In a mobile Internet company, what are the KPIs of each department?

KPI, or key performance indicator, is a performance appraisal method commonly used by most domestic Internet companies to evaluate employee performance.

In an Internet company, everyone may be familiar with their own KPIs , but may not necessarily understand the specific responsibilities of other departments and their corresponding KPIs. Proper understanding of other departments' KPIs will help to more effectively understand the other party's work logic, and at the same time, better coordinate and connect with other departments in future work. So today Xiao Ming sorted out the responsibilities and corresponding KPIs of the main departments of Internet companies. While clarifying my own thoughts, I also hope that it will be helpful to everyone.

Product Manager

There is no clear standard for the KPI assessment of product managers. The KPI assessment of product managers has different focuses and contents according to different company cultures, different product forms and different product stages. The KPI indicators of product managers in e-commerce companies will be more inclined towards transaction data. For example, transaction volume, sales indicators and other data. Social product managers will focus on user retention, activity, etc. If the company culture is more operational , the KPI will be more operational indicators, such as UV/PV, conversion rate , etc. If you are more product-oriented, you will focus on user complaints and experiences. If you are biased towards data, you will focus on data collection and using data to feedback product indicators. In addition, if the product is relatively mature, the functions of the product manager will gradually converge with operations, but if it is in the early stages of product launch, the launch of new functions and the updating and iteration of existing functions will become the main scope of performance appraisal. Usually, the assessment items can be divided into the following two categories:

1. Quantifiable indicators, but often quantifiable indicators are also operational KPIs, as follows:

● UV/PV number - UV number comes more from traffic diversion, and the cultivation and retention of users themselves also have an impact on this indicator. This data usually needs to be borne by both products and operations.

● Payment conversion rate - The user's experience in the payment process directly affects the payment conversion rate. Of course, the content itself will also have an impact on the conversion rate, such as the quality and reviews of products in the e-commerce industry.

● Number of user complaints and inquiries – Users will only take the initiative to complain if they are unhappy with the use of a product. How to avoid user complaints in product design should be the highest priority requirement for the product.

● User retention time - the attractiveness of the product itself to users, which has different data standards depending on the industry. It is not the case that the longer the user stays, the better.

● Bounce rate/exit rate —The factors affecting these two data mainly lie in the guidance and attention of the content to users during the user usage process.

● User retention number - This involves operational strategies to awaken potential lost users, or the attractiveness of the product content itself to users. This is often one of the indicators that operations need to focus on.

2. Non-quantifiable indicators:

● Product project execution planning - Product managers usually assume half of the responsibilities of a project manager, so project management skills are very important.

● Rigorous and thorough document writing - As a tool for delivering requirements, the accuracy of the document represents the depth of the product manager's thinking on the requirements.

● Cooperation and communication skills - Product managers serve as a bridge of communication, and communication skills and techniques are very important skills when doing work. No matter how deep a product manager's understanding of demand is or how good his sense of experience is, if he lacks communication skills, it will not be enough to drive demand forward.

The assessment of non-quantitative indicators is relatively more subjective and is more suitable as score adjustment indicators. For example, some companies have mandatory ranking requirements, so in addition to quantitative indicators, non-quantitative indicators are used to deduct points for ranking. To put it bluntly, your level actually comes from your leader's adjustment based on certain indicators.

User Experience UE/UI Design Department

First, let’s talk about the user experience department. In fact, the performance of user experience is difficult to truly quantify.

Because user experience cannot complete a "output" process alone, in simple terms:

They cannot turn ideas into products directly like engineers, nor can they continuously improve corresponding operational indicators through a series of operational means like operators. Instead, they can help others succeed together. It seems that anyone can comment on the topic of user experience, but no one has seen how good user experience work is carried out and what effects it produces. So it’s no surprise that the value of user experience is considered unquantifiable and often questioned.

Generally speaking, user experience work can be roughly divided into four stages:

a. In the early stages of a product , user experience researchers, designers, and product managers work together to collect and analyze user needs and plan and test product concepts.

b. In the mid-term of the product development , user experience designers, product managers, and core R&D engineers work together to explore, test, and determine the product design (including interaction design).

c. In the later stage of the product , user experience design, front-end engineers and R&D engineers work together to implement and optimize the product, and user experience research cooperates with user testing and usability evaluation.

d. After the product is released , user experience research, design, product managers, and R&D engineers will track and improve the product.

Visual design often comes in at different times depending on the product. Sometimes we have to participate in product visual design and brand positioning in the early stages of the product, while sometimes we participate in product implementation optimization in the later stages of the product.

Among them, user experience work in the early and mid-stages of product development is the most important, because the exploration and verification at this time can greatly reduce the errors and risks that may occur during product development, thereby optimizing the development process overall.

It will also become a trend for user experience design and research to assist product managers and marketers in incorporating product promotion and operation elements into product design, or to assist in planning promotion and operation.

