2019 Alipay product operation analysis!

1. Product Overview

1.1 Product Introduction

Product Name: Alipay

Product Type: Third-party Payment/Finance

Product positioning: An Internet product that makes life more convenient, safer, better, and payment easy, simple and reassuring.

Product logo:

1.2 Main functions of the product

Payment and collection: support QR code scanning payment, payment code collection and payment, transfer and remittance

Financial management and investment: support Yu'ebao income appreciation, fund stock trading, fixed investment and insurance services

Recharge and ticketing: support mobile phone recharge, life payment, ticket booking and online booking

O2O service: support food supermarket takeaway, leisure and entertainment, travel customization

Other functions: support credit assessment, health charity, social circle, express query, mall entrance

1.3 Product iteration

Important function version records:

Iterative analysis: In the early versions of Alipay (v5.3.0-v8.0.0), the focus was on basic and core functions, and continuous optimization and improvement were made in bank card payment, payment environment security, and payment methods. In the middle and late stages of the product (v8.5.6-10.0.1), it can be seen that Alipay began to add O2O services, financial management, social networking and other functions after perfecting the basic payment and transaction guarantee functions.

In general, Alipay gradually adjusts its product strategy with each major version change. While adding new functions such as QR code transfer and adaptation to Apple devices, it has begun to shift in the two major directions of internationalization and socialization.

1.4 User Analysis

1.4.1 User Distribution

According to the app index analysis of iResearch data, male users account for 59.92% and female users account for 40.08%; the highest age group is 31-35 years old (30.59%), followed by 25-30 years old (22.02%); the top four provinces and cities with the highest regional share are Guangdong (11.1%), Shandong (7.28%), Jiangsu (6.83%), and Zhejiang (5.98%). It can be seen that the typical population characteristics of using Alipay products are the 20-30 year old age group in first-tier cities close to the coast.

1.4.2 Typical User Profile

Based on the typical user group characteristics obtained from user analysis and the characteristics of Alipay itself, we can roughly divide the following typical users into the following categories:

• College students who like to try new things.
• Office workers who pursue a convenient and simple lifestyle.
• Investors who focus on financial management and investment.

Draw a single user portrait for each typical user type, including:

1.4.3 User Demand Analysis

Based on Alipay’s product positioning and the problems that its version iterations solve, user needs can be classified into basic needs, essential needs, and attractive needs.

• Basic needs: Solve the needs of users who want to make transactions and payments in a more convenient and quick way.
• Expected demand: Solve users’ concerns about security issues when using Alipay.
• Charming needs: solving users’ needs in investment and financial management, life services and social interaction.

1.4.4 User Usage Scenarios

User: Jansen Li

Scenario 1: Li was very thirsty after a basketball game, so he went into a store next to the basketball court to buy a bottle of mineral water. When paying, he found that he had no cash and his friend was not around. Fortunately, his mobile phone was with him, so he used Alipay to complete the transaction.

Scenario 2: While traveling to City S, Li plans to book a hotel after arriving at the destination. After browsing the mobile app, he finds that a hotel has a new customer discount and the user reviews are quite good. Li decides to book this hotel and pays the deposit using Alipay.

User: Tina chen

Scenario: Chen was going to buy a set of clothes for each of his parents at the end of the year. As he was busy with work, he did not have much time to go shopping in physical stores. After selecting the styles in the xx online store and clicking the payment button, he remembered the guaranteed transaction function of Alipay when selecting the transaction method, so he used Alipay to pay.

User: Mr.Wang

Scenario: Last month was very lucky for Wang. He received a good income from the company's shareholder dividends. He is now planning to use the income to buy stable funds or bonds, but he cannot find a trustworthy institution. Finally, when using Alipay, I found some fund products in Alipay's "Wealth" that were more to my taste, so I decided to buy them once to try.

Summarize:

By analyzing the above three different typical user usage scenarios, we found that the functions of Alipay products can better meet the three aspects of user needs.

