How to design a complete operation plan?

This article hopes to help entry-level product managers and operations managers understand the following issues through the introduction of this framework:

• What operational functions are most needed for the products you are responsible for?
• Why do different companies have different operating strategies for the same product?
• Why do different companies, the same products, and the same operating strategies produce different results?
• Why does the same product of the same company have different operating strategies at different stages?

Generally speaking, a complete operation plan will include the following seven elements:

• Target Users
• Operational objectives
• Operational Strategy
• Operation carrier (specifically refers to products here, not including content, communities , activities, etc.)
• Operational resources and costs
• Data Collection
• Effect evaluation

This article will focus on the small framework of "operation objectives-operation strategies-operation carriers (products)" for explanation. If the entire operation plan is compared to a large truck, then this small frame is like a container placed on the frame. No matter which large truck it is, or even a cargo ship or train, it can be installed, transported and disassembled according to its own situation.

1. Common strategies for mutual finance operations

1. Reward target

Experience money, coupons (vouchers, discount coupons, interest rate increase coupons), red envelopes, gifts (hot electronic products, cash, phone bills), and cash back.

2. User Conduct

Browse, register, bind card, invest , reinvest, redeem, distribute income, share, and invite friends.

3. Form a strategy after combination

Register to get free phone bills/cash/vouchers, share and earn more... You can combine multiple strategies, just choose the one that suits you.

2. Products applicable to various routines

Combined with the company's phased business goals and product characteristics, the operations manager can select specific operations goals from the following target pool:

• Get users ( new users )
• Increase activity (activation)
• Improve retention rate ( retention )
• Facilitate transactions
• Get income
• spread

After clarifying the goal and mastering the operation strategy, the next step is to connect with the product and build a small operation framework.

3. Boston Matrix Model 2.0

The Boston Matrix (I call it "Boston Matrix Model 1.0"), also known as the market growth rate-relative market share matrix, starts from the two dimensions of sales growth rate (external factors) and market share (internal factors), and divides four quadrants to analyze the company's current product structure and development prospects.

Different from the original idea in the model, I tend to believe that the products of Internet finance companies in the four quadrants have their own rationale for existence, and different operating goals and strategies need to be set for products in different quadrants, so as to maximize customer acquisition and transaction scale. The most important reason is that the Internet finance industry as a whole is still in its growth stage and has not yet gone through a complete industry cycle. In different companies, each type of product may be in any of the four quadrants - it can be said that there are no "bad products", only "bad operating strategies."

In Model 1.0, I will focus on the problematic products that are considered to be “abandoned” or “harvested”.

1. Star products (products with high sales growth rate and market share)

• Product examples: cash management products (Ping An Ying of Ping An Caifu Bao), regular high-yield products (debt transfer, bills)
• Operational goals: attract new customers, promote transactions, and obtain revenue
• Examples of applicable operational strategies: coupons for transactions, sharing and profit sharing

2. Problem products (products with high sales growth rate and low market share)

• Product example: Gold products (account gold/gold ETF)
• Operational goals : The operational goals of this type of product are highly correlated with the product's own attributes. In simple terms, they can be divided into the following two categories:

1) Phased growth, products with a certain periodicity: improve retention rate and promote transactions

The most typical example is gold products. It requires a high level of professionalism, has a small real trading group, and is greatly affected by crude oil, exchange rates, major international events, etc. The main goal of designing and operating activities for such products is to direct traffic to this APP or other products on the platform, attract users through hot spots, and facilitate transactions on this platform.

A typical example is the UK's Brexit referendum in 2016, when attention to account gold products and gold ETFs soared instantly, and financial management users searched for such products on major platforms.

Judging from the Baidu Index, this hotspot started on June 21, 2016, and lasted for a total of 11 days and 9 trading days until the last trading day after the trough (July 1, 2016). Products such as Cunjinbao ( Ant Financial 's Class I share packaging based on Bose Gold ETF) and Ping An Gold (Ping An Bank's account gold) attracted a large number of eyeballs and new users (the trading volume increased significantly, but the absolute value was not large).

When the craze subsides, the retention rate of these new users will be the key indicator to test the effectiveness of the operation measures. As can be seen from the above figure, although people's attention to the UK's Brexit referendum has approached zero after July 1, 2016, the attention to gold has risen to a higher level overall and has remained active for a longer period of time. For P2P operations managers, this part of traffic means users who need to be retained and further promoted to trade.

