How to improve the efficiency of App’s invitation mechanism?

The App invitation mechanism is a feature that almost every product must have. It generally exists in two forms: one is as a permanent function for recommendation, and the other is as a fission activity for invitation.

No matter what form it appears in, it can be classified as a form of social sharing. Compared with marketing promotion, the friend invitation mechanism obviously has a much lower budget cost for acquiring customers. In addition, the advantage of invitations is not only to attract new users, but also to enhance the old users’ identification with the product and their level of activity. Simply put, this is the best choice for attracting new customers and promoting product activation at a low cost.

This article mainly analyzes the form and process of the invitation mechanism, hoping to provide some reference value and ideas for App promotion.

1. Invitation Form

1. Invite Code

There are two scenarios for using invitation codes:

1. It is distributed in small quantities as a rare material, generally used for early internal testing of products or to control content quality and create a community atmosphere. Rather than saying it is a means of attracting new users, it is more of an operation strategy for user communities, such as the early Zhihu and NetEase Planet.
2. The platform business has obvious hierarchical distribution attributes, and invitation codes can be distributed in large quantities as a dissemination logo to encourage users to become part of the fission pyramid. For example: Qutoutiao’s master-apprentice reading reward mechanism.

In addition, the invitation code format is very flexible, and the points that need to be considered in the rules include:

• Obtaining invitation codes: are they issued and controlled by the official resources, or are they generated independently by user accounts?
• Number of invitation codes: How many invitation codes can a user issue or use?
• Time limit of the invitation code: Is there a validity period set so that it cannot be used after the validity period expires?
• Number of times an invitation code can be used: Will it be redeemed after being used by a single person, or can it be used by multiple invitees at the same time?
• Necessity of invitation code: Is it a mandatory option for new users or is it optional?

The advantage of the invitation code is that text is a delicate carrier and easy to spread. On some weakly designed community platforms, such as Baidu Tieba and community forums, you can't ask users to send invitation links or invitation pictures everywhere. On the contrary, the special ID attribute of the invitation code is more direct and simple. Users do not need to click on the picture or link, but can directly receive the impact of the text information, which is convenient for dissemination in specific scenarios. Refer to the phenomenon of invitation codes flooding the screen on various platforms during the hot live answering period.

At the same time, compared to filling in the mobile phone number on the invitation landing page, filling in the invitation code is obviously more private, and the user's psychological defense level will not be so deep.

1. Invite Link

Currently, in addition to invitation codes, most invitation forms are essentially links to H5 download landing pages, including invitation pictures, invitation text messages, invitation web pages, invitation emails, scanning QR codes, etc., so I will classify these as invitation link forms.

Most invitation links will be on the H5 landing page, requiring the invitee to fill in information such as mobile phone number or email address. The first purpose is to guide users to register and obtain user information for future precision marketing and silent awakening; the second is to identify the hierarchical relationship between user invitations in this link to facilitate the subsequent distribution of rewards to both parties.

(1) Invitation webpage

This is the most common communication carrier on social platforms. Its advantage is that it can carry just the right amount of text information. Two lines of title plus a few paragraphs of information description allow users to see at a glance and quickly determine the basic information of the page. The user opening rate is generally higher than other forms. In addition to invitations, it can also be used in fission forms such as bargaining and assistance.

But as the most common form of sharing, if your title copy is not eye-catching enough, it can easily be brushed away by other web link information on social platforms, such as Moments and WeChat groups.

(2) Invitation picture

The invitation image usually carries a QR code entrance, which is essentially generated by the invitation link and links to the download landing page.

This method can display the invitation information on the social platform in advance, and users do not need to learn the details after entering the page. The design, visual and text of the picture are the key to success or failure.

The disadvantage is that opening the image and then identifying the QR code to enter the landing page means that there are multiple opening links in the path, which are also the nodes of user loss. In addition, the operation of identifying the QR code is definitely not as direct as clicking on the web page to open the link in terms of interactive experience.

(3) Invitation SMS

Usually we think that only after registering or receiving related products can the platform accurately obtain the mobile phone number through the information filled in by the user, so SMS is often used to promote activation.

But in fact, some apps have already used it to attract new users, such as Tantan, Maimai, Birthday Manager and other apps. When you register for the app, they obtain your mobile phone address book, and send invitation text messages to your friends by obtaining the names and mobile phone numbers of friends noted in the address book, using acquaintance social networking to increase trust in the product.

This method is not recommended. However, you can send SMS invitations when the product releases major updates or promotions. For example, Alipay always has an SMS invitation option. You can also work hard to promote activation; for example, Tencent Games’ friend recall mechanism, and NetEase’s "Onmyoji" invites users who are about to leave to return through the identity of friends in the game.

(4) Invitation email

Invite friends by sending emails with invitation links. This method basically exists in a small number of foreign products, such as the classic Dropbox growth case. The advantage is that it is more private, and attachments can be added for detailed explanations. It is more suitable for products for B-side users, but the opening rate on mobile terminals is relatively low.

