In-depth review: The conversion rate is only 9%, I summarized 6 pitfalls

As one of the proven effective means of attracting new customers , the drainage course is a very important skill for operators to attract new customers. This article starts from what is the drainage course, what are the characteristics of the excellent drainage courses in the education industry, and my own experience of a failed drainage course, and explains to you how to do course drainage. Enjoy~

Looking around, whether it is knowledge payment or online education , lead-generating courses have become one of the proven effective means of attracting new customers.

Here are the reasons:

1. The first choice for attracting traffic is the rigid-demand courses, which have a large demand for users and a significant effect in attracting new users.
2. The price of the lead generation course is low , and users have almost no decision-making cost;
3. The content of the lead-in course focuses on practical knowledge , and the teacher uses a "muscle-showing" teaching method to make users feel a strong sense of gain;
4. Traffic-generating courses provide users with a user experience that exceeds their expectations . They are not limited to high-quality course products, but can also be personalized course services and value-added related gifts.

The above points are the four basic characteristics of traffic-generating courses, and are also the basic "tools" to achieve conversion to regular courses. If the lead generation course you taught does not meet any of the above characteristics, then I’m sorry, you may have just taught a course and it has nothing to do with lead generation at all.

Oftentimes, we set up a lot of conversion links in the “traffic-generating course” that we think are clever, but in fact, they are all for our own good, because the course product is a mistake: it is not a traffic-generating course at all!

Do you want to attract new customers through induction courses, and then convert them to full-priced courses?

First of all, we need to be clear about what a lead-in class is.

1. Question: What is a lead generation class?

Kaochong’s main product is College English Test Band 4 and Band 6 training. Now its product line has expanded to other extended categories such as postgraduate entrance examination, IELTS and TOEFL, CET-4 and CET-8.

The icon is so simple that you can remember it at a glance

Kaochong APP

The current success of Kaochong is largely attributed to the design of its "traffic-generating courses".

A careful study of Kaochong's courses reveals that all categories of courses include "system courses" and "open courses". The former are priced between 99 and 499 yuan, with 199 yuan being the highest, while the latter are mainly free or low-priced (no higher than 9.9).

To sum it up in one sentence: "System courses" are full-priced courses, and "open courses" are traffic-generating courses.

So how is Kaochong’s lead-in course designed?

Here we take the classic category project of Kaochong - College English Test Band 4 and Band 6 as an example: the course content of the lead-in course mainly includes 5 types: review planning, skills and methods, practice classes, online mock exams and gift package classes.

Open classes are lead-in classes

Among them, the CET-4 and CET-6 review planning course (free) has 280,000 registrations; the CET-4 and CET-6 gift package course (9.9 for a single person, 1 yuan for a group of three) has been sold for 4 consecutive sessions, with a total of 80,000 purchases . Such impressive data is inseparable from the lean design of the drainage course.

The following focuses on the analysis of this type of drainage course:

1. Review and planning course for CET-4 and CET-6

Review planning class with famous teachers

1. The selling point of the course is "famous teachers + multiple targeted courses", which aims to solve common problems encountered by users in the process of preparing for the CET-4 and CET-6 exams and meets the rigid needs of users.
2. It is completely free, and users have no decision-making costs . Even users who have never taken a course before will want to give it a try. In addition, the courses can be replayed, and the listening experience is good.
3. In terms of course setting, in addition to talking about exam preparation planning, there are also interspersed "dry stuff" sessions , such as "Quickly and accurately memorize core words", "How to get full marks in reading", "The road to redemption of translation", etc. These are used to demonstrate the strength of famous teachers and pave the way for subsequent transformation.

1. CET-4 and CET-6 gift package course (9.9 for one person, 1 yuan for a group of three)

Here, others are still exploring innovative models for attracting traffic; there, Kaochong has already developed a "new model" of its own for attracting traffic.