This also reflects to a certain extent Alipay's product strategy layout ideas in the early, middle and late stages of the product life cycle: from solving basic needs and expected needs to solving attractive needs, from payment methods to lifestyles, and from transaction functions to social functions.

2. Product Analysis

2.1 Product Function Structure

Some non-core functions were omitted during the drawing process, and some modules were shrunk for ease of display.

According to personal statistics: the number of functions or pages of Alipay has exceeded 500, and the two modules with the most functions are "Home" and "Wealth".

In the "Home" module, the most frequently used function buttons of "Scan", "Pay", "Receive Money" and "Card Wallet" are placed on the top toolbar; in the "Wealth" module, "Total Assets", "Income", "Balance" and "Yu'e Bao" are also presented on the homepage of the page, reflecting that Alipay attaches importance to solving users' high-frequency needs and attaches great importance to user experience in product function design.

2.2 Business Process

2.2.1 User Usage Process

Take the usage process of Alipay's main functions as an example:

1) Payment and collection process:

2) Financial management process

3) Word of mouth usage process

4) Friend usage process

5) My usage process

2.2.2 Business Process Analysis

In addition to the user usage paths given above, users can still access the same function through other paths. For example, users can find Huabei on the home page and on the "My" page; they can find Yu'ebao on the "Home" and "Wealth" pages and on the "My" page.

This is because choosing different paths for the same function can suit the usage habits of different users.

In addition, after completing the main usage process of the main functions, continuously playing the auxiliary and diversion role of the branch process can also make the complex process more organized and easier to find problems in product usage.

Optimization suggestions:

Precisely because of the complex functions and processes, users need to operate and click on many buttons. For example, if a user wants to order an Ele.me takeaway through Alipay, he needs to click on at least six pages to make a successful purchase.

Therefore, redundant pages can be appropriately reduced or merged, and some functions with the same attributes can be merged, such as: Life Account and Life Circle. It can be adjusted to enter Life Account in Life Circle to optimize the layout of the page.

2.3 Business Logic

Alipay service ecosystem:

Core business analysis:

It is not difficult to find out from the business logic diagram that Alipay's business scope covers multiple Internet fields such as daily transaction tools, O2O services, financial management, and social networking, but its core business is still positioned in the two modules of daily transaction tools and financial services (red arrows in the figure).

Social and O2O services are the key strategic layout targets, and they also provide a variety of supplementary functions. For example, in the "Food" section of the "Word of Mouth" page, "Pick up in store", "Takeout" and "Brand Pavilion" functions are provided as the entrance to the Ele.me mini program. By drawing on the successful experience of WeChat's "Friends Circle" and "Official Accounts", we designed the "Life Circle" and "Life Account" functions. The vision is to achieve complementary advantages between tool and social products.

2.4 Analysis of special functions

2.4.1 Yu’ebao and Huabei

(1) Yu’ebao

Through Yu'ebao, users can earn income by transferring funds directly through Alipay, and its function is similar to bank current deposits, which can be deposited and withdrawn at any time without geographical or time restrictions.

Overall, Yu'ebao integrates transfers, withdrawals, and value-added income, as well as functions such as automatic transfer of wages and balances, making user operations easier and improving the user experience.

Function optimization suggestions :

According to user feedback from the app market, most users cannot tolerate the annual decline in Yu'ebao's returns.

From the early seven-day annualized rate of return of more than 8% to the current rate of less than 3%, a large number of users have left and turned to other financial products.

In fact, from the user's psychological point of view, it is not that users cannot accept the decline in annualized rate of return, but that users are not given the expectation to accept it. There is no reason for this downward adjustment.

Recommendation: At every significant decline, add a small link to the yield or profit button to indicate why the yield has declined and whether the next operation is more suitable for transfer in or transfer out.

Yu'ebao business model diagram (from "Internet Financial Asset Supply")

(2) Huabei

Ant Huabei was officially launched in April 2015 and is mainly used for shopping on Tmall and Taobao. It has been loved by consumers, especially those born in the 1980s and 1990s.

