Learn how to build a membership points system in one article (Part 1): Building a membership system from 0 to 1

Member points systems are very common in today's products. However, for products and operations that have never been involved in, it is often difficult to start establishing a member points system for the first time. I myself have also summed up my own routines step by step from a senior newbie. Next, I will share some experience and ideas on establishing a membership points system through a series of articles. This article mainly introduces how to establish a membership system from 0 to 1. Don’t be afraid of pain.

1. Types of Membership Systems

When it comes to membership, our first reaction is to think of QQ membership, Taobao membership, hotel VIP membership cards, etc. According to the acquisition threshold and growth rules of the membership system, we can divide the membership system into three categories: undifferentiated membership, tiered membership and paid membership. This article mainly explains how to establish the second tier of membership.

2. What is the membership system? Why establish a membership system?

The essence of the membership system is to enhance user loyalty to the platform through a series of operating rules and exclusive rights, feed back to the platform's various businesses, and cultivate users step by step into loyal fans of the product.

From the essence of the membership system, I prefer to call it a "user growth system", because from its definition we can find that this is actually a process of gradually cultivating new users into core users, guiding them to remain active on the platform, deeply participate in the platform's various businesses, and finally even spontaneously recommending products to people around them.

3. How to build a membership system from 0 to 1

1. The source of determination behind membership level: growth value

The membership levels of most products on the market are divided according to growth values. Users can obtain certain growth values ​​after completing designated tasks. Growth values ​​in different ranges correspond to different membership levels. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, the ranking rules of King of Glory are calculated directly according to star rating. You can increase your star rating by one by winning a game. After reaching 4 stars, you can increase your rank by one by winning another game.

(1) Source of growth value

Growth value generally comes from platform business participation + platform activity + additional rewards. Depending on the product attributes, the source of growth value will vary.

The source of growth value of e-commerce products is generally based on the classic RFM model , where R represents the time of the most recent consumption, F represents the consumption frequency, and M represents the consumption amount. For example, Taobao members' Taobao value, which refers to their platform business participation and shopping points, is calculated mainly based on "purchase amount + purchase frequency + purchase data in the past 12 months". The Taobao value obtained will have a more complex calculation formula based on the purchased product category and type and the merchant's reputation. The platform activity corresponds to reward points, which are derived from the number of product categories purchased by users, evaluations and other platform active behaviors.

Dianping pays more attention to users' interactive behaviors on the platform, such as writing reviews, uploading pictures and videos, so the source of growth value mainly comes from platform activity.

When setting the source of growth value, you should combine your own product characteristics and the ultimate operational goals. There is no fixed routine for setting the source of growth value.

(2) Growth value consumption

There are three main ways to consume growth value:

• The first category is that the user's behavior of gaining growth points becomes invalid and the corresponding growth points need to be deducted, such as returning goods, deleting reviews, etc.
• The second category is that when the membership level expires, the corresponding growth value needs to be deducted;
• The third type is manual intervention in the background to deduct growth value. The figure below shows how JD.com members’ growth value is consumed.

2. Growth value calculation cycle

The calculation cycle of the growth value determines whether the user's membership level continues to grow and the frequency and magnitude of level adjustments.

I still remember that when I was in junior high school, QQ was popular all over the country. My friends would brag about their QQ level reaching 1 sun (I remember the reason seemed to be that only 1 sun was required to create a group). The growth value of QQ level is always increasing and there is no way to deduct it, which means that the user's level has been increasing since registration.

QQ level was undoubtedly a shining star in those days. However, with the rapid development of the Internet, people have seen too many routines and gameplays, and the novelty has gradually decreased. As a result, the Internet people who refused to give up invented new ways to play. There is a good line in a song: "Those who cannot get it are always in turmoil, while those who are favored are fearless." Since you don't care about what you have always had, I will make sure that you will lose your original membership and privileges if you are not careful... The specific rules of this game are to determine the membership level based on the growth value within a certain period. In this way, the growth value is called a dynamic value, and the membership level will also have a certain degree of adjustment and change.

General rules for Alipay members: The calculation period is based on the user's behavioral data for the past year. The validity period of the membership is one year. Upgrades during the validity period take effect immediately and the validity period of the new level is automatically extended by one year. If the growth value is not enough to reach the current level by the expiration date, the membership will be downgraded.

