Can the “User Growth System” really retain users?

Xiao Y, a post-95s youth, receives many enthusiastic invitations every day:

Dear, xx misses you. Let’s plan to learn some new words with xx!

It’s time to write in your daily journal!

Your Majesty, it’s time to learn foreign languages…

Dear, it’s time for xx to sign in!

As little Y opened or crossed out the notes one by one, he unknowingly developed the habit of “I should do this at this point in time”. In our lives, countless little Ys are shaped and influenced by all kinds of products. In this issue of Quanmeipai (ID: quanme ip ai), we will take you into various cultivation products to see how these "adhesives" stick to users and how long their shelf life will be.

User growth system: a little progress every day

Just like the girls you picked step by step towards the " pyramid " within three months, many products have also formulated distinctive growth routes for users, and they can continuously upgrade by completing small tasks.

Points system: redeem gifts as you wish

Among various growth systems, the point system is undoubtedly the most common one. Each product will release some special tasks based on its own characteristics. By completing them, you can earn points and redeem rewards.

NetEase Cloud Music will randomly make the comments of "Cloud Village Villagers" into exquisite daily sign cards, turning the daily task of "signing in to receive points" into a gift full of expectations and surprises. "Upload/Translate Lyrics" allows "villagers" to earn points while also expanding the Yuncun lyrics library, killing two birds with one stone.

News clients often use points to encourage users to browse, discuss and share. Daily sign-ins in the Tencent News APP can not only earn points, but also small red envelopes. The points in the Pengpai News APP have their own name - Haibei. When a certain number of points are accumulated, they can be exchanged for corresponding gifts.

Growth is a gradual process, so points-based products generally set a daily points limit to ensure the "healthy growth" of users and to avoid forcing growth to the greatest extent.

Title advancement: Upgrade and fight monsters non-stop

The phenomenal mini-program game “Brain King” has made a comeback after a short break, and its popularity remains unabated. The level-breaking schedule setting and the stimulation of different titles/rewards all arouse players' strong desire to win, and also make games similar to "How can WeChat 's "Brain King" reach the king level?" 》Experience posts are endless.

After getting used to seeing all kinds of high-sounding ranks, you might want to learn about the cute titles. Xiaohongshu APP regards each user as a "little sweet potato", and their growth process is also the transformation of the little sweet potato: from diaper potato to golden crown potato, the little sweet potato at each stage will have its own exclusive Q version image. Every level up can not only unlock a new image, but also get new skills. It can be said that it combines "beauty" and "talent" in one.

Mission accomplished: the scenery is ahead

The fresh time management software Forest is designed to cure "mobile phone addiction": when the user decides to concentrate on doing something, he can set the time he needs to concentrate. Forest will plant the corresponding tree species according to the length of time. During this period, the user cannot use the mobile phone. Once the task is completed, various trees will grow in the grass. The longer you focus and the more tasks you complete, you will slowly be able to harvest an entire forest.

The atypical sports app WALKUP turns step counting into a global adventure. The actual number of steps taken by users every day will be converted into energy to help them travel around the world. As the steps accumulate, cities on the map will be unlocked. Various "episodes" will also appear during the journey - pass processing, encounters with robbers... The choices users make to deal with these emergencies will affect the outcome of the event and the distribution of rewards.

The plot-based design and gamification -based interaction invisibly eliminate the sense of oppression and tension brought by the step-counting task, while those locked unknown areas continue to stimulate users to embark on a new round of adventure.

I will develop your habits.

How to be remembered to the greatest extent among the dazzling array of products? Forming habits is probably the best answer. To this end, various products have come up with their own unique skills, just to become an indispensable part of users' lives.

Ritual reading: scheduled push

Among the many countermeasures, scheduled push is the most popular one. The "Mini Game Player" created by Achan, a partner of "Qingmang Mini Program +", will recommend a small game worth playing in fragmented time at 1 p.m. every day, accompanied by a brief introduction to the game and how to play it, in order to fill the user's leisure afternoon time.

MONO, a must-have app for literary youths, will offer morning tea and afternoon tea from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Morning tea starts a new day for users with a daily sign and more than ten selected articles, while afternoon tea uses poetry and good articles to help users escape from tiring work and take a short break. And after browsing all the morning and evening tea content, the small word "read" that appears makes the user feel as majestic as an emperor reviewing memorials.

I understand. Back off.

Using the push time directly in the name is a simpler and more direct way. A series of Ten O'clock public accounts such as Ten O'clock Reading and Ten O'clock Movies will push the day's articles on time at ten o'clock every day. 36Kr 's "8:1Kr" column will also regularly push the day's information at around eight fifteen.

Column names and account names like these will form memory points in themselves. When a certain time is mentioned or seen, people will unconsciously associate them with these contents, increasing their "appearance rate" in their minds.