In order to better serve consumers, Ant Huabei has begun to break the limitations of shopping platforms and expand its services to more online and offline consumption areas. At the same time, data shows that after merchants connected to Ant Huabei installment payment, the transaction conversion rate increased by 40%. Since its birth, Huabei has already had additional functions such as Huabei installment, Huabei benefits, and Huabei installment code. At the same time, using various scenarios such as product promotions and coupons as entry points for implementing the function not only allows users to truly experience the benefits of the function, but also improves the product conversion rate, which is undoubtedly a win-win result.

Function optimization suggestions :

Since the introduction of Huabei, some users have become accustomed to using various installment payments to make advance purchases to satisfy their “shopping maniac” needs. This has also resulted in many users finding that their repayment bills are piling up after excessive use of Huabei and installment payments, and they have to pay Huabei as soon as they get their wages.

In this context, intelligent usage suggestions can be given based on the user’s previous Huabei consumption product categories and income and expenditure capabilities, and a “reasonable suggestions” function can be added to the Huabei page. When a user's consumption exceeds the limit, a friendly reminder will be given. This can improve the user's compliance and reduce the risk of overspending.

Huabei business model diagram (from Luna_wwy's article)

2.4.2 Sesame Credit

The functions of abiding by the repayment contract and Sesame Credit score assessment can allow users to clearly feel their own credit level. A good credit performance record can provide important materials for future loans to purchase real estate, cars, etc. A bad credit rating can also make it difficult for users to do anything, for example, they may not be able to buy train tickets or book hotel accommodation due to credit issues.

In essence, Alipay can provide a transaction guarantee mechanism for merchant credit, while Sesame Credit can also provide credit assessment standards for individual users.

Function optimization suggestions :

In order to increase the enthusiasm of users to fulfill their obligations, Alipay launched the "Reward Sesame Grains" function. In fact, in order to increase the frequency of user usage, you can also design functions such as "Receive membership points" and "Receive coupons (traffic coupons, phone bill coupons, merchandise coupons)".

This kind of functional design can, on the one hand, increase the time users stay on this interface, and on the other hand, it can also give full play to the benefits of the payment credit system, allowing users to experience the joy of improving their credit every day.

2.4.3 Public welfare services

(1) Ant Forest

Ant Forest, one of the main public welfare services provided by Alipay, has been warmly welcomed by users since its launch.

According to the latest Baidu Encyclopedia data: the number of Ant Forest users has reached 500 million. Users can collect Ant Forest Energy by walking, offline payment, daily bill payment, ticket purchase, etc. The diverse user usage scenarios have made a great contribution to the improvement of Alipay's daily active users and retention data.

If used carefully, the functions such as "stealing energy" and "watering" are simply replicas of the "growing vegetables" and "stealing vegetables" that were once popular on the Internet. On the surface, Ant Forest does not seem to have brought direct economic profits to Alipay products. Instead, it requires huge operating costs to lay the foundation, but it has derived social added benefits and brand value.

(2) Ant Farm

If the public welfare object of Ant Forest is the natural environment, and its positive impact on people is indirect, then the public welfare object of Ant Farm is people themselves, and it can directly generate huge social benefits - accumulating love by feeding chickens, and then giving the love to sick and poor children in the form of carrying out public welfare projects.

In the Ant Farm mini program, you can browse your friends' updates, and there are also auxiliary functions such as dressing up, props, sports games, diaries, etc. Many scenes are inspired by games; or it can be said that Ant Farm is originally a development-type mini-game that allows users to have a relaxing and entertaining experience after transaction payment.

Function optimization suggestions:

It is not enough for Ant Forest and Ant Farm to simply be representative functions of Alipay’s public welfare services and appear in the public eye in the form of mini-programs. Many friends may neglect to use it after using it for a period of time due to boredom, forgetfulness and other reasons.

