The “Pinduoduo-style” copywriting trick is repeated, what is the effect?

On November 11, 2016, Pinduoduo's single-day transaction volume exceeded 200 million, and the company's valuation exceeded 10 billion yuan; a year later, Pinduoduo repeated last year's Double 11 strategy this year. In fact, there was only a 0.0001% chance of buying an iPhone X, but it lured a large number of users. The "Pinduoduo-style" temptation copy attracted tens of millions of customers last year, but how many more will it do this year?

Pinduoduo repeats old tricks

Along with the buzzing sound of my phone, I received several messages on WeChat saying “Limited time, limited quantity!” I got the [New product launch ] iPhone X2 56G phone for 0.01 yuan....'

I replied, "Have you forgotten the pain last year? It was free last year and it's 1 cent this year. Do you think it can be shipped?"

My friend said: "I actually didn't know. I saw it sent to me by a friend, so I helped to put it together. Later I found out that it was actually a lottery mode."

It turns out that Pinduoduo is repeating the same old trick again.

During the Double 11 shopping festival in 2016, this kind of link went viral in WeChat groups . If you carefully compare the copywriting in 2017 and 2016, you will find that they are exactly the same. "Limited edition", "Got it for free", "Got it for 0.01 yuan", "Limited edition iPhone X and iQiyi Gold Membership" . They all use the "user's" tone to tell the user's friends that "I got a great value product at a low cost", which means: since my friends can get it, so can I!

So, I sent it to my colleagues with the mentality of " testing out the tricks". I don't recommend you to try it because it will get your personal information .

Product design is well aware of the public's desire for cheapness

Next, it's time to witness the strength of Pinduoduo's operations and product managers . They will pull you into the trap in a completely "viral", "tempting" and "natural" way.

Before I joined the group purchase, I looked at the details page again and again. In the brief information on WeChat, I did not see any "lottery" model. Of course, I knew it was this model and emphasized it when sharing it with my colleagues.

Because the cost is only 0.01 yuan, there is no delay in the payment process, and the process of joining the group → paying is also extremely natural. After payment, the invitation "Join the group" in the invitation page 1 in the above picture will appear.

The design of this interface is not simple, and the product manager must have put a lot of thought into creating an illusion for users. At first, I didn't plan to invite anyone, so I clicked the "×", but it didn't jump back to the group joining page, but to the "Invite Page 2" in the picture below. I clicked the return button in Invite Page 2 (circled in red in the picture), and unexpectedly, it returned to the "Invite Page 1". To confirm it, I tried it several times, and after repeating it 3 times, it finally jumped out to the group payment page.

Out of curiosity, I went to "Invitation Page 1" again. After taking a closer look, I found that I had overlooked the "Confirm to Cancel" button. It was intentionally made very dark in color to give you the illusion that you cannot click it. So you naturally chose to invite immediately or × it. The result was to invite or return to "Invitation Page 2".

The product design is well aware of user usage habits and forces users to invite to join the group. I believe that many users did not jump out and were still in WeChat at this time. Later, I tried the APP and it was the same. If I really couldn’t jump out and didn’t want to share, I would just restart the APP. Although the experience was not good, it achieved the amount of dissemination.

Operation strategy: high frequency and low price bombing

Next is the "magic" of the operational copywriting . Pinduoduo really goes to great lengths to attract you.

After I joined the group purchase, its WeChat service account bombarded me with 5 discount offers in succession, each one more tempting than the last.

Please read carefully, the copy says "Buy iPhone X for 0.01 yuan", not "You can have a chance to win iPhone X for 0.01 yuan", which gives you the illusion that it is "buy" instead of "lottery". Although its essence is a lottery, it has never emphasized that it is a lottery. After the group purchase was completed, I realized that it was a lottery, not a purchase.

The red envelope for new members shows the number of people who have grabbed it. You don’t even have to click in to claim it, it will be given to you directly, saving you the trouble of “receiving”. They are afraid that you won’t claim it, and the temptation is indeed not big enough.

This wave also has "text temptation", which means you can get it for free instead of drawing a lottery. It attracts you to click, and then jumps to the APP download link. After downloading and opening it, it tells you that the activity is over and the winning number is so-and-so. Well, the copywriting routine is really used well.

Even if you look carefully, the lucky number is not a lottery number, and you would never associate it with a lottery number, but this can be clarified later in case some users are serious about it.

The next step is to continue to attract me to participate in group buying and continue to attract new users for it. At least 80% of the users around a new user are new users. According to the 80/20 rule, birds of a feather flock together. If you use an APP, your friends have at least registered for it and you can place an order naturally because you don’t have to pay yourself, but you must get your friends to join.

Regardless of whether you participate in the free group or not, the next one is the special group. The copywriting is also very attractive, the prices are affordable, and the products are far beyond the group buying price, which will increase your purchase frequency.

Imagine that "I" am just one of the hundreds of millions of users who have never used Pinduoduo. I am also in the Internet industry and have seen this model at least on platforms such as China Merchants Bank, Necessities Mall, and NetEase E- Commerce . However, they all told me directly that it was a "lottery" and I only needed to place an order or get points to participate. Pinduoduo implicitly told you that this was a "lottery". You may not have realized it when you placed an order. This is a routine.

Pinduoduo's temptation design this year is more sophisticated

Last year it was a virtual product, but when you submit the order and pay, you are still required to fill in the express delivery information. This is a "loophole".

Perhaps they themselves have realized that this year is different. When purchasing an iPhone X, they should obtain the delivery address. According to normal activity logic, this type of lottery model usually obtains the winner's courier address only after the prize is announced. In order to make users feel like shopping in an e-commerce platform, the word "lottery" is not seen at all on the order submission and payment pages. There is only buy, buy, buy. I really thought that "I was buying something" instead of "participating in a lottery". The same routine, the same "deception", completely disregarding the user experience. How far can this design and operation go?

We had tens of millions of customers last year, how many will we have this year? Will the same routine be used next year?

I made a diagram of user behavior and psychological logic. The question at the beginning is who shared this activity. We won’t discuss it for now. It may be the result of their wide-ranging operation, hiring internet trolls, and distribution by some of their own users. New users see Pinduoduo’s offer of buying an iPhone X for 0.01 yuan. The tempting copy attracts users to click, and the low cost makes it difficult for users to refuse their friends’ invitation to group buy. Out of curiosity and social friendship, users participate in the group buy. After completing the group buy, they are informed on WeChat that they still have 0 yuan group buy coupons to use and can also get a Huawei phone for 0 yuan. They click on the page to jump directly to the download page. Out of temptation and curiosity, they download the APP. When checking the order, they find that they have been deceived. The 0.01 yuan is just a participation in the lottery. Why was it never mentioned before the user participated? At this time, Pinduoduo begins to promote exclusive group buy discounts, with various exquisite pictures , low prices, and better free benefits. Users feel a little comforted and have a little curiosity about the quality of e-commerce products. In such a self-doubting situation, they suppress their displeasure of being deceived.

Finally, I searched for "Pinduoduo" on Weibo and found it was full of customer complaints and posts about being deceived. I hated Pinduoduo even more. I wanted to unbind WeChat, mobile phone number, and delivery address, but found there was no entrance. I had no choice but to uninstall Pinduoduo. This should be the behavior and psychological journey of many users. A product like this that does not focus on quality control and only relies on clever tricks to attract customers will probably not go far.