In fact, whether it is user research or design, it is difficult to measure the output of user experience research and design teams through simple numbers and formulas. Just like Ma Li, CEO of Zuimei App, said:

“Management is not that simple, otherwise there would be no need for the position of Manager. If you want to be lazy, there will definitely be problems. A good approach is to let the people who are closest to the UE/UI team and most knowledgeable make the evaluation. You can incorporate some user satisfaction, vertical and horizontal usability indicator comparisons, etc., but don’t rely entirely on seemingly quantitative indicators.”

Operations

Operations may be the department with the most obvious and direct evaluation indicators among all departments in an Internet company. To put it bluntly, the operations department is often a result-oriented department that is directly responsible for the results. But similarly, just as mentioned in the analysis of product managers' KPIs above, depending on different company cultures, different product forms and different product stages, there are also different assessment focuses and contents for operations. However, its core KPIs are no less than the following indicators, mainly:

1. PV, IP and UV of the whole site and each channel/page level

2. DAU, MAU, and return rate of the entire site (including second retention, third retention, seventh retention, etc.)

3. The activity level of active users, such as number of logins, quantity and frequency of content contributions, and content quality.

In addition, for the number of readings, forwardings, and comments of e-commerce products, the following data monitoring should also be noted:

1. KPI data that readers really care about:

1. Reading volume should be converted into effective attention

The number of readers must actually be converted into attention for our products. We are not just pushing random articles that have nothing to do with our product content to a user group, as this will not reach the user group we want to reach. The user group we want to reach must be our effective reading volume. If that user group is not what we want, then it is meaningless to get more readings.

2. Effective attention should be converted into product browsing

After effectively acquiring key users, we need to attract users to enter our products to perform a series of actions such as browsing and operating. How to build a good chain of content-to-product conversion is crucial. The content connection should have explosive points and no sense of disobedience. Next, when browsing products, be sure to maintain the same consistency as the content.

3. Product browsing should be converted into orders

This step mainly exists in industries under the e-commerce and O2O structure. This is the process of internal product conversion and ordering. In this process, the core data that guarantees the content conversion rate is actually confirmed. If we only monitor data such as reading volume, we will not be able to verify these core conversion data.

2. KPI data that the forwarding volume really focuses on:

1. Effective attention brought by forwarding volume

The core data, such as the effect of forwarding and the amount of effective attention verified, will not change. More forwarding will actually lead to more traffic and reading volume. Then it can bring more effective attention. This mainly depends on whether we can achieve a lot of results by reaching the user groups.

2. Effective attention conversion into product browsing

Refer to the reading volume data above.

3. Product browsing should be converted into orders

Refer to the reading volume data above.

3. The KPI data that really matters to you: Comment count

1. Real and effective user comment dissemination

Comments can bring about accuracy and spreadability of content.

2. Contribution to the page’s reading and forwarding volume

Comments contribute to the overall reading volume and forwarding volume. Therefore, the data auxiliary data of the above two cores is supported.

Business/channel operations

Some companies assign this function to the business department, some assign it to the operation department as channel operation, and some assign it to the marketing department. This is also determined by the specific product form and its focus. The main responsibilities are as follows:

1. External channels:

● Promotion of application market

Since the application market entered the market relatively early, it has accumulated a large number of users and is characterized by concentrated user groups, high-quality and large numbers of users, the most professional forms of expression, and the most concentrated applications.

The promotion companies in the industry include third-party electronic markets, such as 360, Baidu 91, App Store , Wandoujia , Anzhi, etc.; mobile phone manufacturers, such as OPPO's Coco Store , Lenovo's Le Store, Xiaomi Store, etc.; and telecom operators such as China Mobile MM, China Unicom Wo Store, and China Telecom Tianyi.

There are only two ways to cooperate with these channels. The first is free cooperation, which mainly includes cooperation on first releases , events, etc. You need to establish a good relationship with the channel operators to provide them with a free position. The second is paid cooperation. Most markets will have publicly announced publication examples, and you need to negotiate a price with the market operators for paid promotion .

● Market launch

Determine the launch time (determine the position given by the channel); prepare the package in advance according to the launch requirements (launch LOGO, screenshots, Weibo and WeChat cooperation, in-app recommendations); software testing; transfer the package to the launch platform (conduct advertising, check the launch position, and changes in volume); update the packages of other channels after the launch (including the official website and mobile phone download page); summarize the launch data.

● Marketing activities

Source: Pay attention to the developer activity section; be responsible for the activity channel manager; collaborate with other apps, holiday activities, special events and editor recommendations, etc.; cooperate with Weibo and WeChat publicity; confirm the activity location, ranking, banner (if design is required, it must be designed in advance); data monitoring; pay attention to competitors' activities. You can exchange traffic with other apps or channels. It is best to exchange traffic with those that have more traffic than your own to evaluate whether to exchange, whether the user groups are consistent, whether there is a competitive relationship, and the other party's brand image; exchange materials and put them on the shelves according to the exchange requirements; monitor the volume with background data; check the other party's APP and confirm the position; adjust the position according to the data, or ask the other party to adjust the position, etc.

