Xiaohongshu promotion: Xiaohongshu mini program product analysis!

The development of mini programs provides support for the promotion of social e-commerce. As a typical player in content social e-commerce, how will Xiaohongshu perform with the help of mini programs? The author of this article analyzes the Xiaohongshu mini program product and tells the story of new explorations in social e-commerce under the mini program trend.

Xiaohongshu was founded in 2013 and is a community that focuses on UGC shopping and sharing.

As of January 2019, Xiaohongshu has more than 200 million users, among which those born in the 1990s and 1995s are the most active user groups. The community generates billions of note exposures every day, covering various lifestyle areas such as fashion, skin care, makeup, food, travel, film and television, reading, fitness, etc.

According to news on July 16, 2018: Xiaohongshu has been launched on the WeChat Mini Program Mall, and Xiaohongshu has officially begun to develop the WeChat Mini Program.

Now you can find the Xiaohongshu mini program by searching for Xiaohongshu on WeChat. Taking advantage of the mini program trend, let’s take a look at how the Xiaohongshu mini program performs.

Note: Unless otherwise specified in this report, mini programs refer only to WeChat mini programs, and mini games refer only to WeChat mini games.

1. Social e-commerce

Due to the rapid development of China's e-commerce industry, the increasing maturity of the mobile e-commerce industry, the gradual improvement of relevant policies and the bottlenecks revealed in the traditional e-commerce industry, the social e-commerce industry, which is accelerating with the development of WeChat mini-programs, will maintain a relatively high growth rate in the future and its scale will continue to expand.

Social e-commerce users focus on product quality, are young, and prefer to buy beauty products, clothing, etc. shared by their friends.

According to iMedia Research, the transaction volume of China's mobile shopping market will reach 5.7 trillion yuan in 2018 and is expected to reach 6.7 trillion yuan in 2019, with an expected increase of 16.4%. At the same time, the number of mobile e-commerce users is expected to exceed 500 million, growing to 512 million, and is expected to increase to 546 million in 2019.

Data source: iiMedia Research

China's e-commerce market has matured, but the high cost of acquiring customers has become the biggest bottleneck in the development of traditional e-commerce, and various e-commerce platforms are looking for breakthroughs. The social e-commerce model relies on social traffic platforms and acquaintance network communication, which can effectively solve the problem of customer acquisition costs and is an important development direction for the e-commerce industry in the future.

Data source: iiMedia Research

There are three major types of social e-commerce models, each with different gameplay, but the core is to use social relationships to spread and stimulate user purchases.

As a typical social content e-commerce product, the core of Xiaohongshu is to use UGC user notes to attract users to browse, comment, collect, share, and like. When users find that the products recommended in the notes are in line with their own needs, they are guided to purchase in the Xiaohongshu mall.

According to iMedia Research data: 42.0% of Chinese social e-commerce users surveyed prefer to buy beauty and cosmetics products; 32.1% and 31.8% of users prefer to buy clothing, bags and household items respectively; social e-commerce platforms are mostly dominated by women, so beauty, clothing and bags are relatively more popular.

With the improvement of living standards, 61.6% of the interviewed social e-commerce users tend to choose platforms that have product quality assurance. The quality of after-sales service and the platform's reputation are also factors that the interviewed users consider more when choosing a platform.

Data source: iiMedia Research

According to iMedia Research data, 30.4% of Chinese social e-commerce users surveyed said they would share the products they purchased on social platforms. At the same time, 24.7% of the respondents said they would buy products shared by their friends on social platforms, and more than half of the users were in a "depending on the situation" state.

How to convert these potential users is what we need to think about.

Data source: iiMedia Research

2. Mini Programs

1. WeChat Mini Program

It has been two years since the release of WeChat Mini Programs. The average daily active users of WeChat Mini Programs exceed 230 million, and the number has reached 2.3 million. It has fully covered all scenarios of netizens' life and work.

From the recent iterations of WeChat, we can see that the promotion of mini programs is quite obvious:

Starting from the release of mini program version 6.5.3, to the mini program version 6.6.1 supporting mini games, a task bar was added to the main interface to pull down to find mini programs. Up to now, the latest version has a whole page that pulls down to provide "search", "recently used", and "my mini programs" for mini programs to help users better access mini programs. WeChat is subtly allowing users to recognize, understand, use, and rely on mini programs.

In 2018, more and more leading companies began to dabble in mini programs: Alipay mini program, Douyin mini program, Toutiao mini program, Baidu mini program, etc.

It can be said that today, as the Internet traffic dividend gradually disappears, mini programs, as the key to opening up the user stock market, have become a battleground for various strategists.

