What are the product methods to improve user retention?

Recently I saw a written test question that required me to analyze the functional points designed for reading products to improve user retention . I would like to share my findings with you here, hoping that you can have a better understanding of how mobile products can attract user retention through product means.

1. Understand User Retention

What is user retention: After using a product, users continue to use the product for a period of time. Such users are retained users. The ratio of retained users to new users at that time is the retention rate . The retention rate is an important indicator reflecting the product development status and the stage of its life cycle. Therefore, attracting user retention becomes one of the important goals of the product.

It is worth noting that retention means that the user acts according to the actions you expect him to take until the behavior becomes a habit, which is effective use rather than simply opening . For example, for content-based products, retention means that users can continue to read the content; for tool- based products, retention means that users can continue to use the product and play its instrumental role; for platform-based products, retention means that users continue to use the platform and achieve certain goals through the platform.

For reading products, retention means that users invest time in reading the product, and further, generate paying behavior .

2. Take reading apps as an example

The author has tried more than a dozen domestic reading apps, and taking three of them as examples, he found out the functional points that attract user retention.

(1) iReader

①Featured function: daily recommendation.

Hidden in the bookshelf, visible when pulled down, in the form of a short excerpt, three articles a day, presented in the form of a card when clicked. When you see a card that interests you, you can click on it to view the abstract details. There are books at the end of the abstract, which you can click directly to read or add to your bookshelf.

Advantages: The excerpts selected for daily recommendations are of high quality and are carefully selected by operators . They cover a wide range of genres, from literature to business to society to romance, and can cater to the public's preferences for work types and requirements for text quality. This makes it easier for users to click on books and add them to their bookshelves, demonstrating the value of editorial recommendations .

Disadvantages: When looking at products, we still need to use data to look at the problem. From the data, the number of likes for daily recommendations is generally more than 100, reflecting that not many users actually use this function (it may be that the function is hidden deep, or this function is not very popular).

②Social functions: mainly discovery section and book club circle.

You can read other people’s book reviews, articles, and ideas, follow others, or publish your own.

There are two types of circles. One is a circle that is automatically created based on a book (the book circle on the left in the picture below is the circle of the book "The Story of a Killer"), and all published book reviews and ideas are content in the circle; the other is the created theme circle, which gathers people with the same interests in the form of a circle to speak in the circle (the youth campus book circle on the right in the picture below).

Advantages: By building a weak social relationship community and UGC content production mechanism, the relationship between users and other users, and users and products is established, allowing users to find a sense of existence and actively become part of the product. It helps to promote user emotional investment and participation , thereby maintaining user retention. Community is a common way for products to improve user retention . For example, the book review square in QQ Reading, the topic square in Qidian, and the circles in Baidu Reading are all manifestations of socialization.

Disadvantages: Judging from the low number of comments on the current circle content, the social section has not played a real role. Obviously, whether the community atmosphere is active and the quality of community content all affect the power of the community . If the content does not receive feedback, users are likely to give up continuous content output, resulting in a vicious cycle of declining community content quality and user engagement.

③User incentive system: encourage users to use products through certain incentive measures.

The main means include sign-in, tasks, red envelopes, etc., which stimulate users with benefits (and the incentive system runs through the entire product, such as social functions are a kind of emotional stimulation). What stimulates short-term user retention is the big giveaway of benefits for new users , including free reading cookies and vouchers in the first two days and VIP on the third day, to encourage new users to continue opening the product in the first few days. Similarly, for Shuqi Novels, new users have the privilege of reading the main site for free for 20 days, and there are other benefits to be claimed on the 21st to 28th days, to encourage users to use it for a long time .

Advantages: Taking advantage of users' greed , using material benefits to stimulate users to stay and continue to use the product.

Disadvantages: While almost every product uses a user incentive system, the incentive level of this product is not very strong; and the similar sign-in and task mechanisms can easily cause user boredom . The user incentive system needs to consider the rationality and effectiveness of its establishment to ensure that most users can feel actual benefits or fun and stay.

(2) NetEase Wugu Reading

①Special feature: You can get one hour of free reading time every day.

