How to manage an e-commerce operation activity?

For e-commerce platforms, it is no longer enough to just build a shopping page and let people choose and buy like in a supermarket. Activities may be one of the operational methods that e-commerce platforms should pay more attention to now. So how should the activity be operated? The following will be sorted out for you based on my personal experience and understanding of event operations.

Some people say: Operations are inseparable from users, content and activities. For operations personnel, they often need to think and work around these three elements. For e-commerce platforms, it is no longer enough to just build a shopping page for people to choose and buy like they do in a supermarket. Events may be one of the operational methods that e-commerce platforms should pay more attention to now.

So how should the activity be operated?

Below I will sort out for you based on my own personal experience and my understanding of event operations.

1. Develop a strategy

The activities of e-commerce platforms are nothing more than centered around customer acquisition and transaction. Therefore, before launching an activity, we need to set the activity goals. There can usually only be one main goal, and we just need to stick to the main goal. If we want to achieve multiple goals at the same time (both acquiring customers and driving transactions), it is often difficult to achieve good results. Focusing on one goal is not only conducive to our work, but sometimes it can also bring us unexpected gains.

Therefore, first of all, we need to determine what the goal of our campaign is. We assume that it is to drive transactions and achieve a certain GMV (this is also the goal of most e-commerce activities).

So how do we determine this GMV value?

There are the following steps:

1. If you have done the same activity in the past, you can formulate it based on the goals at that time and the final transaction data;
2. If you have not done the same activity before, you can refer to the activities of similar products in the same category. For example, if you want to do a promotion for a floor-standing air conditioner, you can refer to the promotion activities of a wall-mounted air conditioner.
3. Then we need to analyze based on the current market situation. If this summer is not too hot, then there will definitely be some impact on the sales of air conditioners, and we need to make appropriate downward adjustments when setting the transaction value. For example, if our competitors are carrying out the same promotional activities as us and the promotion efforts are also very strong, we still need to consider the competition from our competitors and can also lower our targets appropriately.

But in fact, the market situation does not change much within a certain period of time, so the more reliable basis is still the reference of past activity data.

When I was at JD.com, the goals of an event I was responsible for were determined by my mentor and the category manager in a meeting. I did not participate in it. Later, I asked the category manager and found out that due to the very good sales of this event last year, the goals this year were appropriately raised based on last year. Therefore, the goals were also set based on past data performance.

2. Break down goals and plan work

After determining the goal of the activity, the next step is to plan the specific work. The first step is to break down the activity goals. What is the goal, and what means should be used to advance this goal?

For e-commerce, the most important thing is traffic. According to the traffic conversion funnel of e-commerce: activity UV - business detail UV - effective order volume - invoice volume, we first need to expand the activity UV layer.

Therefore, we need to provide enough exposure for the event to support the achievement of our goals, and at this time we will naturally consider the channel.

E-commerce channels are divided into internal channels and external channels. Take JD.com as an example: there are WeChat, QQ, APP, web pages, etc.

Since I was in the WeChat and QQ business department during my internship, I will list the channels on the WeChat and QQ side here. The internal channels on the WeChat side include shopping through the WeChat discovery portal, large accounts (JD.COM service accounts), My Wallet (JD Preferred), mini-programs, etc. The external channels include public account tweets, external advertising on other platforms, etc. (The channels on the QQ side are similar to those on the WeChat side, so I will not elaborate on them here).

Channels involve the purchase of resources. Since we have never been involved in this area, and most of the channels have been opened up by JD.com, we don’t need to expand them. The rest is to apply for and strive for more channel exposure (this is also the advantage of large platforms. The resource channels are all opened up, and we don’t need to worry about it as event operators~)

But having channels alone is not enough, internal resource exposure is also required. The resource positions on the WeChat terminal include the homepage (first focus, floor-to-ceiling columns, hot searches, etc.), museum area (first focus, floor-to-ceiling columns, atmosphere transformation, etc.), coupon center (venue naming), big accounts (large pictures, small pictures), shopping circles, etc.