When formulating the calculation cycle of the growth value, we must take the user experience into consideration. The level adjustment mechanism within a certain range does help improve user stickiness. However, too frequent or too drastic adjustments will make users very disgusted and even abandon the product.

3. Membership level classification

The basis for the membership level division comes from data. For products that have been online for a period of time, we can work with data partners to calculate the growth value data of the platform users. If we establish a coordinate system between the growth value and the number of members, we will find that the membership data roughly satisfies the power function. As the growth value increases, the number of members drops sharply.

When dividing users into levels, we can adopt the pyramid principle . Members at the bottom account for the highest proportion, and the proportion gradually decreases according to the level. The number of members at the top of the pyramid accounts for the lowest proportion, artificially creating the scarcity of the top identity and giving lower-level members more motivation to improve (the data in the figure is for reference only, the specific proportion is determined according to operational needs).

Finally, based on the above data, we can divide the level ranges corresponding to each growth value. In order to prevent the rapid development of business in the future, the source of growth value will continue to expand, causing the membership level to quickly reach the highest level, we can reserve one or two levels.

4. Growth value risk control system

High-level membership corresponds to high-value membership rights and interests. Therefore, it is inevitable that some speculators will use various means to increase their levels and cash out. To avoid this kind of situation, a risk control system needs to be established when establishing a growth value system.

(1) Growth value limit

When setting the growth value source, you can set a daily upper limit for each source. You can also set a daily upper limit for each account. When the upper limit is exceeded, completing tasks will no longer increase growth value.

(2) Prepare data points in advance

In order to monitor the growth value acquisition and consumption of user accounts in real time, you can communicate with the data/development team to embed data on key pages before product development. When the data is abnormal, the background will promptly alarm, so that losses can be stopped in time.

(3) Blacklist and whitelist

User accounts with abnormal data or operations will be blacklisted. After being blacklisted, users will not be able to obtain growth points or enjoy corresponding membership rights.

(4) Manual background intervention

For some scenarios that the system cannot handle automatically, a growth value change interface can be reserved during development, and operators can manually deduct/reward users' growth values ​​in the background.

5. Membership Rights

In order to keep users active and gradually cultivate a sense of belonging to the product, various operational methods are needed in conjunction with the membership system to make users feel that even if their problems cannot be solved here, they can still be respected here.

(1) Member Care

Today's Internet products are unlikely to impress users if they can only meet their expected needs. We can win their hearts by caring for them, and at the same time give the products more emotional colors.

For example, you can send greetings and small gifts to users on their birthdays; you can express gratitude to users and give them small gifts when they have registered on the platform for one year; you can even organize offline activities and invite users to participate. Taobao recently held a "Taobao 88 Membership Day Unlimited Love Concert."

(2) Tiered membership benefits

There are many different ways to play with membership benefits, but the most important thing is to create a sense of scarcity and dignity, so that users can feel that they are treated differently here. Only when users are happy can your membership system be considered successful. The most direct way to create this feeling is to limit the level, so that only those who reach a certain level can enjoy the benefits. Below we briefly introduce several membership benefits.

A very important function of the membership system is to feed back to other business lines of the platform, so we must strive to obtain resource support from other business lines, which can not only reduce operating costs but also direct traffic to other businesses. Alipay membership benefits include many of its own businesses such as financial vouchers, cash withdrawal limits, etc.

Membership and points are two inseparable brothers in the user system. When establishing membership rights, you can also consider connecting them with points. When a member upgrades, you can give a certain number of points. You can also set up designated level areas for point redemption to create a sense of dignity for membership.

In addition, there are many ways to enjoy membership benefits, such as daily limited raffles, scratch cards, 0 yuan flash sales, free product trials, etc. I will not go into details here. Below are a few simple examples for those who are interested to study.

1) You can apply for VIP after upgrading to lv2 on Dianping.com. VIP members can enjoy more benefits such as free meals and gift redemption.

2) WeDoctor members can participate in the 0-yuan lucky draw. The higher the level, the higher the value of the prize.

3) Alipay members daily limited lucky draw

The above is the content of this sharing. I hope it will be helpful to everyone. Please forgive me if there are any shortcomings. In the next issue, I will continue to share "Learn how to establish a member points system in one article (Part 2): Establish a points system from 0 to 1".