1. E-commerce Mini Program

Judging from the distribution of the number of mini-programs: online shopping has become the category with the largest number of mini-programs, and its average traffic is second only to mini-games.

With the rise of social e-commerce, a large number of e-commerce companies have shifted to the WeChat mini-program platform or opened up new sales channels on the mini-program platform.

Judging from the distribution of visiting users: mini games are the category most visited by users.

Data source: 2018 Mini Program Industry Development White Paper

Data from iMedia Research: The scale of Chinese mini-program e-commerce users is expected to grow by 109.5% from 2017 to 2018, reaching 132 million.

Due to the obvious traffic dividend of WeChat, it provides a large number of potential users for social e-commerce. E-commerce mini-programs rely on WeChat and naturally have strong social attributes. The development of the social e-commerce industry is clearly accelerating.

Data source: iiMedia Research

Distribution of user scenario entrances for online shopping mini-programs:

1. Similar to 2017, sharing portals still accounted for the largest proportion, reaching 34.6%. Compared with 2017, the proportion of quick portals increased by 6.3%, the jump between mini-programs increased by 3.6%, and the proportion of public accounts decreased the most, with a drop of 13.6%.
2. In the quick entry scene group, the main new additions are "Mini program main interface drop-down" and "Mini program main entrance in the discovery bar". This shows that the reach effect of these two scenarios is very obvious. The pull-down position on the homepage is superior, and WeChat has spared no effort in promoting the mini program in a location that users can reach most.
3. The increase in the proportion of jumps between mini-programs and QR codes shows that for online shopping mini-programs, the effect of acquiring customers by directing traffic between mini-programs and scanning QR codes offline is becoming more and more obvious.

Data source: 2018 Mini Program Industry Development White Paper

3. Product Positioning

Xiaohongshu mini program is a content e-commerce product, which mainly consists of two modules: display notes and e-commerce.

The content is life notes based on UGC, in the form of pictures, texts and short videos. The e-commerce part is mainly self-operated, supplemented by third-party merchants.

Xiaohongshu's high-quality, eye-catching notes and products are shared with WeChat friends or groups in the form of mini programs. Through the traffic advantage of WeChat and the good user experience of mini programs, they spread virally, attracting new users and conversions for Xiaohongshu.

4. User Analysis

1. User Profile

Female users predominate on Xiaohongshu, with the male-to-female ratio being approximately 4:6.

Female users are more sensitive to topics such as beauty, fashion, clothing, shoes and bags. They are more willing to share their beauty tips and clothing combinations in the community, and they also browse other people's sharing on their own initiative.

The age distribution of users is mainly concentrated between 20 and 39 years old, accounting for about 75%.

Data source: Baidu Index

In terms of geographical distribution, Xiaohongshu users are mainly concentrated in economically developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, among which Guangdong Province has the largest number of users.

Data source: Baidu Index

Among the users of online shopping mini-programs in all subcategories, women have an absolute advantage, especially in vertical e-commerce, which is consistent with the user portrait of the e-commerce industry.

Men account for a high proportion of second-hand transactions, and male users are better at "housekeeping".

The main age group of users of online shopping mini-programs is concentrated between 25 and 39 years old. Users in this age group are the backbone of society and have great purchasing power and willingness to buy.

Data source: 2018 Mini Program Industry Development White Paper

Online shopping mini-programs have stronger active user stickiness:

1. The monthly retention rate of active users is significantly higher than that of new users, indicating that old users have stronger user stickiness.
2. Online shopping applets have three peak usage periods throughout the day, at 8:00, 13:00 and 21:00. This shows that users have the habit of browsing online shopping apps when they wake up in the morning, take a break at noon, and before going to bed at night.

Source of chart: 2018 Mini Program Industry Development White Paper

• Aladdin Index: A comprehensive score of a mini program calculated scientifically based on mini program popularity, search, usage, sharing, and other indicators

The Xiaohongshu mini program is associated with 47 public accounts, with an estimated total daily reading volume of 145,000.

According to the Aladdin Index, the highest index in the past 30 days is 6522, the lowest is 5979, and the average index is 6224

Chart source: Aladdin Mini Program Index

1. User usage scenarios

User A :

Shihui, female, 29 years old, is a financial manager in the banking system from Shanghai. I have a 3-year-old child, I have a mortgage, I’m quite frugal, and I have a busy work schedule and family to take care of. I choose to buy almost 70% of my daily necessities online.

Due to the nature of my work, I have many WeChat friends and there are many purchasing agents in my circle of friends. When I buy milk powder, diapers, etc. for my children, I will choose purchasing agents.