Therefore, it is recommended that, if technical and time conditions permit, Ant Forest and Ant Farm be merged into one, designed as an "ant circle" or "ant living circle", and convenient functions such as "one-click energy collection" and "one-click feeding" be set up. At fixed time periods in the morning, noon, and evening, users are prompted to use the service through push notifications or in-app "service reminders."

This design is in line with the user's usage habits, and can also integrate the public welfare function into a module, allowing users to have the experience of doing public welfare when entering the "Ant Circle".

2.4.4 Wealth Express

As the main module entrance to the wealth interface, the Wealth Express column has novel and mysterious functions. Its name easily reminds people of Taobao’s through train banner, but there are still essential differences between the two.

First, hot topics are discussed in the form of questions and answers as the main selling point to attract clicks (placed in the first position of the column). The questions are designed to be close to life, and there are only two answers to choose from.

For example: The question is "Which one would you choose: going home to start a business or working in a big city?" The answers are "hometown" (affirmative) and "big city" (negative). The area below is for people to answer and also for them to write down their reasons.

This kind of functional design seems to be more common in content-based (Zhihu) or platform-based (Weibo) products. Alipay borrowed it to attract people's attention and discussion, allowing users to browse financial products (funds, gold, etc.) while discussing. This may lead to purchasing behavior, but it is also a way to indirectly increase conversion rates. It is more feasible than directly bombarding users with advertisements to get them to pay. After all, today's users are not stupid, and their sensitivity to embedded advertising is increasing year by year.

Secondly, the wealth column popularizes and delivers fresh financial content.

If hot topics are discussions and exchanges between users, then the wealth column is the interpretation of current affairs or popular science content through media such as experts or authors. For example: "The new version of RMB is here! Why is there no 5 yuan note?" Isn't this kind of column-style article common in WeChat subscription accounts and Toutiao? Now it is also available in Alipay. Although the name and form are slightly different, the internal logic is the same. Users read the columns, like, comment and communicate, eventually forming a content-based community.

Function optimization suggestions:

If the purpose of setting up the Wealth Express and the Wealth Column is to attract users' attention and allow users to express their personal opinions on issues and articles, then in order to highlight such performance, the wealth activity banner function should be moved into the Wealth Express, so that the Wealth Express is positioned at a higher level. At the same time, the "star comments" and "hot comment red envelope" functions should be set in the "question and answer module" of the Wealth Express.

The design of “Celebrity Comments” takes advantage of celebrities’ traffic while satisfying curiosity about celebrities’ views and opinions. The red envelopes for hot comments allow users to not only read the comments, but also participate in the comments and grab benefits.

