How to operate mutual financial products: 4 major user behavior funnels and conversion strategies

For user operations , it is necessary to analyze the user funnel and the conversion of each link, and to make corresponding strategies; for user operations of financial products , it is actually very difficult. People are wary of financial products. After all, they are linked to money. Therefore, the conversion of financial products from attracting new users , registration to investment along the entire user behavior path is destined to be more difficult.

For financial app operations, it is important to build a funnel from traffic to user conversion and split it up for analysis. Generally speaking, it can be divided into:

1. Registration conversion rate
2. Investment conversion rate
3. Repurchase conversion rate
4. User retention rate from the first investment to the fifth investment

The above four conversion funnels, in fact, can all be summarized as the problem of novice conversion when viewed from the perspective of the entire user life cycle . For financial product operations , adopting strategies to improve conversions in these four funnels is of utmost importance.

Conversion Funnel 1: Channel Traffic to Registration Conversion

Attracting new users is the basis of operational work. Without users, there is no user operation. Channel acquisition requires refinement, otherwise the quality of users attracted by the promotion will be low, and the registration conversion rate will not be high either. For financial products, measuring registration conversion is not as simple as whether or not a user has registered. Instead, users must complete actions such as real-name card binding before they can be considered true registered users.

APP has passed the bonus period of traffic. It is increasingly difficult for APPs in various industries to acquire customers, and the cost of acquiring customers is also increasing. According to online data, the cost of acquiring a single user of an Internet financial product has exceeded 800 yuan. There are countless financial products in the application market , and the competition for traffic is fierce. In order to acquire customers, all kinds of operational means have been tried, such as novice gift packages, experience money, interest rate coupons, etc. The Internet financial product field is narrow, the industry is hot, and the cost of acquiring customers is expensive, so more refined operations are needed.

1. Improve the quality of promotion channels

There are many channels for attracting new users to APP, but not every channel has an ideal conversion rate. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out refined operations on each channel. Through data analysis of channels, select several with higher conversion rates and focus on them.

2. New user guidance, design and experience are in place

As mentioned above, financial products require a registered user to complete card binding and real-name verification, which is not as simple as registration. Therefore, after users download the APP, new users need to be guided to perform real-name verification.

From the perspective of product design, you need to think about how to reduce the steps from user registration to real-name verification to reduce user churn ; and from the perspective of interface design, you need to make users feel that you are professional and not a copycat. The first impression is very important.

3. Carrying the first stage of operation to improve registration conversion

(1) Newbie Activities/Newbie Privileges

There are many financial products and fierce competition, so operators are trying their best to convert new users. The most widely used ones are gift packs for beginners, free trial money for registration, interest rate coupons, etc. Triggering new user activities to users at the right nodes plays a big role in improving conversion.

1. Startup page: The function of the startup page is generally to introduce product features, latest version updates, and event preheating, etc. Therefore, you can display the content of the novice activity on one of the startup pages to attract the interest of new users;
2. Triggering the novice activity content after entering the homepage: This method is commonly used by operators now, and it is also the most direct way to reach the activity to users;
3. Banner positions, advertising spaces , personal centers and other sections are used to display new user activities, stimulating users to register and verify their real names.

APP operators can use Activity Box , a refined APP activity operation tool , to conduct personalized activity push, in-app activity triggering and delivery, etc. according to user life cycle, user attributes, and real-time behavior, so as to improve APP user activity and retention rate, and increase the conversion rate of each user behavior funnel!

(2) Improving brand awareness: celebrity endorsements, behind-the-scenes sponsorship, and brainwashing through advertising

Financial products are linked to money and the amounts involved are relatively large, so users are wary and will not invest easily; therefore, it is particularly important to increase the brand awareness of the product. Generally speaking, it is common to see celebrities bringing in salt, finding a godfather, and brainwashing advertisements.

① “Celebrities are salty”

Celebrity endorsements can bring in a certain number of users, but it is particularly important to convert the celebrity’s fans into your own real users; otherwise, once the cooperation with the celebrity is cancelled, the celebrity will run away with a bunch of fans!

② “Find a sugar daddy”

Box Jun has always emphasized that users are very wary of financial products and are more concerned about security and authority; therefore, most financial management products will choose to cooperate with banks and find a reliable godfather to back them up. Whenever I talk about finding a sugar daddy for a financial product, I always mention these examples:

• The promotional image on the launch page of Lufax APP emphasizes that it is a product of Ping An Group;
• Aiqianjin also highlights the access to Huaxia Bank’s custody service on its startup page;
• PPmoney is connected to the Xiamen Bank’s funds custody system.

The three have one thing in common: finding a backer and relying on a "godfather" to create a sense of security for their own brand. Tell users: I have a godfather behind me, someone supporting me, your funds are safe, please feel free to manage your finances and investments.