I often open the Xiaohongshu applet in my friend group to check out the cosmetics, clothes, etc. recommended by my friends. If there are discounts, high cost-effectiveness, or promotional activities, I will choose to buy them.

User B :

JH, female, 24 years old, came to Shanghai from outside of Beijing to work as a front-end programmer.

In their spare time, young girls like to dress up and follow fashion trends. They have a strong desire to shop and are happy to share their dressing experiences with colleagues through mini programs. I also upload my best works to Xiaohongshu notes from time to time, and gain more recognition and sense of accomplishment through communicating with Xiaohongshu netizens.

User C :

DD, female, 26 years old, works in Hangzhou, UI designer.

When I was young, I liked to try all kinds of new things. I liked traveling. In my free time, I would browse various travel notes on the Xiaohongshu App and share them with my girlfriends. When there is a longer vacation, we will also recommend travel plans based on the notes.

User D :

Liang, male, 30 years old, works in Shanghai, programmer.

I am usually busy with work and I am a fan of all kinds of electronic products. I use Xiaohongshu because my girlfriend recommended it to me. I think it is convenient and quick. I only use the Xiaohongshu mini program to check various notes and go to other platforms to buy holiday gifts for my girlfriend.

V. Functional Analysis and Suggestions

The core modules of Xiaohongshu mini program are the same as those of Xiaohongshu App: UGC community content + e-commerce.

It mainly includes: the note module on the homepage, click "Mall" to jump to the "Xiaohongshu Mall" applet, and the mall function appears as an independent applet.

Below, the author will make a detailed analysis of the functions from the two aspects of community content (home page functions) and e-commerce (Xiaohongshu Mall), and give suggestions based on the current problems and actual conditions.

1. Home page function analysis

1.1 Note details page return function

The homepage is a content community for daily food, drink, entertainment and lifestyle sharing. It brings together a large number of high-quality notes and is an important page that attracts users to browse and resonate.

From the perspective of the scenarios in which users access the Xiaohongshu mini program: one is that users passively receive shares from others, and the other is that users actively click to enter the mini program through various channels.

When a user receives a note detail page share, relevant data shows that the page stays on the page for 4-5 seconds. If the current content does not arouse the user's interest and the user feels psychologically repulsed, the page will most likely be closed.

Only by clicking the red box in the upper left corner can users return to the homepage of the Xiaohongshu mini program to view all notes, but these all require active operations by users. Giving some positive prompts to new users who enter for the first time can play a guiding role and increase the user's homepage return rate. A homepage with rich community content is more likely to attract users, thereby promoting user retention.

Going a step further, continue to guide users to the App side - more complete functions and excellent user experience can improve user stickiness. The recommended solution is shown in the figure below:

1.2 Note comment function

The purpose of the Xiaohongshu mini program is to encourage users to share actively, and it is particularly important to protect users' desire to share.

After the comment page of the Xiaohongshu mini program note is forwarded, the mini program cover presented to the sharer is the note details page. When the shared page is opened, the comment page is displayed, and the comment page cannot be returned to the note details page.

The previous and subsequent displays do not match, and the inconsistency will cause a poor user experience for users. If the user has not read the note details before and directly opens a comment page, it will cause more confusion to the user.

To maintain a good user experience, the cover of the shared content should be consistent with the opened content, and at the same time, it will not confuse users who open it for the first time. If the person being shared sees the shared mini program, they will be able to clearly understand the shared content. In view of this, it is recommended to modify the sharing title, such as "【Come and see the wonderful comments!】 + note name", and the mini program link will jump to the note details page.

As shown in the following figure:

1. Mall Function Analysis

2.1 Home page function analysis

2.1.1 Jump function analysis

Judging from the mini-program scene entrances mentioned above, opening mini-programs shared by WeChat friends is currently the most common scenario.

When a user uses the App or the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program to browse products, he or she may find that a product that he or she has been recommended to buy is on sale, so he or she may want to share it with his or her friends to buy it together. The user who has shared the product clicks on it to open the product details page of the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program.

The page provides a "Return to Mall" button to browse other products in the mall, but users cannot return to the "Xiaohongshu Mini Program" to browse the note content.

Due to the size limit of the mini program or other considerations, the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program is an independent mini program. You can jump through the Xiaohongshu mini program "Mall", but the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program cannot return to the Xiaohongshu mini program. In terms of usage logic, "community content" and "e-commerce" have been separated.

However, Xiaohongshu's product positioning determines that "community content" and "e-commerce" are closely integrated and inseparable.