2. Agent promotion:

The volume brought by the agent is relatively large, and the effect is quick, the cost is moderate, but the uninstall rate is high and there are many silent users.

● banner

Also called banner ads, full-column ads, and advertising strips. It is currently the most common form of advertising display, usually appearing at the top and bottom, and is supported by most advertising platforms, such as Weiqian, Duomeng, etc. This form of advertising is small in size and has relatively stable revenue, so most developers will choose this type of advertising. The advantages of banners are large display volume and wide media coverage, while the disadvantage is that the click-through rate and conversion rate are lower than other forms of advertising.

● Points Wall

Various tasks are displayed in an app (download and install recommended apps, register, fill out forms, etc.), and then users complete the tasks in the game embedded with the points wall to obtain virtual currency rewards. Based on CPA (Cost Per Action) billing, developers can get a share of the profits as long as users complete the points wall tasks.

This method can quickly increase the volume and has obvious effects, but most users do not really download and use the software because of its goodness or demand, so the survival rate is not high, which increases the promotion costs. It is suitable for large teams with funds that need to develop as quickly as possible.

Under normal circumstances, it is not recommended to use a points wall for Android. The reason is that Android does not have only one app store, APPStore, like IOS. It has relatively more resources to display and does not need to use a points wall to rush to the top of the list . If your KPI is the number of activated users, and as long as they are real users, you can also brush the rankings through the points wall.

● PUSH

As an important means of operating mobile applications , push notifications are increasingly valued by mobile game operators .

When the same content is sent to all users, pushed at any time, and the performance of the push remains unchanged, users will gradually become annoyed after receiving such non-targeted pushes many times. However, what annoys users is not the push function itself, nor the number of push notifications sent. What is important is the content sent.

3. External Cooperation:

● Exchange promotion

We exchange traffic through BD cooperation, you use mine, I use yours, and we exchange users with each other.

● Content Cooperation

By using high-quality content, we can attract accurate customers and potential customers, thus achieving marketing goals.

● Open screen

When the App is opened, it is displayed in full screen/half screen. Under normal circumstances, the same user will not frequently launch a single App. Therefore, compared with other forms of advertising, this type of advertising can cover relatively more independent users with the same number of advertising displays.

● In-app recommendations

You don’t have to find a separate app to exchange traffic. There are many software that specifically recommend apps or have software recommendation columns. In-app recommendations will basically have no effect if the placement is too deep and the other party’s user base is not large. Unless it is an app with a user base of over 10 million or even 100 million and a relatively obvious position, it may be effective. Otherwise, don't focus your energy on it.

Technology/Development

As mentioned above, the responsibilities of many departments in Internet companies cannot be measured by specific numbers and indicators, and this is especially true for development work. Because the code quality level, performance and bug generation cannot be detected and discovered in a short period of time. Therefore, I personally think that for R&D teams, it is inefficient to pursue performance management in a formal sense. R&D quantification cannot be based entirely on quantitative indicators, otherwise creative work will become pure brick-moving.

summary

The above is probably the KPI assessment standard for each major department in a general Internet company. In fact, in addition to KPI, many Internet companies currently use the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) assessment standard for assessment.

The full name of OKR is "Objectives and Key Results". This system was developed by Intel. It was introduced to Google by investor John Doerr less than a year after Google was founded and has been used ever since.

Generally speaking, OKR has the following characteristics:

1. Vague goals are used to unify the direction of efforts, not plans.

2. Quantifiable, that is, OKR must be a goal that can be measured relatively accurately.

3. It is proposed by employees rather than managers, which is a bottom-up goal setting method.

In simple terms: the idea of ​​OKR is to set goals first, then clarify the results of the goals, then quantify the results, and finally assess the completion status.

KPI focuses on assembly line manufacturing, while OKR focuses on outlaw response. The key to assembly line production lies in whether the system designer has a complete understanding of the process and production capacity; while OKR focuses on whether the participants in the process are of the same mind as the organization.

Whether it is OKR or KPI, there is no good or bad between the two. Different companies are engaged in different industries, employee qualities, and departmental business needs, so the effects of OKR and KPI implementation will also vary greatly. The best management method, business model, or marketing strategy is the one that suits your own business situation. SONY once suffered a setback due to the KPI culture, but KPI culture has been popular in Huawei and Alibaba to this day. So maybe the problem is not KPI, but the soil and culture for implementing KPI.

Reference: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTYyNjYwMTcwOA==.html?beta&from=s1.8-1-1.2

Reference: http://www.v4.cc/News-270894_2.html

Reference: http://www.techweb.com.cn/internet/2014-01-08/1378424.shtml

Reference: https://www.zhihu.com/question/19605123/answer/30862791

Reference: https://www.zhihu.com/question/19615465/answer/12433742

Reference: https://www.zhihu.com/question/22478049