In order to maximize the exposure of the event, in theory, you should just apply for all resource positions. But in fact, the virtual gold resources that can be provided by a category activity are limited. It is impossible for us to apply for all channels and resource positions. After all, the platform is so large that every category has activities to apply for.

Of course, the most important thing is to consider ROI. Good steel should be used on the blade, and key resources should be placed on the channels and resource positions that can attract the most traffic to maximize the exposure of the event.

This also involves the scheduling of resources. The activities I was responsible for at the time were divided into a warm-up period and a breakout period. The most important thing during the warm-up period was to do a good job of warming up the activity, and try to give the activity enough exposure so that users can make reservations for the activity. Therefore, this stage is mainly focused on traffic diversion. During the breakout period, the exposure will be increased on the basis of the warm-up period, thereby facilitating transactions.

Therefore, the scheduling of channels and key resource positions should be: the outbreak period is more important than the warm-up period.

After sorting out the resource positions, we can list:

1. First-level resource positions (maintenance and must be applied for): special-shaped full-width column on WeChat homepage, top focus on homepage, top focus on museum area, museum area atmosphere transformation, precise push of large accounts, shopping circle atmosphere transformation, etc.;
2. Secondary resource positions (the next best option if you cannot apply for primary resource positions, or as an auxiliary exposure resource position): WeChat homepage floor column, museum floor column, coupon center, shopping circle soft articles, etc.
3. Auxiliary resources: SMS push, offline display racks & posters, etc.

Since there are so many resource positions on the platform, it is necessary to sort out the resource positions carefully before carrying out the activity. At the same time, the classification standards for various resources are also different. The above is my reference to the traffic situation of previous resource positions and the sorting based on the actual situation of my own activities. The specific division needs to be determined according to the specific needs of the activity.

After sorting out, we need to make a resource schedule as shown in the figure below. I think the most important thing is to mark the material submission time and submission status. Often we forget which resource positions we have applied for, or we have missed some resource positions, and are not ready to put the materials in place. We need to urgently pull the demand and rush the work, and even waste the schedule in vain. It also brings a lot of inconvenience to the students who manage the resources, and it will be very difficult to apply for resource positions next time.

After assigning resource priorities, we proceed to break down the goals. At this time, our goal breakdown will often be biased, and unexpected situations will often occur, requiring constant revision of the goals.

For example, if our product is a mobile phone, we set the final transaction target to 50 million. According to GMV = billing volume × average order value, assuming that the average order value of the mobile phone category is 1,000, then our billing volume needs to reach 50,000. Generally speaking, the billing volume is always < the effective order volume (there may be cancellations of orders, etc.). Assuming that the order payment rate is 80%, the business details order conversion rate is 50%, and the business details conversion rate is 30%, then our activity UV needs to reach 50,000 ÷ 80% ÷ 50% ÷ 30% = 415,000.

Then according to the 415,000 UVs, assuming that we expect the first focus of the WeChat homepage to bring us 150,000 UVs, the special-shaped full-width column to bring 250,000, the museum area to bring 100,000, and the shopping circle soft articles and coupon center to bring 50,000 together, then these resource positions can provide a total of 450,000, which can meet our requirements. Then we only need to focus on applying for these resource positions and focus on maintaining these resource positions.

But the reality is that it is difficult for us to accurately estimate these conversion rates and UVs. Even if we have past data for reference, the data can still provide us with a great reference, so we must make good use of the data!

In addition to the division of resources, we also need to divide the goals of each section of the event venue. The event venue I was responsible for at the time was, from top to bottom, the header atmosphere map - coupons - main products - brands - classified products - shopping circle interactive banners & articles - guess you like it.

The main promoted items have the strongest effect on driving sales (based on past data), followed by brands and category items. Therefore, when breaking down the GMV target, it is also necessary to allocate targets based on the transactions that each section can drive, so as to determine the priority of maintenance and operations.