By "planting grass" on users through high-quality note content, users can then purchase the corresponding products in the mall. Therefore, the Xiaohongshu mini program should be viewed as a whole. The Xiaohongshu Mall mini program is not an independent mini program and should be able to switch between the "Xiaohongshu mini program".

Like an app, "Notes" + "E-commerce" are in one operation dimension. The two complement each other and together form a complete "Little Red Book". Users can directly switch between "Home Page" and "Mall".

Based on the above analysis, the author gives the following suggestions for improvement:

A "Return to Xiaohongshu" button is added above the bottom navigation of the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program homepage, so that users can jump back to the Xiaohongshu mini program on the Xiaohongshu Mall page to browse notes, comment, like, collect, etc.

2.1.2 Classification function analysis

In the Xiaohongshu mall, users are provided with a product classification function, allowing them to easily find products that meet their needs through search.

The current category is under the "Recommendations" tab on the mall homepage. The others are banner recommendations, limited-time purchases, stocking up on good products, shopping for big brands, Xiaohongshu member area, and limited-time specials.

It can be seen that Xiaohongshu Mall’s positioning of the “Recommendation” page is to attract users to buy goods with a large number of discounts and benefits.

However, the mall classification function is currently placed below the banner. Overall, the classification function has a different tone from the "recommendation" page. Separating the "classification" tab page can make the logic of the "recommendation" page clearer.

Suggestion: The "Recommendation" page displays special categories such as limited-time purchase categories, stockpiling categories, platform special discount categories, etc.; the original classification module (the part in the black box in the figure below) is separated into an independent homepage, and a new "Classification" tab page is added at the bottom. At the same time, a search function is provided at the top of the classification page to facilitate user searches. The above makes the homepage information presentation more regular and the page logic more reasonable.

As shown in the following figure:

2.1.3 Analysis of sharing function

The content of the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program homepage and the App mall homepage are almost the same (with some differences in recommended products) - banner-positioned special discount recommendations, more product categories (modification suggestions have been proposed in 5.5 Homepage Category Function Analysis), limited-time purchases, stocking up on good products, shopping for big brands, Xiaohongka member areas, and limited-time special offers.

It can be seen that Xiaohongshu’s positioning of the mall homepage is consistent whether it is an App or a mini program - let the notes "plant grass" for users and use preferential discounts to attract users to buy products.

However, since Xiaohongshu has launched the mini program, it must have considered that e-commerce mini programs are suitable for social shopping. At the same time, Xiaohongshu itself has a huge amount of high-quality notes, which gives more WeChat users a natural advantage in becoming Xiaohongshu users.

At present, there are two driving forces for Xiaohongshu mini program to stimulate users to share: high-quality notes and product discounts.

The approach is the same as that on the App side. The disadvantages of these two approaches are that users are relatively weak in motivation to share - that is, they will only share when the notes or discounts are attractive enough to make them want to share and seek social interaction.

A large number of users are "passive browsers" who just want to look at notes and products to pass the time. At this time, users will hardly take the initiative to share. So, can the Xiaohongshu mini program be more proactive and stimulate users to share?

The following summarizes the common practices of e-commerce platform mini programs to stimulate user sharing:

Not limited to this, as long as it can "stimulate sharing", you can try it in the mini program based on your own situation to maximize the social advantages of the mini program.

Next, the author gives two specific practices in the Xiaohongshu Mall applet based on the specific pages:

Xiaohongshu Mall Mini Program New Member Group:

Join the "Free Shipping Group Buying" on the homepage of the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program, click to enter the product details page, and you can initiate a group buying.

This group buying is for new members and can be initiated by both new and old users, but only new users are allowed to join. After successful joining, members can purchase goods at a discounted price. The specific pages are as follows:

The mini program can not only display product information, but also dynamically display the group purchase status. Users can view the current group purchase status without entering the mini program, and can also directly share with others or groups.

Buy free potato coupons on the Xiaohongshu Mall app:

Add the "Buy and Get Potato Coupons" on the homepage of the Xiaohongshu Mall applet, click to enter the product details page, purchase and share, and you can get a large potato coupon that is larger than the platform. The potato coupons can be found in My Potato Coupons. The specific page is as follows:

2.2 Product Details Page Function Analysis

2.2.1 Analysis of sharing function

The homepage of the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program has many discount activities such as "full-discount activities", "limited-time purchases", "Xiaohong Card membership" and so on for many categories.

When a user is interested or wants to buy something, he or she will click to enter the product details page and find that the product does meet their needs and is priced very favorably, meeting their expectations. The “latest orders” that continuously scroll on the interface will lead users to follow the herd mentality and share and place orders.