③ Brainwashing Advertising

Brainwashing ads can also leave a deep impression on users. For example, Aiqianjin’s brand promotional video was airborne on iQiyi’s “Running Man 3”. Running Man has such a large audience base that brainwashing ads can leave a deep impression on people. To this day, those slogans are still in my mind:

Whether rich, or richer,

Take one step towards happiness every day.

Would you like to?

I do

④ Copywriting

Copywriting also has power. The copywriting on the startup page of Lufax APP focuses on differentiating the colors of the word "trust", using copywriting to bring more trust to the brand.

Conversion Funnel 2: User Investment Conversion

The funnel at this time is for the first investment conversion of new users; as mentioned above, Box Jun uses operational means to increase user registration conversions, and giving novices gift packages, experience money, etc. is also to guide users to make their first investment after completing real-name verification. Of course, giving new users experience bonuses or gift packages, and teaching them how to use them, and recommending some novice financial products to users will help improve investment conversion!

1. Recommend financial products suitable for new users

(1) Many new users are financial management novices. You can set up several financial management products and inform new users through copywriting that these are financial management products for new users with low risks and good returns.

For example, the information conveyed by Ant Fortune's gold product is: ultra-low threshold, 0 handling fee, worry-free investment, and extra income. The copywriting guides users to make their first investment with confidence; users do not need to invest a lot of money at once to buy gold, and can invest 1 yuan and still get income; by introducing the highlights of the financial product to reduce the doubts of new users, it can unintentionally promote users to complete the investment;

(2) For financial management novices, some forum sections on financial management knowledge can be added to teach everyone how to better choose financial products and become investment experts. For example, there is a "Newbie Must-Read" section at the bottom of the Aiqianjin APP homepage, which conveys the message in digital form that this is a trustworthy investment platform.

2. Remind the newbie gift pack that is about to expire

After completing registration and real-name verification, users will receive a novice gift package, but they will not necessarily invest and will just watch first. Novice gift packages usually have an expiration date. When a new user's novice gift package is about to expire, the operator should remind them, through Push, SMS, pop-up windows, etc. The purpose is to increase the user's sense of urgency and pressure, and remind users not to waste these novice gift packages and to invest quickly.

Conversion Funnel 3: User Repurchase Conversion

The purpose of any financial product is to retain users and let them continue to invest, rather than running away after investing once! Of course, improving the conversion of the first two funnels can also pave the way for improving the conversion data of the third funnel; improving the user repurchase conversion rate is actually to improve user stickiness and loyalty, so how to do it?

1. Recommend some reliable and diversified financial products

A user may use financial products from multiple platforms at the same time. For investors with a certain degree of experience, they simply want to find better products to invest in. For novices who have completed their first investment, the attraction of the novice red envelopes is no longer there. How should operators retain users? Encourage them to reinvest.

Recommending good products can benefit users, so why don’t they stay and continue investing!

Users have a variety of choices for financial products. Generally speaking, there are products with deposits and withdrawals at any time, as well as products with a term of 1/3/half a year/one year. Financial products with multiple terms can meet the needs of users from different classes, and can also meet the multiple financial management needs of the same user.

Picture taken from Tuandai.com APP

2. Provide various preferential activities, such as free handling fees

As we all know, when users choose any financial product, they will be required to pay a handling fee; therefore, by giving users some fee-free coupons and continuing to give them some sweet benefits, users will naturally be willing to continue investing.

Conversion Funnel 4: User Retention Rate from 1st to 5th Investment

User operations are ultimately aimed at extending the user life cycle. Generally speaking, users are relatively active at the beginning, but as time goes by, if users are not operated, user stickiness and retention will decrease; for financial products, the retention rate of users from 1 to 5 investments is of great concern. How can we improve this conversion funnel?

1. Build a membership system and points system

• Building a membership system: In order to help users grow continuously in the APP and allow them to obtain more membership privileges, it is necessary to operate users in different layers/groups, provide differentiated financial services for users at different levels, and help users generate income;
• Building a points system: Points can be awarded based on the number of users' investments, value, or other user behaviors (such as signing in, logging into the APP every day to get points, etc.), and points can be exchanged for prizes. Through attractive products, users are encouraged to find ways to earn points and redeem prizes.

The establishment of a membership system and a points system is very helpful for user activation and retention. It can improve user reinvestment conversion and allow users to continue to grow.

Final Thoughts

For any APP, the goal is to retain users and monetize them; Internet financial products require refined operations for each funnel link, from attracting new traffic to allowing users to grow continuously through operational means, completing real-name verification and card binding, completing the first investment/transaction, the second and Nth transaction; the ultimate goal is to allow users to continue to invest and trade. The more transactions users make, the greater the profit contribution to the platform, which can effectively reduce marginal costs.