In addition to building channels and resource positions, in order to promote an e-commerce event better, it is also necessary to build the core of the event venue. In addition to displaying products, current e-commerce event venues will also add new operational methods to better increase transactions at the venue. Common operating methods are as follows:

1. SNS social games

By designing mini-games that match shopping attributes, we can improve interaction with users and add entertainment to coupons and red envelopes, which is equivalent to setting a certain threshold. Compared with directly distributing coupons and red envelopes, it increases the user's action cost (coupons and red envelopes that cost a certain amount of money tend to have a higher usage rate), but through the form of entertainment games, it will not make users feel disgusted. At the same time, you can also set up a sharing mechanism in the mini-game, which is more conducive to attracting new users and secondary dissemination of activities.

1. Contents Articles

We use content to promote purchases, including reviews, popular science, and soft articles. On the one hand, article reviews can indirectly improve the affordability of products, and sales can be driven through recommendations from celebrities, internet celebrities and other KOLs. On the other hand, users can be encouraged to create and share, increasing the amount of UGC on the platform, and then developing into a community (such as Xiaohongshu) to attract popularity.

1. Flash Sales & Group Buying

Flash sales take advantage of significant price cuts within a specified time period to increase sales of specific commodities. There are generally not many flash sale items, and the main purpose of using flash sales is to attract traffic to the venue, thereby increasing the exposure of other commodities in the venue, and then driving sales of other commodities. Therefore, during the time period when flash sales are set up, more other discounted products can be introduced to allow users to have other choices if they cannot get the flash sale items.

Although group buying has always been embedded in e-commerce, e-commerce really started to pay attention to group buying after Pinduoduo became popular. JD.com's WeChat and QQ business department has three distinctive businesses, namely Social Cube, Group Buying and Shopping Circle. Alibaba has also launched group buying products on the Alipay homepage, which also shows the importance that e-commerce attaches to group buying.

Since group buying is generally for the purpose of boosting sales, the prices of the products cannot be too high. Only widely available and low-priced group buying products can achieve better sales results. Therefore, when adopting group buying activities, it is necessary to select categories with large price elasticity as much as possible.

And for large platforms, inferior or even fake goods will have a negative impact on the platform, so this is also a relatively difficult task for categories and procurement and sales, and operations need to evaluate whether to adopt the form of group buying? Is group buying used as a means to boost GMV or as the best means to attract popularity? And how to effectively leverage categories and procurement and sales to inventory?

After determining the resource positions that need to be applied for, we should consider the operation methods of the activity according to our goals. According to the above-mentioned operation methods, they can be divided into:

Communication line (SNS gameplay design & material production & prize collection) - Content line (topic creation & material creation & prize inventory) - Flash sale & group purchase line (product inventory & gameplay format)

The PM and the person responsible for specific matters should be listed behind each line, and then relevant students should be called to a meeting to determine the specific task allocation for each line and possible risk points.

3. Implementation

Before the activity begins, determine the overall context of the activity with relevant parties, output the project Gantt chart of activity items and time, and reconfirm with the relevant parties. The project Gantt chart generally includes the following parts:

Activity line (overall plan output & communication with event stakeholders) - resource line (application for various resource positions & material production) - store line (product inventory & material production & store interaction and construction) - communication line (SNS gameplay design & material production & prize collection) - content line (topic production & material production & prize inventory) - group purchasing line (product inventory & gameplay form) - others.

The specific implementation process of the activity is the most complicated, but as long as we grasp the overall context of the activity and follow the established plan, we can avoid unnecessary risks during the operation. Here I divide the implementation into the following parts:

1. Output the overall activity plan, including activity attributes, target users, goals, resource positions to be applied for, operational measures to be taken, and persons in charge of each part;
2. The personnel in each line carried out corresponding actions according to the plan and made adequate preparations for the launch of the activity;
3. All relevant personnel of the event should synchronize their progress every week at least two or three weeks before the start of the event (if it can be done every day, at least the progress of key nodes should be synchronized). If any problems are found in the execution, they should be raised in time and discussed with everyone how to solve them. The event PM must closely control the progress of all lines and relevant personnel, integrate various resources, and promote the smooth progress of the event.

According to the start time of the activity, it can be divided into before the activity starts, the start of the activity and the end of the activity.

