B-side operation user growth methodology!

At this stage, the B-end market is becoming increasingly hot. For products such as cloud products and SaaS products, how to acquire users more effectively has become a core issue affecting product development. However, there are very few learning materials for B-side operations . So, is it possible for B-side operations to learn from the massive amount of C-side operation methodologies?

This article is too broad in scope because it focuses on the B-side. It mainly discusses how to increase users through enterprise-oriented platform products (IAAS/SAAS/PAAS products) taking Baidu Cloud as an example. This article is written based on some recent thoughts on the user growth of Baidu Cloud products. I hope this will inspire discussion and exchange with you~

The full text is structured as follows:

1. Differences between B-end and C-end

Many people have discussed this issue. Here I will briefly share my own thoughts and conclusions. There are several main differences in the products:

Due to differences in products and users, our operations may also differ, as shown in the following aspects:

2. Classic C-end Operational Thinking

First of all, the life cycle of a product is the introduction period, growth period, maturity period, dormancy period and loss period.

Correspondingly, the operational goals are attracting new customers, promoting activation, retention, conversion, recall, and migration.

Specific operation methods include content operation, event operation, user (community) operation, channel operation, traffic operation, brand operation and data operation.

Of course, one of these methods may be used in specific work, but more often a combination of methods is used to operate around one operational goal. The product operation methods and typical methodologies based on the product life cycle are briefly summarized in the following table. The methodologies related to the focus of this article will be explained in detail later.

3. Practice of C-end operational thinking in B-end user growth

Having laid so much groundwork above, let’s now talk in detail about how to properly operate C-end operational thinking during B-end user growth.

1. Operation management according to product life cycle

B-end products can also imitate C-end products and divide products into 5-7 levels for layered and targeted operations based on multiple indicator dimensions such as "product functions, technology maturity, resource investment, market maturity, customer scale, upstream and downstream industrial chains, and industry development trends."

1. Develop a product life cycle model and judge product maturity from multiple dimensional indicators;
2. Develop operational strategies and methods for each mature product, and combine multiple methods to promote product progress.

1. User Operation

The essence of user operation work is to discover and evaluate the value of individual users and continuously drive the improvement of user value. For some B-side products, the operating methods for large customers and small customers are different. Let’s first talk about small customer operations that are similar to the C-end.

2.1 Operate small customers according to their life cycle

When the user volume reaches a certain level, the focus of work should be shifted to user operations for small users. The specific volume varies according to the nature of the business and is controlled by the PM.

I once worked on a technology product. Because the technical threshold was relatively high and the target market was relatively small, I started user operations when the number of users reached 30.

When it comes to small customer operations, many methods are similar to those on the C-end. The core is to discover key indicators for business development and improve those indicators through data analysis and operational means.

(1) User stratification

To discover and evaluate the value of individual users, we must first build a user life cycle model.

Users are divided into different layers based on whether they have accessed a certain page or performed a certain key behavior. For example, users can be divided into general value users, potential development users, heavy retention users, and paying users based on whether they enter the product page I am responsible for from the official website, whether they integrate the SDK to report data (officially use the product), whether they enter the data visualization page to view data, and whether they pay for conversion. If there are many paying users, they can be further subdivided into one-time paying users, mid-level users, potential big customers, and big customers.

(2) Layered operations

If divided into layers, how to operate users in each layer is actually closely related to product form, maturity, etc. Here I will just briefly talk about my approach.

A. General value customers: Regular operations are sufficient. Normal brand promotion, product promotion and regular notification of new functions

B. Potential development users: focus on user guidance. Notification of new key features, research and visit typical customers, in-depth understanding of user needs, analysis of user key paths and key behaviors (improving user conversion and reducing churn)

Tips: Converting user growth goals into goals that stimulate users to achieve key behaviors may make it easier to achieve the goal.

C. Retain heavy users: improve experience and promote conversion. Deeply understand user demands, increase the priority of issues affecting user experience, identify the gap between user usage and conversion, and explore factors that affect conversion.

D. Paying users: Help users solve problems. Understand users and their industry background, provide tailor-made reasonable solutions, balance user problem solving and key customer conversion (think from the user's perspective, not obsessed with paying more), ensure user experience and product reputation (can be measured by NPS indicators)

2.2 Major customers operate by industry

The biggest difference between B-end and C-end products is that many of the paying users are actually big customers. In the cloud industry, the usual product form is private cloud deployment. This group of customers is usually different from users, so the operating methods will naturally be inconsistent with the traditional C-end.

(1) Setting an industry benchmark

It has become an operational consensus for almost every cloud vendor to select one or several customers in each of the sub-industries such as finance, government, media, Internet, public security, and airports, focus on developing their own set of solutions, and occupy the private cloud share in that field through industry influence.

(2) Connecting upstream and downstream

There are two types of upstream and downstream here: one is the upstream and downstream industries of the customers, and the other is the upstream and downstream that influence the customers' decision-making.

B-end products usually face a company, so we must consider the issue from the perspective of the customer's industry ecology and see what its upstream and downstream are. If we can discover the customer's pain points and needs in the upstream and downstream supply chains, that would be really amazing!

The other aspect is relatively easier and requires looking at the upstream and downstream factors that influence customer decisions. For example, when customers make decisions, will they search on Baidu first or look for a consulting company first? If you judge that the user will search on Baidu first, then you should do a good job in SEO/SEM; if the user will go to a consulting company first, then you should find a way to build a good relationship with the consulting company, or even invest in it.