3. Product Operation Analysis

3.1 Operation and development history

• On April 18, 2003, Taobao launched the Alipay service for the first time.
• In 2004, Alipay was spun off from Taobao and gradually provided payment services to more partners, developing into China's largest third-party payment platform.
• On February 27, 2008, Alipay released its mobile e-commerce strategy and launched its mobile payment business.
• On October 25, 2008, Alipay's public utility bill payment service was officially launched, supporting payments for water, electricity, coal, and communications.
• On December 23, 2010, Alipay cooperated with Bank of China to launch credit card quick payment for the first time.
• On January 26, 2015, Alipay Wallet’s “New Year Red Packet” was launched. When users open Alipay, they will see this function in a prominent position in the middle, allowing them to send personal red envelopes, chain red envelopes, group red envelopes, face-to-face red envelopes, or ask for red envelopes.
• Starting from September 25, 2015, Alipay and McDonald's have started a big data cooperation. Alipay payment will be available in all McDonald's in Shanghai, and will be further promoted to stores across the country.
• On May 20, 2016, Samsung's mobile payment service Samsung Pay and Alipay officially announced their cooperation. Users can quickly bring up the Alipay payment interface by swiping up the screen on their Samsung phones.
• On May 31, 2016, the medical insurance mobile payment platform jointly launched by Alipay and the Shenzhen Human Resources and Social Security Bureau began trial operation in 6 hospitals in Shenzhen.
• In September 2016, it was announced that starting from October 12, 2016, Alipay will charge a service fee of 0.1% for individual users’ withdrawals exceeding the free limit. Each individual user will enjoy a basic free withdrawal limit of 20,000 yuan.
• On the afternoon of November 27, 2016, following the launch of the “High-End Singles Dating Circle”, Alipay also launched the “White-Collar Diary” and “Campus Diary” on a small scale.
• On November 29, 2016, in response to the recent controversy caused by the Alipay "Campus Diary" and other circles, Peng Lei, chairman of Alipay's parent company Ant Financial, issued an internal letter to apologize and posted on the intranet: Never blame others for your own mistakes!
• On December 23, 2016, Alipay launched Alipay version 10.0, which brought the Alipay AR real-life Alipay red envelope gameplay.
• On January 3, 2017, Alipay launched a charity account, which allows every ordinary user's charity footprint and love "assets" to be recorded and queried.
• On January 5, 2017, Alipay launched the 2016 personal annual bill function, allowing users to understand their personal consumption and income and expenditure in real time.
• In June 2017, Monaco signed a strategic cooperation agreement (MOU) with Alipay, and merchants across the country will be connected to Alipay. This is the first time that Ant Financial has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with a sovereign government, making it the 12th European country to connect to Alipay.
• On October 10, 2017, Alipay announced the launch of a credit rental platform, and began promoting credit rental in eight cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Zhengzhou. More than one million apartments will officially be available on Alipay. Unlike the most common payment method of paying three months' deposit and one month's rent, if you have a Sesame Credit score of over 650, you can rent an apartment through the Alipay APP without a deposit and can pay the rent monthly.
• On October 30, 2017, the first batch of taxis connected to Alipay started operating from the Hong Kong Stadium with slogans such as "Hong Kong also uses Alipay" affixed to their bodies.
• On January 15, 2018, some expressway toll stations in Zhengzhou, Henan Province launched the Alipay-ICT credit payment (license plate payment) function. Car owners can bind their license plates to Alipay, and when passing through ETC toll stations, the payment can be directly deducted from Alipay.
• On March 14, 2018, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce announced that the second phase of the national 12315 Internet platform was officially launched. In this upgrade, the official mini program of 12315 has "landed" on Alipay for the first time. Consumers can make complaints and reports 24 hours a day, and it is also possible to resolve disputes online.
• On April 17, 2018, the "Resident Identity Card Online Functional Credential" certified by the Trusted Identity Authentication Platform (CTID) of the First Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security made its debut on Alipay and was officially piloted simultaneously in multiple scenarios in the three cities of Quzhou, Hangzhou and Fuzhou.
• In August 2018, Alipay quietly launched the group buying function, which is a "limited time group buying" function that recommends different group buying products to users in different time periods.
• On September 12, 2018, at the Ant Open Day Mini Program special event, Alipay announced the end of the Mini Program public beta and officially launched it and established the Mini Program business department.
• On February 2, 2019, Alipay became the first batch of companies to obtain national certification. Alipay's system for protecting users' personal information security and privacy has reached the country's most stringent standards.
• On February 21, 2019, Alipay issued an announcement stating that in order to continue to provide better services to users, a service fee will be charged for credit card repayments through Alipay starting from March 26.
• As of April 2019, Alipay's "Risk Brain" has cooperated with the financial offices of 11 provinces and cities, including Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Wenzhou, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Xi'an, Xiamen, Hefei, and Wenzhou, becoming their "clairvoyant" to discover and warn high-risk enterprises.

3.2 Operation cycle analysis

Product Exploration Period (2003-2004): Rooted in Taobao

Demand background:

Users worry about being cheated when shopping online, are unsure about the credit of merchants, and have a low level of awareness of online shopping.

Solution:

The "secured transaction" model is launched, where the buyer places an order first, the seller ships the goods, and the funds are transferred to Alipay. The buyer will not confirm receipt until he receives the goods and is satisfied. At this time, the payment is transferred from Alipay to the merchant's account. If the user is not satisfied with the product or there are other reasons, he or she can apply for a return. After the merchant agrees or the application expires, the payment will be returned from Alipay to the user's account.

