To B products: How to build a complete product operation system?

For most operators , product operations are oriented towards the C-end. There are relatively few B-end product operations, and compared with the C-end, there are fewer ways and methods to play and create in B-end product operations. Compared with the C-end which has derived many professional fields in content operation , activity operation , user operation and other major directions, the B-end seems to be weak in content, activities and users, and has little voice.

C-end operations serve individual customers. The classification of operations work is relatively mature, with a complete operations framework and knowledge system . B-end operations serve corporate customers. Some companies build platforms such as Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud. They have their own research and development and will also connect to many product providers and demanders. Some companies conduct independent research and development such as SenseTime and Megvii. In general, the framework knowledge system for B-side operations is relatively lacking.

As a new operator or a B-side operator who has been engaged in 1-3 years, in order to build a B-side product operation framework, which aspects should you start with?

Generally speaking, B-side product operations can be carried out from three aspects: product operation, data operation , and customer management to build a complete product operation system.

1. Product Operation

Product operation includes four aspects: establishing operation processes, product training, problem handling, and product optimization .

1. Establish operational processes

At the beginning, operational work is bound to be chaotic and disorderly. We must sort out some thoughts and consider building some frameworks to make the disorderly work orderly. We must standardize and institutionalize the work. With the system, we can avoid disputes between departments and make the collaboration between departments more efficient.

However, it should also be emphasized that not all functional boundaries can be clearly defined , and the boundaries of work boundaries have a time lag with the evolving work content. It is a good working habit to maintain to face and resolve issues together before they are clearly divided. Issues come first, differences come second.

The establishment of operational processes includes signing processes, customer service processes, settlement processes, new demand processes, product training processes and many other aspects.

(1) Contract signing process

Things that customers should pay attention to when signing a contract include the signing time limit and the signing process. The signing time limit depends on the company's compliance requirements. Some companies have simpler processes, while others have more complicated ones. Generally speaking, the processes of industries regulated by the state will be longer.

Some small companies may just fill out an application form with a stamp and get several leaders to sign it, while complex companies may require internal planning, finance, legal affairs and other departments and leaders at all levels to review and approve it one by one. Therefore, the signing process must be formulated according to the company's current situation and must not be divorced from reality. Let’s take a more complex company as an example:

A few points to note:

• The processing time requirements for each link;
• The contact persons for each link should be clearly identified in advance and good communication should be done;

(2) Customer Service Process

The customer service process aims to establish after-sales service standards, build a bridge of communication with customers, respond to customer needs in a timely manner, and improve the product's reputation in the industry.

The establishment of a customer service process requires clarifying the purpose and scope of application of customer service, the departments involved and the roles and responsibilities of each department, the customer service implementation plan and system tools , the customer service processing flow, the processing time and time tracking mechanism for each link, the time and method of customer service (whether it is 7*24 hours, contact information on weekdays and non-working days, and the contact mechanism for major issues).

External customer service information generally provides the customer service manager’s mobile phone number and email address. Some companies also provide tools for submitting production issues (BUGs) or operational issues online, similar to a work order system.

For example, cloud service platforms such as Alibaba Cloud or Tencent Cloud. Take Alibaba Cloud as an example:

Alibaba Cloud's work order platform mainly solves three problems: pre-sales consultation, account and financial issues (Figure 1 below). Alibaba Cloud also lists the areas where customers may have questions and provides detailed Q&A (Figure 2), which is very good.

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

(3) Settlement process

The settlement methods include one-time payment, pre-deposit and agreed settlement including monthly settlement and quarterly settlement. For example, Alibaba Cloud has recharge (pre-deposit), and so does Tencent Cloud. One-time payment is suitable for projects that implement delivery type, while quarterly settlement is more suitable for projects that charge based on usage. Settlement must be carried out in accordance with the settlement method and settlement time agreed upon in the contract, and the processing time of each settlement link must be properly grasped.

(4) New demand process

After the customer has been online for a period of time, it is inevitable that customers, BD and operations themselves will put forward some new demands. Once there are too many demands, it is easy for them to queue up in technical development waiting for release. At this time, operations need to control the new demands. The most effective way is to do a good job of process management of the demands. At the same time, the demands can be classified according to L1-L2-L3-L4. While classifying, it is necessary to make it clear how the demands at different levels are defined.

When creating a new requirements process, the roles and responsibilities of each department must be clearly defined.

2. Product training process

Special emphasis is placed on the product training process. Product training must be carried out before the product goes online. The entire process can be considered from three stages: before training, during training, and after training. The purpose of training is to enable internal and external customers to understand and become familiar with the product.

