Perhaps this is the "ultimate secret" of user operation

Among all operations , user operation is the most complex.

Among all kinds of user operations, most people only manage WeChat groups , some are strictly speaking customer service, some are responsible for writing App push, and some are responsible for organizing activities. Even the editors of some UGC platforms and the reviewers of live streaming platforms are called user operations.

So everyone is confused, what exactly is user operation? What exactly does user operation do?

To understand this problem, you need to step out of the tedious execution work, switch to the boss's perspective, and re-examine the issue of user operation.

1. What is user operation?

The boss’s goal has always been simple, which is to increase the company’s value . The value of Internet products depends on the scale and value of users.

Therefore, the so-called user operation is to increase the number of users and user value through various means , and ultimately maximize the value of the product.

In this case, whether it is activities, content, or QQ groups or App push, they are just one of the means of user operation.

Therefore, apart from supply-side operations, such as merchant operations in e-commerce , KOL operations in PGC , anchor operations on live streaming platforms, etc., almost all other operational work can be put into the basket of user operations. That’s why user operations seem all-encompassing.

2. What does user operation do?

As mentioned earlier, there are only two core goals of user operations: user quantity and user value. Behind these two core goals are the product life cycle and the user life cycle .

Let’s first look at a typical product life cycle.

The life cycle of an Internet product can generally be divided into five stages: verification, launch, growth, stability, and decline.

Similarly, the user life cycle can also be divided into five stages: contact, use, habit, payment, and die-hard loyalty. At the same time, users in the last three stages may at any time enter the state that operations least want to see - churn.

The specific definitions of these stages will be discussed later.

What does user operations do? In fact, the work of user operation is to increase the user scale and facilitate the transformation of users from being exposed to the product to becoming loyal fans through appropriate means at each stage of the product life cycle .

3. How to do user operation

At different stages of the product, the focus and working methods of user operations are quite different. Next, we will follow the two lines of products and users to sort out the various user operation routines.

1. Verification period

The verification period refers to the stage from product project initiation to product launch.

The reason why it is called the verification period is that the core task of user operations at this stage is to quickly verify whether the solution is valid . The earlier and more detailed you verify, the fewer pitfalls you will encounter later.

Many companies have suffered losses in this regard. They worked hard to produce a product, only to find that the market did not buy it when they tried to promote it .

Companies or fans often ask me, "Brother Long, I have made a good product, but I have encountered a bottleneck in promotion . Can you give me some advice?" In fact, the problem is not the promotion bottleneck at all, but the problem lies in the product itself. They often skip the verification period or think they have already been verified.

So, what is the correct way to verify a product?

There are three steps to verify the product.

(1) Collect MVPs

First, you need to create an MVP, or minimum product. The standard is to be able to achieve the core functions , and save as much as possible on other issues, and use operational means to solve the problem as much as possible.

For example, the comic camera allows users to send photos to the operator, and then UE will manually edit the photos. For example, if you want to deliver breakfast to someone's door, you can list nearby breakfast items in a table. Each SKU corresponds to an ID. Users can order food through the ID in the WeChat group and pay with WeChat red envelopes . The operator will purchase the food and deliver it to their door.

(2) Introducing users

If there is a user pool before, you can obtain it by sending invitations to active users. If not, you have to go to the circles or forums where users are concentrated and pull them one by one.

Since it is verification, the most feared thing is user distortion. There are two points that need to be emphasized.

• First, don’t spend money . Because users who are attracted with money often have impure intentions, which ultimately leads to distorted data and makes the verification meaningless.
• Second, if the product is a paid product, users must pay for it . For example, in the food delivery example just mentioned, users must pay for the delivery. Only in this way can we test the user's true willingness to pay.

(3) Observation data

Don't look at what the user says. Users are often not very good at expressing themselves, or they may not tell the truth for the sake of face.

Whether a product plan is successful and how effective it is depends on behavioral data . Retention rate , repurchase rate, and whether products will be actively recommended.

If the retention , repurchase, and recommendation data are better than those of existing competitors, or meet or exceed expectations, then this product is worth making. Otherwise, timely adjustments need to be made, or it may even need to be stopped.

During the verification period, the operation is equivalent to pushing the users through the complete process from contact to die-hard loyalty, calculating various types of user data, estimating CAC and LTV, and discovering as many problems as possible.

During this stage, the main battlefield of operations is WeChat groups. Since there are fewer users, generally dozens to 200, operations have enough energy to conduct one-on-one communication.

After the test is completed, the operator still needs to maintain the activity of the group through topics, small activities, etc., in order to reserve seed users for the subsequent product launch period.

2. Start-up period

The startup period refers to the period from when a product is launched to when large-scale promotion begins.

Although we have verified the product solution during the verification period, there are still many pitfalls for new products.

Therefore, the focus of user operations at this stage is to gain exposure to usage . That is, to complete the process from user registration to using core functions.

