How to carry out user operations well? Share 5 points!

When it comes to user retention, not all users are valuable if they are retained. First of all, we need to figure out what the value of user retention is.

User retention means allowing users to stay in your product (app/platform/website/mini program, etc.) and "settle down".

The value of user retention for different products varies, but the ultimate goal is to generate commercial value through user retention.

The framework of this article is as follows (user acquisition and user conversion are not within the scope of this communication):

1. Analyze and understand your users first

The users initially acquired through various channels or fission methods are not all your target users (or some of them are not your valuable users for the time being). Who are your users, where do they come from, what tag information of theirs have you acquired, and what interactive footprints have they left on your products?

What information about users should you know? The directions in the figure below are for reference:

To analyze and understand users, in addition to calling and analyzing relevant backend data, you can also interview several internal test users to understand why they use your product and what they hope to get from your product...

2. Find ways to tap into user value

The main purpose of tapping into user value is to give you a deeper understanding of the business, to know which users are your effective users, to provide directional guidance for subsequent user operations , and to avoid blind operations.

So, how do we implement this work specifically?

Summarize the overall characteristics of valuable users

What is a valuable user? It is determined based on the platform’s own goals and business model, such as payment & conversion & deep interaction… users who directly or indirectly enable the product to be commercially monetized/converted.

First, analyze the valuable user data in the past. If there is no background data accumulation, you can refer to the data released by competitors or peers to summarize the overall characteristic performance of valuable users and define it as a value label.

Taking insurance users as an example, users with the following value tag attributes have a higher conversion rate:

After the target users’ value tags are summarized, the next step is to find target users with these value tags, or convert ordinary users into such valuable users through operations.

Just like the insurance users in the picture above, due to the relatively weak insurance awareness among the Chinese people, some users with the above value labels still need to be awakened through education before they can successfully transition into converted users.

Obtaining user value tags through operational means

User value labels can be obtained through the registration mentioned above, as well as questionnaires, A/B testing, technical embedding (browsing/following... and other interactive capture), and third-party platform data crawling.

For example, questionnaire activities are one of the most commonly used and direct methods to obtain user information. Remember, the questionnaire format should not be too traditional, but should be short and tactful. It can be inserted at the end of an interactive process, or implemented through interactive actions (browsing/following...).

The following questionnaire tips are for reference:

The following questions do not directly ask whether you have ever bought insurance or how much you are willing to spend on insurance, but instead make a euphemism between the body and a car.

For example, during the tourist season, you can use a relaxed test format. The two small questions on the left ask about travel methods, which can indirectly provide information about the user's economic level, car ownership, and frequent outings.

3. Build a user portrait library and visualize labels

The main purpose of building a portrait library is to visualize the information of each user by adding real-time tags to each user, providing a very important and efficient strategic basis for subsequent data analysis and user stratification management.

Before building a user portrait library, you should first figure out what kind of user tags you need to obtain, how to define the tag attributes, and what specific tags are there?

This is a great test of the operators' understanding of their own business. They need to have a very clear understanding of the user's behavior path and be able to analyze the main factors that affect the user's commercial value.

There are several general user tags for reference:

Basic Tags

That is, the user's basic information, including its own attributes, such as name, gender, age, mobile phone, email address...

This type of label is quite useful for reaching/pushing operational measures.

Behavioral Tags

That is, the user's behavior on your product (click/browse/read/consult/activity participation/average login time/number of logins...)

User life cycle (new users/ordinary users/active users/valuable users/paying users/dormant users) can also be classified as such a label.

Demand Label (Value Label)

That is, the “value label” mentioned above (purchase intention/product preference demand/family structure/economic conditions/attention preferences...). Most of the labels of this attribute need to be customized according to the nature of the product. For example, purchase intention: users browse related products many times, or users mark a product as interesting... Another example is the tendency demand for accident insurance: users often travel/go out/travel...

Trading Tags

That is, the user has a payment record, or the user's consumption data on other websites or platforms is captured (such as whether to buy a car/house/mobile phone model...). This type of label can largely reflect the user's consumption preferences and abilities.

Personally, I believe that demand tags are very important tag indicators for commercial monetization, and we should find ways to obtain this type of tag data from users through various operational means.

After the above tags are defined and classified, you can build a user portrait library. The portrait library is a complex and tedious backend construction task, which requires in-depth communication with backend technical personnel. You need to clearly convey your portrait library construction requirements to relevant personnel (such as how the backend interface is presented, the definition of each tag, what kind of data search/statistical results you hope to achieve...), communicate the feasibility of implementation, and make corresponding adjustments.

The labels in the user portrait library are not static and need to be constantly updated and enriched according to the actual operation of the product.

4. Define and stratify users

Users at different levels have different characteristics. Through user stratification, we can formulate more targeted and accurate user operation strategies and implementation plans, so as to achieve efficient operation of resources.

There is no unified standard for user stratification. The following is a fusion of some concepts of the user life cycle and RFM value model to conduct user stratification.

The following definitions and classifications are for reference:

The general classification is: new users - ordinary users - active users - valuable users - paying users (super users) - dormant users
New User: Newly registered user
Regular users: users who log in occasionally or once or twice a week
Active users: users who frequently use the core functions of the product or who have been active for 2 months
Valuable users: those who meet the overall characteristics of conversion users
Converted users: users who have generated commercial value conversion or consumption
Dormant users: users who have not had any interaction in the past 3 months.

As can be seen from the above figure, all kinds of user operation actions serve one goal: to convert ordinary users into valuable users - paying users - repeat purchasing users. In other words, this goal is to extend the user's life cycle as much as possible and generate as much commercial value as possible during the user's life cycle.

Of course, the definition and classification of user levels will vary from company to company, and the levels need to be adjusted and defined based on actual conditions. In addition, to avoid certain types of users being repeatedly tagged and disturbed multiple times, it is necessary to set tag attribution priorities.

5. Targeted and refined operations

In fact, user stratification is not the goal. The main purpose is to conduct refined operations through user level classification, cater to the preferences of different user groups, and achieve efficient operation of resources.

In a word: when users come, we must find ways to retain them.

Provide the best operation strategy according to different levels of users

New user operation

New users have just arrived, and they will "turn around and leave" if there is any "mistake", so in addition to providing a good product experience (interface, gameplay, and interaction process), it is also necessary to activate users to the maximum extent through operational means.