How does Ele.me manage product operations with low ROI?

"Free fruit" is a classic operation promotion activity in the food delivery/e-commerce/grocery shopping industry (apps such as Ele.me , Meituan, Taobao, Pinduoduo, etc.).

I have thoroughly experienced Ele.me's "Get Fruits for Free" campaign and will try to write an experience report to share with you.

01 Basic File

Product name: Ele.me Orchard/Get Fruits for Free

Experience time: 2021/6

Experience system: Android 10/ iOS 14.6

Entrance:

1. The center of the Ele.me homepage attracts users' attention through dynamic changes.

(This indirectly shows that the position of this operation is very high, hahaha)

2. The second entrance, the button in the lower right corner. This is not fixed, and should be determined internally based on the weight of the promotion activity.

02 Core Functions

Get water drops 💧 and sunshine 🌞 by completing tasks. When you water a certain amount, you can get a box of fruit for free. Can be collected repeatedly.

Planting trees is divided into five stages: "germination->flowering->fruiting->maturity->harvest". In the early stage, only water drops are needed. In the later stage when it reaches the mature stage, water drops + sunlight are needed. If the sunlight value is too low, it will also affect the efficiency of watering.

The benefits of splitting into two variables are as follows:

The first point is to make the content of the activity itself more comprehensive and logical. Whether it is planting trees in stages or water drop sunshine, it is a method that users can easily understand. Moreover, in the early stage, we only do water drops. After users are familiar with the water drops, we can introduce sunlight, which will make it easier for them to get started with the activity.

The second point is to facilitate different tiered operations for different users:

In the early stage of Waterdrop, the indicators focused on completing the daily activity/online time/retention of the user.

In the middle and late stages, Sunshine will be introduced to shift the focus to user actions such as ordering, trading, and sharing, and it will also serve as a traffic entrance to direct users to other operational activities.

03 Activity Introduction

Next, we will analyze in detail how to perform different layered operations on users at different stages:

1. The first three stages: germination -> flowering -> fruiting

These three stages are basically free, and you only need to repeat the watering action to upgrade all the way to the mature stage.

So, at this stage, the most critical thing is, what if users are lost during the repeated watering action?

To solve the problem of customer churn, Ele.me has adopted the following three measures:

1) The first thing to remind you is “Come back tomorrow”

Because we don’t know when users will churn, to be on the safe side, we must put the awareness of “continuous sign-in for rewards” in the first and most obvious position , and remind users of this from time to time while they are using the activity.

The same goes for "Turn on subscription", which is second only to "Continuous sign-in" in importance.

Since different "new" users have different acceptance levels of Ele.me, Guoyuan has taken different actions for different new users:

If you are a new user of Ele.me, after completing the novice guidance, the left picture below will be opened to remind the user in the form of "Newcomer Challenge 7-Day Gift".

If you are an old user of Ele.me or a new user of Orchard (entering Orchard for the first time), the right picture below will be opened, and the user will be reminded through the dynamic "You can get it tomorrow at 7:00" in the lower left corner (and the user will be reminded that the more water you water, the more you can get tomorrow), guiding the user to continue watering.

In addition, these two cognitions need to be integrated into the entire activity to remind users of this at all times. What Ele.me does is put these two points at the top of the daily watering tasks.

2) Provide timely feedback and stage rewards (gamification design)

Assuming that users do not churn at the beginning, how can we keep them playing this activity?

By default, the churn step is also a screening of users. The users who stay are at least interested in the reward of "getting fruits for free".

So, first of all, we must provide timely feedback and stage rewards.

Taking Ele.me Orchard as an example, users are first given 50g of water drops. After watering twice, they can receive a red envelope of 20g of water drops. Users are asked to first perform the action of "watering->receive reward", and the red envelope will be provided with timely feedback.

Then gradually increase the difficulty. After watering 3 or 5 times, you can continue to receive red envelopes of water drops, and continue watering... and so on.

Second, stage rewards. The stage rewards adopted by Ele.me are small rewards of "watering red envelopes" and large rewards of "stage upgrades", that is, when the saplings are upgraded from germination to flowering, they will receive an upgrade gift package.