Social Incentives: Your Peers Are Watching You

It’s not just the alarm clock that wakes you up every day, but also your “deskmate”. Scallop Words has launched the "Student Deskmate" feature. After successfully forming a team, you can set the deskmate period: 7 days or 30 days. During the period of sitting at the same table, both parties are required to study and check in continuously. If one person stops checking in during the period, the sitting at the same table relationship will be automatically terminated. Both parties who complete the 7-day/30-day check-in can receive the corresponding sitting at the same table badge as a reward. Classmates can also urge and encourage each other by "passing notes". Some netizens commented: This makes me feel like I'm back in high school.

The WeChat Reading APP will display a ranking of reading time, and you can also click on a friend’s page to learn about their recent reading status. The establishment of rankings and idea columns has an invisible impact on users' reading lists and duration from a social level. Although there are extreme cases of being kidnapped by rankings, it is undeniable that it has promoted the reading culture in the circle of friends and allowed many people to develop the habit of reading under invisible pressure.

Material incentives: the “temptation” of money

Social incentives alone are not enough. Real money is sometimes more tempting, and many products have tried this. In the Mint Reading Camp, students can obtain all the physical books of the course as long as they complete the daily check-in tasks. In comparison, the Liulishuo APP is more direct. As long as students finally complete the 6-month learning task and successfully meet the requirements, they will receive a full tuition refund as a reward. Under this incentive system, many students have achieved good results in this long-term learning process.

Qutoutiao, which is famous for its "disciple-recruiting system", attracts users by making money by reading news. Users can earn gold coins by browsing news and completing daily tasks. These gold coins will be converted into cash at 12 o'clock every day based on the exchange rate of the day, and can be withdrawn when a certain amount is accumulated. But the fastest way to make money is to keep inviting friends, which is the so-called "recruiting apprentices", and the master will also get a share of the apprentice's profits. Tao News, which is similar to Qutoutiao, has also captured the hearts of many users in this way and has become their daily must-click APP.

The joys and sorrows of the development system

There is always a shadow behind every sunshine. While we are delighted with the adhesion brought by the cultivation system, we are also worried about its viscosity and how far and how long it can drive the product.

Where does the adhesive force come from?

In the movie "The Little Prince", the little fox once said to the little prince:

If you say you will come at four o'clock in the afternoon, I will start to feel very happy from three o'clock, and the closer the time comes, the happier I will feel. When it's four o'clock, I become restless. I have discovered the value of happiness, but if you come at any time, I don't know when I will be ready to welcome your mood. There must be a certain ritual.

Products that are pushed at a scheduled time make the time of push more meaningful, and as the time approaches, the expectations continue to accumulate. Reading different content every day has become a very ritualistic thing. It adds a touch of expectation and surprise to ordinary life and slowly becomes a part of life.

In addition, driven by the psychology of comparison, users have a burning desire to win. The ideas of "can't lose face" and "can't admit defeat" drive them to check in every day to study, read, etc., in order to get a good ranking in the rankings. In this competitive process, the constantly updated rankings also witness every growth and transformation of users.

The promotion of titles and the accumulation of experience make users have a stronger sense of self-identity. In the process of constantly defeating monsters and upgrading, they gain additional rewards such as a sense of pride and dignity, and gradually enjoy the feeling of self-affirmation. In long-term companionship, the product is more like a witness and recorder, preserving the user's joys, sorrows, anger and happiness over a period of time.

At the end of each year, various products will produce a year-end review exclusive to each user, which will unknowingly deepen the emotional connection between each other. Even if users want to change their "positions", they will be scared off by the high emotional cost.

The road to cultivation is difficult and arduous

There are still various difficulties and obstacles in the process of cultivating users: without more incentives and stimulation, the user retention rate will not be optimistic. A unified development system will mostly ignore individual differences, and "malnutrition" or "overnutrition" will inevitably occur. At this time, it is particularly important to treat different users in an individualized manner.

A previous article in Quanmei Pai, " The Wall Street Journal explores a new subscription method: user loyalty determines free access," mentioned that the Wall Street Journal's paywall will set reasonable prices based on the user's demand for content, that is, the algorithm analyzes user characteristics and then classifies and charges accurately. This tailor-made subscription method can not only retain users to the greatest extent, but also gradually increase the platform's revenue.

When there is an excessive pursuit of various incentives, content is put in a secondary position. In order to earn more gold coins, users sometimes force themselves to click on a large amount of meaningless, low-quality, fragmented content. Once the red envelope incentive is no longer there, they will turn around and leave without hesitation.

In order to increase stickiness, many products use "addiction" as their design principle, striving to get users to consume more content. However, this kind of design that only focuses on the accumulation of "quantity" but ignores the polishing of "quality" will only create an unstable and unbalanced relationship and cannot truly capture the hearts of users. A healthy development system continuously improves user loyalty while ensuring brand image.

A good product grows together with its users. The so-called development system is that not only does the product shape the user, but the user also influences the product. Only by supporting and relying on each other can each other go further in this adventure.

Author: Tencent Media , authorized to publish by Qinggua Media.

Source: Quanmeipai (ID: quanmeipai)