How to master social e-commerce and acquire customers at low cost?

This article is the first in a series of detailed explanations of social gameplay. Taking the bargaining activities of Pinduoduo APP and China Unicom APP as examples, the article will deeply analyze the "bargaining" gameplay in social e-commerce , allowing you to acquire customers at low cost.

1. Write in front

I have always believed that all the ways of playing on the Internet can find their "prototypes" in the real world, because whether online or offline, the essence of business is to deal with "people".

Before understanding social e-commerce, it is recommended that you first enter a scenario like this: in a bustling market, there are many small vendors selling vegetables. Which one do you think has better business?

Of course, it’s the stalls with fresh vegetables, long queues, many repeat customers, and those that accept bargaining and are willing to give customers discounts. As a customer, if the boss gives me a low price, I will secretly feel happy and politely say "I will introduce more new customers to you". This is bargaining. If the boss says "buy more to get a discount", and I only need one item, I will ask people around me "buy together", this is group buying~

Therefore, in social e-commerce, this scenario is basically restored:

• First of all, users must feel "happy". This "happy point" is the moment when users see "low prices", such as "grab for 0 yuan, save XX yuan by group buying, 1 cent for lottery", etc. In short, users must see "benefits". While you give me benefits, I am willing to spend social currency to introduce new users to you;
• Secondly, the product must have a high cost-effectiveness ratio. This product must be what I need and not something that I feel distant from (to explain the sense of distance, I need to give an example, such as Pinduoduo’s “1 point to win a BMW”, “BMW car ” feels distant from 1 cent and me, and the marketing activity itself is too unconvincing). Cost-effectiveness varies from person to person, so please do not argue here;
• Secondly, create a lively atmosphere (for example, in Pinduoduo’s social function, “XX million people have received it/got it for free, XXX initiated a group order with 1 cent, XXX successfully bargained with 1 cent”). The purpose is: first, to show that “it’s really good only if everyone says it’s good”, and second, to show that “this product is very scarce, so many people are rushing to buy it, if you don’t act quickly, it will be out of stock”;
• Finally, new users need to be willing to participate, either by getting “benefits” or simply to help others. This can be seen from Pinduoduo's sharing copy . For details, please see a previous article: What have we learned from analyzing all Pinduoduo's sharing copy?

2. The past and present of social e-commerce

2.1 Origin of Social E-commerce

Baidu's definition: Social e-commerce is a new type of e-commerce that uses social networking sites, social media, online media and other communication channels in the context of social media, and uses social media technology to interact with interpersonal relationships and business information flows , and assists in the purchase and sale of goods through social interaction, user-generated content and other means. In short, the essence of social e-commerce is "returning channel commissions to the users themselves."

2.2 Common ways to play social e-commerce

Common ways to play in social e-commerce include: bargaining, group buying, support, 1-point grand prize draw, flash sales, etc. The purpose is to acquire customers at low cost. On the basis of completing the functions of attracting new customers and retaining customers , the ultimate goal is to achieve the product's commercial goals.

The essence of bargaining and helping is advertising, the essence of group buying is advertising + small profits but quick turnover, the essence of flash sales is "explosive sales promotion", which increases user stickiness (increases key behavioral conversions for new user retention and increases retention of old users ), and the essence of drawing a grand prize for one cent is gambling. Among them, bargaining, helping and group buying have social attributes in themselves, while 1 cent prize draws and flash sales require adding social elements such as sharing and group buying to product design.

3. The “bargaining” model is tricky

3.1 A thorough investigation of Pinduoduo’s bargaining activities: You help me bargain, and I hope you can also initiate the bargaining

(1) The initiator initiates the bargaining process

Summary of product design points during the bargaining process initiated by the initiator:

1. We need to constantly guide people to share with WeChat groups /individuals;
2. Help friends bargain or open red envelopes to get the chance to continue bargaining;
3. Guide users to complete the core product behavior - browse products to get bargaining coupons, thereby stimulating the next bargaining behavior;
4. Share bargaining props - the sword with friends to attract them to bargain.

Recipient user group 1 — Active APP users

Summary of product design points for active APP users in the process of accepting bargaining assistance:

1. For users who have not followed the official account , you can guide them to follow the official account before helping to bargain, thus diverting traffic to other product lines;
2. You can get an extra chance to help bargain by completing the core product behavior - browsing products;
3. Be sure to find ways to give recipients bargaining coupons to stimulate them to initiate bargaining behavior.

Recipient Group 2 — New App Users/Inactive Users

Summary of product design points for new APP users and inactive users in the process of accepting bargaining assistance:

1. Guide users to download the app by providing them with copywriting prompts that they can help their friends bargain more (if they don’t download the app, they won’t be able to help bargain);
2. Give new users coupons or the right to purchase discounted items to help them quickly complete their first purchase and increase user stickiness.