Results evaluation:

It solves Taobao's transaction payment guarantee problem and provides a new solution to Internet credit issues. At the same time, it brought a steady stream of users to Taobao, allowing Internet participants to gradually accept, support and trust Alipay and Taobao products, successfully achieving the product's "new user" mission.

Product growth period (2005-2009): Becoming an independent product

Demand background:

With the resolution of online shopping payment credit issues and a large number of users accepting Alipay, more and more macro industries and segmented scenarios require the solutions provided by the "Alipay" model. For example: payment and credit issues in financial management, daily payment, asset liquidation, and service reservation.

Solution:

Alipay launched an independent product specifically designed to solve Internet credit problems in various industries and scenarios; introduced the Sesame Credit mechanism to judge personal credit level; established a risk analysis system to solve investment and financial management problems; and launched the Ant Insurance function to provide protection for various types of insurance.

Results evaluation:

Making "payment" another major theme in life besides shopping, solving the high-frequency usage issues of Alipay users, and making logging into Alipay an indispensable part of the daily life of most users, successfully completing the product's "activation" mission.

Product maturity (2009-present): Becoming a platform product

Demand background:

After making a payment on Alipay, users want to browse more information about life and finance, and learn about their friends' latest news, but they don't want to switch between several apps.

When users make payments, they want to order food or movie tickets but have not downloaded the relevant app.

Solution:

Launch the address book and life circle functions, click on the friend’s avatar.

It can transfer money, send messages and chat, browse friends' updates, launch life accounts and financial columns, keep abreast of various information, and launch word-of-mouth functions, allowing people to enjoy O2O products conveniently and in a timely manner without downloading too many apps to take up mobile phone memory.

Results evaluation:

It is true that some users will use the word-of-mouth function, but most users still only chat for a while when transferring money, and only read information and columns when purchasing investment and financial products. They are not sensitive enough to new functions. Whether the product’s “retention” and “conversion” tasks have been completed remains to be seen in subsequent development and iteration.

3.3 Operational Activity Analysis

3.3.1 "Share 900 million red envelopes" activity

Activity Description:

In early March 2019, Alipay launched an event called "Share 900 Million" to form teams. The event lasted until the end of March, and all those who completed the task could share 900 million red envelopes.

Purpose:

Using the gimmick of 900 million, it attracts more mobile payment users to switch to Alipay (including returning users).

Activities:

• Taking advantage of the festive atmosphere, the date was set on April Fools' Day, the day when people are most likely to joke, to reduce user resistance.
• Friends form groups, give full play to the fissionability of friends' communication, and create a hot atmosphere for the event.
• The total amount is eye-catching, with a prize of up to 900 million, which has attracted great attention from users.
• The threshold is low, and you only need to pay 2 yuan in the store every day. The minimum payment day in March is 19 days, which is an easy thing for an office worker.

Data performance:

According to data released by Analysys, in the fourth quarter of last year, Alipay ranked first in China's mobile payment market with a market share of 53.78%, and compared with the first three quarters, Alipay's share expanded by 8 basis points.

3.3.2 “Koi” Marketing Activities

Activity Description:

During the National Day Golden Week in 2018, the Alipay Koi event was a very common Weibo forwarding lottery. You could participate in the lottery by forwarding the Weibo, but it was given a theme of "Wish you become a Chinese Koi". The prize is a gift list that takes 3 minutes to read through, including free Alipay limit-free bills around the world, free meals, two mobile phones...

Purpose:

Cultivate user payment habits, increase user payment times, and cultivate loyal users

Activities:

• Timely participation of a large number of brand companies and businesses: By posting on Weibo, a large number of businesses quickly gave their "gifts" in the comment area and expressed their love and respect for koi.
• Follow-up release of the prize poster: Exactly one hour after the event notification was released on Weibo, a poster with a list of prizes appeared in the Weibo comment section.
• The concept of "koi" is inherently contagious: the word koi fits in very well with the Weibo ecosystem. If anyone forwards a koi fish on WeChat or Douban, it will definitely look weird. But Weibo is simply the home of koi, and it is very common for users to repost koi messages on Weibo.

