Product operation strategy of Dianping Points Mall

Life service apps are closely related to users’ lives. The key to whether a product is successful lies in whether users use it frequently. Therefore, how to keep users active and make them more active is also a proposition that products always need to consider.

This article mainly hopes to analyze how Dianping, the leader of lifestyle apps, motivates users to be active through the incentive of points , and explore whether there is room for improvement.

Points-based operations have been a standard feature of most App products for many years, and product functions and operating strategies are also constantly evolving.

I am currently designing a new points system. Although I have some experience in making points mall products many years ago, I still need to re-study the current points products on the market to obtain the latest knowledge.

Therefore, I gave myself a proposition, which is to study the points mall strategies of different types of App products on the market, precipitate commonalities, discover advantages, and integrate them into my own products in a targeted manner.

This time, we mainly chose the most classic product of life service App - Dianping, to discuss the operational strategies and goals related to point acquisition and point consumption corresponding to Dianping Points Mall, to make a record for ourselves, and hope that it will be inspiring to you who are also working on point products.

Experience time: 2021-06-28 & 2021-07-05

Experience version: Huawei mate 20 pro, version number 11.0.0

Experience account: has been a user of Volkswagen for many years, but rarely posts reviews, level LV3.

1. Overview of Dianping

Before officially introducing the Dianping points mall, we still need to briefly introduce the Dianping products. A clear product direction also determines the operating direction of the corresponding points mall.

From Baidu Encyclopedia: Dianping is China's leading local life information and transaction platform, and is also the world's earliest independent third-party consumer review website. Dianping not only provides users with information services such as merchant information, consumer reviews and consumer discounts, but also provides O2O (Online To Offline) transaction services such as group buying, restaurant reservations, take-out and electronic membership cards.

In recent years, Dianping has upgraded from a local search platform to a local life sharing platform, and its slogan has also been adjusted to "Discover quality life".

In terms of product functions, compared with traditional life information provision platforms, the current sharing platforms are more like interest community platforms such as Xiaohongshu, allowing users to change from active purposeful searches to aimless seeding, allowing users to use the platform for longer periods of time and interact more frequently.

In the UGC community, users are both content consumers and core content providers. More content providers and high-quality, authentic content are needed as content support for the entire platform.

As an old Internet company established in 2004, Dianping has accumulated a large number of users over more than a decade of operation.

We make a simple classification of Dianping users, which can be roughly divided into content consumers and content producers. Based on the degree of usage, content consumers can be further divided into ordinary users and content-seeking users, and content providers can be divided into sharers, lifestyle experts, and lifestyle KOLs.

It is estimated that in the previous positioning of the information provision platform, the vast majority of users were merely content consumers. So after upgrading to a local life sharing platform, how to make these users more active, guide them to become content providers, and gradually enhance user value has become the core operational proposition of Dianping since its transformation.

As a part of Dianping's products, the Points Mall must also serve the product goal of "guiding users to create high-quality content."

II. Overview of Dianping Points Mall Products

1. Function and content presentation

Dianping adopts the most common method on the market of first "points display", then "points acquisition", and finally "points consumption", integrating all points-related functions on one page. The name of the integral unit is the most traditional "points".

The homepage of the Points Mall is divided into 5 major sections:

Section 1: Points Information Area

Informs users of their current points, and carries the entrance to "My Prizes (Redemption List)" and the points details entrance. Click to jump to the corresponding page.

Section 2: Mission Area

It carries the task entrance. Users can click to jump to the corresponding task page and obtain points after completing the task. There are browsing tasks, review tasks, and other tasks (such as card application).

Section 3: Lucky Draw Area

Simulating the style of a slot machine, users can directly click on the homepage of the points mall to participate in the lottery. There are corresponding functions such as "Lottery Reminder" - turn on App push reminders, "Lottery Announcement" - create an atmosphere, and view the "Prize Pool" function - let users see more gifts.

Section 4: Points flash sale function

As a product supplement for point redemption, timed limited discount redemptions are conducted on the basis of regular redemptions; users click the "Grab Now" button to jump to the limited-time flash sale product details page and redeem through the details page.

Section 5: Points Redemption

It mainly carries out the exchange of various types of coupons, but no physical goods. Including Dianping’s general platform coupons, Dianping’s category-limited coupons, and other third-party platform coupon redemption.

Others: No customer service function

Most points malls basically do not have customer service functions, mainly because points malls are basically marginal products and generally do not invest too much in regular human costs. Dianping estimates that the same is true.

2. Experience Overview

(1) Minimal interaction

Global single-click operation: There is no particularly complex interaction on the page, and the operation is basically based on single click. There is no sliding or double-clicking interaction. The learning cost for users is very low, and they can quickly understand the product.

