In addition to "burning money", what else can operations do?

I believe that many operations will encounter such confusion in the course of their work. After a period of product operation , they find that the operation work has encountered a bottleneck: users have become accustomed to obtaining the right to use the product for free or even at a loss. If the benefits are not stimulated, a large number of users will be lost. However, once subsidies and incentives continue, on the one hand, the funds consumed may exceed the affordable range, and on the other hand, the authenticity and effectiveness of users are difficult to identify. Moreover, users are spoiled all the time and eventually become bad. I am afraid that the day when the operation makes up its mind to stop getting used to it will be the day when the users cruelly leave.

Therefore, although interest stimulation is one of the most direct and effective means of incentives in user operations , it is certainly not feasible to rely solely on interest stimulation for operations. So, in order to promote new users , retention and activity, what else can operations do?

1. Create a sense of achievement system

If the stimulation of interests satisfies the users’ survival and instinctive needs, then the sense of accomplishment is more targeted at the users’ spiritual needs. There are several ways to build a sense of achievement system:

• Planning growth levels and titles: Classify users into different levels, with different levels corresponding to different level titles and different privileges within the product, to encourage users to actively grow in level;
• Establish a medal wall: award medals of honor to users whose behaviors reach specified values;
• Generate achievement certificates: Provide users with certificates of honor and completion for completing a task within the product;
• Create an honor list: Take advantage of the fact that users are more likely to feel a sense of accomplishment during competition, create an honor list, and motivate users to obtain higher honors;
• Launch product behavior reports: Release user behavior reports within the product at a certain frequency, as well as the achievement attributes represented by the behavior, to motivate users to achieve higher achievements;
• Give users scores/stars/other evaluations: Comment or rate users' behavior within the product, or give star ratings, etc. High scores and high stars motivate users to keep going, while low scores and low stars encourage users to make progress and improve. In short, it increases users' further recognition of their own achievements within the product while encouraging users to actively and deeply use the product.

Usually banks and accounting products will enhance users' sense of achievement through annual bills and other forms.

2. Create entertainment value-added service functions

1) Interactive game function

In addition to benefits, the stickiness between users and products can also be improved through interesting interactive games. Especially some special games that are original and that other platforms cannot imitate even if they have the corresponding genes, can bring in more new users and increase the activity of old users.

Currently, the common games of this type on the Internet include fun generator games (generating fun emoticons , generating interesting certificates, news, etc.), casual dating games (similar to Ant Forest, Drift Bottle, etc.), test games (children’s talent assessment on parent-child websites, suitable book tests on reading websites), and other simplified online games (combined according to the attributes of the product, such as combining the famous Monopoly game with the product’s task mechanism, combining the product’s content with level-breaking test games, etc.).

2) Practical service functions

The interactive game function emphasizes fun, while the practical service function is more based on the actual needs of users and enhances the connection between users and products. Many platforms have no other ancillary functions except their core business functions, ignoring the diverse usage scenarios of users for the products. Excellent products will continuously improve the functional matrix based on user needs and increase the frequency of user use of the platform.

Take WeChat as an example. When you open "Me" - "Wallet", you will find that WeChat has added too many practical service functions, from credit card repayment, borrowing money, recharging, financial management, life payment, public welfare to registration, weather, air quality, provident fund inquiry, tax service, academic inquiry, violation inquiry, ticket purchase, gas card application, hotel booking, etc. These functions may not be used by every user, but as a channel, WeChat provides users with a variety of entry options through these practical service functions in all aspects. When users can't find other ways, the reasons and frequency of users' use of WeChat will be increased.

WeChat and Alipay have expanded many practical functions to increase the battle for traffic entry

3. Integrate resources to seek cross-industry cooperation

The platforms that are currently “burning money” aggressively are usually those that have capital backing them up, because capital believes that after burning the money, they will get the reward of monopolizing the market, and the investment will be worthwhile. However, for some self-operated platforms without capital support, there will eventually be a limit to burning money.

However, whether it is a platform with capital support or not, integrating its own resources, seeking cooperation between different industries, and exchanging resources is also a way to avoid long-term "burning money".

The resources of different platforms are different. Brands are resources, users are resources, gifts are resources, advertising space is a resource, creativity is a resource, and product features are also resources... You can get whatever resources you have through exchanges between platforms.

I would like to recommend a platform that is quite influential in the field of cross-industry cooperation: Marketing Department Network (the original name seems to be Yiyebang). On the platform, there are a large number of companies and products of all sizes looking for cooperation opportunities. If you find a suitable one, you can contact them and save the money you planned to spend.

4. Explore the mechanism of interest bundling

Rather than simply treating users as product users, another way to more closely link products and users is to bundle interests. The key point of the interest bundling mechanism is that users’ interests do not come from products or platforms, but from the services provided by the products and other product users.

One way is to discover opinion leaders among users and help them become beneficiaries of the platform’s benefits: for example, live streaming platforms rarely operate by burning money, but instead strive to discover high-quality product users and create live streaming celebrities. When these people's interests are closely linked to the product, they will take the initiative to promote the product.

Following this line of thought, for example, ofo can create cycling story experts to add more emotional factors to cycling. Other users can strive to become cycling story experts, or they can reward the experts with their own cycling fees, etc., thereby realizing the combination of content and benefits, so that ofo is no longer just a cycling unlocking tool .

Another way is to capture the product distributors (service providers), give them commissions, and let them promote the product. For example, the promotion of WeChat Pay is largely inseparable from their partner program and service providers across the country.

Following this line of thought, travel websites can give commissions to users who help sell travel routes, e-commerce products can give rebates to users who sell products on their behalf, and so on. All of these can become explorations of a model.

In short, when a product reaches a bottleneck due to spending too much money, it must consider changing its mindset. You can do activities that spend money, but you must never rely solely on spending money to attract users.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article is @跑跑大橘子 and it is compiled and published by (青瓜传媒). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map