The data model at this stage is the funnel model mentioned earlier. (See "Three Steps + Three Models, Minimalist Data Analysis Method" for details)

Establish a funnel model, obtain data through team self-testing + seed user internal testing + a small amount of promotion , discover problems through data analysis and user interviews, improve the funnel model, and reduce the churn rate at each step. Once the user retention rate reaches an acceptable range , you can move on to the next stage.

Note that the end point of the funnel model must be the core function of the product. For example, the above is the funnel model of financial products, and the core function is investment .

Different products have different core functions. For e-commerce, it is the first transaction; for UGC such as Zhihu and Weibo, it is to create a relationship chain, that is, to follow the big V ; for live streaming, it is to enter the anchor room, or complete the first reward. Socializing with strangers facilitates the first chat.

If you are also responsible for user promotion, this stage is the best time to revise your budget plan . Through testing, you can have a deeper understanding of business logic, clarify user portraits , and verify CAC. These will help you lock in the main promotion direction and formulate promotion strategies .

We have already elaborated on the promotion content in detail in our previous two articles. (For details, please see Boss, here is the most effective channel for attracting new customers! and Why do you always fail in promotion?)

3. Growth period

The growth stage refers to the stage of full product promotion. The biggest feature of this stage is the rapid growth in the number of users.

The operational focus during the growth period is to develop user habits .

During this stage, the user base increases rapidly, and operations can no longer communicate and guide users one by one as before. In order to cultivate user habits, it is necessary to establish a user stratification system and use tools to complete guidance.

The establishment of a tiered system often uses the RFM model (see "Three Steps + Three Models, a Minimalist Data Analysis Method"), which changes according to specific business logic.

For example, UGC can be stratified by visit frequency, content contribution, and areas of interest; e-commerce can be stratified by visit frequency, low purchase price, and areas of interest (mobile phones, beauty products); financial management can be stratified by investment cycle, product preference (regular deposits, target duration), and single transaction amount.

After stratification, users are divided into many quadrants, and there must be a quadrant where users are the best and have the highest value. The job of user operation is to guide other users to this quadrant.

The tools used include two categories: to uc h channels and marketing tools .

The touch channels are mainly push , SMS and email.

Marketing tools are generally various coupons, such as e-commerce coupons, investment red envelopes for financial products, interest rate reduction coupons for small and micro loans, etc.

For users in different quadrants , we can push different content and issue different types of coupons to maximize the value of resources. This is the significance of user stratification.

For example, if she visits e-commerce frequently, purchases at a low price, and is interested in beauty products, I can push some popular, cost-effective beauty products to her, and use coupons to increase her purchase frequency and cultivate user habits.

For example, if someone prefers a 30-day cycle in financial management and logs in frequently at the beginning of each month, I can push some better 30-day investment targets at the beginning of the month, but at the same time combine it with some red envelopes with longer investment periods and greater incentives to see if I can increase the investment period.

It should be noted that hierarchical operations are not the ultimate goal.

Our goal is to automate user operations .

Layered operations help us collect enough data , including the user growth path and the most effective stimulation methods for each growth stage. After these data are productized, they will become a user growth system + scenario-based promotion .

The user growth system can be a daily check-in , a membership system , or a level system . It usually consists of prescribed behaviors and corresponding rewards. In this way, we guide users step by step to develop usage habits, experience paid products, and become loyal users.

Daily Sign-in

User Level

Membership System

Scenario-based push notifications are a supplement to the user growth system. It means that when the user performs certain specific actions, a push notification will be automatically triggered, and the push text is pre-set by the operation.

I looked through the push notifications I received recently and gave you a few examples:

Search for "simple wardrobe" triggered product recommendations.

The push notification triggered after purchasing Xiaomi MAX2 guides users to use the new feature - mobile phone recycling.

The most stupid one is Baidu... After clicking on this push, it shows the introduction of two basketball courts in Beijing...

4. Stable period

During the stable period, the platform growth reaches a bottleneck and the user scale is relatively stable.

When growth is booming, we focus on incremental growth; when growth is sluggish, we focus on existing stock. During this stage, the focus of user operations is payment and preventing churn.

The paid stage only applies to products that obtain traffic for free and monetize through value-added services and e-commerce . For example, QQ, Himalaya , Zhihu, iQiyi , Keep and other products. Products like Meituan , Didi , and Lufax , which require you to pay right from the start, do not have this stage.

The common way to acquire paying users is to give out coupons . Coupons allow users to enjoy paid products several times at a low price and form a habit. Scenarios for giving out coupons include: user level upgrade, sign-in rewards, membership benefits, event prizes, etc.

The key point is that this coupon cannot be obtained for free , users must pay the cost.

Some operators may think, wouldn’t it be better to give it directly to users? Doesn’t making users pay for things increase the steps and thresholds and reduce the proportion of benefits received?

In fact, giving away gifts directly will lead to terrible consequences, with coupons flooding the market and their usage rate being extremely low, and users becoming spoiled and dependent on coupons. Once the coupons are stopped, the turnover will drop rapidly . After paying a certain cost, users will accumulate sunk costs , cherish the coupons more, the usage rate will be greatly improved, and it will not cause a big impact on future operations.