Innovate the usage model of reading products, charge for time but not for books,

Advantages: Creates a sense of scarcity and takes advantage of the user's psychology of gain and loss : you can get one hour by clicking on it, and there is no loss if you don't use it. The form of not charging for books but charging for reading time is unique among many reading apps. There are some books on it that require payment on other platforms; 1 yuan per day for reading time is not expensive, and it is suitable for users who really have a need to read for a long time.

Disadvantages: Does it have any impact on the platform’s profitability? Most people don’t actually read for more than an hour a day. Since books can be read for free, their willingness to pay may decrease.

②Leading reading - an attempt at socialization.

The leading reading section is where readers share their own book reviews, articles, characters, etc. Books are directly inserted into the articles and can be clicked to read. The leader of the reading becomes a " big V ", has celebrity and certification (for example, Zhou Hongyi's account on Snail Reading , where he shares his own articles), and can follow and send private messages to others. The entire social section is like a small "Weibo" set up for reading. Operators also post topics or activities in the reading section to attract user participation.

Disadvantages: According to current data, the number of clicks on the leader's articles generally does not exceed 10,000. This section is an important section in the content structure, but its actual role is unknown .

③Snail Shell: One hour of reading will reward you with a snail shell, which can be used to redeem unlimited reading rights for e-books.

Advantages: Redeeming e-books breaks the limitation of only one hour of free time a day , and the snail shells can only be obtained through reading behavior, thus encouraging users to use the product to read more books; it is an interesting, concise and easy-to-understand form of incentive, and the process is simple and easy to use .

Disadvantages: The degree of stimulation needs to be verified. If one hour is enough for the user (and he is unwilling to spend more time on the app), the unlimited reading rights of e-books are actually meaningless and useless, so it doesn't matter whether he redeems it or not.

(3) WeChat Reading : It taps into the social relationships on WeChat and also attempts to retain users through social relationships .

① Social stimulation (not just ranking):

Strong relationship social networking: Book display recommends books that WeChat friends have read in the form of cards, downplaying the influence of the bookstore; the idea section displays WeChat friends' reading dynamics (notes, forwarding, etc.); you can view friends' information, such as books on the bookshelf, reading dynamics (but at the same time, it will also pay attention to privacy issues, and you can choose to read privately); friends are ranked by reading time.

Weak relationship social interaction: using reading to connect with others. When reading a book, you can see other people who are reading the book and their information. You can follow them or even send them private messages.

Advantages: It satisfies people's curiosity about private matters (seeing what kind of books their WeChat friends are reading and what opinions they are expressing, similar to the curiosity about private matters in Moments ); book recommendations based on WeChat friends' reading lists are more accurate to a certain extent and easier for users to accept (the cultural level and preferences of the groups that they usually get close to are similar, and their demand for content is more consistent).

Disadvantages: When it comes to reading, whether people have social needs or whether the needs are strong; the book city is downplayed, creating the impression that there are few book resources.

Summarize

By experiencing multiple reading apps, I found that they have some similar methods in maintaining user retention.

It can be seen that attracting user retention mainly starts from two aspects: motivating users to use the APP and increasing the attractiveness of the content itself .

• Social relationships : Generally, a weak relationship network similar to Weibo is established based on common reading behaviors and interests. However, judging from the existing data, the power played by the community may not be that great.
• User incentive system : rewards for sign-in and tasks (some have formed a complete user growth system), with special emphasis on new users .
• Operational stimulation : organizing activities such as essay writing competitions (iReader and QQ Reading have recently been holding essay writing competitions), topics with prizes, etc.
• Special features : Small features include daily recommendations on iReader and borrowing books on Migu Reader (borrowed books have only 7 days of free reading time to encourage users to use them continuously within 7 days); big features include innovations in product positioning and architecture, such as NetEase Wugu Reading starting with duration, and WeChat Reading entering the reading field from social relationships.
• Core and premise : For content-based products, the core of attracting user retention is the attractiveness of the content itself . Most reading apps let users choose their gender and categories of interest before entering the app, so as to customize content that better suits their tastes. Whether the content within the app is diverse and exclusive, whether it attracts users, and whether it is free all affect the choices of users in an era of overabundance of choices.

Note: Due to my personal level, I am still learning and my understanding of the product is not deep enough. Please forgive me for the shallowness of the above analysis! Criticism and discussion are also welcome!

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

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