(2) China Unicom’s advanced bargaining tactics: soliciting customers from friendly companies

The bargaining process on the China Unicom APP is roughly the same as that on Pinduoduo, but there is a more advanced way of playing, that is, users from other networks (China Mobile and China Telecom users) can also help bargain, and they must log in to the China Unicom APP for the bargaining to be successful. More advanced users from other networks will be given a 50 yuan phone bill voucher immediately after logging in, which can be used to purchase China Unicom Internet packages.

I checked the version update record of China Unicom APP and found that supporting login by users from different networks is a new feature added in the latest version. It can be seen that a price-bargaining activity not only promotes new functions, but also undertakes the important mission of attracting customers from friendly companies.

(3) Summary of product design rules for bargaining activities

As shown in the above analysis, the rules for designing bargaining activity products can be summarized as follows:

1. Keep encouraging people to share with WeChat groups/individuals, don’t stop;
2. Integrate the task system to allow users to complete specific behaviors such as sharing and browsing to obtain the opportunity to continue bargaining, or stimulate users to initiate the next bargaining;
3. Connect with the recipients of bargaining behavior through social copywriting (see the previous article);
4. To achieve the ultimate business goal of the product, this goal could be to direct traffic to other product lines, stimulate old users to initiate price cuts, or attract new users to log in and complete purchases. A more advanced way of playing is to snatch customers from China Unicom.

4. How to play "bargaining" on non-e-commerce platforms

After seeing the price-cutting activities of Pinduoduo and China Unicom, how can non-e-commerce platforms acquire customers at low cost through "social e-commerce"?

(1) “Points-based products” can also be used for “socializing”

When experiencing social e-commerce, I have always had a question: "Do non-e-commerce products have the opportunity to acquire customers at low cost through social e-commerce?" The answer is yes. Just like China Unicom, your product must have its own unique product resources, or its own points product. These can all be used as products in the "social e-commerce" method. Don't be afraid of packaging. As long as it is possible to be free, users will be interested.

If the value of your product is higher, you can set a larger number of people to help bargain. If the value of your product is low, one or two people will be enough.

(2) Multi-channel linkage to achieve the goal of "joint growth"

If your product has multiple product lines, and your responsibility happens to be to increase the number of new and retained users of multiple product lines, then you can, like Pinduoduo, first activate users in the WeChat environment (follow the WeChat public account ), and then direct traffic to the APP by providing differentiated value (for example, some products can only be used in the APP or the APP can provide deeper services, etc.). The linkage between products can achieve the growth of product A driving the growth of product B.

(3) Setting the “bargaining price ladder” is very important

The following picture is a screenshot of the bargaining price ladder I completed on the Pinduoduo APP. The logic is roughly as follows:

1. If the recipient is an old user, I can't help much, and I can bargain for a few yuan;
2. If the recipient is a new user, the price of bargaining is usually higher, mainly to attract new users to download the APP;
3. Always make the initiator feel that he is just a little bit away from success. Using a combination of one high price + N low prices will always make you feel that you will succeed soon.

(4) Add gamification elements to bargaining to make it more fun

For example, Pinduoduo and China Unicom have incorporated gamification elements into the bargaining process, such as props and task systems. Firstly, this makes bargaining more fun, and secondly, it can stimulate users to share or initiate new bargaining.

(5) Don’t forget to say “thank you” to those who have helped you.

Pinduoduo and China Unicom both expressed gratitude in the copy after sharing and bargaining, and guided users to share the "good news" on their Moments after a successful bargaining. This is, firstly, to promote the product itself, and secondly, to publicly praise those who helped. In short, let users continue sharing, don’t stop. See the screenshot in (4) for details.

(6) Stealing customers from competitors is the best strategy

If your competitors are clear, you can try to learn from China Unicom.

5. My secret thoughts, please help me answer them

5.1 Are Pinduoduo's multiple product lines isolated from each other?

The bargaining products and bargaining record data in the Pinduoduo APP and mini program are independent of each other. Is it because the data synchronization cost is considered from a technical perspective? Or does the high customer overlap between the two product lines provide more options for the same group of users?

5.2 Can all products copy Pinduoduo’s bargaining model?

Of course not. The user target groups are different, so the product designs are different. For example: Pinduoduo users will be induced to forward as long as you emphasize "low price". However, instead of simply emphasizing “money”, maternal and infant brands should say “Let more children eat safe milk powder/use safe brands”; and knowledge-based paid brands should say “Make progress together with friends” to encourage forwarding. The higher the social class, the more their desires need to be packaged, because they themselves are unwilling to admit their greed.

5.3 What is the essential difference between helping and bargaining?

Please help, because Pinduoduo's assistance requires a fixed number of N new users to help, while bargaining can be helped by both new and old users, is that it? Moreover, Ctrip ’s mini program provides another way to play.

5.4 Can a good cook cook without rice?

No matter how many resources are available and how much they are worth, there must be chips to engage in "social gameplay". What do you think?

In the next article, we will analyze another way of playing social e-commerce - the "group buying" function. More will be released soon, so stay tuned.

Source: I can’t stop at all~