How to effectively reduce user churn?

Like running a marriage.

We gradually get used to everything. Therefore, even if you like a girl very much, you may face a peaceful life most of the time after marriage. You will become more and more familiar with each other and experience the itch of marriage. Food, clothing, housing, transportation, firewood, rice, oil and salt will be the most common problems you will face in life!

Others say that love can withstand the wind and rain but cannot withstand dullness. So, when you want to maintain this relationship, what do you do?

• Occasionally bring a small gift to create a surprise;
• Try new and interesting things together;
• Keep her in mind at all times and create small happiness;
• There are surprises at festivals;
• Travel regularly;
• You are getting better and better, and she has expectations for the future.

Why these points? Now let me break these down:

Occasionally bring a small gift to create a surprise;

Try new and interesting things together;

——This is a surprise

Keep her in mind at all times and create small happiness;

——This is psychological satisfaction

There are surprises at festivals;

Travel regularly;

——Expectations for the foreseeable near term

You are getting better and better, and she has expectations for the future.

——Expectations for the future

After breaking it down, you’ll find that these combined together are very thoughtful considerations, making the girl feel that life is interesting, that she is living a happy life, that she has plans for the near future, and that she has expectations for the more distant future.

In fact, the same is true for products. Products are also facing people. Companies communicate with users through products and retain users.

In addition to solving the core needs of users, products also need to stimulate users (moderately without disturbing them), drive their emotions, and give them surprise, satisfaction, and expectations.

Why are there expectations? When we decide whether to keep an app, we don’t consider what problem the product solves for me now, but whether the product will be useful to me in the future (yes, in the future).

Create surprises

What is the surprise?

The literal meaning is: there are surprises and joys. Under what circumstances would you be surprised? Unexpected. Under what circumstances would you be happy? Get something you need or like (can also be soft).

So combined, it can be explained as follows: getting what you need unexpectedly and gaining pleasure beyond your expectations.

So, are coupons considered a surprise? It doesn’t count either.

Accurate profit

I joined a red envelope sharing group, and I can get a lot of Meituan takeaway coupons in the group every day, but I never use Meituan to order takeout, so this is not a surprise because it is not what I need. But I use Ele.me , and often when I launch the app, I receive red envelopes that fall from the sky, and they are exactly what I need when ordering food, so it’s a surprise.

For example, when I bought a mobile phone before, I thought it was not cheap, so I compared it on several platforms but didn’t place an order. One day, I saw a platform issuing coupons with large denominations, which directly prompted me to place an order. That was a surprise.

In the early days, Wish had a feature that if a user stayed on a product detail page for a long time, it would remind the user when he left, offering an appropriate discount (I forgot the exact amount). If price was a concern for the user when he left, then the discount would be a surprise for the current user.

There is nothing wrong with issuing coupons itself, but because all platforms adopt the strategy of issuing discounts, for users who have no demand, this may not be a surprise, but rather a harassment. Just like for a girl, it is not the case that the more guys pursue her, the better, as that would be considered harassment. Instead, it is best if the guy she likes pursues her, as that would be a surprise. Therefore, when it comes to offering discounts, in addition to the form and strength of the discount, accurate user push can create surprises.

Give unexpected rewards or praise for positive behavior

A surprise is happiness beyond one's expectations, so if we reward or praise users for their behaviors beyond their expectations, will that also make them happier? For example, when you attend a speech and at the end of the speech you find that the applause lasts longer than you expected, would you be very happy?

There is a big difference in the feeling of using mobile games and ordinary apps, which is the sense of feedback. Every time you pass a level, the game will use very gorgeous visuals and animations to show your success. This will intensify your psychological feeling of pleasure.

Previously, a user had a driving test handbook, and after passing the test, it showed "Mucang Car God". I originally thought it just showed "Passed the test". This is creating an extra sense of accomplishment through words. However, there is still room for improvement. For example, depending on the passing score, it could display something like "Instantly kill Han Han, Akina Mountain God of Driving, Schumacher possessed", wouldn't that be better? Give users unexpected feedback on their behavior to create pleasure.

Discover interesting things

There is no need to explain this in detail. We will gradually get used to existing things, and the same goes for products. We provide interesting things so that users can find freshness on the platform. Interesting activities and interesting topics.

No matter how serious the matter is, there are always interesting ways to express it, such as Dangnian Mingyue's Things about the Ming Dynasty, which tells serious history in a humorous way. Gu Ye talks about art, analyzing various artists and the history of art development in a light-hearted and humorous narrative style. Art, such an obscure and remote knowledge, can actually receive over 100,000 views per article.

So consider the fun more, the common loading animation can be a direction to think about.

One time I saw a lottery event page of 360. Actually, the event on the page was very ordinary, but there was a sentence in the middle that said "It is said that if you click with your feet, the success rate is 100%." I was thinking, why don't I try it.

I am better than others, creating a sense of achievement

If posting photos of selfies, travel, shopping, fitness, and steering wheels on WeChat Moments is prohibited, how many people will still post them? If you take away the Burberry stripes, take away the LV patterns all over the body, take away the CHANEL double ring logo, would they still have such high sales? If few people know about a famous watch, would you still buy it?