Before the event begins, the main tasks are program planning, personnel mobilization, resource preparation, and store construction;

After the event starts, the most important thing is to maintain the event venue, including whether the construction of each section is OK, whether the reservation is normal, whether the prices of venue goods and buttons are OK, whether the brand's advertising groups, keywords, and advertising positions can jump normally, etc. These are relatively detailed tasks, and also require event operators to have a certain amount of patience.

Another thing that needs to be done during the event is to track the operational data and analyze the effects. For event operations, there are many data indicators generated by operating an event, including PV, UV, clicks, click-through rate, bounce rate, number of bills, amount of bills, etc. Blindly analyzing various data is time-consuming and energy-consuming, and may not produce the effects we want.

Therefore, we need to select data that is useful for analyzing our operational effectiveness, and this also needs to revolve around our operational goals and methods. Discover existing problems from the data and take timely measures to resolve them. For example, if the click-through rate of a certain resource position is very low on that day, consider whether there is a problem with the material replacement, the material copy is not attractive enough, etc.

After the event is over, it is necessary to review the entire process of the event, summarize the situation of the event, analyze each link and operation method in the event process based on data performance, summarize the experience and lessons of the event, and provide a reference for the next event. Operation is to continuously reduce pitfalls through repeated experience accumulation and adjustment, and continuously improve the ability to control event operations.

4. Check data & adjust direction

Regardless of the type of operation, data analysis has always been a very important part, and data analysis capabilities are increasingly becoming one of the basic capabilities that operators must possess. As for e-commerce, there will be different data indicators according to different statistical calibers. Here we only discuss some key commonly used indicators, which are not divided according to statistical calibers.

1. flow

1. UV: Unique Visitor, also refers to unique user, which is the visitor within the statistical time period (de-duplication)
2. PV: Page views, the total number of pages opened when visiting a website. If a user opens or refreshes the same page multiple times, it will be counted as multiple views (without deduplication).
3. PV per capita: PV/UV

1. Conversion

1. Order conversion rate: order volume/UV
2. UV value: amount/UV
3. Payment rate: amount on account/effective order amount
4. Average order value: amount/order quantity

From the perspective of user usage path: the process of entering the event venue from the event page, selecting products and purchasing will involve the following data:

1. Browsing and clicking on the activity page generates the activity page PV, UV, and click volume, and then we can calculate the activity's click-through rate (click volume/PV), average PV per person (PV/UV), jump rate, etc.
2. Browsing and clicking on products generates product detail UV and click volume, which can be used to calculate click-through rate, product detail conversion rate (product detail UV/activity UV), etc.
3. The purchase of goods generates the number of users who add goods to their carts, the number of paying users, the amount of money deposited into their accounts, etc., and then the order payment rate (number of orders placed/number of valid orders), UV value, etc. are calculated.

The above basically covers the data indicators that should be focused on in e-commerce activities. What operations need to do is to discover the connections between data from seemingly complex and unrelated data and analyze the logic behind the data, gain insight into user needs, and adjust and improve operational strategies. We can even discover possible problems in channels, resources, and activities from the data, and reversely infer certain updates and iterations of the product.

(I have only touched the surface of data analysis, and the specific analysis is not thorough. I still need to continue to strengthen my study. Please forgive me~)

V. Conclusion

1. The preparation work before e-commerce activities is the most complicated and tedious, but it is also the most important part, involving the mobilization and integration of various resources. Therefore, full preparation should be made before the activities are operated;
2. To formulate an activity strategy, we must first evaluate past data performance and current market conditions, set appropriate goals, and firmly grasp the goal orientation throughout the activity. All operational strategies are based on achieving the goals.
3. It is particularly important to decompose indicators and plan work. We should try to break down goals in a refined manner and subdivide work items so that every participant in the activity is clear about the responsibilities they need to bear in the activity.
4. During the execution phase, attention should be paid to communication between different lines and synchronization of progress of key parts, and the work should be strictly carried out according to the planned work details. If any risk points occur, they should be resolved as soon as possible;
5. Data thinking should run through the beginning to the end of the activity. Operations should see the logic behind the data through data, and use data to timely adjust and improve operational strategies to promote the achievement of goals.

Thank you for your patience in reading this. You are welcome to correct me and exchange your thoughts.

Source: Wow