every platform, and it is also a more difficult link; acquiring the most users at the lowest cost is the goal pursued by every operator.

Let’s first look at the download data on iOS:

From the trend chart, we can see that Toutiao was launched in late September 2018. The number of users increased slowly in the month after the launch, but it also exceeded the 10,000 mark. From the second month, it began to grow explosively, with the highest daily download volume exceeding 460,000, which is already a very scary figure. Among them, the period from November 22 to mid-February was relatively stable with rapid growth. Of course, there may have been more intensive activities during this period, and the entire network channels were coordinated.

Let’s look at the download data on Android:

The cumulative number of downloads on the Android side has exceeded 3.1 billion. Some people may ask: There are only 1.4 billion people in China, so how can there be 3.1 billion downloads?

The download volume here is based on the installed base. The number of mobile phones in China should be huge. In addition, some users install and uninstall, and uninstall and install again, so it is normal to reach this level.

From the perspective of mobile client brands, Huawei, OPPO, and App Store account for 81% of the downloads in the app market, which means that the main users of Toutiao Express Android version are branded mobile phones from these three companies.

So, how did Toutiao Express achieve such a huge volume? Let's analyze them one by one:

1. User Positioning

1. Crowd positioning

The Toutiao Express version targets a wider audience, including hot topics, entertainment, sports, finance, real estate, military, technology, health, games, food, education and all other sections of the entire network. It can be said that there are almost no restrictions on the audience.

1. area

Toutiao Express will match the corresponding city channel based on the location information obtained; its coverage covers all cities across the country. If you use this app, you will find that it switches the city name every time you go to a place, so the geographical positioning is nationwide.

1. Gender/Age/Education/Occupation

• Gender is not limited;
• Age applies to users who have a mobile phone. This age group is relatively difficult to define, but the main population is between 18 and 40 years old.
• There is no restriction on academic qualifications. It can only be said that based on your academic qualifications and the information you want to obtain, Toutiao Big Data will recommend content you like through the recommendation section.

1. Toutiao Express Version Positioning

The official positioning is that the more you use it, the better the information client understands you. It is a personalized information recommendation engine based on machine learning. It calculates the interests and hobbies of each user in a short period of time, and recommends the content information you want to see through big data interest analysis.

1. Marketing Points

• Building a friend invitation system (attracting new members)
• Establishment of task interaction system (retention)
• Advertising placement system launched (conversion)

The following will expand one by one...

2. Invite friends system (attract new members)

Inviting friends is one of the necessary means of attracting new users for every platform. Both the inviter and the invitee can receive corresponding rewards, and the more invitations they make, the more rewards they will receive. Similarly, if the invitee finds the rewards attractive, he or she can continue to invite friends around him or her. In this way, each level of invitees can generate fission, and the effect of this fission can be imagined.

Whether this method can become a new user acquisition machine by balancing the cost of inviting friends and creating attractive gimmicks depends on the strength of the platform's rewards.

At the end of 2018, Toutiao Express launched an activity to earn 32 yuan by inviting friends. It made a simple innovation based on the traditional invitation reward. It divided all rewards into three stages:

1. The invitee reads for x days, and the inviter is rewarded x yuan

If the invitee reads x articles carefully every day (gets xxx gold coins), the inviter can get a reward of x yuan, and x yuan can be obtained after x days.

The advantage of this setting is that, first of all, it establishes a relationship of interest between the inviter and the invitee. If the inviter wants to get the reward, he must let the invitee read the book, which invisibly promotes the app a second time.

Secondly, by letting the invited people read every day, they will develop the habit of using the Toutiao Express app, which will create stickiness and encourage them to discover and find content they like.

At the same time, the activity information of inviting friends will also be indirectly conveyed to the invitees. If the invitees think it is good, they will invite their friends to register, and this way, the channel for attracting new users will continue.

1. For every x articles read by the invitee, the inviter gets xxx gold coins, and the total amount is xx yuan.

The inviter can get double the gold coins that the invitee earns for reading every day, and the inviter can get xx yuan in total; the gold coins can be exchanged for income, which will be automatically exchanged at dawn every day. The specific amount of income exchanged is determined by the exchange rate set by Toutiao officials. The official rule is that the exchange rate fluctuates every day.

1. Invite a friend for the first time and get x yuan

Share the exclusive link with your friends, and let them download and register through the link shared by the inviter. An extra x yuan can be given for the first invitation.

