How to improve activity and retention? A brief analysis of the user growth system in financial apps!

The user growth system refers to modules or functions designed for the purpose of [encouraging users to use the product for a long time] in addition to the core functions of the product. Its goal is to achieve the goal of increasing product activity and retention rate through some tasks and level systems that are valuable to users, combined with some regular or irregular event operations .

1. Goals and Functions of the User Growth System

1. Why do we need a user growth system?

Here is a very simple question: why are the rents near subway entrances and large shopping malls so high? Because these places have a large flow of people. Only with the flow of people can there be more people coming in to consume. The same goes for the user growth system. As the number of active users increases, the products and services provided by the platform will have the possibility of being seen and used by more people.

Many financial APP products are seen as just basic tools that can meet users' basic needs such as borrowing and lending, which is reasonable in the early stages. But when your users reach a certain scale, how to retain them in the face of fierce competition, rather than having them use them and leave, is a core issue concerning the sustainable development of the product. If a product is only used as a tool, it is difficult to ensure long-term user activity. Therefore, similar to e-commerce products, Internet finance products also require a series of operational designs that are attractive to users: through long-term interest inducement, coupled with simple and interesting games , it helps to attract users to use the product for a long time, ensure product stickiness, and improve retention rate; combined with interaction on social platforms, it can also make a certain contribution to attracting new users ; these are the important goals of the user growth system.

2. How does the user growth system work?

Let’s use the AARRR model to analyze the goals and functions of the user growth system. If the goal of marketing and promotion activities is to focus on acquiring users (Acquisiton), then we can see that the user growth system is more about operating existing users, so it plays an important role in the three links of Activation, Retention and Refer. Of course, in P2P products, forwarding/sharing, as well as investment coupons/rebates (increasing reinvestment) can also provide considerable help in acquiring users and increasing revenue. The natural "defect" of Internet finance products, which are used at a low frequency, further determines that the user growth system is crucial in the user operation of the product.

2. Main contents of the user growth system

Different financial products have different designs of user growth systems due to differences in product types and development positioning. In order to facilitate focus and summary analysis, the author will take Rong360 as the main case to look at the main contents of the user growth system.

Rong360 is positioned as a financial product search and recommendation platform. Its target users are relatively broader, including borrowers, investors , credit card users, etc., while most single Internet finance products only include one or two of these. Therefore, the user growth system of this product covers a relatively wider range of target users, and the core content of its user growth system, including its possible advantages and disadvantages, is also very representative.

Rong360's User Growth System - Information Architecture

Rong360 User Growth System——Main Page

From the perspective of functional differences, the author divides the user growth system into five types. In addition, judging from the various types of APPs that the author has used, no matter what type of APP it is, although the design of the user growth system operation will have various different characteristics, most of them remain essentially the same and basically include these aspects. Therefore, the analysis here is also applicable to products other than Internet finance.

3. Issues regarding the entry and distribution of the user growth system

1. Don’t hide too deeply

Rong360 has a unique entrance, which is placed in the "Sign in" on the upper left corner of the homepage. When logging in every day, if you have not clicked the "Sign in" button, there will be a red dot prompt at the "Sign in" entrance on the homepage. All relevant functions are also collected here. The advantage of a single entrance is that it is easier to help users develop fixed usage habits after understanding the product; but for unfamiliar users, some functions are deep and difficult to find, and there is a certain cognitive cost. On the other hand, a single entrance is not conducive to guiding and promoting the sub-functions therein, resulting in a serious weakening of the entire module. In terms of the complexity and importance of the user growth system, the author does not recommend doing this.

2. Separate modules appropriately

If the user growth system is more complex, it should be displayed separately according to the product modules. For example, the sign-in function is what product managers hope users will do “first thing when they enter the app every day”, so it can be taken out separately and placed in the upper part of the homepage (visual center); while the membership system is often very complex and can derive many functions, which are relatively less frequently used and are more closely related to “individual” or “account” from the user’s perspective, so it can be placed in a module similar to “individual”. The following is the Tuandai.com APP, which has the same design as above. However, the "Me" module arranges some important entrances such as the "Group Treasure Box" in a vertical list format, causing entrances such as "My Membership" to be squeezed to the bottom (cannot be displayed on one screen), which can easily be ignored by users when there is no other visual guidance. Although I am not sure about the original design intention of the product, from a design perspective, there are more appropriate methods here, such as using a grid layout to improve the efficiency of page space utilization.