Starting this year, the "yellow explosive packs" (i.e. course materials) of Kaochong have swept across college campuses across the country and have even become a beautiful landscape on campus. The “Yellow Dynamite Package” not only gives away regular-priced courses, but also lead-generating courses, and the price is incredibly low. A group of three people only costs 1 yuan, and shipping is free!

User's order-"Yellow Dynamite Package"

For only 1 yuan, users can get a series of course products including "multiple live classes + exquisite physical gift packages + online guidance from famous teachers", which is completely beyond expectations! In addition, the population density of college students is highly concentrated and closed, and the group itself is naturally "loves to share". Without the need for operation guidance, this group of people are natural propagandists:

If you search for "Kaochong" on Weibo, you will see 8,382,563 results. The total number of Weibo readings for "Kaochong CET-4 and CET-6 Systematic Class" is 1.43 billion. Not only that, on other traffic platforms, such as Zhihu, Baidu Knows, Baidu Tieba , etc., all of the comments are spontaneous comments from users.

Positive reviews of tap water on Weibo

This is also the reason why Kaochong’s marketing expenses account for less than 5% so far, and it relies almost entirely on word-of-mouth marketing and referrals from old students: giving users an experience that exceeds their expectations is giving users a reason to spread the word about you.

To sum up, how does Kaochong conduct its lead-in courses?

1. CET-4 and CET-6 tutoring meets the rigid learning needs of college students;
2. The course price is low , and college students have almost no decision-making costs;
3. Celebrity teachers give live lectures, frequently offering valuable information and powerful tips , which have a strong ability to attract fans among college students;
4. 1 yuan = multiple live classes + exquisite physical gift packages + online guidance from famous teachers. The product completely exceeds user expectations.

When you are not sure whether the product you are making is a traffic-generating course, you might as well look back at Kaochong’s products.

Remember, traffic-generating courses should be priced low, but low prices do not mean that quality should be compromised. On the contrary, quality should come first for traffic-generating courses.

2. Case: A failed lead generation course

This was my first time to participate in the design of a traffic-generating course: including course content setting, pricing strategy formulation, activity strategy formulation, and publicity strategy formulation, etc.

The actual result of this activity: Although the expected number of students enrolled was achieved, the output efficiency was too low compared to the resources invested, and the conversion rate was too low , so it was a failed drainage course.

In order to ensure that the information between you and me is equal, it will be easier to draw relevant experience.

The basic situation of this project is listed as follows:

1. Project Background

The purpose of this lead-in course is to convert students for the full-priced courses in the fall, with the goal of enrolling 5,500 students and a conversion rate of 30%.

• Target group: Primary school students in grades 3 to 6
• Schedule: During the National Day, the course lasts for 3 days, with 1 hour of class per day
• Course content: Chinese, mathematics and English are offered, focusing on the key and difficult knowledge of the new semester
• Price setting: 39 yuan/section
• Activity strategy: The main feature is to purchase courses for free. Users can receive a 39-yuan voucher without any threshold if they attend the course on time.
• Promotion channel : within the client

1. Project Results

This lead generation course actually enrolled 6,500 students, with a conversion rate of 9%.

Compared with the target, the number of students enrolled met expectations, but the conversion rate was very low. From more detailed data, we can see that the attendance rate of this traffic-generating course is 22% higher than that of the traffic-generating course in September. The proportion of users who received vouchers was 77%, but the utilization rate was only 21%.

1. Analyze the causes

The most important indicator for judging whether a traffic-generating course is successful is undoubtedly the conversion rate.

There is no doubt that this drainage class failed.

After the event, I did a quick review of the conversion process. The reasons for the low conversion rate were as follows:

1. Among the registered users, new users account for a small proportion;
2. The conversion process is only carried out by the teacher in class, and there is no channel to continue to promote it after class;
3. Users who receive coupons with no threshold are more inclined to purchase courses at low prices.

But this is just thinking from a transformational perspective.

