NetEase Tushou PK Yunji Weidian, which social e-commerce is better?

Recently I took over a distribution project, which is to use fans for fission dissemination. Compared to spending money on channel placement, distribution can spread information at a low cost and acquire traffic , but the difficulty lies in motivating fans to actively share.

Not only do we need to know what kind of mechanism can stimulate users to continue to spread the word, but we also need to know how to promote user dissemination in the early stages to get the entire system moving.

Just like the origin of the catfish effect, although the small fish wants to survive, due to laziness or other reasons, it will not swim spontaneously at the beginning, so the fisherman will release a catfish to stimulate the small fish to swim.

Without further ado, next, I will discuss with you the topic of distribution or social e-commerce based on some of my findings during distribution research.

This time I investigated three distribution products: " Yunji Weidian ", "Global Catcher" and " NetEase Pusher ". Because the model of Global Catcher is similar to Yunji Weidian, this article mainly talks about Yunji and NetEase Catcher.

During the research and project planning process, I was deeply touched by a sentence: think about problems from the user's perspective. Some functions are designed so that even you yourself won’t use them, so how can users play them?

Distribution Model Comparison

Let’s first use a picture to introduce the distribution model of Yunji and NetEase Tuishou:

The products distributed by Yunji and NetEase Tuishou are all the platform’s own products, and the platforms endorse the quality of the products. Compared with previous "WeChat business masks", this model increases users' trust in product quality .

Moreover, distributors are only responsible for promotion , while the platform is responsible for packaging and shipping. This also saves distributors from the worry of stockpiling and unsaleable goods.

For distributors, the benefits offered by the two companies are also very similar. They can enjoy exclusive discounts when purchasing products themselves, and rebates when distributing.

The difference between them is that although Yunji announced the distribution matters on its official public account , those who want to become a distributor must first pay 398 yuan, and the payment link must be requested from someone who has become a distributor.

NetEase promoters can become distributors by clicking the "Apply" button on the official account.

From the user experience perspective, Yunji is several times more complicated than NetEase’s pusher. It even looks like they deliberately prevent everyone from participating in distribution , because not everyone can find the store owner to ask for the link. But I will explain later that this is actually a very smart approach.

Let’s talk about how the two platforms promote distribution among distributors. Yunji mainly empowers distributors and encourages them to promote products through the " community + online and offline training" model.

Because distributors need to ask the old store owner for a purchase link when joining, this means that the new store owner must be a WeChat friend of the old store owner. This creates a direct connection between each distributor and promotes the formation of a community.

Therefore, the relationship between Yunji and distributors is a network.

Mesh structure

NetEase promoters provide distributors with promotional materials in their official accounts, such as which products are selling well and which products are discounted.

Because NetEase Tuishou allows users to apply to join the distribution in the official account, there is no connection between distributors, they are only related to the official account.

Therefore, the relationship between NetEase promoters and distributors is star-shaped.

I only found this picture, so I'll just make do with it.

Who is most likely to be an effective distributor?

After introducing the distribution models of Yunji and NetEase Tuishou, let’s now think about who is most likely to become an effective distributor.

Lei Jun once said: "If you stand on the right track, even pigs can fly", which means to go with the flow. Therefore, when we are marketing , we should also think about who is most likely to become our user.

For example, it is difficult to persuade a programmer who works overtime every day to be your distributor because he has no time, but you can persuade a full-time housewife to join the distribution team with just a few words.

In addition, when I think about target users , I use the term "effective distributors" rather than just "distributors."

The difference is that the former has the potential for continuous promotion, while the latter may be more of a trial , and once it finds that the promotion is ineffective, it will leave.

Obviously, the former is more effective than the latter. Therefore, I believe that effective distributors have the following two characteristics:

1. Highly loyal/multiple purchasing fans;
2. Fans who really want to make extra money through distribution (such as full-time housewives and unemployed people).

Why did I include the former as well? Because there is a trust relationship between highly loyal users and the platform, it is easier for them to be converted into distributors.

And because they are more receptive to the products, they are more able to show their true feelings when promoting them, infect others and increase distribution conversion.

Now that we know that these two types of users are most likely to become effective distributors, then we can infer what kind of mechanism can attract such users?

NetEase promoters can become distributors by applying. Most of the users attracted by this method are users who are eager to try distribution and have a "let me try it first" mentality.

Yunji requires users to pay 398 yuan before becoming a distributor, which screens out a group of onlookers. Then they also provide the benefit of saving money by becoming a distributor.

The people attracted by this are either those who really want to do distribution and think they can make back the 398 yuan, or those who often buy things on Yunji and think they can definitely make back the 398 yuan.