Tuandai.com

3. Avoid being too scattered

Separating important modules according to functional logic is obviously more conducive to highlighting key points and targeted separate promotions. For example, when new products are launched in the points mall or new level rewards are available, targeted promotion and guidance can be carried out in the form of bubbles, banners, etc. But everything has its limits. Once it is too dispersed, things will undoubtedly become very bad. A more extreme example is that the product distributes various entrances such as sign-in, membership, and shopping mall into multiple different tabs, or even the same entrance exists in multiple places on different pages, causing confusion in the information hierarchy and inability to highlight the key points. Since they are distributed in different modules and even the corresponding icons or texts are different, it may be difficult for users to understand the differences and distinctions between these entrances, which invisibly increases the cognitive burden of users.

Weidai.com's membership and community systems are distributed in 3 tabs

4. Key points of user growth system design

1. Sign-in system

Among the dozens of Internet financial apps that the author has experienced, more than 80% of the products have this function. Daily check-in is considered to be a very effective means of increasing daily activity of a product. As product people, we hope that "signing in" is the "first thing users do when they enter the APP every day", so the sign-in system should have two basic elements.

(1) Prominent position or necessary prompts

The sign-in entrance must be obvious enough so that users can easily reach and click it when they open the APP every day. Most products will place the sign-in entrance in a prominent position on the homepage or other first-level tab. On the other hand, you can design some reminders (such as a red dot or banner) when the user does not "check in" on the day. In this regard, most financial apps do not provide a good solution. But we can take a look at the design of the reading app "Iphone Reader", which has a very obvious "check-in" reminder at the top of the homepage. When users don't want to see it, they can scroll up to hide it, so it will not cause obvious disgust among users.

The sign-in interface of iReader

(2) Profitable

In addition to having a sufficiently obvious entrance and prompts, users must also feel that it is "profitable" to attract them to operate for a long time and gradually develop usage habits. Most P2P apps have settings like “sign in for X consecutive days to get XXX”, which can encourage users to achieve their goals to a certain extent. However, this kind of reward must be clearly communicated to users to increase their motivation to participate.

For example, Yiren Wealth on the left side of the picture below does not provide a clear enough introduction to the rewards on the sign-in interface (there is only a small gift icon for September 8, which is confusing). In this case, it is difficult to give users enough motivation to click "Sign in Now". In contrast, the Rong360 sign-in page in the middle of the picture below gives users clear expectations with the text prompts at the top, which naturally gives users more motivation to click and stick with it. Paipaidai (right in the picture below) combines sign-in with lottery, which increases the playability of sign-in and is also a good choice.

Yiren Wealth, Rong360, Paipaidai

For the iReader mentioned above, you can click "Sign in" on the homepage, and after clicking, you will enter the lottery page, where you can randomly draw coupons (which can be deducted when purchasing e-books). This provides intuitive expected benefits, and the different amounts randomly drawn each time increase the fun, giving users more interest and motivation to participate. In addition to the foreseeable "benefits", after the user completes a certain number of sign-ins, you can also use copywriting such as "You have signed in for X consecutive days, exceeding X% of users" to give the user a certain "sense of honor". This is also an incentive method that can be tried.

2. Membership system

The membership system is similar to game levels in some ways. Its goal is to design a predictable level promotion path to encourage users to upgrade their levels through continuous use of the product. The rights and rewards corresponding to different levels can promote further use by users. In addition to encouraging users to use the app more deeply through various physical and virtual rewards and benefits, members can also increase users' sense of honor through labels such as "medals". On the other hand, stratifying users through a membership system can provide a basis for operations and customer service personnel, allowing them to design targeted, online and offline operations and service plans for different users.

(1) Member classification standards

The membership system generally stratifies users based on dimensions such as frequency of use, duration, and spending amount. In P2P products, members are mostly of the same dimension as levels, that is, different levels of membership are levels. Moreover, the only indicator for classification is basically the user's investment amount-related data (such as yesterday's receivables, average daily net assets, etc.). The following is the member classification standards in Internet financial products summarized by the author. For P2P, they basically belong to the former category; the latter is more suitable for comprehensive financial service platforms such as Rong360 and 51 Credit Card . When choosing a grading standard, you should try to choose the dimension that is simplest to calculate and easiest for users to understand. For example, the "average daily net assets for the month" of Tuandai.com may be difficult for novice users to understand.

General standards for membership classification of financial apps

(2) The “level” system must be simple and easy to understand

Too many levels and overly complex rules can easily make users lose patience and motivation to explore. The ways and methods of upgrading should be clearly communicated to users, and there should be corresponding guidance in the interface of the user's current level to promote user "upgrade".