The mentality of showing off is everywhere. What is showing off? In essence, it means that you think you are pretty good and better than others. There is a term in psychology called the Lake Wobegon effect, which means that we all overestimate our actual level. To give a simple example, if you do a survey, you will find that more than 90% of people would think that their appearance is above average.

So how to make the product? That is, to cater to the feeling of "I am very good", yes, I am better than others.

Why are so many people addicted to games? The game creates a sense of accomplishment outside of the real environment. My life is dull and my channels for advancement are narrow, but it is completely different in the game. I can be very powerful. I am at X level, I have a pentakill (killed five people), I have X equipment, and I even found a (virtual) wife in the game. These are all reflections of the real environment.

360 Guard will beat 98% of users nationwide in terms of boot speed.

Whether it is live streaming , short videos , or other social products, many of them will have functions such as adding V and certification, which are essentially to create differences and a sense of accomplishment.

I have seen a video online before, which showed a man's alcohol tolerance - he drank in a washbasin. At that time, I thought this guy was so stupid. In order to show that he can drink, he will only hurt himself. What's the point? But then I think about it, if this person is mediocre in everything but can knock out a whole group of people by drinking, then this is something to talk about, this is the sense of accomplishment of being recognized. For someone who doesn't drink much, I think it's stupid, but for someone who likes to drink and compete in drinking, this is awesome.

So, what I want to say is that for the platform, giving users a sense of accomplishment and making them dependent on you is a very good strategy. It should be noted that creating a sense of accomplishment does not mean making medals or setting up a point system, but combining the business and users with things that can show off and display on this platform, such as Zeng Xiaoxian's tent-setting skills, Lu Ziqiao's skills in flirting with girls, and Guan Gu's magical paintings in Love Apartment. In other words, after analyzing user attributes, we need to establish a multi-dimensional comparison strategy that can give users a sense of accomplishment to the greatest extent and breadth (this is very important, multiple dimensions mean covering more people).

Expected happiness

Surprise is an unexpected pleasure. It can be used as an occasional product spice, but it cannot be used as a mainstream user activation strategy. Because it is unpredictable, users have to rely on luck for everything and feel out of control. After all, you cannot meet my needs at the right time.

Your boss says to you: "Good job, I will give you a raise." Employees’ inner thoughts: “Another piece of cake.” But if salary increases could be made controllable, such as a 10-20% annual salary increase, I believe the turnover rate would drop significantly.

Why did Tmall and JD create the Double Eleven and 618 carnivals? One important reason is to create a sense of control for users. Maybe most of the time Tmall is not a necessity for me and the frequency of use is not high, but on Double Eleven I might really place an order because of the low price.

The World Cup, which is held every four years, will give rise to a large number of pseudo fans who may not watch football on a regular basis, but cannot miss the event.

A columnist updates articles weekly. Is it better for fans to update regularly or irregularly?

Of course it is scheduled. If it is scheduled, I can take a shower, change clothes, punch in and leave at the appointed time. If it is not scheduled, I will go to see if there is any today, and I will go to see if there is any tomorrow. By the third time, I will be a little tired and forget the joy I once had.

In fact, this is very similar to holiday gifts and regular travel. What do these mean to us? Predictable happiness. The holidays are there, the travel has been planned, and the happy moments are within reach.

One big characteristic of online products is that they are easily forgotten. It is different from offline, where there are stores, that is, there is a stable traffic entrance. If online products do not have a strong dissemination mechanism and attention, we will not remember them over time.

User benefits are distributed regularly and valuable content is serialized regularly, on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, to establish users' foreseeable expectations for the product.

I know there will be rebates on the 8th and 9th, I know there will be online sharing on the 15th, and I know there will be high-quality content updates on the 20th. For users, isn’t it exciting?

Continuous progress

What is the continuous improvement of the product? It is becoming more and more user-friendly, more and more stylish, and more and more powerful.

When users start using your product, their understanding of the product is generally not very comprehensive. They are mainly concerned about the core highlights of your product, which can be functions or content. Therefore, part of your product's focus is to continuously improve the core highlights so that users cannot find fault with it. Make the excellent parts even better and form barriers.

For users who already have certain usage habits, I know the core functions, but long-term use can easily become boring. For example, when WeChat was first released, it was great in every way, but after using it for a year or two, you may find it uncomfortable in every way, even though WeChat itself is already an excellent product.

Generally in this case, there are two solutions:

1. Create freshness. Generally speaking, we are most sensitive to visual things. Therefore, it is a strategy to regularly update product design to give users a refreshing feeling and adjust the product to become more and more stylish.
2. Powerful product. After we become familiar with the product, we can basically understand most of its functions clearly. At this time, users may not only expect the original functions of the product, so improving the product and giving users something to look for is also a very important strategy.

at last

Mobile Internet has caused the fragmentation of product usage time and has also turned the original competition for Internet traffic into a competition for attention. It is not possible to monetize by simply attracting users, but it is necessary to consider the user's continued attention (stickiness) in order to bring in stable income. Give users surprise, satisfaction, and expectations, so that users can continue to comfortably accept more fun products. This article may help you!