WeChat Reading VS NetEase Woniu Reading: Mobile Reading App Competitive Analysis Report

Due to the fast pace of modern life, people's time for receiving information tends to be fragmented. Information/reading applications can well meet people's needs for obtaining information and reading in fragmented time, making the user group of mobile reading apps continue to grow. This article conducts a comparative analysis of WeChat Reading and NetEase Wugou Reading .

Purpose of analysis: To deeply analyze WeChat Reading and NetEase Wugou Reading from the five elements of user experience: strategy layer, scope layer, structure layer, framework layer, and presentation layer.

Analysis background: The craze of “paying for knowledge” + the continued growth of the mobile reading market.

1. Market Analysis

1. Market environment

Analysis of the development environment of mobile reading:

With the development of mobile Internet, the market size of mobile reading industry has continued to expand. In 2012, the market size of mobile reading reached 2.92 billion, and is expected to reach 4.73 billion in 2013, with the market growth rate remaining above 40%. With the continuous development of the mobile reading industry, the industrial division of labor has been continuously refined, the industrial chain structure has been continuously improved, and the industry profit model has gradually become clear. Based on iResearch’s analysis of the factors influencing the development of the industry, the mobile reading industry will maintain a sustained growth trend, which is due to the regulatory nature of policies on industry development, technological development, changes in Internet users’ behavior, richer content, and continuous improvement in payment methods. (Excerpt from iResearch)

2. Industry demand

Mobile reading market size forecast

Mobile reading has become one of the popular reading methods. Since mobile reading can better meet users' needs for fragmented scenarios, PC reading methods can no longer meet the reading needs of these users. However, with the changes in reading methods and subjects, reading materials are also quietly changing. People born in the 1990s and 2000s have become the main force of reading, with male users in the majority. Most users like to read at night, especially before going to bed. In addition to online novels, digital publications are also becoming more and more popular among users. As copyright protection becomes stronger and the amount of quality content increases, the amount of user payments will also increase.

Due to the fast pace of modern life, people's time for receiving information tends to be fragmented. Information/reading applications can well meet people's needs for obtaining information and reading in fragmented time, making the user group of mobile reading apps continue to grow.

3. User needs

Interpret users' basic and expected needs for mobile reading based on population portrait data.

The bookstore should provide a wide variety of book types so that users can choose according to their preferences. (Basic requirements)

It provides a platform for readers to communicate with each other and exchange their views on books while reading. (Expected demand)

The price of books should be within a reasonable range so that most users can afford it. (Basic requirements)

Establish a high-quality reading community to meet the needs of middle and high-end groups. (Expected demand)

Switching of reading mode, day or night mode, is convenient for vision protection. (Basic requirements)

The reading method is diverse, supporting both text reading and voice listening. (Expected demand)

2. Competitive Product Analysis

1. Strategic level analysis

1.1 Product Positioning

WeChat Reading: It is mainly a reading application based on the WeChat friend relationship chain. While providing users with a reading experience, it can also interact with friends on reading ideas or reading time. The most common function is the sharing function, which has strong social elements such as sharing of ideas, reading time, and book lists.

NetEase Wugu Reading: It gives users a simple feeling. Only three books can be placed on the desk. It is particularly evident that it provides users with an immersive and concise reading experience. In addition, the leader reading model provides readers with a platform to exchange ideas and interact with the authors of the books.

1.2 Product Ranking

WeChat Reading started relatively early, releasing version 1.0 in August 2015, while NetEase Wugu Reading released version 1.0 in February 2017. Therefore, on various application ranking data websites, it is obvious that the NetEase Wugu Reading APP ranks low, and some data statistics websites do not have its data statistics, such as talkingdate (in terms of release time).

The above is a comparison of WeChat Index data between WeChat Reading and NetEase Wugou Reading. In terms of time period, NetEase Wugou Reading has a shorter time period because it was launched later. In addition, within the same period, the index of WeChat Reading is much larger than that of NetEase Wugou Reading, which shows that the user attention of the two is very different.

2. Scope layer analysis

2.1 Comparison of main functions

In terms of main functions, both basically cover the functions that a mobile reading app should provide for reading experience.

WeChat Reading: The voice reading function provides users who are not convenient for text reading or do not like text reading with the opportunity to learn the content of books. In addition, I don’t know whether the ubiquitous sharing function is a blessing or a curse.

NetEase Wugu Reading: The desk can only hold three books, which on the one hand improves the user's concentration in reading, and on the other hand presents a simple visual experience to the user. In addition, users can read for one hour for free every day, but the system will not automatically give it to the account. Instead, users need to manually click to receive it, which enhances the user's sense of ritual when starting to read every day.

