Can you spend the New Year peacefully by developing a small program? You may be overthinking

Open Baidu Index to check the keywords of " Mini Program ". The overall search index is still running at a high level, but an undeniable curve chart is placed in front of us:

The peak was on January 9, the day of the official release, and the trend was flat or declining in the rest of the time periods.

The mini program has been online for two weeks, and its overall index still outperforms other events. There are also many articles tracking hot topics on the market. However, when people actually use it, they are always confused:

• How to use mini programs? Please give me one.
• I'm planning to use the mini program to call a car, but I can't find "Didi Chuxing" when I type it into the search box?
• I heard that you are a software developer. Can you help me develop a small program?

Are mini programs becoming a huge success or are they on the decline? It is better for the spectators to live in the present. Let me express my personal opinion on mini programs below.

Zhang Xiaolong said that the mini program is to "let users leave after use", which I personally think is too simple. The definition of applying the formula should be like this:

Use a lightweight application to meet the actual usage needs of mobile phone users with 16G of body storage in specific life scenarios.

1. The mini-programs in the market still need improvement

In the era of mobile marketing 1.0, along with the rise of WeChat subscription accounts , mobile WeChat marketing websites came into being. At that time, a lot of third-party development companies also became popular. The startup company where Li Gen first worked was engaged in this business, so he had some say.

A few years ago, the WeChat mobile website could be considered a mini-program at the time, which could independently generate links and be used on the go.

Of course, it can also be posted under the official account . When users find the official account, they will also find the website. It should be noted that the official account supports fuzzy search, which is really not a good experience for mini programs. It must be accurately searched with not a single character missing to appear. This is in line with the scene application that mini programs emphasize, but it does not conform to the user logic that experience is king.

Just imagine that when you use the taxi- hailing app for the first time, you have to enter "DiDi" to start it, and then enter the destination and other information. In this time, you might be able to hail a car.

Although the first search speed is slower, in terms of stamina, the mini program is much more powerful than the micro website. Under the same server and external environment, everything on the website needs to be reloaded, while some basic elements of the mini program do not need to be loaded. At the same time, it can also execute more App functions, such as retrieving device information, camera, storage information, etc.

This also shows that, as light applications, the WeChat website is suitable for simple interactive marketing based on content information, while the mini program is more of a simplified version of a tool app.

2. The target users all have 16G mobile phones

Why did I just say that it was for mobile phone users with 16G of built-in storage?

Because only this group of people always pay attention to whether their mobile phone memory is sufficient, and they delete another application before installing an application. WeChat may be the app that takes up the largest space in the mobile phone.

Users with 64G internal storage may not have the above anxiety. They are more concerned about how to choose suitable and practical apps from thousands of apps.

But no matter how much memory your phone has, whether it is 16G or 128G, we must face an embarrassing situation:

How can you keep track of all the hundreds of public accounts you follow?

Therefore, I personally feel that the mini program considers users too much and does not think too much from the user's perspective.

From the social setbacks Alipay encountered before, we can see that user behavior habits are difficult to change. A wallet should be used for financial management.

The existence of major apps is reasonable, and it is still very difficult for mini programs to replace them in a short period of time. Even for tool products like "Moji Weather", the user behavior path is the following three steps:

1. Open the Moji Weather app
2. Check weather conditions in relevant cities
3. Close the Moji Weather app

Let me ask you, these are quite simple steps, and if you add a small program search, would you really do it?

3. Scenario Application: The Key to the Success of Mini Programs

Scenario-based application has always been the core concept promoted by mini programs. What scenarios are suitable for mini programs?

As of January 22, more than 180 mini programs can be seen by searching for media-related keywords in the mini program app store of Zhizhicheng. Content products require a large user base for reading and dissemination, and users' stay time will become longer. Appreciation and advertising fees are the main ways to monetize in the content field.

Zhang Xiaolong has mentioned many times that you should use it and leave it. Now looking at the online reading scenario, it is obviously not in line with this attribute. The simplification of the " Toutiao " applet and the exit of the "Get App" are enough to verify that it is better to start from scratch and create a content-based public account.

Therefore, it is recommended to use tool products to link online and offline scenarios, but mini programs can only supplement websites and apps and are by no means the main force.

The industry's inherent promotion and customer acquisition method is immutable. Users must find us through various platforms, and then we provide products or services. It is true that a new mini program needs to accumulate the first batch of seed users through various platforms and offline channels in the first stage, but after having a certain user base, the mini program will have its own room to develop.

Last year, I bought a handmade cake on Meituan for my birthday. When I was about to leave, the waiter told me that I could get a freshly baked cake by scanning the QR code and adding the customer service as my personal friend. It was really irresistible.

In fact, most merchants now have a good level of awareness and want to set up independent portals away from the original platforms. If there was a mini program at that time, it could guide me to scan and pay (if I had not paid on Meituan before), share with friends, and perform other operations. I would get discounts and freshly baked cakes from the store’s mini program payment method, and the store would get an experience process that is not inferior to that of large platforms and a sincere word-of-mouth spread.

Therefore, those who hope to use mini programs for cold start should just forget about it.

4. Mini Program-related services exploded

The needs of existing users have been almost developed. If you make a small program, it will most likely be a castrated version of the App with greatly reduced functionality. In today's era of consumption upgrades, people are more willing to pay for high-quality services. If there is no way to occupy the user's mind in the first place, there is no question of retention and conversion for products without brand advantages.

Therefore, you must make some trade-offs based on the needs when developing a mini program. Since I have no experience as a programmer or product manager , I will not go into details here.

But one thing that cannot be ignored is that the services and products around the mini program will definitely be popular, for example:

• Mini Program Developers
• Mini Program Operation Specialist
• Mini Program Media People
• Mini Program Store
• …

The above work has been done by someone, but there is one more thing I didn't mention, I don't know if there is any great company that can do it, that is:

• Mini Program One-Click Generator

Hahaha, the end of the article is just a joke. I hope you who are reading this will just finish reading and leave!

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

This article was compiled and published by @李根由 (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!