It is actually not easy to provide good training before going online. If an API or SDK is provided, you only need to connect the technology, and customers will digest the use of the product internally.

Some products provide a complete set of system services, involving many departments and personnel on the client side. Everyone’s acceptance, understanding and learning attitude are different. At this time, it is extremely difficult and challenging to provide good training. If it is not done well, a large number of operational problems will arise after going online, seriously affecting customer usage efficiency and product reputation.

How to do a good job of training? There are several key points that must be grasped:

(1) Product manuals should be simple and easy to understand

I have seen that the training manual that product managers give to customers is a very professional product document, with professional vocabulary interpretation and detailed process descriptions, so professionals can understand what it means at a glance. However, as a novice user, you will be completely in the dark when you see the document. You may understand each word at first glance, but you will have no idea what they mean when they are put together.

The most professional is not necessarily the most suitable for the customer. What the customer needs most is a simple one that they can understand. It is best to tell the customer what you want to do in the first step and what you want to do in the second step, a document that even an old lady can understand.

(2) Establishing an assessment mechanism

In order to ensure that the customer's employees can master the product as quickly as possible, it is best to establish a product usage training and assessment mechanism with the customer to encourage the customer's employees to become familiar with the product as quickly as possible.

(3) Continuous training

During the use of the product, problems are discovered and summarized, and training is continuously strengthened.

3. Production problem handling

Problem handling after product launch can generally be divided into three categories: production problems (mainly bugs), operational problems, and operations management problems.

(1) Production issues

It is difficult to fully detect bugs in a test environment. Even if there are no problems in the test environment, some bugs will pop up in the production environment, especially at the beginning of the product launch. Operations is a role that stands at the forefront of the product. How to correctly build a production problem handling process? I think we can start from three aspects: problem reproduction, classification , and coordinated processing.

• Problem reproduction means sending screenshots of product errors, detailed information descriptions, etc. to the technical department for processing;
• Classification is to divide problems into several different types and classify them. The focus is to summarize and analyze them to reduce the probability of discovering the same type of problems.
• Coordination processing is to coordinate development, testing and other resources to fix problems.

(2) Operational issues usually occur in a concentrated period of one week before a product goes online. These issues should be registered one by one and Q&A sessions should be conducted based on the recurring issues.

(3) Operational management issues mainly involve the client’s internal management, and there is little room for intervention in these issues.

4. Product Optimization

The logic of product optimization should be carried out in several aspects:

• Identify product problems;
• Analyze the causes of the problem;
• Sort the existing problems by priority;
• Collaborate with PM, IT, testing and other departments to schedule iterative development;
• Test and verify.

2. Data Operation

The effectiveness of product operation needs to be presented in a quantitative way. By establishing core business indicators to intuitively demonstrate the product's operating results, it is necessary to operate product data well.

Different products have different core indicators. For example, the core indicator of e- commerce is sales = traffic conversion rate and average order value.

Traffic-related indicators include UPPV, new users, old users and other core indicators and derivative indicators. Establish core indicators, find derived indicators through core indicators, and form a set of data indicators, which we call a data indicator system .

Different products have different data operation systems. To do a good job in data operation, the first priority is to understand the product, understand the key core of the product and have strong abstract ability.

Common data analysis methods include:

• Funnel analysis
• Behavioral analysis
• A/B Testing
• Cluster analysis
• Decision trees, etc.

3. Customer Management

80% of revenue is provided by 20% of customers. This is an immutable law of the market, but the total amount of resources is constant. The resources we invest in our operations are limited, which determines the imbalance in resource allocation. Therefore, in the actual operation work, we must do two things well: customer classification and resource allocation .

Customer classification can also be called customer grading system. Different types of companies have different methods of customer classification, but the principle is the same: classify customers according to their importance. The classification method I am used to is S, A, B, C.

• Category S customers are those that have a significant impact on the company's strategy or account for a high proportion of the company's revenue. These clients are usually industry leaders. Their cooperation with us is not just about providing services, but also about enhancing the brand influence of both parties through this cooperation opportunity. This type of customer must draw on the best operational resources such as dedicated operational service teams, R&D teams, etc.
• Category A customers are companies that are strategically located in the company and have a certain influence in the industry, or have a high revenue share. Such customers can be provided with exclusive operations personnel and product managers, and can be provided with 1-on-1 or 1-on-2 services.
• B and C category users are provided with equal services and operations are carried out normally according to the deployment of operational work.

Different 2B services have different service standards. How we formulate customer classification standards should be based on the actual services provided by the enterprise and cannot be applied mechanically.

Author: Operated by Xushuo, authorized to be published by Qinggua Media .

Source: Xushuoyy