For example, the PPmoney below may have the simplest and clearest membership system among the dozen or so P2P products I have experienced. This simplicity is not because of its small content, but because its design is very restrained and does not mix in too many elements such as point systems, shopping malls, or even investment products. The hierarchical dimensions of "Yesterday's Collection" are also relatively simple and easy to understand. Moreover, its horizontal switching method allows you to intuitively see the rights and interests of members of different levels and distinguish the differences between them. The "Upgrade Guide" not only tells users how to upgrade, but also introduces the level rules, which is clear at a glance.

PPmoney's membership system

(3) Membership must be “useful”

Although the membership system, combined with some designs such as "medals" and "achievement lists", can bring users a sense of "honor" and "dignity", today's Internet users have become more and more picky, so if there are no tangible and visible "benefits", it has become increasingly difficult to arouse users' interest. Just as a certain great person emphasized in an offline operation activity I participated in before, "Thinking of making a perfect operation plan without spending money is just a castle in the air!" Although it is a bit extreme, it at least illustrates to some extent the importance of "interest temptation" in guiding users.

The characteristic of membership is "special", and this specialness lies in various visible "benefits", such as red envelope rewards, coupons, discounts, interest rate increase coupons, additional investment rewards, birthday/holiday gifts, special product purchase rights, etc. Moreover, these benefits for different levels of membership should be differentiated enough to give users enough motivation to "upgrade". Of course, the design and distribution of membership levels and benefits will also be limited by operating costs and budgets. However, some "routines" in e-commerce can still be used as reference, such as the appropriate use of "long-term member discounts" and "member areas" to control costs while ensuring better results. However, relying entirely on these routines is not a long-term solution. After all, users are becoming smarter and smarter, especially Internet financial users who are more "calculating".

3. Task and activity system

The task system is a functional module within the product that is designed to encourage and attract users and includes a series of daily operations and marketing plans. Activities mostly refer to promotional and activation plans around the core functions of the product that are launched regularly or irregularly during holidays or other specific times. Since tasks and activities are often related, the analysis here does not make a strict distinction. Generally speaking, tasks (or activities) can be divided into regular (such as sign-in, daily lottery, pet training, etc.) and irregular (such as inviting friends to get rewards, passing levels, answering questions, and other temporary activities) according to the time of launch.

(1) Benefits and fun

How to attract users? In order to attract users to participate in tasks, two conditions are generally required: predictable benefits (benefits) and fun. The former is to provide users with various visible rewards to stimulate users to participate in activities. Similar issues have been mentioned many times in the previous article, so I will not repeat them here. Interestingness requires that the activity itself is interesting, novel, and playable.

Many P2P products have already made some attempts in this regard. For example, Renrendai’s “Question Answering and Check-in” integrates product knowledge points into answering questions. Users can get corresponding rewards (gold coins) by answering questions every day. “Passing Levels” provides users with a way to gain in-depth understanding of the necessary knowledge such as the industry and risks in the form of a game. While educating users, it also allows users to get rewards after completing tasks.

Renrendai

There are also platforms such as Weidian.com, Rong360, and Tuandai.com, which also have some very interesting activities. Users can earn points through some H5 mini-games, or spend points to play games. There is also a points guessing game, which draws on the gameplay of lottery draws, allowing users to use points to place bets (red envelope rewards) and the prizes will be drawn at the end of the event. Another attempt that the author thinks is very interesting is to let users vote on specific hot social topics (it is predetermined that the party with more or fewer votes at the end of the activity wins, and the user gets a reward); the author believes that if this form is combined with sign-in and made into a form similar to daily tasks, it should be able to attract more users' attention and enthusiasm for participation.

In addition, in order to increase user engagement, you can also consider it from the UGC perspective and try similar activities such as "User Voice", "Essay Contest with Prizes", "My Story with XX Platform", etc. Let users feel the presence of other users and motivate and improve their enthusiasm through the "enthusiasm" of other users.

(2) Sustainability

How to attract users in the long term? One of the difficulties of the task system is how to achieve sustainability. Some regular or irregular activities or tasks can attract users' attention and bring about a short-term increase in activity. But the difficulty lies in keeping users for a long time in products with non-rigid demands. Therefore, even a product like Alipay will launch modules such as Ant Forest and Ant Farm, and place them in an important position. Although many people around the author have given up for various reasons, when he occasionally logs in, he finds that there are still quite a lot of users who enjoy the daily "watering", "collecting energy", "feeding" and "herding chickens".

This is the case with Alipay. As a single financial app with much weaker demand intensity and usage scenarios, it needs this kind of interesting design to help improve long-term activity and retention rate. We have seen that some financial products have also made similar attempts.