2.2 Comparison of other functions

In comparison with other functions, WeChat Reading obviously supports more functions, but that does not mean more is better.

In terms of registration and login functions alone, NetEase Wugu Reading provides users with more usage channels, while WeChat Reading only supports WeChat login. Mainly, WeChat Reading is a reading application based on WeChat relationship chain, while NetEase Wugu Reading is aimed at users of different reading levels and groups.

2.3 Analysis of highlight functions

WeChat Reading

Scenario A: When it is inconvenient to browse and read, I hope to be able to listen to books

Function: Voice reading.

Advantages: Supports reading at different speeds and provides four voices for users to choose from. The reading is paused after each sentence, and the content of the current sentence is marked. The overall reading fluency is good.

Disadvantages: The entrance to voice reading is deep and more inside the upper right corner; the 4 voices provided sound too monotonous and rigid as a whole, while the audiobooks in the "Get" APP are narrated by different narrators, which can express different emotions and have a stronger sense of reality.

Scenario B: When reading, on the one hand, I will record my own thoughts, and on the other hand, I want to see what other readers think about the content

Function: View all ideas on the current page.

Advantages: While reading, you can view other readers’ thoughts on the content, and you can agree with, comment on, or forward their ideas.

Disadvantages: The current page will display the number of ideas and underlined content, which interferes with readers' normal reading. (You can hide other people's thoughts in the settings, but the default is not to hide.)

Scenario C: Want to check the daily reading status of your friends

Function: Reading rankings.

Advantages: You can check the reading status of your friends at any time, mainly the reading time, and rank them according to the reading time. You can also share your own reading time and like your friends' readings.

Disadvantages: If you accumulate reading time based on ranking reasons, the meaning of reading itself may be lost, and it may become a behavior of reading for the sake of ranking.

NetEase Snail Reading

Scenario A: There are many books on the desk, and I am reading several books at the same time. It is troublesome to open the app every time to find the book I read before.

Function: Recently opened.

Advantages: Records multiple recently opened books, and the most recently opened one is displayed first. This is not limited to books already in the bookshelf or book list, but for all recently opened books.

Scenario B: Want to know the reading progress of various books on your desk

Function: Book reading progress.

Advantages: The homepage not only intuitively displays all the books on the desk, but also marks the reading progress of each book for users to refer to.

Scenario C: You need to take a lot of notes when reading a book, but you need to classify these notes to facilitate quick search and organization later.

Function: Add label.

Advantages: You can add tags to the recorded notes to classify them. Later in the My Notes module, you can classify and search for the corresponding note content according to the tags you added previously.

Disadvantages: The added personalized label is only valid for the current page. If other pages also need to add this label, they need to be added again, which is cumbersome.

3. Structural layer analysis

3.1 Information Architecture

WeChat Reading core functions:

(1) Book Pricing

Books are divided into two categories: free and paid, which include two activities: give one get one (the book is not free, but if you share it with friends, after your friends successfully receive it, the user can also get the book for free) and buy one get one free (the book is not free, but you can give the book to your friends for free after purchasing it).

There are two ways to buy books. One is to recharge book coins with money (no discount for recharge), and the other is to redeem book coins by reading time (1 book coin can be redeemed for 30 minutes of reading, and a maximum of 10 book coins can be redeemed per week)

Paid books can also be read on trial, and after completing the trial, users can choose whether to purchase them, which reduces the trial and error cost of purchasing books for users.

(2) Ideas

The idea module is divided into people you follow and selected ideas. The ideas or book reviews of people you follow will be presented. As for the selected ideas, intuitively speaking, the selected ideas are not high-quality content, so I don’t quite understand its implementation logic.

NetEase Wugu Reading's core functions:

(1) Reading time pricing

Books are not priced, but reading time is priced. However, users can get 1 hour of reading time for free every day. If they want to continue reading, they need to purchase reading time (there are discounts for purchase)

(2) Reading

The leader reading module is divided into dynamics and leaders. Dynamics are the thoughts of the followers, while leaders are the leaders recommended by the system. They have a certain degree of fame or influence in their respective fields and can influence more people to use the app. They can also interact with leaders on this platform, further increasing user stickiness.

3.2 Interaction Design (Flowchart + Wireframe)

3.2.1 When users search for books

WeChat Reading:

It takes at least two steps from opening the app to entering the bookstore, and at least two steps from starting to search for books to putting them into the bookshelf. It can be seen that the entrance to the bookstore should be set up clearly, secondly, the search function must be powerful, and finally the introduction of the books should be attractive enough to users.