At this time, the difficulty of upgrading is increased. For example, watering is required 5 times in the first stage, and users need to water 10 times in the second stage before they can upgrade. Repeating watering, receiving red envelopes, and upgrading... gradually guides users to master the gameplay of the activity.

In fact, we can simplify this entire step into one sentence - gamification design.

The book "Games Change the World" mentions that there are four decisive characteristics of games: goals (specific results that players strive to achieve), rules (restrictions on how players can achieve their goals), feedback systems (telling players how far they are from achieving their goals. It is reflected in points, levels, scores, progress bars, etc.), and voluntary participation (voluntary overcoming various unnecessary obstacles and being able to quit the game at any time).

Our life, work, and games are also a feedback mechanism.

What operational activities can learn from games are specific goals and clear feedback systems.

Unlike games, the biggest disadvantage of operational activities is their low fun and poor playability. So how do you get players to participate voluntarily? Make the goal more attractive (or at least appear more attractive), such as using the title "Free Fruit" in the campaign.

3) Reduce the difficulty in the early stage and increase the user's psychological sunk cost

In the previous step, we can see that the difficulty of user upgrades is gradually increased. This can not only allow users to gradually accept the activity, minimize player loss, and allow players to "voluntarily participate", but also increase the user's psychological sunk cost: I have already watered so much, so I will continue to water it until all the drops are gone.

Of course, here we also need to further emphasize and repeatedly remind users that "the reward is only one step away from you."

The first is the stage reminder; the second is the reminder for other users to claim rewards in the upper right corner.

2. The fourth stage: maturity

Here we come to the core of the entire activity. In the early stages, users have basically mastered the use of water drops. Introducing sunlight here gives the activity itself more ways to play.

It is difficult to obtain a Sunshine Card, and the introduction of Sunshine allows users to complete the core action of "transaction".

The daily tasks can be played in various ways, which can be simply divided into the following indicators:

Develop app usage habits:

1. Guide users to develop the habit of using the orchard. Open the app->Ele.me Orchard, sign in daily to receive water drops, and sign in continuously to get more water drops. Increase product DAU and next-day retention.
2. Receive extra water drops for daily meals (11:00-13:00, 17:00-19:00, 21:00-23:00 every day); standard meals and midnight snacks😆
3. Enter the orchard through the fixed entrance on the homepage and receive extra water drops.

Increase the app online time:

1. Guide users to browse the store and increase the interaction between users and the app;
2. Divert other activities.
3. Promote transactions: You can only receive a Big Sunshine Card if you make transactions, and even if you sign in for 7 consecutive days, you can only receive a Small Sunshine Card. The core action of the app is still trading😂

User growth:

1. Pulling jobs: Friends help to send water drops (get a big sunshine card for 6 pulls)
2. Attract new users: Give new users a big sunshine card. The threshold for attracting new customers and conducting transactions is the same, there is nothing wrong with that.

This stage has a long cycle. Later on, there will be some browsing promotion/transaction promotion activities, watering competitions, etc.

04 Shortcomings of the activity

At this stage, I think there are several confusing points in the activities, and I would like to discuss them with you:

1. Too much repetition of watering action

In the third stage, there were too many watering actions. As far as I remember, the maximum amount of water droplets was 400g, and only 10g could be watered at a time. Bulk watering was not allowed. That means you have to click it at least 40 times. It's really boring.

Why can't we water in bulk? I guess it's because I only water more frequently at this stage, and there are basically very few drops of water afterwards.

So is it possible to increase the number of interactions, such as increasing the number of drops of red envelopes received, and splitting 40 times into 4 times of 10?

2. What is the significance of the co-cultivation model?

The second is that you can combine crops in the first three stages, but there is not much guidance on combining crops.

There is no pop-up window for Hezhong, only a button icon in the upper left corner. Secondly, there is no need for joint planting, and the first three stages can be completed on the first day. In the fourth stage, it is not possible to combine crops.

So, what is the significance of the co-cultivation model here? Even if the user sees the joint planting information and invites other users (such a high threshold), it is still increased by 5%. How much is it actually increased? I have absolutely no idea.