The following figure is a comparison between the App product details page and the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program product details page:

Furthermore, after using the sharing function of the Xiaohongshu App and the mini program, the author found that notes or products on the App side can be shared to WeChat friends or groups in the form of mini programs, and can be shared to Moments in the form of H5; while on the mini program side, friends or groups can only be shared in the form of mini programs. This is due to the policy restrictions of WeChat itself - the H5 page can be shared directly to Moments, while the mini program can currently only be forwarded to friends or groups.

However, Moments is the most frequently used function among all age groups, and its importance in communication is obvious.

Suggestion: Add a poster function when sharing the Xiaohongshu mini program to generate a beautiful picture with product information and the mini program code. After saving, users can share it to their Moments. Users can long press to identify and jump to the mini program end.

As shown in the following figure:

2.2.2 Purchase Function Analysis

The author has made an in-depth comparison of the main functions of the Xiaohongshu applet and the Xiaohongshu App, and summarized them in the following table:

Main function comparison chart

Based on the characteristics of mini programs, the size of the Xiaohongshu mini program will be limited, and secondly, it must comply with the principles of mini program design that it should be light, fast, and highlight core functions.

Combined with the above table, the original "mall" module on the App side was separated into the Xiaohongshu Mall applet, and the functions on the App were also selected. Specifically:

1. The Xiaohongshu mini program has removed the "message module" - including: adding new followers, commenting on me, @ me, discovering friends, notification messages, etc., but retained likes and collections.
2. Xiaohongshu Mall has removed the "More" side-sliding menu - including: "Discover Friends", "My Drafts", "Xiaohong Card Membership", "Free Data", "My Wallet", "Scan", "Settings" and other pages.
3. The Xiaohongshu mini program also removed the note publishing function due to the complex requirements of the publishing function. From the App side, it not only supports selecting videos or photos from the album and editing them, but also supports taking photos and editing them, and supports shooting videos including flipping, filters, beauty, segmented shooting, adding text labels, etc.

There are other detailed functions that are not listed here one by one.

In addition, I found a comment problem on the mini program side during my use and user feedback, which is described as follows:

When users comment on notes using the mini program, if there are too many comments, the comments will not be pinned to the top immediately. This causes users to not know whether their comment was successful or whether to comment at all, which causes confusion for users.

In addition, only two replies to comments can be displayed, and you cannot reply to comments at this time.

Comments on the mini program cannot be liked and are only for display.

Therefore, for old users, due to the completeness of the App's functions and excellent user experience, they are more inclined to use Xiaohongshu through the App; for new users, the mini program is lighter and easier to reach, and they can leave after use; for Xiaohongshu, new users use the Xiaohongshu mini program but do not actually retain it.

Let’s take a typical scenario as an example: a new user clicks on the Xiaohongshu Mall mini program shared in the group, enters the product details page, finds that the product meets his needs, places an order immediately, and then closes the mini program.

In order to retain users as much as possible after they make a purchase in the Xiaohongshu Mall Mini Program, and to achieve the goal of attracting new users and conversions through the Xiaohongshu Mini Program, and retaining and active users on the App side, the following changes are made to the product details page of the Xiaohongshu Mall Mini Program:

Add a "Go to App to Purchase" function to the page. If the user has not downloaded the App, prompt the user to copy the link to download it; if the user has the App, prompt the user to copy the text to search and purchase in the App.

This function not only achieves the purpose of attracting new users, but also activates old users, as shown in the figure below:

VI. Conclusion

Social platforms such as WeChat have matured and provided support for the promotion of social e-commerce.

As WeChat’s support for mini programs grows stronger and stronger, and the characteristics of mini programs are naturally compatible with social e-commerce, social e-commerce will usher in a period of rapid development in the future.

What e-commerce players should focus on is: how to use their own advantages and resources, supplemented by the strong social, easy-to-spread, and lightweight features of mini programs, to create their own lightweight social shopping experience .

The Xiaohongshu mini program has an experience closer to that of a native app, and as it is based on WeChat, sharing is more unimpeded.

At the same time, the sharing and dissemination of mini programs is endorsed by the credit of the sharer, and the quality of the shared content or products is the key factor that causes the sharer to share it again.

Therefore, increasing the maintenance of UGC content and ensuring its value will be beneficial to the long-term development of the Xiaohongshu platform. At the same time, we should realize the importance of word of mouth and strengthen the control of product quality.

As a typical player in social content e-commerce, Xiaohongshu has a huge amount of high-quality content and products, and has a natural advantage in converting potential WeChat users using mini programs. I believe that through subsequent iterations, the Xiaohongshu mini program will definitely bring more surprises to users.

Source: yaodl