When there are many books in my bookshelf and they are not classified, I need to slide to see the entrance to add books. In addition, the entrance to the bookstore in the upper right corner is relatively not very conspicuous. Another problem is that the search bar prompts are relatively simple and the search principles cannot be clearly understood. For new users or users who are using mobile reading apps for the first time, the learning cost of searching for books is high.

When users are not sure about the books they need to read, special topics such as the free list, hot reading list, new book list, and the search bar's "Guess What You Like" function can guide users to make choices and make decisions. For special topics, it is recommended to display the current number of readers of each book, which will enable hesitant users to quickly make the decision to click the next step and reduce the page bounce rate.

optimization:

The search box prompts, "Search for book title/author", otherwise users may not know that they can search for authors, reducing the learning cost for new users;

Increasing the number of readers in a topic or category can, on the one hand, reflect the popularity of the book and guide users to make choices, and on the other hand, reduce the page bounce rate.

NetEase Snail Reading:

It takes at least one step from opening the app to entering the category, and at least three steps from starting to search for books to putting them into the bookshelf;

The label classification at the bottom is the bookstore. When users want to find a book accurately, they can use the search bar to perform an accurate search. When users browse for a book that suits their preferences, they can browse again in their favorite categories. However, there are overlaps in the classification standards. For users, it is difficult to judge the classification standards. For example, "One Thousand and One Nights of NetEase" exists in both the Internet and academic management.

optimization:

The naming of categories needs to be changed. Using categories to act as a bookstore does not fit the user's understanding of the naming concept of a bookstore.

The search box is optimized to support precise search and fuzzy search. For details, please see the search box analysis below;

Category optimization, on the one hand, reduces the overlap between different categories, and on the other hand, increases relevant hot search categories, new book categories, and well-received categories to attract users who do not have a clear search purpose to browse.

3.2.2 When a user searches for a book and opens it

WeChat Reading:

It takes at least 2 steps from opening the app to opening the book you want to read.

When there are many books in the bookshelf, the steps of finding and opening the books to be read are complicated, even if the two functions of searching bookshelves and grouping are added to the bookshelf. Another way to open a book is to open it in the book list. Since you can add unlimited unpurchased or purchased books to the desk and group them, I don’t quite understand the value of the book list function.

optimization:

Reading progress display: Books in the bookshelf should have a display of the current reading progress. When the user is reading multiple books at the same time, it is convenient to check the reading progress of each book.

Recently opened, by default the most recently opened book will be displayed at the top of the bookshelf. However, if you open books in the same group, you will not know which one is the most recently opened book. You can add a recently opened function to the bookshelf to help users quickly locate the most recently read books.

NetEase Snail Reading:

It only takes one step to open the app and open the book you want to read, because the homepage shows the desk and displays the current reading progress and the number of readers. You can also swipe up to view the book status. The desk can only hold three books at most. If the user is reading more than three books at the same time or has books he wants to read, he can add them to the book list for easy search and reading later.

optimization:

More optimizations and more functions are actually mainly responsible for the book list function. Since the entrance text display is not obvious enough, it will increase the steps for users to find the book list function.

Desk optimization: if there are no books on the desk, the "Discover More Books" function will be directly displayed with a white background, which gives a poor visual experience. It is recommended to recommend a popular book.

3.2.3 When users take notes while reading

WeChat Reading:

WeChat Reading provides two interactions for taking notes. One is to click or swipe up on the current page to bring up the note-taking entry. This note is for the content of the current page. Another way is to long press the page, which will bring up the action bar, which includes the functions of underlining and writing ideas, but both are targeted at the current underlined content, which is more specific than the scope of note-taking.

In addition, when reading the current page, the underlined marks below the text are notes from other readers, which makes it easy for users to view other readers' ideas and communicate with other readers. (But it closes the entry of other readers' underlined ideas)

optimization:

Note optimization, note-taking supports @ friends who follow me. Personally, I think this deviates from the real idea of ​​users taking notes. The purpose of taking notes is to deepen the impact on yourself, or to resonate with other readers who read this page.

NetEase Snail Reading:

The note-taking interaction of NetEase Wugu Reading is basically the same as that of WeChat Reading. However, for other readers' ideas, WeChat Reading breaks down friends' ideas, while NetEase Wugu Reading does not do this. For the purpose of note-taking, the value of breaking down friends' ideas is not very prominent. Instead, consider giving priority to displaying notes according to the number of comments or likes, so that users can learn from other readers' wonderful notes or communicate with them as quickly as possible.

