4 tips for zero-cost promotion of event operations!

In this article, we will systematically talk about the " four principles " that I follow when operating projects at zero cost .

1. Four principles of zero-cost operation

1. Use the merchant’s money to attract new customers and organize activities
2. To motivate users, you might as well reward them with some " virtual " things
3. Extract hidden profit points in the data and segment user groups with different characteristics
4. Push customized information to segmented user groups (APP push)

Ps. Points 1 and 2 belong to cost-cutting , while points 3 and 4 belong to increasing revenue .

1. Use the merchant’s money to attract new customers and organize activities

In short, all my activity costs are paid by merchants, thus achieving zero-cost operation.

Doesn’t look difficult, right? However, based on experience, in order to avoid pitfalls during operation, I suggest that cooperative merchants meet the following four points:

1. The merchant is basically compatible with the current app's main business. (I shared my own case in "How to operate at zero cost when encountering a stingy boss")
2. Short settlement cycle: at least weekly, preferably daily or even prepaid.
3. Merchants often hold activities, which can be used by me. I can increase revenue by directly pushing them to users.
4. Supports points system, which can be quickly embedded in the app after simple conversion.

Merchants that possess all four of the above elements are rare. Apart from game trial merchants like Zhongrenbang, I can’t find any better ones in China for the time being. As for how I discovered this kind of business, you can read my previous article "How to operate at zero cost and achieve outstanding performance when encountering a stingy boss"

2. To motivate users, you might as well reward them with something “ virtual ”

Take the sign-in function as an example. Generally speaking, the sign-in rewards that we usually see are usually like this:

This type of design gives people the feeling that they can only get some points, some gold coins, or red envelopes or small rewards every day. And since these rewards are added to the account immediately after signing in, anyone can get them easily, which makes them seem very cheap. Therefore, in most cases users will not cherish it.

In the traditional sign-in process, users do not feel their own efforts, so there is no so-called sunk cost (leaving cost). Ultimately, very few users continue to stay because of this sign-in design.

So how can we transform the sign-in function so that users can have a sunk cost feeling like, “I’ve signed in for X days in a row, it would be a shame to give up now”?

For example, for a food delivery rebate + game trial app, we only need to make slight adjustments to the design. The original practice of giving gold coins directly upon signing in has been changed to a commission percentage bonus.

For example:

• 5% bonus for user signing in on the first day
• If the user signs in the next day, another 2.5% bonus will be given
• If the user signs in on the third day, another 1.25% bonus will be given
• …..

By analogy, each day’s sign-in bonus is half of the previous day’s. In other words, even if the user signs in for a lifetime, the cumulative bonus will be limited to 10%. Therefore, this simple method can not only achieve retention, but also strictly limit operating costs.

Retention principle analysis:

Simply put, users do not directly receive gold coins or red envelopes after signing in, but instead receive a certain percentage of bonus. Only by actually getting a takeout rebate or playing a game can these bonus percentages be converted into real gold coin rewards. This method not only mobilizes users' willingness to perform a large number of tasks, but also from a cost perspective, users must complete the tasks first, generate benefits and profits, and then they can get the bonus rewards (that is, the wool comes from the sheep). This approach is also very suitable for small companies with weak foundations to lower costs and control risks during operations.

Although there are no direct rewards of gold coins or red envelopes, the retention capacity of sign-in itself is more powerful, mainly reflected in the following points:

• There are bonuses for daily sign-ins. As long as you sign in continuously, the accumulated bonuses will increase and the value of your account will also increase.
• If you interrupt the sign-in, the current accumulated bonus ratio will be reset to zero, and the cost of interrupting the sign-in will be slightly higher.
• After interrupting the sign-in, you can restore the previous accumulated bonus ratio by performing 5 tasks or inviting a friend; as an operator, you can also make free profits from these 5 tasks.

Therefore, for users, keeping their accounts active is equivalent to protecting their high income. Actively forming the habit of signing in every day makes retention so easy!

I remember when I first proposed this plan, the boss thought about it for about 1 minute and immediately decided to use my plan. The reason is simple and clear. This plan allows users to generate commissions first and then give rewards. No risk, guaranteed profit, just what he likes.

And subsequent data also continuously verifies that this design is very effective on my APP:

(Basically, you don’t have to worry about losing users, even if the rebates from external competitors are high)

Taking advantage of sign-in bonuses to allow more users to accumulate a lot of sunk costs without realizing it may be a very good strategy. Over time, when users have invested a year or even several years of emotion and effort in our APP. You can no longer leave our APP. At this point, no matter how much money my peers spend to attract new users, no matter how strong they are, they cannot steal my users.

3. Extract hidden profit points in the data and segment user groups with different characteristics

Taking the app I operate as an example, I can roughly mine the following characteristic data.

1) Mainly focusing on taking out rebates

• Occasionally order food
• Order frequently

2) Playing games as the main focus

• I play a lot of games, but I don’t play each game very deeply, and I only spend 3-5 yuan
• I play a small number of games, but I spend hundreds of dollars on each game.

3) Eat takeout and play games

(The example picture shows a lot of games, but not playing each game in depth)

(The number of games played in the case picture is relatively small, but each game costs hundreds of yuan)

The ultimate goal of segmenting user groups:

Use the Push function to push different activities to different users (game trial merchants directly provide activity pages, so this is very convenient), and differentiate the intensity of information push;

The result is that, compared to sending the same activity to all users, segmenting users and then sending customized information directly improves the monetization ability of the APP to a higher level! It is 3.7 times higher than before!