For example, Dianrong's "Space Station" (below left) and Yidai.com's "Wealth Tree" (below right), users can continuously earn experience money or gold coins through long-term participation in relaxing mini-games. In addition, the 360-degree high-tech visuals and motion effects give people a refreshing feeling, and also incorporate light social elements. There can be some light interaction between users, which increases playability.

Dianrong and Yidai.com

4. Points system

The points system here does not only refer to points, but also refers to points, virtual gold coins, growth values, which are unique to the product and can be earned (accumulated) by users in the product and used for internal consumption (use), as well as tasks (and activities), games, shopping malls and other related functions designed around the earning and consumption of points. The points system mainly includes two aspects: points earning and points consumption. The former may include various functions or activities that can earn points, such as sign-in, various H5 mini-games that earn points, etc.; the latter includes shopping malls that can be used to redeem physical or virtual rewards, point deduction/discount functions when purchasing (investing), etc. The former is a means to attract users to use the product, and the latter is a way to realize the value of user activity. The characteristics and functions of the points system mainly include the following aspects.

（1）Encourage users to explore new features

Points (or gold coins) are an important means to motivate users in the user growth system. Points can be linked to various reward activities and tasks by exchanging points for goods, red envelopes, coupons, or using them to offset investment funds. In addition, many products will try to guide users to use and explore various functions through the form of point rewards (tasks), especially those functions that are deeper and not easy to be discovered. This method can also be used to "promote" and guide new features when the product is iterating.

(2) Increase the attractiveness of the event

For most products, operators will launch various activities, mini-games, etc. regularly or irregularly. When there is not enough funding to provide users with more attractive cash red envelopes, prizes and other rewards, earning points is an effective means. Sometimes points may not be able to bring direct benefits to users for the time being, but at least they can give users a clearer motivation.

(3) Guide users to repurchase (reinvest)

By encouraging users to deeply participate in the product, they can continuously earn points or coins. These points can be used to redeem investment coupons, discount coupons, etc., thereby encouraging users to reinvest and increase the trading volume and conversion rate of core products.

Tuandai.com's Points Mall

Tuandai.com’s “Points Mall” (pictured above) has designed a variety of activities, tasks, redemptions, H5 mini-games, etc. around points, and even has a “cloud treasure” function similar to lottery. These features greatly enrich the points system, increase playability, and ensure the value of "points". But perhaps this is also the problem: too many and similar functions will make users feel very confused. There are many modules with different categories and the purpose is not clearly stated to the user. The user needs to check it out or try it out for themselves. This will increase the user's cognitive cost and reduce the user's enthusiasm. The author suggests that a simpler classification can be made here, such as "earning points" and "redeem points for rewards", etc., which can intuitively help users distinguish and find the functions they are interested in.

(4) About the Points Mall

There are also modules called "Gold Mall" or other similar modules. The points mall is designed for users to "consume" points, and is also the most important scenario for reflecting the value of points. The points mall will be designed with multiple levels, and when users’ points accumulate to a certain level, they can redeem rewards or enjoy other benefits.

However, many products do not do well in this regard. For example, in some shopping malls, the redemption condition for the lowest-priced goods is 20,000 points. If the user just signs in normally, it may require users to use the product continuously for 6 months or even 1 year. Too high a threshold can easily make users lose confidence and patience. In order to guide users step by step, a "level" from easy to difficult should be designed. For example, it is possible to allow 200 points to be exchanged for a phone bill voucher worth 2 yuan, instead of telling users from the beginning that they can only use 20,000 points to exchange for a red envelope worth 50 yuan.

There is a concept in psychology called "positive affect", which roughly means "a person's happiness depends more on the number of times positive emotions occur rather than the intensity of a particular positive emotion." That is, lots of moderately good news make people happier than just one really good piece of news. The same should be true for rewards for users: the rewards don’t need to be large, just frequent. Therefore, even if the budget is extremely limited due to operating costs, we can consider letting users "taste the sweetness" multiple times to better stimulate their enthusiasm.

The following is what the author considers to be the ideal "difficulty curve for users to obtain rewards", which can be used to inspire the design of operation plans: that is, the difficulty is the lowest at the beginning, gradually increases with time in the early stage, and finally tends to stabilize.

“Users get rewards” difficulty curve

5. Summary

In financial apps, the user growth system has become a very common feature, but most of them still give people a very useless feeling. For example, promotional activities such as interest rate increases and deductions launched during holidays are not well connected with points and fail to create value for user "growth". For most financial products, the main problem with the user growth system is that the scenario is too single and is not organically integrated with other functions within the product, resulting in it becoming an optional additional function in many cases. So in this regard, there is still a lot to be explored.

Daily summary, if there are any shortcomings, please feel free to criticize!