Another key task during the stabilization period is to prevent loss.

A common approach is to first define the churn behavior . Churn behavior is related to the user's natural visit frequency . For example, for financial products, many users only open them after the target expires and then buy new targets. They may only open them a few times in one or two months. The definition of churn for such products should refer to the two factors of retained funds and visit frequency.

After identifying the churn behavior, we can develop specific recall strategies . For example, when a user has not logged in for 7, 15, or 30 consecutive days, a text message or email will be sent. The content often revolves around the core scenarios of the product.

Ctrip ’s core scenario is travel.

The core scenario of Tantan is...social interaction with strangers.

Zhilian’s scenario is recruitment .

After a new feature is launched on a product, a wave of text messages or emails can be sent to potential users who have previously churned.

In fact, although the cost of recalling users is much lower than acquiring new users, the actual conversion rate is very low , and it is very difficult to recall lost users.

A more reliable way is to continuously expand new scenarios for products to increase product stickiness.

For example, after WeChat had basic IM functions, it continued to launch drifting bottles, Moments , public accounts , and now look and search, etc., which is to continuously improve user stickiness by expanding product usage scenarios. In other words, this is to extend the life of the product .

5. Diehard fans throughout all stages

The previous four stages are all based on product cycle clues. Die-hard fans are at the highest stage of the user cycle.

The reason why I singled out die-hard fans is because they are very special.

It is what every product desires most, what every operation values ​​most, and it runs through every stage of the product.

(1) Definition

Frequent use ≠ die-hard fan. For example, the ramen restaurant downstairs is having a promotion on Meituan, and the set meal is 20 yuan. I eat there 2 or 3 times a week. But as soon as the subsidies stop, I won’t go.

The best criterion for judging whether a die-hard fan is loyal is to see whether he or she recommends the product with all his might. The recommendation here does not mean sharing a link with your friends. Instead, when a friend asks him which app he should download for going out to play, he will try his best to recommend your app and even teach his friends how to use it.

The essence of recommendation is that die-hard fans use their own personality to endorse and distribute it to their friends. This is just like when a friend borrows money and you act as a guarantor, the threshold is very high.

(2) Cultivation

The cultivation of loyal fans runs through the entire product life cycle.

There are only two ways to develop:

• the sense of respect gained through service ;
• A sense of belonging gained through the brand .

The former is relatively easy to do, but the latter is difficult.

The former only requires enough patience.

During the verification and startup phases, even though the product was so bad and had so many bugs, the die-hard fans still stuck with it. This was because user operations staff communicated with them one by one, provided timely feedback, and gave each user the greatest respect.

During the growth period, through user segmentation, we can still find the most valuable users and continue to operate through WeChat groups.

However, it is costly to cultivate loyal fans through services, the marginal cost is not zero, and the scale is limited . Therefore, when the user base reaches a certain level, the best way is to gain loyal fans by building the brand .

For example, before Uber was acquired, many white-collar workers and Internet practitioners were loyal to Uber because its marketing was more advanced; a lot of people like Xiaomi because Xiaomi's MIUI is the earliest deeply customized Android system in China and is an industry game changer; many people like Tesla because it has subverted the image of electric vehicles that are slow and ugly.

However, brand building is a very difficult thing. You see, Kuaishou has spent so much money, but people still say it is low. We will discuss this part in more detail when we talk about brands.

IV. Conclusion

The value of an enterprise is determined by the scale and value of its users. All user operation work also revolves around these two points, namely, increasing the user scale and increasing user value.

At different stages of product development, the focus of user operations is different.

• Verification period : Collect seed users, verify product solutions, and push seed users to complete their life cycle.
• Start-up period : Improve the user funnel from contact to use to ensure user retention ; take inventory of resources and make a good promotion budget.
• Growth stage : Rapidly increase the number of users; stratify users, adopt different strategies for different users, and promote their conversion into high-value users; summarize the user evolution trajectory, launch a user growth system, and realize user operation automation.
• Stabilization period : Increase the number of paying users; develop a user recall system; explore new product scenarios.

At the same time, cultivating loyal users runs through the entire life cycle. In the early stage, a sense of respect is created through point-to-point operations in WeChat groups; in the later stage, it is achieved through brand building.

5. The Future

Have you noticed that the essence of user operation is refined operation , which is to provide different services and guidance for different users.

When we have sufficient manpower, we communicate through WeChat point-to-point services; when we are short of manpower, we use user stratification and productization solutions to achieve our goals.

Fine-grained operations are a major invention of the mobile Internet . The new retail that is popular nowadays is nothing more than combining the refined online operational methods with offline scenarios.

So, what are the limits of refined operations? What is the end point of the service?

Each user is assigned a 24-hour butler .

Of course humans can't do it, but machines can. The future of user operations is AI .

Baidu’s pursuit has never changed, which is to become a portal. And AI is likely to be the next entry point.