Event Operation | What tricks are hidden in Pinduoduo’s red envelopes?

This article will tell you about some of the routines of Pinduoduo's red envelopes, and look at the impact of red envelope activities on products and operations from another perspective for your reference~

I believe everyone is quite familiar with Pinduoduo red envelopes. This time I will mainly share two of them with you.

Currently, only one method can be found. The link is as follows. You can try it out. Red envelope link: https://dwz.cn/ytWCye9d

Now let’s get to the point.

Type 1: Group opening of red envelopes

1. Activity process

2. Activity Analysis

(1) Process analysis

This was the process of Pinduoduo’s early red envelopes. As you can see, this red envelope has a very obvious threshold. When a user enters for the first time, he or she only takes up a spot to open the red envelope. Only after inviting 5 or 6 friends to join can the red envelope be opened.

(2) User threshold

This red envelope has no requirements for whether or not the user is a new user. Both new and old users can participate, which is a bit like the current JD Jingdou event.

This design allows the activity to both attract new customers and boost activation, but the corresponding activity costs will also increase.

Some friends want to design activities that are purely for attracting new users or promoting activation, and they only need to set the user threshold.

(3) Operating costs

This type of red envelope is very tricky. Even if users open the red envelope, they cannot take the money. They have to meet the invitation indicators to trigger the payment. Only then will there be financial expenditure for the activity. It effectively controls the cost of the activity and achieves the purpose of attracting new users and promoting activation.

(4) Invitation threshold

So, should we limit the number of invitations required to trigger payment?

• From the boss's perspective, of course the more the better, and it would be best if users would rush to join, but the platform would not have to spend a penny.
• From the user's perspective, of course the less the better. It would be best if I could send the red envelope directly to my WeChat account.
• From the perspective of a product manager, of course the goal is to seek a balance between the two, reducing activity expenses while allowing users to get the product with a little effort. Even if they can’t reach it, they have to have the illusion that they can reach it (honestly speaking, it’s best not to fool users like this).

At this time, what we need to understand is how many people a user can invite at most to help him open the red envelopes.

If the user is a social celebrity and has joined countless groups, then his ability to open red envelopes will be particularly high, and 100 people may just be a small scene; if the user is our parents and has only 10 friends on WeChat, and usually the most they come to ask you if you have eaten, then his ability to open red envelopes will be very limited.

Most of Pinduoduo's users are actually somewhere between the two.

If you have a data base on activity, you can analyze their invitation distribution and then find a number that meets 50%, or if you are rich, find a number that meets 85%.

Follow the data to find strategy

There is also a more cunning way. If you observe the red envelope products on the market, you will find that most of them are controlled at around 5 people, that is, excluding oneself, the user only needs to invite 4 more people. It is relatively rare for a company like JD.com to be so stingy that it requires 20 invitations. But after all, their brand is there, and it is said that the exchange rate for JD.com beans is not bad.

Having said that, I believe that everyone already has a plan in mind.

If your own product wants to copy this type of product, you can consider many aspects such as platform popularity and credibility, red envelope size, red envelope type (points or cash), operational indicators, etc. The easiest way is to give it a try, unless your boss beats you to death.

Type 2: Group unfreeze red envelopes

1. Activity process

2. Activity Analysis

(1) Process analysis

This is the red envelope process currently being used by Pinduoduo.

As you can see from the flowchart above, compared with type 1, it gives users the illusion that "I give you the money", but if the user wants to take the money and run away, there are only two results:

1. Give up the red envelopes you have received;
2. Continue to invite friends to make more money/reach the withdrawal threshold.

With this in mind, everyone will understand what Pinduoduo is doing, which is the legendary "sunk cost."

For example, CC was bored on the weekend, so he saw a highly acclaimed movie recommended by Douban, bought it immediately, ran to the cinema, and waited for it to start showing with great anticipation. Ten minutes later, he started complaining: What a stupid movie! (Actually, Douban’s movie recommendations are pretty reliable, please don’t criticize me)

At this time, CC has two choices:

1. walk away;
2. I held back my complaints and watched the whole thing.

I believe that most people would choose the second option like CC, because the money has been spent and the people have come, and they would feel like they would be missing out if they don’t watch it. Even if the movie is stupid, they have to make an effort to watch it to justify the RMB.

Pinduoduo’s red envelope uses this routine. It has already given you a glittering 1 yuan red envelope, and you only need 4 yuan to withdraw it. Are you willing to give up? At the same time, the rule of "jump and reach" is adopted, and a pop-up window tells users, "You can get 1 yuan if you invite one more person."

Then think about my circle of friends, it should be easy to invite one person.

Then, one after another, they kept sending group messages, and Pinduoduo's product manager's mouth began to rise~

(2) User threshold

The user threshold and type of this activity are consistent, and there is no distinction between new and old users.

However, according to Pinduoduo's usual routine, it may give more to attract new customers and less to familiar customers.

If you want to copy this operation, the routine is similar to the one mentioned above. You need to balance the interests of users and platforms, and give users the illusion that "you can reach it by jumping". That is, the red envelope strategies for new and old users are separated.

For example, if a new user has just come to the platform and is not very familiar with it, the first reward may be higher to encourage the user to continue playing.

For example, when inviting users to join, old users are more enthusiastic about participating and are easier to invite, so the red envelope amount can be smaller. New users are more difficult to invite, so in order to encourage users to send new groups, the red envelope amount set for new users can be larger.

For example, when a user first starts playing, it is easy to invite people, and he always has a few close friends supporting him. But after a long time, the close friends want to quit, and the user can no longer be satisfied with these one or two cent red envelopes. Then it is time to stimulate with a big red envelope, and continue to use the "banana to make the turtle crawl" routine.

(3) Operating costs

In fact, the operating cost of a single red envelope of this type is no different from the previous one, so CC has always been impressed by Pinduoduo.

To sum up, today we mainly shared two types of red envelope activities of Pinduoduo. We analyzed their routines from several aspects, including process, user threshold, operating cost and invitation threshold, as well as the reasons why they did so. I hope it will be inspiring for everyone to design activity products.

Source: CC-Cynthia