Single-screen interaction reduces redirection: In the lucky draw section, users can directly click to participate on the points mall homepage without redirecting, which reduces the hassle of H5 switching and the risk of missing pages.

(2) High first screen efficiency

By folding the task area (showing only one task), four major sections appear on the first screen, basically covering the four attractive functions of "points area", "task area", "points lottery area" and "points flash sale area". It is simple and direct, and allows users to see more interesting information at the first time.

(3) Add interactive sections to make it more interesting

Some simple gamification design methods are introduced: ① After obtaining points through tasks, users can have a sense of participation and gain through manual collection. ②Simulate the real lottery machine product, with a certain game dynamic effect to create a sense of fun, so that the points consumption is not so direct;

3. Product features and first impressions

In terms of the presented copy and product functions, it is a relatively conventional traditional points mall system, with regular points acquisition and points redemption, as well as some interesting function templates such as points raffles and points flash sales, so that the product is regular but not too rigid, and there is a sense of little easter eggs in the rules.

Next comes the core strategic level. As a regular operating product, the operating strategy of the points mall is of paramount importance and is the key to ultimately determining whether the points operation can succeed.

3. Dianping Points Mall Operation Strategy

Although the page presentation shows "points acquisition" first and then "points redemption", most App products also focus on the strategy of point distribution, hoping to quickly stimulate user behavior by issuing points.

I have always believed that the points mall should be the mall first and the points task later, that is, the mall is the "cause" and the task completion is the "result".

However, companies need to pay for the content redeemed by users, so points are essentially the company's (adjustable) liabilities, and companies need to strike a balance between costs and user interests.

If the redeemable goods in the mall are not attractive, then the points mall will lose its original foundation, and it will be difficult to stimulate user behavior through points.

However, if the redeemable goods are of high value, it can effectively stimulate active user behavior, but it will also cause a certain increase in corporate liabilities.

Therefore, the difficulty in operating the points mall itself lies in striking a balance between costs and user goals, controlling the “cause” and directing the “result”.

In this part, let’s take a look at how Dianping does it.

1. Points consumption strategy

Dianping's point consumption strategy is mainly through point lottery tools and point redemption products, while point redemption has derived more interesting gameplay and point flash sales. Let's take a look at their respective strategies:

【Points Lottery】

The points lottery method is a very effective tool for consuming points, because it allows users to invest low-value points in exchange for higher-value goods through fun gameplay that simulates the real environment. Although the probability is low, the mentality of taking a small risk for a big gain still makes this type of product work every time.

Each user can participate in the Dianping points lottery 10 times a day. I remember that I got more points when I participated for the first time. I have the impression that the points gained by the first-time participating users are greater than the points consumed, but unfortunately I didn’t have any records before. This is not the first time for this user to participate in this section. I simply recorded the content of this lottery participation:

Although you can see a list of prizes when you click on the prize pool, you will only get "1 point" each time. That is, users who have completed the participation will basically consume 27 points after 10 draws, get 11 points, and consume 16 points.

If users participate frequently, it can indeed effectively consume user points. But we have to say that Dianping's probability setting is too rigid. It's the same "1 point" every time, and there's no unexpected excitement of more or less points. After playing it a few times, users can easily discover the routine and stop participating.

Based on my own previous participation rates in similar activities, I guess that the number of user participations in this section should be between 2-3, which is often difficult to achieve the high participation rate of 8-10 times that the product hopes to achieve.

【Points Flash Sale】

Because the points and flash sales section has the concept of time + flash sales, it can help users form a brand memory of "there is a flash sale at 10 o'clock every day" through daily reinforcement.

Dianping’s regular redemption offers 4 types of products (which will be described in detail in the subsequent redemption section), and the flash sale strategy selection is to select 3 types of products in combination. Limited time sale at 49/99 pieces every day at 10 o'clock. Flash sale points are 60%-90% off regular redemption points.

Judging from the results displayed on the page, a little after 10 o'clock every day, high-quality coupons such as Dianping's universal coupons for all platforms and KFC coupons are quickly sold out; while coupons for third-party App products are slower, with many remaining until the afternoon.

It can be speculated that high-value products are valuable only in the flash sale area. On the contrary, low-value products, even if they are discounted, will have very few redemptions. So in essence, flash sales are just a derivative form of redemption, and their effectiveness depends entirely on the value of the product itself. However, the product time-limited model can easily influence the user's mind and control costs, which is a more desirable section.

【Points redemption】

There were 12 redemption SKUs on the day of the experience. The products were not abundant, but they were relatively well selected. For users, points are accumulated slowly and not many can be redeemed, so 12 products are basically enough for users to choose from.