I did a rough calculation and found that with the discounts Yunji gives to distributors, it would take at least 20 purchases to get back the 398 yuan. Those who can make that much purchase are definitely high-repeat purchasing users.

There is also a little story here. Initially, Yunji’s distribution application also had a zero threshold. Later, they found that many distributors were zombie fans, who only applied but did not promote. So they proposed a strategy of requiring payment first before being able to distribute.

Therefore, it is useless to have many distributors. Only distributors who know how to promote are useful. It also proves the saying: less is more.

What motivates users to participate?

Distribution is actually very similar to playing games . You first gather a group of people who want to play games, tell them the rules of the game, which is the distribution model, and then everyone can start playing.

But not every player will act spontaneously, so you need to give them a motivation to act.

I think there are two ways to increase motivation. One is "push", which is self-driven, just like the driving effect of dreams on people. The other is "pull", which is the attraction of external things to him.

So at which stages do users need to be given more motivation?

Take Yunji as an example and see how they carry out the push and pull techniques.

1. "Apply to become a distributor" stage

When a distribution project is launched, a little promotion can attract a lot of users. But most of them will adopt a bystander attitude because they don’t know whether this project can make money.

Therefore, Yunji gave users two motivations to join:

(1) Enjoy discounts when purchasing goods

Even if you don’t make money from distribution, at least you can save the money.

(2) Stimulation from friends ’ circle of friends

All users who are eligible to apply to be distributors must have a group of distributors in their circle of friends (mentioned above).

Then they will often see those distributors saying in their circle of friends, "How many orders were sold today?", "Yunji Weidian's distribution is amazing" and so on (I have added two Yunji distributors on WeChat and have a deep understanding of this).

Looking at these contents every day, I believe that even those who originally did not intend to do distribution will begin to waver.

2. “Continuous Distribution” Stage

If the difficulty of getting users to pass the "apply to become a distributor" stage is 5, then the difficulty of this stage is 10.

Because users are very motivated at the beginning and think they can make money immediately, they may join readily.

However, no matter how good a product is, it is impossible to sell it simply by promoting it. Most distributors will go through a period where no one is interested in buying their products . At this time, if you want to encourage them to continue distributing, you need a few more motivations:

(1) Sunk cost of RMB 398

This was a foreshadowing that was laid when the distributor joined. Every time the user wanted to give up, he would think of the 398 yuan cost that had not been recovered.

(2) Friends ask for gift package link

As mentioned before, if you want to join the distribution, you have to ask the old store owner for the gift package link. After you become a distributor, the old store owner can also get rewards.

So, assuming A is a Yunji store owner, as long as he has friends who want to do distribution, A can make money even if he does nothing, because his friends can only ask him for links.

Therefore, one reason why some old store owners do not want to give up their store owner qualifications is that they do not want to miss this opportunity to make money without doing anything.

Yunji also has a promotion system: when the number of subordinates + subordinates reaches 100, one can become a customer manager and enjoy higher remuneration.

Suppose A gets 50 referrals without much effort, he will want to get another 50 referrals so that he can advance. Therefore, he will not stop the pace of distribution and promotion, but will work harder to attract downlines.

This is Yunji’s strategy of retreating in order to advance. First, they give the store owners some benefits, and then let them promote the products actively.

(3) Community empowerment

As mentioned above, Yunji’s relationship structure is a network structure, based on which they have derived small communities.

During my research, I came across a Yunji community - the BK community. The community is centered around Yunji training instructors and conducts training and exchanges.

Although NetEase Tuishou also provides training materials and promotional materials to distributors, they are limited to public account push, that is, online.

Yunji’s training is conducted simultaneously online and offline. Although many people think that information can be transmitted online, the online accumulation of information is relatively weak.

Offline training can not only be carried out, but also strong relationships can be established between distributors, which increases belonging and trust, and can also motivate each other to distribute.

Imagine, would you rather fight with a group of good friends you have met, or with a group of netizens you have never met?

These three steps are the user dynamics set by Yunji in the "continuous distribution" stage, and only after crossing this stage can the entire system really start to move.

The above are some of my thoughts when researching distribution models.

ps: What is said above is basically about how to set rules and how to motivate users. You can refer to it, but these are just skills.

What is truly valuable is actually learning to think about problems from the user's perspective.

After a distribution mechanism is designed, think about whether it can attract you to participate, and whether you are willing to share these products on your circle of friends and let your family and friends buy them. If you don’t even want to do it yourself, how can you talk to others?

Advertising guru Ogilvy once said: "Don't design advertisements that you wouldn't even want your family to see." That's probably what he meant.