You should know that converting a lead-in class into a full-priced class is a systematic operational process.

What is the reason for the low conversion rate of this activity? In our next lead generation activity, how should we design and optimize each step?

My team members and I have reviewed and summarized the following "6 pitfalls to avoid when converting lead-in courses to full-priced courses" . I hope that you who read this article can avoid some detours.

3. Experience: 6 pitfalls to avoid when switching to full-price courses

1. Courses

For this course, we have arranged 3 days of classes, with 1 hour of class each day.

Such a schedule is too demanding for primary school students, and the course content covering the key and difficult subjects is also too heavy. During holidays, the general mentality of primary school students and their parents is: take advantage of the holidays to broaden their horizons.

If you have to open classes on holidays, for primary school students, 1-2 light classes are more appropriate, such as this year's National Day "Xueersi Travel 1 Yuan Class":

"Xueersi Travel 1 Yuan Course" course introduction page

Introduction to Xueersi Travel 1 Yuan Course:

• Course content: Follow the teacher to travel around the mountains and rivers in class and master Chinese literacy knowledge
• Course schedule: 5 classes for 1 yuan, 20 minutes each class
• Course activities: Unlock the first lesson for 1 yuan, and unlock all courses for free after inviting 3 people/directly pay the remaining 98 yuan to unlock all courses

Our experience: When designing the course content for the lead-in course, remember to make sure it is in line with the user's usage scenarios , and strive to keep the format lightweight. Don't use video if you can use voice, and don't limit the use of computers if you can watch it on your phone. It's best that a single class does not exceed 1 hour.

1. Pricing strategy

For this course, we priced it at 39 yuan per subject (including 3 classes), and the user decision-making cost is relatively high.

Although you can get vouchers of the same amount back if you attend class on time, it is not cash after all, so its appeal to users is very limited.

Our experience: It is necessary to clearly define the “traffic entrance” positioning of the traffic-generating course, and the unit price of the traffic-generating course should not exceed 19 yuan/subject (including 3 classes). You can try a variety of pricing strategies around price. For example, for 19 yuan + 1 yuan, you can register for 2 subjects. This can not only increase user retention time, but also indirectly increase the conversion success rate.

For the K12 field: +1 yuan can add one more subject, and it can be bundled with parent courses for sale, so as to directly reach the purchasing decision makers.

Among them, "Uncle Kai Tells Stories" has done a solid job in this field. Recently, its official account launched a "Parent-Child Daily Class" menu, which includes 1 yuan training camps, free parent-child daily classes, parent classes, etc. By solving the practical problems of parents in the process of raising children, it drives the sales of its own flagship product, that is, storytelling courses:

Entrance to the "Parent-Child Day Class" course

The course page was launched only one week ago, and the subscription volume for the single course "Can High Emotional Intelligence Be Cultivated?" has reached more than 20,000. Considering the situation where traffic dividends are becoming increasingly lower, this is already a very good result.

1. Activity Strategy

For this course, we tried the activity of "returning vouchers for attending class on time", which played a very good role in promoting the attendance rate of users, which increased by 22% compared to September.

Our experience: It is not difficult to attract users to sign up for the lead-in courses due to their “low price + strong demand”. The most difficult part is how to increase the attendance rate and get as many people as possible to participate in the live broadcast?

"Reward coupons for attending classes on time" can be further packaged as a "scholarship mechanism" to implement tiered class lengths and receive tiered scholarships to stimulate users to attend classes and increase completion rates at the same time.

In addition to providing direct benefits to users, many virtual rewards can also be used to stimulate attendance, such as "free course handouts for those who attend class on time", "entry into the free Q&A community for those who attend class on time", etc. This type of reward has a low marginal cost and is a common method used by educational institutions.

1. Promotional strategy

For this course, we only used promotional resources within the client and did not promote it through external channels. As a result, the proportion of new students was small and the conversion rate was low .

