Wu Xinhong, founder of Meitu , shared his experience in product development and promotion. In his opinion, being down-to-earth, word-of-mouth communication, schedule and spirit are crucial to product development.
First, let me talk about my experience of failed entrepreneurship. I started my business after graduating from high school in 2001. In 2003, I bought a good domain name called 520.com. At that time, I used 520 as a dating website. But I soon discovered a big problem: I was too perfectionist. In order to ensure the product was perfect, I had to participate in many aspects myself, such as prototype design, web design, and front-end scripts. This gave my colleagues a headache, as the biggest problem was time delays - something that was supposed to take a month was delayed to three months, and the project was abandoned after two years. I have summarized two main lessons from the failure of this project: first, never do things that you are not familiar with, and second, perfectionism is deadly. Later, I did a lot of projects. From 2005 to early 2007, I did no less than 30 projects. Each project seemed interesting, but none of them became big. So, I also learned a lesson: you have to focus on what you do. You want to do everything, but you can't do anything. In 2007, I accidentally created a very good product - Martian language. At that time, this product was very popular among netizens born in the 1990s. It was very different from previous products. It took me three days to master the Martian language. Moreover, it spread like a virus, and we didn't spend a penny on promotion. By 2007, we had more than 10 million users. Why did Martian language succeed? I think the key is that it tapped into the needs of young people, because this group of people was called "non-mainstream" at the time, and those who considered themselves mainstream did not pay attention to them or make products to serve them. We made this small product with a playful attitude, and it just happened to meet their needs. In addition, curiosity marketing is also quite useful. Many people use our products because of curiosity and pursuit of individuality.
At that time, we called these non-mainstream users grassroots users, and their needs were not only for personalization of text, they also had a great demand for personalization of images. At that time, I used Baidu Index to search for the keyword "non-mainstream", and found that the combined index of the two keywords "non-mainstream pictures" and "non-mainstream avatars" exceeded 100,000 per day. This makes me wonder what people who search for these images are looking for - they just want to make their photos more personal. At that time, there were no products targeting these needs on the market. For example, the results of searching for “non-mainstream pictures” were all PS tutorials. So we came up with the idea of making a software for non-mainstream pictures, which is the prototype of the current Meitu XiuXiu. We started developing this product in 2008, and originally named it Meitu XiuXiu Master. We officially launched the first version in October of that year. We found that it was quite popular because it was a product not available on the market. We also did some promotion among Martian language users, and soon the usage of the software increased. Two months later, we found that although Meitu XiuXiu Master met the needs of users and user promotion was quite powerful, there were still relatively few users who actively spread the word. At that time, we considered whether the name was too serious. So we decided to change the name of Meitu Xiu Xiu Master. We thought of more than 50 names, even Meitu Xiu Xiu Baby, but finally decided to use Meitu Xiu Xiu. Why? First of all, this name is more auspicious, because I believe that names also have feng shui. I look up the corresponding good and bad luck in the "Book of Changes" for each name, and the name Meitu Xiu Xiu is a very good one. In addition, I also found out whether the trademark "Meitu Xiu Xiu" was registered, so we quickly submitted it.
Every name is a symbol. For example, Meitu XiuXiu is a symbol. When users see Meitu XiuXiu, they think of us, and when they see XiuXiu, they also think of us. This way, there will be a memory point, and users will think of your name when they actively spread it. When I was working on Meitu XiuXiu, I asked colleagues related to the product to iterate as quickly as possible. Before the product was launched, we would release a DEMO (note: demonstration software) every week. After the DEMO was released, it would be given to colleagues across the company to use and then conduct research. Whether we are product managers or other members, we all have to have one-on-one contact with users offline. We usually choose places where there are a large number of PC users, such as Internet cafes. We also go to university cafeterias, coffee shops, and streets. For example, we stop a passerby and ask him about his experience using our products.
I would like to point out that we often let users experience DEMOs and collect suggestions for product improvement. This kind of communication with users can also keep the entire team consistent. Because product managers and engineers have different philosophies, through such surveys, all our teams have a very consistent understanding of users. In addition, we also require engineers to continue to solve problems raised by users online, so the entire company has a strong understanding and culture of users. In general, all of our employees have a high level of product awareness, which can be summarized into the following three points:
1. Regularly conduct on-site surveys at universities. Not only product personnel but engineers also go there frequently to understand users’ usage habits first-hand. 2. Let the data speak for itself. The frequency and changes of users’ operation behaviors can be monitored at any time as a basis for optimization and adjustment. 3. All employees are encouraged to report bugs and provide internal incentives so that all employees can put forward opinions and suggestions for product improvements. Four word-of-mouth communication From Meitu XiuXiu to later products, we basically spend very little money on marketing. Of course, this is also related to ourselves: we are losers. We focus our marketing on word-of-mouth communication among users. I believe that word-of-mouth communication has three key factors: first, the demand must be rigid enough; second, the product quality must be relatively good and must be continuously optimized; third, to create user communication lines, you must first express yourself in a concise and concise sentence, and keep emphasizing it. When we were making the PC version of Meitu, we used this phrase: "If you like Meitu, tell three of your friends." In addition, we also continue to guide users to spread word-of-mouth through many channels, such as through influential opinion leaders. Meitu XiuXiu has used many Internet celebrities and relatively famous models to do early word-of-mouth guidance. Of course, there are many free ways, for example, we promote Meitu XiuXiu as a must-have software for installation. We use this positioning to carry out market cooperation and achieve relatively good free marketing results.
The product release date is particularly important. For example, for the Meitu XiuXiu Camera, we deliberately chose to release it before the Spring Festival, because many channels will be closed before the Spring Festival, and most companies want to avoid the Spring Festival and want to promote it after the holiday. Therefore, we had a relatively good advantage before the Spring Festival. At that time, few companies competed with us during this period. After the Meitu XiuXiu Camera was launched, it ranked first in the overall list for ten consecutive days. Six Essences, Qi and Spirits I have always believed that any product has its own spirit. For example, Jiayuan.com and Baihe.com are both targeting the basic needs of dating and marriage. So after the success of Martian language, we paid special attention to the soul of this product. The soul of Martian language is that it allows many users to personalize text in a very simple or even small way. In addition, I think the soul of a product is also related to the genes of the team. I am happier and more comfortable working on Meitu XiuXiu because I am a literary youth who has loved painting and photography since I was a child, and there are many people like me in the team. Only a team that is interested in and very good at the core points of the product can build up the soul and spirit of the team.