Data performance:

The topic quickly became a hot search and received nearly 100 million views; at the same time, it was forwarded over one million times in 6 hours, and has been forwarded over 3 million times in total.

3.3.2 Spring Festival “Collect Five Blessings” Activity

Activity Description:

Alipay’s “Collecting Five Blessings” campaign has been held three times, which means that the earliest campaign was three years ago.

• In 2016, Alipay launched the "Five Blessings" campaign for the first time, where players who collected five blessing cards could share 200 million yuan.
• In 2017, Alipay lowered the standard for obtaining "Jingyefu", and the red envelopes changed from "equal distribution" to "random distribution".
• In this year's Five Blessings Collection activity, Alipay has a bigger picture. On the one hand, it has increased the prize money from 200 million to 500 million. On the other hand, it will launch two new channels for collecting blessings on February 8 and February 11 respectively - the mini-games "Ant Farm" and "Ant Forest" .

Operational logic:

Operational results:

Alipay also gained the DAU and MAU that it had long sought, and increased the click-through rate of key effective behaviors mentioned in Alipay's "Ant Forest Guide", such as subway travel, online payment, online ticket purchase, green office, bus, green package, etc.

IV. Summary and Suggestions

4.1 Product Advantages

Through product analysis and operational analysis, it is not difficult to find that Alipay has achieved a very high level in the design of core functions such as payment and financial management, and has gained the upper hand in the market competition with its main competitor WeChat Pay (Alipay accounts for more than 57% of the total number of times users use third-party payment, while WeChat Pay hovers around 35%).

In other aspects, whether it is the construction of personal credit system, or financial management products and O2O services and other business lines, a virtuous circle of life has been formed. On the product operation level, Alipay's ability to seize opportunities and understand user psychology can be used freely during key holidays to gain the support of the majority of users.

4.2 Product Disadvantages

Thanks to Alibaba's strategic layout and product design, Alipay has grown from an auxiliary function attached to Taobao to an independent tool product, and finally developed into a third-party payment platform product. From the iteration of product functions, we can see its ambition to expand into social products, and its disadvantages will also be highlighted.

First, users’ inherent cognitive thinking about payment tools and the cost of switching away from WeChat make it difficult for Alipay’s social concept to be realized in the short term.

Secondly, Alipay’s interface design and interaction design make it difficult for users to use it as a social product. Moreover, in the user’s perception, it seems inhumane to link “money” with “friends”.

Finally, with all kinds of social apps emerging one after another, it is often difficult to stand out if you can’t find a product that meets users’ increasingly discerning tastes.

4.3 Recommendations

If you take the purely social path, it will be full of thorns and you may not even be able to see the direction. You can change your mindset appropriately and try to expand towards a community or content-based style, which is more in line with the current preferences of the Internet public (for example: Toutiao, Zhihu and other products).

We will continue to work on the design of some features that have received good responses (such as Wealth Express and Financial Column). At the same time, the operational advantages of the product will be brought into play again, combined with current hot topics, to find the right entry point, with the concept of community scenarios, to introduce more functional gameplay of content-based products, to borrow more elements, and then to absorb user feedback, and to continuously improve until it sprouts and bears fruit.

Related reading:

1. Product Analysis | How does iQiyi perform operations and product optimization?

2.2019 Pinduoduo APP product analysis report!

3. Kuaishou APP product analysis report!

4. Analysis of Douyin short video APP products

5. Product Analysis Report丨How does WeChat Reading retain users?

6.2019 Mayu APP product analysis report!

7. Product Analysis Report | Bilibili, from a two-dimensional community to a comprehensive video community

8. Momo promotion: Momo product analysis report!

9.2019 Bilibili product operation analysis report!

10.2019 Zhihu product operation analysis!

Author: Fu Yuxi

Source: Fu Yuxi