[Recommendation] Let’s talk about the strategies that need to be adopted in different operation stages!

Affected by the atmosphere of the Internet finance industry, the cost of attracting new users on the platform has risen sharply. Whether in terms of new customer acquisition costs or conversion and maintenance costs, the initial bonus model of high base + low conversion rate is no longer applicable to operations under the current form. What the platform really needs is a secondary increase in conversion rate based on the existing new customer acquisition base. Simply improving the conversion rate will lead to a situation where the short-term growth data looks good, but the user contribution rate and long-term retention are rubbish. This requires us operators to have a comprehensive understanding of the conversion rate, integrate it into the life cycle section, and form a stable closed-loop strategy.

This article briefly introduces the classification of user life cycle and explains the strategies adopted in different periods from a biological perspective. Just like bacterial culture, the emphasis on "temperature", "humidity", "catalyst" and other factors required at different times is different.

1. Germination stage: By controlling the "temperature", the bacteria can enter the active stage in advance

The "temperature" here is actually the most critical link in the user life cycle—the user.

Temperature 1 "Custom":

The user source channels vary greatly, whether it is natural growth, activities, recommendations, or promotions. When there is no effective distinction between user sources, operations fall into a single and infinitely repetitive situation. Taking Internet finance as an example, a unified form is often adopted. Common means include SMS bombing ( the copywriting of major platforms is highly consistent and has no characteristics of their own), telephone follow-up after registration, etc. Operations that do not differentiate and guide users are a waste of manpower, and operations that do not use existing data to form a decision tree to convert real favorable users are foolish operations.

Temperature 2 "melts in":

Use gamification to attract the attention of silent users, use simplified participation methods to reduce the participation costs of silent users, and use relationship chain-type communication to increase the favorability of silent users. In short, it is to let users participate in this activity and understand the brand. You may think that this is a matter of brand PR, but isn’t the operation of contacting users, understanding users, and planning user activities the best channel for brands to reach users? When silent users have brand favorability, it will not be so difficult to convert them in advance.

Temperature 3 "gentle":

Mayday has a song called "Gentleness", and there is a line in the song that I really like: "Not disturbing is my gentleness." Control the SMS cycle, reduce the number of repeated harassment within the cycle, and reduce active responses while ensuring that the information is delivered in place. In this era of text messages, notifications, and in-site messages, let's give users a less "enthusiastic" and less "active" feeling!

2. Active period: By controlling "humidity", bacteria can prolong their active period

The "humidity" here refers to the degree of "dryness", which is the focus of operations - activities. Under the premise of product positioning and functional improvement, the ability of activities to attract users determines the length of user activity period.

Humidity 1 "concession":

Users use the product, which brings activity to the product and increases revenue for the platform... While an activity is completing its established goals (attracting new users, promoting activity, etc.), it should not forget to seek benefits for customers. It is human nature to pursue profit, and meeting cost requirements is the major premise. It is necessary to appropriately increase the amount of prizes and red envelopes, rather than just increasing costs for the sake of costs.

Humidity 2 "spread":

Every person who runs an event has the temperament of doing "MLM". How to increase the participation in the event and expand the influence of the event is something we need to pay attention to all the time. This is the time to test our understanding of communication:

1. Own website, app (direct participation channel)
2. WeChat, Weibo, QQ and other platforms (exposure, traffic diversion)
3. Streaming media advertising (traffic, exposure, jump)
4. User relationship chain (trust propagation)

If you make good use of these four points and run activities with the mentality of doing micro-business, you will get good results (seriously)!

Tips : Any activity is bound to lead to the emergence of freeloaders, which is already a common occurrence in the Internet finance industry. Small platforms do not have the money-burning capacity of large platforms, and what they worry about most is that the rewards given to real users will be swiped away by wool-pulling. However, this is a double-edged sword. How to make wool-pulling popular and increase popularity through actual participation without being swiped too much, this is when the wisdom of the operator is tested. After all, the freeloaders are the best people to test whether an activity is mature or not.

3. Decline period: By controlling the "catalyst", bacteria can delay their decline period

The "catalyst" here refers to the operational tool—the emotional relationship chain. Catalysts can be positive or negative. Positive catalysts increase user stickiness and maintain users, while negative catalysts warn and expel users.

Positive Catalyst 1 "UGC":

UGC (User Generated Content) = User-generated content, users not only browse content, but also create content on the Internet. Internet finance platforms are commonly presented in the form of forums, where users display their original content to other users, receive replies and likes, and have their featured posts pinned to the top, giving them a sense of spiritual satisfaction from being recognized.

Positive Catalyst 2: “Participation”:

How to get users involved, how to make users reveal their true intentions, and how to make the activity truly attractive? The best way is to let the users speak for themselves. An excellent operator is an excellent listener who is good at getting answers from users: ① Pay attention to communication with customer service and improve customer feedback channels; ② Design activity opinion collection to understand users' real thoughts; ③ Set up topic discussions in user clusters

Positive catalyst 3: “ Communitization ”:

Humans are social animals, and living in groups is a subconscious principle. Reasonable guidance of user clusters, setting up forum discussion groups, Q groups, WeChat groups , etc., not only facilitates platform information dissemination and public opinion control, but also closely combines users into groups, giving them unique imprint identities (membership system), which is a common way of positive motivation.

Reverse Catalyst 1 "Hierarchy":

A hierarchy system is used to restrict user behavior. A common form of this is that there are different levels of posting and replying mechanisms in the forum, as well as variant forms of sign-in and points. The output of new users and users with short contact time is restricted, and the restriction can be lifted (level becomes higher) only after they understand the product and their loyalty increases. It is one of the means to reversely constrain users, partially expel negative effects, and create a positive incentive atmosphere for users

Reverse Catalyst 2 "Blacklist":

Nuclear weapons, use with caution! Based on the basic concept of user equality and solving problems through communication, it is not recommended to blacklist users. Blacklist is the most effective way to control and expel users. Before using it, we need to think about the following:

1. Is this user truly unable to communicate and resolve the issue? Have you tried other channels of communication?
2. Will this user bring foreseeable adverse effects on the platform?
3. Is the cost of appeasing and resolving the situation after the blacklist bearable?