The 12 products can be divided into 4 categories:

(1) Category 1 - Coupons from our own platforms

• 3 universal coupons with no threshold, including 1 yuan, 3 yuan and 5 yuan coupons from Dianping.com. The redemption points are 100, 300, and 500 points respectively.
• There are 3 categories with threshold restrictions, and 5-yuan coupons for children's playgrounds, learning and other categories. The redemption points are 10 points. The categories chosen are relatively low-frequency and high-consumption categories.
• 3 coupons from well-known brands, including KFC chicken burgers, grilled wings, and original chicken coupons. The redemption points are 1000+ points. The products chosen are those with high popularity, high frequency and low customer orders.

Dianping itself allows the purchase of group-buying coupons, so the choice of redemption products is also connected to its own consumption system. Most of the redemption products are coupons that can be used as cash coupons. Points have a certain sense of value: the basic point exchange rate for this type of coupon is 100 points = 1 yuan. After the redemption is completed, it can be used as cash on the Dianping platform, which gives profits while further promoting consumption.

However, since the average order value of daily necessities is generally higher, and 1, 3, and 5 yuan are relatively small amounts, there is less room for discounts, and the actual deduction is limited. For enterprises, this discount will only be used when placing the next order. If the deduction space is properly controlled, the cost burden will not be large.

However, the coupon is only valid for 7 days after receipt, which is a short period of validity. It is difficult for people to have a strong urge to redeem it. People can only redeem it when they need to use it, making the redemption behavior too rational.

Personally, I don't stock up on group purchases at the moment. I only check if the store has group purchase discounts when I go to the store to make payments. I make decisions very quickly and basically don't pay attention to the corresponding discount coupons in the points mall. As a result, it is easy for the redeemable coupons to not be redeemed due to the short coupon period, and I forget to redeem them when I actually need to use them.

(2) Coupons from other platforms

Coupons for use on other unknown third-party platforms - 3.

This type of coupon should be a commercial advertising coupon. Through cooperation with other platforms, other platforms provide new user coupon products/vouchers exclusive to Dianping, and Dianping will attract traffic to them. It also serves as a supplement to product types, giving users more choices.

It is obvious that in terms of the value of coupons, my personal perception is: general coupons with no threshold on the platform itself > coupons from cooperation with well-known brands > coupons with thresholds and limited categories > coupons from other platforms.

For users who frequently consume on Dianping, the value of points is quite obvious (100 points = 1 yuan). However, for content consumers or pure sharers, who do not have daily consumption habits, the value of points is not very obvious.

2. Points distribution strategy

【Task Classification】

Dianping mainly distributes points through the task section. According to the tasks, they can be simply divided into 3 categories.

• There are 2-4 browsing tasks, which can be obtained by jumping to the corresponding page and staying for more than 15 seconds. You can get 5 points each time.
• There are 3-4 review tasks. For each task, you need to write a high-quality review of more than 100 words + 3 pictures. There are certain restrictions on products and categories. You can get 30, 60, or 100 points each time.
• Other tasks. For example, if you complete a credit card task, you will get 500 points.

[Difference in points that a single user can obtain]

I recorded the tasks and costs I experienced on June 28, 2021, ignoring the weird tasks (applying for a credit card). Regular users can get 10 points per day, and high-quality sharing users can get 260 points on the same day, but I will not be able to complete the tasks through sharing for a long time afterwards.

Assuming that the sharing tasks are updated on a monthly basis, regular users can obtain 300 points per month by completing browsing tasks every day; high-quality sharing users can obtain 540 points per month by completing browsing tasks every day and sharing tasks every month.

Can be exchanged for products worth 3-5 yuan. Looking at the long term, the points earned by high-quality sharers are not significantly higher than those earned by ordinary users who only browse tasks.

[Task difficulty or threshold]

Based on my personal life experience, I have made a simple classification of the completion threshold and cost of tasks:

We made a simple completion threshold & cost coordinate chart, and we can see that the tasks are severely differentiated into two levels. It is very simple to browse the tasks and you can get points, while the difficulty coefficients of other tasks rise sharply. In comparison, the cost-effectiveness may not be high.

If we look at the product design strategy based on the difficulty of the tasks, it is obvious that the operations team is eager to quickly convert "ordinary users/grass-planting users" into "life expert" users, that is, high-quality content contributors, through points. However, for users, the threshold for creating high-quality content is relatively high, and it requires high capabilities in terms of user photo-taking and copywriting. For the vast majority of users, they need to become high-quality content sharers before becoming ordinary content sharers, but they are daunted and simply do not participate.

