Do you know the operating strategy behind WeChat’s 800 million active users?
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One night in October 2010, Zhang Xiaolong, the father of WeChat, studied Kik, an APP that gained 1 million users within 15 days of its launch, and realized that this mobile instant messaging software might pose a fatal threat to QQ. So he wrote an email to Ma Huateng overnight, and Ma Huateng quickly replied: "Do it right away." WeChat was officially launched in January 2011. Five years later, WeChat has swept across the country and even the world with unstoppable force, and has begun to move rapidly towards its huge business empire. 1. Tencent invested 50 million US dollars in Kik, completely completing the counterattack from imitation to conquest! 2. The number of users has reached 760 million, approaching QQ’s 877 million active users, and is expected to surpass QQ by the end of this year! 3. The time users spend on WeChat accounts for more than 50% of their total APP time! 4. The number of WeChat Pay card-linked users has exceeded 300 million, and the total number of offline stores connected to WeChat Pay exceeds 300,000. The number of monthly transactions of WeChat Pay is 5 times that of Alipay! What secrets are hidden behind the popularity of WeChat? The summary is as follows, and I will explain it later. Secret 1: Why can WeChat replace Tencent’s eldest QQ? Long before the advent of smartphones, QQ had already been exploring the mobile software market. However, it was mainly used as a supplement to the PC side at that time, and QQ was, after all, an application developed in the PC era. Many complicated functions were piled up together, making it a very cumbersome client, which seriously restricted its development on the mobile side. Mobile applications such as WeChat must meet these three requirements: 1. Core needs: Develop functions based on the "core needs of users" - "communication anytime, anywhere", and then add other functions appropriately. 2. Small and beautiful: A very small function can play a big role. For example, the introduction of QR code can be used to add friends, join groups, make payments and other functions. 3. Connect everything: Based on the small and beautiful features of mobile products, if the application can connect to other programs, reduce the trouble of using jumps, and even connect to the real world, then users will be highly dependent on it. As mobile devices become more and more popular and users begin to spend more time on mobile devices, mobile products like WeChat, which is a "Xiaomei Lianhe" product, will naturally be more popular with users than QQ. Secret 2: Why was WeChat 1.0 so lukewarm after its launch? Although WeChat version 1.0 imitated Kik’s main function – “text messages that can send photos for free” – and did not immediately adopt the mobile phone number registration method like Kik, but instead relied on QQ’s huge user base, the number of users was not ideal – 5 million users in 4 months. This number may be very impressive for many apps, but WeChat has the advantage of QQ, a platform with hundreds of millions of daily active users, and the successful example of Kik, which gained 1 million users within 15 days of its launch. Obviously, the WeChat team is not satisfied with this result. Ultimately, there are two key issues: 1. China's national conditions: In 2011, China's mobile phones were rapidly developing from 2G to 3G. At the beginning of 2011 when WeChat was first launched, 2G Internet access was still the mainstream in China. The speed was very slow and the cost of mobile Internet access was relatively expensive at that time, so the user experience of sending photos was not good. 2. User demand: The three major mobile phone operators all provide SMS and MMS package services. "Free SMS with photos" is not a rigid demand of users, so 1.0 was not as enthusiastically sought after by users as expected. When designing product functions, the social environment, economic environment, actual conditions of software and hardware, and actual needs of users are all factors that need to be considered. Secret three: Why did voice become the first trigger point of WeChat? In May 2011, WeChat launched version 2.0, which added a voice message function similar to Talkbox. This function quickly gained popularity among users, and the number of users began to grow explosively: the number of users quickly increased from 5 million to 15 million, and the growth rate is getting faster and faster. Ultimately, the key reasons are still those two: 1. China's national conditions: The voice message function has less restrictions on network speed and consumes less data. At that time, WeChat once promoted that a voice message of several hours only required a few megabytes of data. 2. User needs: By using the voice message function, you don’t have to type in text manually, nor do you have to spend money on making phone calls. It also saves you the trouble of making calls that are inconvenient for others to answer, solving the user’s urgent need to save money, save time, and be relaxed. Moreover, the operation of WeChat voice message function is very simple, just press and hold to speak. At that time, QQ also had the same function, but it was in the secondary menu. There is a saying about "existence of nothingness" in the mobile Internet . As the menu levels of this function increase, the usage rate