2) Products with continuous growth and unknown cycle: Acquire users and promote further dissemination

Such products are often newly launched categories on the platform, with low business maturity, unclear regulatory risks, and low investor awareness of the products. For example, Yu'ebao launched by Alibaba Small and Micro Financial Services in June 2013, bank acceptance bills launched by Jinyinmao in November 2013, stock allocation launched by MiNiu.com in September 2014, and Jiedaibao launched by Renrenxing Technology in June 2015... Among these products, some have become mainstream in the market, while others have disappeared.

Such pioneering products often have higher yields when they are launched than other products on the market because there is room for regulatory arbitrage. Under the analytical framework of "yield-liquidity-risk" (see " Internet Fund Product Design and Operation Thinking Framework"), for the operation of such products, based on (high yield + security) publicity, liquidity can be appropriately weakened, and the main goal of the appeal is to acquire users and promote further dissemination.

Examples of applicable operational strategies :

1. Periodic products: free experience bonus for registration, free coupons for card binding/investment
2. Products with unknown cycles: free trial bonus for registration, free coupons for card binding/investment, extra income for sharing, cashback/extra income/free coupons for inviting friends

3. Dog products (products with low sales growth rate and market share)

• Product example: public offering funds (excluding baby products)
• Operational goals: Improve retention rate and continuously import users

This type of product is generally launched for the long-tail users within the platform. When there is a product gap on the platform, users have spare money, or the stock market rises sharply, users tend to invest their money in this type of product.

If you do not have a large number of Internet users like Ant Fortune , or professional fund investors accumulated over many years by Tiantian Fund, it is not recommended to invest too many resources in such products.

Under this premise, the operational goal is mainly to improve retention rate, supplemented by continuous introduction of users.

Examples of applicable operational strategies: giving out red envelopes for participating in activities, giving out shares for investing, and giving out trial bonuses for registration

Taurus products (products with low sales growth rate and high market share)

• Product example: Existing baby products
• Operational goals: Increase activity and improve retention rate
• Examples of applicable operational strategies: birthday coupons, New Year red envelopes, and gift giving

4. Optimize product layout through operational means

The products in the four quadrants are not fixed. They will change with adjustments in the market, regulations, users and company resources. From an operational perspective, sometimes it is necessary to guide and promote such changes, and sometimes it is necessary to delay changes.

According to the basic application rules of the Boston Matrix, the most ideal layout is the "successful crescent ring" (multiple star products and cash cow products, a small number of problem products and skinny dog ​​products), and what should be avoided as much as possible is the "black ball failure rule (there is no cash cow product in the third quadrant, or there is basically no sales revenue)". After reading this, I wonder if you have quietly opened your own application or data analysis platform and thought about how your products are distributed in the four quadrants.

Based on the above logic, we briefly deduce the following two changes:

1. Problem product → star product

• Evolution direction: From high sales growth rate/low market share to high sales growth rate and high market share
• Evolution path: Maintain and increase sales growth rate and further increase market share

In fact, a problematic product is a type of business in a metastable state. Judging from the trend, it will generally undergo a significant shift within three months: either leaping to the left to become a star product, or collapsing downward to become a dog product.

It should be noted that before planning and implementing this strategy, it is necessary to clarify whether the product is a niche product (highly professional, high risk, complex operation, specific trading hours, etc.). If so, then you have to consider that the input-output ratio may not be cost-effective, and then adopt long-term content operation and community operation strategies. I will discuss this part in detail later when I have the chance, as I haven’t touched on it much myself.

2. Dog products → Problem products

• Evolution direction: From low sales growth rate and market share to high sales growth rate/low market share
• Evolutionary Path: Increase Sales Growth Rate

This kind of transformation of skinny dog ​​products often requires long-term continuous operation, and we must avoid spending money in a rush for quick success. If it can be combined with investor education, introduction to investment skills and market hotspots, good results can often be achieved. For example, Ant Fortune’s light fixed investment has gained both good reputation and large number of users. Similarly, I will have the opportunity to expand on this topic in the future.

5. Stages in which various routines are applicable

1. User Lifecycle

It should be noted that:

• Users may leave at any stage and may not necessarily complete a complete cycle.
• The above table can be used to analyze the life cycle of a single user, or to analyze the distribution of different users in these cycles during the same period.
• Due to the restrictions of the operational strategies defined above, methods such as reminders of a period of inactivity and reminders of new product launches are not included. In fact, these methods are also very effective

So, how to set the user life cycle and corresponding operational target indicators?