2. Invitation Process

Product awareness and communication paths are important factors that affect communication efficiency. Let’s first look at the invitation paths in the form of invitation codes, invitation links, invitation pictures, etc.:

1. The focus of both

It can be seen that the two have different focuses. The simple invitation code format puts more pressure on the inviter. The inviter often needs to pay a certain amount of educational cost after sending the invitation code to guide the invitee to use the invitation code. In contrast, the invitee needs to pay a certain learning cost to complete the operational steps guided by the inviter.

The invitation link format puts more pressure on the invitee. The inviter only needs to send the link on the mobile terminal, and the part of persuading the invitee to take action can be completed by the invitation page.

But for the invitee, being asked to fill in the mobile phone number before you download the App will obviously put a heavier psychological burden on the invitee, because even during the registration process, many people will tend to choose to log in using a third-party platform (WeChat, Weibo, etc.) account. Mobile phone numbers are personal privacy, and trying to obtain them after the user downloads the product is obviously more respectful to the user.

1. The operating costs of both

The simple invitation code format provides a relatively poor experience in mobile interaction. After all, the invitation code is a bunch of disordered gibberish, not vivid enough, and not easy to shape the product image.

In addition, from the perspective of the operation path, no matter whether the invitee [memorizes the invitation code and fills it out manually] or [copyes the invitation code and pastes it], as long as the invitation code exists, these operation steps cannot be avoided.

The invitation link itself can be natively shared between apps, and the opened invitation landing page can also carry more invitation information, which makes it easy to shape the product image and fully explain the content of the event. There is no excessive learning cost and users do not need to think.

But similarly, [Enter your mobile phone number] [Get and fill in the verification code] also requires a certain amount of operating costs, and the SMS sending of the verification code also has a delay of at least a few seconds, which will wear out the user's patience.

1. The necessity of both

So, since there are many problems with each, why do invitation activities require new users to fill in information? This involves an issue of invitation level binding.

At the operating system level, iOS and Android have their own limitations in obtaining data sources, resulting in inaccurate statistical data. Therefore, in the early days when the technology was immature, most apps could only confirm the identities of the inviter and the invitee by asking users to fill in some unique identifiers and report them to the platform.

for example:

• The invitation code is a string of random garbled characters. It will be obtained by the system when the inviter generates it, and it will also be uploaded after the invitee fills it out. By matching the two invitation code information obtained, the platform can find out who invited the invitee.
• The invitation link requires the invitee to fill in the mobile phone number on the sharing page. After the invitee fills in the number, when he uses the mobile phone number to log in to the App later, the system will know who invited the new user.

Only after accurately obtaining the source of user invitations can we issue corresponding rewards based on the invitation relationship between both parties. This is the greatest value of invitation codes and invitation links for the platform.

3. How to improve invitation efficiency

After understanding the above invitation forms and invitation processes, we can draw a general conclusion in a regular social environment, namely:

• The landing page display format of the invitation link > the disordered garbled display format of the invitation code.
• Get invitation code identification source > Get mobile phone number identification source.

This seems to be a business problem, but it is actually a technical problem, namely, tracking and obtaining the source of App installations.

In fact, there are already mature third-party platforms providing technical services in this area. Taking the free invitation code solution provided by openinstall, a domestic third-party service provider, as an example, we can see that they can implement a relatively ideal invitation process:

The reason why this solution is called the invitation code-free solution is that the way it obtains the user's installation source is still through invitation code matching, but it can be automatically obtained by integrating the openinstall SDK. Naturally, the invitee does not need to manually fill in and upload it, and the user is unaware of the whole process.

In simple terms:

• The inviting party shares the invitation link, and there is no need to convince the invited party.
• The invited party does not need to fill in any information throughout the process. Just download the App from the shared invitation page and log in to get the reward;
• The platform can still automatically obtain the invitation code through the server, accurately identify the invitation relationship between the two parties and issue rewards.

This is a solution that combines the advantages of both the invitation code and invitation link formats, and avoids various user experience issues that arise in each link.

Of course, if the platform still wants to obtain the user's mobile phone number, it can require the user to fill it out during the registration process, user payment, identity verification, etc. after the user downloads and installs the App. This ensures that the invitation path is shortened to the shortest possible and the user's first experience is optimal, thereby improving the App invitation conversion rate and promotion efficiency.

Based on this technology of identifying the source of installation without filling in an invitation code, we can also imagine more scenarios for App promotion. For example, the performance of each salesperson can be counted without filling in a sales code, and the advertising can be counted by generating a promotion link/QR code to generate channel delivery effects.

IV. Conclusion

In most cases, the App invitation method must be accompanied by the conversion path of: establishing user awareness - persuading users to participate - guiding users to take action. What we can do is to use more product introductions or interest-driven methods to grasp the user's mind. In this process, try to shorten the conversion path as much as possible and bring users in smoothly.

Each product has its own characteristics and market, and there is a lot of room for imagination. This article only provides solutions for the general invitation process. As for the respective reward plans, cheating prevention, business integration, etc., I will not go into details. The process framework has been set up, and the rest depends on you to decorate and embellish it.

Author: Big City Small Things

Source: Big City Small Things