3. Operational Effect

Since Dianping displays the user completion data directly on the page, assuming that there is a high overlap rate among users who complete the task, and taking the number of users of the highest "Beauty and Hairdressing" task as the base, we can roughly see the completion rate of each task from the completion data: the completion rate of low-threshold browsing tasks is higher, while the completion rate of medium-high threshold/medium-high difficulty review tasks is less than 2%, and even the completion rate of most tasks is less than 1%.

If we consider the user base that did not participate in all tasks, the task completion rate is even more appalling.

From the perspective of product design and points redemption investment, Dianping has invested a certain amount of costs to make concessions, allowing users to redeem points at a high value using the method of 100 points = 1 yuan.

But judging from the data, it can be said that this points mall is somewhat of a failure. The sense of value of points does not match the cost of the task (energy cost, information cost), and it is impossible to quickly leverage the user's corresponding behavior on the page, allowing users to truly upgrade from content consumers to content creators.

4. Summary of the problem

• The products and activities in the mall are not attractive enough to be redeemed impulsively, and people forget to redeem them when they use them;
• The probability setting of the points lottery is too rigid. You can see the probability at a glance, and there is no motivation to participate repeatedly;
• The validity period of points redemption is only 7 days, which may lead to rational redemption. It does not motivate users to redeem points and complete tasks to get more points.
• Some redemption items such as 1, 3, and 5 yuan coupons have less deduction space for the entire order and are generally unattractive.
• The task design is a bit hasty, lacking intermediate buffer tasks, and is eager to convert users, while neglecting user cultivation, thus discouraging most users.
• There is no essential difference between the points obtained by high-quality sharers and those of ordinary users. Since more points can be obtained just by browsing, there is no particularly strong motivation to write content and share it.

It is worth mentioning that the above experiences were all at the end of June, and some changes were seen in early July:

• It may be that no one is doing other tasks, so two browsing tasks to earn points are added every day, making it easier to earn points. In other words, earning points becomes easier, but the input-output ratio is relatively worse compared to other review writing tasks.
• The redemption area has added large-value coupons of 20 yuan and 50 yuan with no threshold, which can be used to offset orders of larger amounts. ——Strengthened the sense of value of points and enhanced the attractiveness of products.

IV. Summary and Suggestions

After the overall experience, I think there are a few points worth learning:

• Dianping's overall layout and interesting and concise interactive form in the points mall are quite good, and the simple and clear product picture design can be used as a reference;
• In terms of point consumption methods, there are points lottery, points flash sales and points redemption functions, which are relatively rich and not boring. Daily threshold-free tasks and daily timed limited flash sales can influence the user's mind and achieve part of the goal of promoting activation.
• The operational strategy of combining internal and external products for exchangeable goods and the general exchange rate control methods are worth learning.

I also have some small suggestions on areas where I think we can do better.

1. Unpredictable activity results and more impulse-oriented products make point consumption more motivated

Specific strategies:

(1) Adjustments to the participation points and probability of point-based lottery products

For example, the participation threshold is increased to 5 points for one participation, and the prizes are more like 10 points, 5 points, or 1 point. While controlling the consumption of points through probability, it makes obtaining points more random, reduces the perception of numbers in the game feeling of increase and decrease, and consumes points unknowingly. To give you a not-so-good example, when you were a kid playing with a real lottery machine, you needed to taste the sweetness often before you would be attracted to continue playing.

(2) Appropriately extend the product validity period

Make users less rational in redeeming goods, thereby quickly promoting redemption conversions.

2. A step-by-step task system is set up to help ordinary users grow gradually

Specific strategies:

(1) Add tasks with moderate difficulty and moderate threshold

For example, you can earn points by posting reviews about your daily life, and you can get more points by giving high-quality reviews. Allow some ordinary users to be converted into sharing users, and fully encourage the creation of high-quality content by doubling the points for high-quality content. Lowering the content threshold will make it easier to achieve phased goals than doing it all at once.

(2) Make quality reviews a daily task

Further widen the points gap between content creators and ordinary browsing users, and focus point incentive content on this group of target users as much as possible.

In addition, when the system is connected, I found that entering the review section in the non-points mall section will basically not earn points (I don’t know if I didn’t notice it), and the task description also specifically stated that points can only be added by completing the task. Therefore, I guess that the points themselves are not strongly linked to other products, and they only appear as an independent auxiliary section in Dianping.

Since Dianping's original user rating system is already relatively complete and core, the points mall is less important in comparison, so it is understandable that it has poor linkage with the main section. However, to make this product well, more product linkage and entry support are still needed.

The above are my own immature views on Dianping’s points mall. I welcome your comments and discussions.

Author: Burning Bean Man

Source: Burning Beans