(3) Customer needs take precedence over user needs

As a PM, I often don’t like this point of view. Ideally, we want to make a product that is both popular with customers (who may be company bosses) and comfortable for users (people who actually use the product).

However, if customer demands are inconsistent with user demands or if there is a scheduling conflict, operations must first be able to determine which are customer demands and which are user demands. When evaluating priorities, generally speaking, customer needs tend to be more urgent than user needs.

1. Content Operations

Whether it is the B-end or the C-end, content usually includes three parts: content production, content platform, and content distribution.

3.1 Content Production

The B-side mainly includes: white paper, operation guide, official website introduction, product copywriting, and promotional articles. The white papers include (industry solutions, market analysis, annual reports, product introductions, etc.)

It should be noted that promotional articles, white papers and other articles have different positioning and operating models.

(1) For operation guides, official website introductions, and product copywriting, there are two points to note:

A. Accuracy. You have to know that we spend a lot of manpower, material resources and energy to attract users. The first thing users see is our official website and documents. If there is an information leak here, not to mention the previous and subsequent operational measures, it will also reduce user trust.

To be quiet, it is quite puzzling that some technical product official websites have demos that do not work... However, there is a remedy for this, which is the community forum. There are always some technology enthusiasts who will put truly usable methods in the forum for everyone to use (refer to WeChat Open Platform). So if the documents are not updated in a timely manner, please do not close the community forum casually.

B. Clear and original. The emphasis on originality is because, for some products, it seems that there is no difference if the subject is changed to competitors on their official website introductions. So what clear difference in cognition and positioning will that give users? Of course, if this forces users to use the product before knowing the difference, it can increase the product registration rate. I have never experienced this scene, so I can't quite understand it for now.

(2) Regarding content such as white papers, I have only written very few white papers so I don’t have much experience. However, from my observation, excellent white papers have several common characteristics:

1. Go deep into the industry and analyze the difficulties, bottlenecks and breakthrough points of industry development;
2. The problem is clear, the solution is clear, and all-round and multi-angle analysis is carried out to solve various problems one by one;
3. It highlights the product's advantages without going into lengthy discussions on technical principles, and strikes a good balance between being professional, non-boring, and easy to understand.

(3) For promotional articles, I have only been exposed to conventional new media operations, conference promotion materials, and soft-text advertising. Here are a few tips:

1. Content positioning: professional and high-precision knowledge sharing (creating a reliable image);
2. Content format: articles, short videos, long videos;
3. Content type: fixed topics (confirmed together with the product), combination of current events, regular push, and Q&A interaction;
4. Content activities: open classes, work sharing, prize-giving activities (must consider what the audience is interested in, and cannot completely refer to C-end prizes), creating star products/hot concepts/star engineers;
5. Focus: Continuous content operation and intermittent popular activities.

3.2 Content Platform

If you have many products, a lot of content, problems with archiving and organization, and the need for regular updates and reviews, you can build a CMS platform yourself. Without further explanation, it is an internal support product that supports quick approval and quick launch.

Tips: You can consider putting some standard components in the CMS platform, so that you can update the page display at any time and free up design and front-end manpower.

3.3 Content Distribution

1. The white paper should be distributed through various channels to target industries and target user-dense groups. As much as possible, let people who can make decisions or have a strong desire to purchase the product see it;
2. Promotional articles should focus on the daily activities of the target group and strive for more exposure as much as possible. Do not be restricted by B-end promotional materials and not consider placing them on C-end products that users use on a daily basis.

1. Brand Operation

At present, I have little experience in this area, and I can only share two points:

1. It is really important to organize exhibitions and attend conferences. For the C-end, many activities are operated online, achieving continuous exposure of the brand through user fission. For the B-side, the greatest opportunity to reach out to companies and corporate decision makers is through various conference venues. By holding various summits, we continuously enhance the industry influence;
2. Capture all available traffic. This is very similar to the C-end, but it is easily overlooked by the B-end PM. The decision-making cycle of B-side customers is generally longer, and we often look for reasons from aspects such as the customer's industry ecology and bidding review. But in fact, if the delivery in various channels happens to continue to give target customers constant psychological hints, it will also increase users' awareness of the brand, thereby enhancing users' trust in the product.

1. Channel Operation

This is an area that I have not had much exposure to, whether on the C-end or the B-end. So I will simply give you a few tips, and look forward to more exchanges~

1. It is necessary to place the ads on channels with a high density of similar users in order to create a discussion effect. Similarly, user demand analysis and solutions must be followed up by industry in order to truly solve customer pain points.
2. Do a good job in statistics of data sources to ensure continuous optimization of delivery effects.
3. Track channel effectiveness and verify product NPS. Through channel launch, verify whether the new features of the product are truly recognized by the market. Once the market resists the new features, feedback must be given to the product. In B-side products, it is difficult to make up for product deficiencies in operations.
4. Diversified channels are used to ensure coverage of the target user group and penetration of individual users.

at last

Let me share some advice with you: It is difficult for B-side products to make you rich overnight through operation. It is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Be prepared for long-term operation. Take the productization and strategy of operation as the long-term goal, analyze and review each step down-to-earth, believe in the power of accumulation, and encourage each other~

ps: If there is anything I said that resonates with you, is ambiguous, or worth discussing, please feel free to give me your feedback!

Author: Light Salt

Source: PMguangyan