of this function also decreases exponentially. Therefore, WeChat 2.0 quickly gained recognition from users as soon as it was launched. After that, WeChat added functions such as WeChat phone and WeChat video in a timely manner, allowing the "practical and simple communication" model to be continuously strengthened. WeChat has begun to subvert the three major mobile operators and change the way people communicate with each other. Secret 4: Why can WeChat enter the workplace? Although QQ's young and entertaining features have captured a large number of users in life and leisure scenarios, the work scenario of office workers has always been a concern for Tencent. Tencent once wanted to use QQ's variant product TM to enter this market, but it never succeeded. However, WeChat realized Tencent’s wish in a very short time. There are 2 reasons: 1. Registration by mobile phone number: After using QQ's user base to obtain the first batch of seed users , WeChat began to support registration by mobile phone number in version 2.3, and it became its main user channel. Therefore, relatives, friends, and work contacts in mobile phone contacts gradually become WeChat friends. WeChat has also become an important work communication channel besides emails and phone calls. 2. Group chat function: WeChat has been focusing on building group chats during its development, such as scanning QR codes to join groups, creating groups face to face, and upgrading the number of group chat members... More and more companies and organizations are using WeChat's group chat function to hold meetings, send notifications, and use it as a user marketing tool. Therefore, after the advent of WeChat, it not only captured a general population that was older than QQ users, but also easily gained the working scenario that QQ had always dreamed of but could not achieve! Secret 5: Why is Shake successful? WeChat launched the shake function in version 3.0, which allows users to connect to another user thousands of miles away through a shake gesture. Many people believe that the success of this function is because it brought strangers as a user source to WeChat. But there were other intentions at the beginning of the design: The shake function is designed to give people a very erotic sensory experience: when you shake it, there will be a sound of a rifle, which sounds very refreshing and exciting, and then the page opens and a statue of a naked David appears. This series of auditory and visual experiences will make people have sexual associations. According to the theory of psychology master Freud, all human motivations come from sexual impulses, so these sexual associations will arouse people's desire to experience them. The Shake function has been well received by users since its launch, with more than 100 million activations per day. This feature not only provides a new channel for adding friends to WeChat, but also enhances the user's sensory experience. In fact, some users are purely for experiencing this sensory stimulation rather than for really adding friends! Secret Six: Why is Moments so popular? WeChat launched the Moments feature in version 4.0. Many users began to abandon Weibo and switch to WeChat. Within 10 months, the number of WeChat users increased from over 100 million to over 300 million. The reasons behind this are: 1. Ordinary people’s desire to be noticed: The right to speak on Weibo is mainly concentrated in the hands of “big Vs”. In addition to communicating with acquaintances on Weibo, ordinary people are more likely to look up to the big Vs. In WeChat’s Moments, everyone can show off their work and life. Everyone is a big V in the Moments, and everyone can fully experience the superiority of being “noticed”. 2. The human instinct to get something for nothing: The 4.0 version also adds the function of "sharing content from third-party applications" to WeChat. This function not only strengthens WeChat's vision of "connecting everything", but also allows every user to easily enjoy the information that has been selected by others. 3. The desire to keep abreast of others’ dynamics: Emotional connection between people is a human instinct, and the circle of friends has become a mode of communication between friends who are far away but close in heart (it is easy to know the dynamics of friends). Tencent launched Tencent Weibo when Sina Weibo was at its most popular, but the results were not ideal. It was not until the launch of Moments that Tencent realized that to defeat Sina Weibo, it might not be possible to rely on another Weibo-like product, but might be through WeChat. As people often say in the Internet circle: What kills a product is usually not a better similar product! Secret Seven: Why did social platforms like WeChat launch public accounts? Although Moments once again ignited WeChat, WeChat was still just a platform for communication between people and had not yet overturned the purely social attributes of QQ. The launch of public accounts completely changed this situation: 1. Marketing platform for enterprises: Official accounts can increase opportunities for enterprises to promote their products. Moreover, WeChat has a large and high-quality user base. More and more businesses see the opportunity to enter the WeChat official account platform. Therefore, official accounts are comparable to Weibo in terms of marketing function. 