Another problem is the time difference . Suppose user A invites other new users, but suppose user B joins too late, and user A has already completed the first three stages. So, what role does the invitation here play for user A?

Finally, why can’t we combine crops in the fourth stage? Is it because you can only deliver one box of fruit and it can’t be shared among many people? Or is it related to the activity goal, with daily activity as the core indicator, so there is no need to focus too much energy on collaboration?

Then why does the guidance for this combination still exist on the user page in the fourth stage? I can't plant it together, and I have to put it here to remind me. What are you doing? Is it a technical reason?

In short, I personally feel that Hezhong’s position in this activity is very awkward. If you insist on saying that you can understand it, you can. After all, the threshold for attracting new users is very high, and earning one new user is one. But the design here is still very strange.

I thought about the solution, and the simplest one is to adjust the wording of the joint planting. If I change 5%, 10%, and 20% to inviting friends to accelerate growth, for example, inviting 1 user to upgrade one stage, and inviting 3 users to accelerate directly to the fourth stage, would it be more appropriate? Here, invited users are given certain water drop gift packages as rewards.

Looking forward to more answers from experts:)

05 Competitive product analysis

The following is a brief analysis of the differences between the activities of Ele.me, Meituan, and Pinduoduo:

1. Similarities

Phased design and daily task-guided activities.

2. Differences

1) Ele.me’s entrance is the most prominent, while Meituan and Pinduoduo are similar.

2) The design of the event initial page is more streamlined

Ele.me looks very fancy once you enter the app, while Meituan and Pinduoduo are more simple.

Pinduoduo has also added the design of fruits that can be chosen to be planted, which obviously makes it feel more practical. After I choose the fruit, I will have a feeling that "the goal is very close to me" and "this activity is not a scam." A line of words "Ensure that the activities are authentic and effective" is added below. These two designs are quite user-oriented.

The lower the level of users, the more likely they are to doubt whether your activity is a scam. Therefore, "gaining user trust" is quite important.

3) Different focus

From the perspective of task guidance, Meituan’s activities focus more on daily active users and retention, while Pinduoduo focuses more on sharing.

A small complaint is that Meituan (Meituan, even Meituan Takeout does not have this activity) and Pinduoduo have tasks to open lucky bags for three meals a day... Intellectually it can be understood that this is to cultivate user usage habits, and indeed these time periods are the peak times for user activity. But... emotionally I still want to complain. I opened Ele.me to order takeout, so my motive was clear. Meituan is a little easier to understand, but what about Pinduoduo? Why would I open a shopping app during mealtime?

But if you take a quick look at the lunch time of several companies, you can also judge that their positioning is slightly different. Pinduoduo focuses more on the rest time after meal, while Meituan and Ele.me are more inclined to the time before meal. Just use the term daily meals to lower the threshold for users to understand.

(Meituan)

(Pinduoduo)

It is worth mentioning that Pinduoduo’s guided sharing activity here is more reasonable than Ele.me’s.

In addition, unlike Ele.me, Pinduoduo has fewer browsing tasks and more transaction tasks in its daily task design. It is speculated that this is related to the average order value of the product (GMV=traffic ✖️average order value ✖️conversion rate). The threshold for placing an order on Pinduoduo is very low, and the purchase link is also shorter (browse->product. In comparison, the purchase link in the takeout industry is browse->store->product). Therefore, it is more important for the platform to increase the conversion rate.

06 Conclusion

Through practice and combined with personal thinking, the author briefly explained the activity design of "Ele.me Orchard" and analyzed its core functions and routine methods.

For us, the following are some references for similar operations next time:

• The core content of the activity should be simple enough. The lower the user understanding threshold, the higher the activity participation rate.
• A clear feedback mechanism. Through phased design, users are guided to gradually get started with the activity.
• Tiered operation users. At different nodes, there are corresponding user behavior focuses.

That’s all. Thank you for reading this far.

If there are any deficiencies, please feel free to let me know~

Author: A Zhongzhong

Source: A Zhongzhong