Our experience: Group buying and helping with price reduction are common means of acquiring new customers. But this method also has disadvantages. Users in first- and second-tier cities are unwilling to share due to face, but are unwilling to pay the full amount. This is a typical user churn scenario.

For course products, a targeted invitation system is a better choice . Old users share the course page. If their friends purchase the course through the page they shared, they can get a discount. At the same time, old users can get cash share or other rewards. Take advantage of the word-of-mouth effect among old users to help organizations expand their reach.

Here’s an example that’s not quite appropriate: Luckin Coffee ; it attracts a large number of customers by inviting friends to drink coffee for free.

Through your sharing, your friends can try the coffee for free, and you can also get a free coupon after consumption. Under the temptation of double benefits, this fission method quickly spreads virally in the circle of friends .

1. Service Strategy

For this course, we did not provide a community and only relied on teachers to make conversions in live classes.

Although there are three live classes, there is no after-class Q&A session, which causes users to perceive the course only as a lecture and lack emotional connection with the institution.

Our experience: Equipping a community with a lead-in course is, firstly, to facilitate class reminders, secondly, to facilitate answering questions after class, and thirdly, to maintain relationships . Maintaining a relationship may seem abstract, but in fact the final transformation depends entirely on it . In addition to providing basic course services, teachers and operations staff can initiate some discussions in the group and build trust in the institution through daily communication.

After researching several online learning platforms, I personally feel that Panda Mini Class has done a relatively good job in community operations . Due to space constraints, I will not go into detail here. If you are interested, you can go and learn more about it.

"Panda Mini Class" guides you to join the group page after successfully purchasing the course

Remember: Building trust is a very important part of achieving conversions.

1. Control of operational details

In this course, we did not pay enough attention to many operational details.

for example:

1. The course details page did not clearly describe the event and did not directly state when the vouchers would be issued, which led to many customer service issues.
2. The in-app push notification of the cash coupon was not accompanied by SMS notification, resulting in many users not knowing that they had received the cash coupon;
3. When the voucher is about to expire, there is no SMS reminder, resulting in the loss of a large number of users who are willing to buy...

Our experience: The traffic generation course is a systematic project that requires the establishment of an operational process. In the early stages of planning, each operational detail needs to be described in writing, and the specific execution time and specific executors must be implemented to prevent other emergencies in the project from not being fully implemented in the operational details.

The final project execution result = detail 1 completion percentage detail 2 completion percentage detail 3 completion percentage..., only when every detail is 100%, the final result will be 1.

Regarding the written description of the operational details, it is recommended to use a Gantt chart for planning:

4. Conclusion

1. Before making a traffic-generating course, you must first make it clear whether you are really making a traffic-generating course product , rather than just doing it for your own pleasure.
2. There are four basic characteristics of traffic-generating courses, namely, the course is in high demand, the course price is low, users feel a sense of achievement after completing the course, and the course product experience exceeds expectations ;
3. When designing the content of the lead-in course, remember to make sure it meets the target user's usage scenario and keep the format lightweight . Don't use video if you can use voice, and don't limit the use of computers if you can watch it on mobile phones.
4. The price of the lead-in course must be low. In addition, you can try a variety of pricing strategies , such as 19 yuan + 1 yuan, which allows you to register for 2 courses, maximizing the user experience course product time;
5. The key to the success of the lead-in course lies in the conversion rate . At the beginning of planning, we should consider how to increase the user attendance rate;
6. For micro-course platforms, during the promotion period, it is necessary to make good use of the word-of-mouth effect of old users to expand the scope of information dissemination;
7. Lead generation courses must be paired with community services, and the key to achieving conversion is the user’s trust in the organization;
8. The traffic generation course is a systematic operation project, and sometimes details determine success or failure; in the execution of details, it is necessary to implement it to specific time points and specific responsible persons.

Practice makes perfect, review makes you gain experience; please avoid the pitfalls I have stepped on!

Source: Mugongzi