2. Grassroots self-media : On the WeChat public account platform, whether you are an enterprise or an individual, you can open a public account and become your own self-media, allowing more and more people to see and hear your voice, while still satisfying the sense of superiority of "being noticed". Its self-media functions are comparable to those of Weibo. At the same time, WeChat’s official accounts have a strict rule - only one message is allowed to be sent per day, so that users can receive important and valuable information without being disturbed by various messy messages. Therefore, the launch of official accounts not only did not affect the user experience, but made users more active on WeChat. In this regard, WeChat's user experience is far better than Weibo's. The launch of official accounts has enabled WeChat to completely defeat Weibo, with the number of users increasing from over 300 million to over 400 million. And most importantly, after introducing enterprises into WeChat and forming connections between people and enterprises, WeChat's grand blueprint of "connecting everything" began to show signs of life, and WeChat began to get Tencent's first Internet sleeper ticket - building a platform for enterprises and individuals to play on it, and Tencent can make money without doing anything. Secret 8: Is the Game Center following the old path of QQ? After WeChat launched the gaming feature in version 5.0, many people lamented: WeChat has used QQ’s tactics again, making users addicted to entertainment so that Tencent can make money itself. But WeChat wants more than that: 1. Strengthened the core function of communication: WeChat Game Center has a ranking list where you can view your friends’ scores at any time. "Comparison" is a common human instinct, and this point plays the role of "secretly comparing with friends". Therefore, the game center not only does not harm the "small and beautiful" characteristics of WeChat, but instead strengthens its core function of communication. 2. Paving the way for WeChat payment: When WeChat launched the game center, it also launched the bank card binding function. On the surface, bank cards are designed to allow users to purchase game props. However, this is actually to cultivate the "consumption-payment" usage habit of WeChat Pay. To realize WeChat’s vision of “the sleeper ticket of the Internet”, there are two important links: “consumption-payment”. Official accounts simply introduce companies to WeChat. Using WeChat as a necessary link in “consumption-payment” requires the cultivation of usage habits. Games, which have a wide range of users and common payment behaviors, are a good way to cultivate the habit of using WeChat payment. Secret Nine: What role do red envelopes play in WeChat? WeChat added the "red envelope function" in version 6.1, and in the same year (2014) around the Spring Festival began a money-giving war, whereby red envelopes were given by binding bank cards. During the 2015 Spring Festival, the “WeChat Shake for Red Packets” interactive segment during the CCTV Spring Festival Gala brought the WeChat red envelope phenomenon to a climax. So, why does WeChat spend so much effort to promote the red envelope function? 1. A communication model: On the surface, the custom of sending red envelopes during the Spring Festival in the south was copied to WeChat, creating a unique application scenario of "Internet +" and a way of emotional communication between people. 2. Targeting WeChat Pay: Like the game center, the red envelope function is still intended to cultivate the "consumption-payment" usage habit of WeChat Pay, and the Spring Festival is the best time to promote WeChat Pay with the help of red envelopes. With Tencent's unremitting cultivation, red envelopes have become a common means of communication between people on WeChat, and WeChat payment has also become a high-frequency usage habit for users to make small payments. Starting with WeChat red envelopes, WeChat has successively launched a variety of consumer payment functions, such as transfers, payment and collection, mobile phone recharge, life bills, and city services. WeChat Pay has also expanded beyond its own platform and entered other platforms, such as Didi. WeChat also provides payment services for offline merchants, institutions, and public institutions. By cultivating small-amount, high-frequency WeChat payment behaviors, WeChat Payment has bypassed Alibaba's monopoly on online payments and established truly stable connections between people, people and businesses, and businesses and businesses. The WeChat Internet sleeper ticket is gradually showing its edge. Final summary 9 secrets of the WeChat empire Although the above 9 secrets are just the tip of the iceberg of WeChat's huge business empire, we can still get a glimpse of WeChat's development path: through continuous iteration and development, it has occupied life scenes and work scenes, and then attracted companies to enter WeChat, and then "connected" people and companies together, and then naturally cultivated users' WeChat payment habits. WeChat's desire to "connect everything" has finally begun to be realized. WeChat, holding the "sleeper ticket for mobile Internet ", has begun to realize its grand goal of building a huge business empire! Now we often say: "Taobao is omnipotent." In the future we will say: "WeChat connects everything"! Your APP |
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