Different companies have different calibers, so just choose the one that suits your company's characteristics. For example, the activity defined by Pinterest is measured by the overall activation rate, and the calculation formula is: overall activation rate = number of return visitors within seven days / number of registered users; while a company I once worked for calculated the activity as the monthly active number, and the calculation formula is: number of users who visited once or more in a month / number of registered users in that month.

Although the calibers vary greatly, they are all indispensable. In short, any life cycle division without data standards is rogue. In fact, any company of a certain size will establish a complete set of user stratification indicators. There will be several indicators to define and calculate the activity alone, not to mention the multiplication and division between indicators (daily active/weekly active, daily active/monthly active, weekly active/monthly active...).

2. Market Cycles

The macro-economy, financial markets, the industry to which a company belongs, etc. also have corresponding operating cycles, and the corresponding cycle analysis tools are also very abundant. Here, it is recommended to use the Merrill Lynch clock for analysis. It is simple and clear, and very helpful for building an overall cognitive framework.

How Operations Managers Use the Merrill Lynch Clock:

• Fully understand the shortcomings of the model and use it critically . There are actually no very strict judgment indicators for the four stages of recovery, overheating, stagflation and recession. In other words, you cannot look at economic or financial indicators such as CPI, housing price index of 70 large and medium-sized cities, Gini coefficient, and CSI 300 Index to determine which cycle we are in and whether we have entered a new cycle.
• If we can find the basic method of using the Merrill Lynch clock, we can combine it with the existing products of this platform and promote it with corresponding operation strategies.
• As the material for selecting topics and sharing copy for content operation
• As a framework for describing the overall market environment during project review or annual summary

Putting aside the Merrill Lynch clock, you can actually choose several representative indicators based on your own experience and set up some simple market trend judgment tools. I usually put the average yield of P2P products, the annual return rate of Yu'ebao, the CSI 300, and the products of this platform together to get a little sense of the market.

At work, what indicators or calculations do you use to judge market trends? Welcome to leave a message and share.

This is the end of this article. The key points are summarized as follows:

• A complete operation plan includes seven elements: target users, operation goals, operation strategies, operation carriers, operation resources and costs, data collection, and effect evaluation.
• The small framework of " operational goals - operation strategies - operation carriers (products) " is the quickest entry point for the operation of Internet finance, and also the three underlying logics of Internet finance operation.
• Operation target pool : acquiring users (attracting new users), improving activity (promoting activation), improving retention rate (retention), promoting transactions, obtaining income, and spreading
• Based on the user portrait (not covered in this article, but very important), the operation strategy = user behavior + reward target
• The operating carrier (product) can fall into the four quadrants of the Boston Matrix . Based on this, combined with the operating goals and operating strategies, the prototype of the Internet finance operation routine can be established.
• The use of various routines should be combined with the broader context of user life cycle and market cycle . In addition to the Merrill Lynch clock, you can also explore your own analysis indicators
• Whether it is product development or operation, moderation is the key . All models are only to ensure the most guaranteed strategy in the worst case scenario, and are not the first choice when designing operation plans. If the goal can be achieved by integrating it into the product itself, don’t make an operation plan; if it can be done with one plan, don’t do multiple plans; if it can be done without spending money or spending less money, spend as little as possible. Don’t forget, what is your original intention in doing operations and developing products?

Note:

1. The operation plan mentioned in this article is mainly aimed at the operation activities within this platform, and does not yet cover community operation, content operation, offline activities , data operation and other aspects. In fact, the available operating methods are extremely diverse, and only the most common ones are discussed here. Other operational methods not mentioned in this article can also be combined and applied using the same model.
2. How to draw the Boston Matrix: Use 10% sales growth rate and 20% market share as the high and low standard dividing lines to divide the coordinate chart into four quadrants. Then mark the corresponding positions (centers of circles) of all the company's products on the coordinate graph according to their sales growth rates and market shares. After positioning, circles of varying sizes are drawn according to the sales volume of each product in that year, and different numerical codes are marked in sequence to distinguish them. The result of positioning is to divide the products into four types. (From Baidu)
3. Pay attention to the application of Pareto's principle. Don't apply equal effort to all products and all users in all cycles. The company has its own business direction and focus, and each stage has stage goals. If you try to do everything at once, you will end up having to say to your boss, "I have worked hard this year, even though I have no credit. I beg you to give me one month's year-end bonus..."

The author of this article @张德春 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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