Summarize:

Inviting friends to give invitations is definitely attractive, but if you want to get all the rewards, you need to complete a series of operations given by the reward party. This process is to establish a sticky link. Therefore, the core of inviting friends is that the reward must be attractive, but it is not given all at once, but in multiple times. Several steps for getting the reward should be designed, and both the inviter and the invitee can get the reward through relevant interactions.

3. Task Interaction System (Retention)

1. Earn coins by walking

One of the earliest successful implementations of this model was Alipay’s Ant Forest, where users could gain energy by walking; many platforms are now using this approach to enhance user stickiness. The Toutiao Express version feature was launched around mid-2019, and rewards corresponding gold coins according to the frequency level.

1. Sign in

The reward for signing in is also gold coins. Since gold coins can be exchanged for cash income every day, it is completely fine to capture the user's desire to make money and let the user complete simple interactions. The core of sign-in is sustainability. The reward for the day will be higher than that of the previous day based on the accumulated number of sign-in days. For example, the sign-in period for Toutiao is 30 days, 100 on the first day, 150 on the second day, 400 on the third day... and 5688 on the 30th day. The rewards you get by signing in continuously and uninterruptedly every day are also very large. The purpose is to get users to use the app every day and develop usage habits.

1. Read articles/videos/push articles

Reading news or watching short videos will be rewarded with appropriate gold coins, but there will be a daily cap, otherwise the retention cost for the rewarder will be relatively high. For example, only the first five articles read every day will be rewarded, and no rewards will be given after five articles. Tell users that they can continue to get rewards tomorrow if they want. This is also a good user retention strategy.

1. Search content

There is a search box at the top of the Toutiao Express version, where you can search for information content inside and outside the terminal, and you can find more interesting information through searching. This also drives up the usage rate of search and strengthens product functionality. It is said that Toutiao is preparing to create a search engine to challenge Baidu. If the information is reliable, then this small reward link will be of great significance in increasing entry traffic.

1. Show your income

Gold coins are converted into cash income every day and can be withdrawn directly. By showing off your income, you can encourage your friends to pay attention, download and register, which is also an important way to achieve horizontal fission.

1. Remind friends to read

Reminding friends to read is actually helping yourself to earn gold coins. Most people probably won’t refuse this interaction. Both the inviter and the invitee will be rewarded, and the effect of increasing the activity of the platform can be imagined.

Summarize:

Using task interaction and reward redemption to activate and retain silent users is a common user operation method. The key point is that the interaction method should be simple, the rewards should be both one-way and two-way, users should be able to taste the sweetness, and this method should be regular and sustainable.

4. Advertising placement system (conversion)

The ultimate goal of user operation is to achieve conversion and generate revenue. Operation that is not aimed at conversion is pure hooliganism. As traffic costs become increasingly high today, the advantages of having a large traffic entrance are huge. Companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com all have huge traffic pools to fuel their energy, continuously carrying out an orderly ecological cycle of attracting new customers, retaining existing customers, and converting existing customers. There are two ways to convert users:

1. Traffic monetization, accepting advertisements to divert external traffic and earn advertising revenue

Toutiao Express currently has two ways of advertising monetization. One is information flow advertising (including graphic ads, short video ads, and search ads), and the other is to watch advertising videos in the treasure box to get gold coins (the reward for gold coins is much higher than other rewards).

Information flow advertising is relatively cheaper for advertisers; treasure box advertising is customized and highly targeted, making it suitable for brand and product advertising.

1. Divert own products and promote self-operated products

In the information sector, Toutiao is currently the industry's big brother. Even though it is the only dominant player, Toutiao is not content to just provide information. In the "My Wallet" section of the official version and express version of Toutiao, we can see that Toutiao has extended to products such as loans, credit cards, stocks, card wallets, shopping malls, etc. These products are also popular industry services. Once these editions generate revenue, they will become profitable products of Toutiao, which can expand into more areas and gradually build its own industrial ecosystem.

Summarize:

Whether it is traffic conversion or product conversion, it is the ultimate goal of every platform. There are many ways to convert, such as selling products, selling traffic, selling services, etc. Before doing user operations, you must first plan the business model, the steps and implementation methods of this business model, and have phased goals and split plans.

Similarly, conversion requires a sense of scenario. Do not make products or advertisements that are not related to the product scenario. Otherwise, it is easy to cause a large number of users to leave. No matter how large the traffic is or how good the product is, the conversion process needs to be finely polished; only in this way can the revenue be maximized, more users and market recognition can be won, and the ultimate value of operations can be realized!

Author: Minghang Talks about Operations

Source: Minghang Operations