In point 3, we will talk about how to use these segmented user groups to send messages and thus achieve greater monetization.

4. Push customized information to segmented user groups (APP push)

Before talking about push activities, let’s briefly talk about the compliance of our push. (Please search for laws related to big data price discrimination)

Simply put, all push information in my home is sent on the premise that the user is aware of and actively subscribes. Taking our own APP as an example, except for the automatically generated user ID, we do not collect any user identity information. The push messages received by users are only related to the modules they choose to subscribe to.

• If the user has only subscribed to the takeaway money-saving guide and the takeaway discount code section. We will only push information about takeaway discounts to him, and not recommend information about games.
• If the user only subscribes to the daily recommendations of new games and the complete game guide. Then we will only recommend him new games released daily and new game guides provided by merchants.
• If a user only subscribes to a certain game, we will also only recommend guides, merchant benefits and other information about this game to him.

By designing the subscription system in this way, we can avoid the risks of future APP operations to the greatest extent, avoid risks such as big data price discrimination, and safeguard the future of the APP.

(To prepare for a rainy day, users can choose to subscribe, and the practice of returning autonomy to users has been recognized by the boss)

Now we can start using the segmented user groups to make customized push arrangements, as follows:

Mainly based on takeaway rebates:

<1> Order food occasionally—> High-intensity push, tips on how to save money when ordering takeout on the APP.

<2>Order food frequently—>Push takeaway discount information at an appropriate frequency.

Mainly playing games:

<1>Play a lot of games, but don’t play each game in depth, only spend 3-5 yuan—> Push high-quality new games with high intensity.

<2> The number of games played is small, but hundreds of yuan are spent on each game—> Push popular games and the recent activities of the merchants of these popular games with appropriate intensity.

You have to eat takeout and play games:

P.S. This type of person is the most valuable and satisfies both (1) and (2), so the above four types of information are all included in the sendable information.

Some people may ask, why don’t we make a rough subscription system (laziness) and send one message to all users?

Can any significant benefits be gained by doing such meticulous work?

In fact, from the perspective of data effects, we can obtain three benefits:

• User stickiness is high. Every time an information message is sent, the information opening rate is around 40%, and the information transmission rate is very high.
• Users choose to subscribe themselves, and receive the information they want, so they are happy to click on it to view it; they will not think that this is harassing information and uninstall the app.
• After users click on the information, they can receive the latest red envelope for takeout, try out the game in depth, or increase the number of game trials, with immediate effect. The conversion rate is 3-4 times better than general messaging!

As we come to the end, I would like to talk about some methods and techniques for communicating with bosses at work, which leads to the following topic:

Zero-cost operation requires slow work and careful work, teach you how to resist the urging of the impatient boss

We are engaged in zero-cost operations, and the work content is very complicated. It not only requires us to use comprehensive knowledge to find solutions to problems, but also requires considerable patience to implement them, and ultimately perseverance to achieve good results.

For example, if we do not put in the effort to find cooperative merchants at the beginning and choose them randomly, then the result that awaits us may be that the company's cash flow is stuck due to slow settlement by the merchants; or there may be very few users who buy into the business, and we spend a lot of time and energy in vain without any improvement; in the end, we may even lose our jobs. Therefore, in the preparation work for project launch, you must be patient and meticulous, and repeatedly analyze and verify the information you have. Although this job costs the boss's money and patience, and the operator does not need to be held responsible if he loses money, from the perspective of personal development, what should you do if you plan to operate a product yourself in the future and become your own boss?

Unfortunately, in most cases, we as operators do have this kind of patience, but it is not certain whether many bosses can keep their cool. They may cut the project midway, start to exercise long-arm jurisdiction, give random orders, and ultimately suffer losses and attribute them to poor operational capabilities. Although the final decision-maker must be the boss, whether he loses money or not has nothing to do with us. But it would be a pity if we missed the opportunity to gain experience because of this. (My boss doesn’t believe in quick results, his creed is to be stingy, but he created a desperate situation for me to operate an APP at zero cost. I feel that people’s potential can really be forced out)

In order not to miss such an opportunity, all we can do is to keep communicating with the boss and report the progress of the project. Whenever you encounter a problem, report it immediately and attach your own solution for your boss to choose.

In other words, "Don't give your boss the opportunity and time to use his brain!" (Please highlight this sentence)

As long as the solution you propose is strong enough, seems easy to implement, and produces great benefits, you can make your boss listen to your advice! He is also human and likes comfort. As long as your plan makes him feel at ease and risk-free, there is a high probability that he is willing to be a lazy boss.

Problems that do not yet have solutions should also be tracked in real time. By constantly reporting, you can make your boss feel that "everything is under control" and "you will succeed if you just keep persisting."

After experiencing the current project, I have found it a pleasure to continuously reduce operating costs and increase operating profits. For me, operations is no longer painful or boring, but more like a video game where passing the levels can improve skills and bring satisfaction.

Finally, I would like to use this article, despite its simplicity, to sincerely communicate and exchange operational methods and philosophies with all the big guys and experts . I hope to have more in-depth and high-quality communication.

Author: Hedwig

Source: Hedwig