When taking notes, there are two default tags, and users can add tags themselves. The purpose is that users will be happy to search for notes of corresponding categories based on different tags in the future.

optimization:

Note visual optimization, note color background and providing multiple note styles appear too fancy and increase visual fatigue. If you want to increase the aesthetics of your notes, you can actually consider choosing a background or style when sharing your notes.

3.2.3 When a user purchases a book (duration)

WeChat Reading:

The currency used by WeChat Reading to purchase paid books is book coins. The purpose of using book coins as purchasing currency instead of cash is, on the one hand, to distinguish the source of book coins (recharge or time exchange), and on the other hand, WeChat Reading is not an e-commerce product, and the use of book coins is more acceptable to users.

You can get book coins by recharging or exchanging time. The default recharge is appstore in-app purchase recharge. If recharge fails, you will be prompted to use WeChat Pay. WeChat Pay can be used as an alternative solution for in-app purchase payment failure. Secondly, you can also use WeChat Pay if in-app purchase payment fails manually, which is an additional payment method. In addition, there are no discounts for in-app purchases and recharges, but there are some discounts for WeChat recharges.

optimization:

The recharge method is single and difficult to change due to objective reasons. Please see the introduction of in-app purchase items in the app store.

NetEase Snail Reading:

NetEase Wugu Reading provides one hour of free reading time every day. If you need to continue reading, you need to purchase reading time. There are two entrances for purchasing time, among which the entrance on the homepage is the most obvious, which is the free time page on the homepage. The other is on my purchase time page, which not only allows you to purchase time, but also displays historical purchase records. The payment method for purchases is the same as WeChat Reading, both are in-app purchases, but there are certain discounts for in-app purchases.

optimization:

Alternative payment methods: When payment through the App Store fails, at least one alternative method should be provided for the user to choose from to ensure a smooth payment process.

4. Framework layer analysis

4.1 Interface Design

4.1.1 Search Box

WeChat Reading:

Four key points in designing a search box:

Carpet style: No one can be left behind, no one can be spared.

Exploratory: You don’t know what you want at the beginning, and then slowly lock in a certain range.

Known type: Know exactly what you are looking for and lock on it directly.

Return type: It has been found last time, so it is easy to find it again next time.

advantage:

Guess you like it, recommend books of the same category based on the books that the user has added to the bookshelf, and briefly describe the specific book on which the recommendation is based and how many users like this book. Guide users to choose to read.

Search categories, you can search in a certain category based on the input content, thereby narrowing the search scope - exploratory;

Fuzzy search, the search content can be the author of the book, or the related words contained in the title - carpet search;

Precise search can be used to accurately search based on the specific content of the input box. The search results are all the content that the user wants to find - known formula;

History records the user's previous search history and supports clearing all history records - return type;

Feedback mechanism: when users fail to find the books they need, they can provide feedback. The default search content is the book title (modifiable). Users need to manually fill in the author. Submitting the information means subscribing to the book. Users will be notified in time after the book is available.

The current number of readers. If the searched book list has users reading it, the number of people reading this book will be displayed to increase the search user's recognition of this book.

shortcoming:

The text prompts in the search box are not comprehensive enough. They should accurately indicate that they support searching for authors or book titles to reduce user learning costs.

The search categories need to be optimized. It is only to match relevant categories according to the content of the input box, and then browse in the categories, instead of searching again in the matching categories. Although the search scope is narrowed, the search has ended and users need to browse on their own.

NetEase Snail Reading:

advantage:

Everyone is searching. Based on all user search records, we display the most frequently searched authors or specific book names, popular books or popular authors, and guide users to search.

shortcoming:

Fuzzy search is too vague. The content entered by the user is subjected to fuzzy search, and the search results fail to distinguish the author, book title, and book category. Only by clicking on the search result can you know its specific category.

In the case of non-exact search, when the user explicitly searches for content, the search results will contain interference content. As long as the book title or author name contains the search content, all books will be displayed, which will increase the visual burden on the user.

There is no feedback mechanism. Since there is no precise search, in most cases, relevant books will be displayed when searching for the input content. If there are no books, it will directly display "No relevant books found". For users, there is no feedback on book inventory or notification of new ones.

4.1.2 Book List

advantage:

The book list interface is clear, and you can clearly see the name of the book list, the introduction of the book list, and the number of books in the book list.

The book list has rich functions for adding books. It supports adding books from the bookshelf and displaying related groups, and also supports searching the bookstore to add books.

The book list sharing function is comprehensive, supporting both external sharing, that is, sharing to WeChat or QQ space, and internal sharing, private messaging to book friends

shortcoming:

Private book lists cannot be classified. The system book list module is the private book list (book friends cannot view the contents of the private book list). However, for users, if there are too many books in the private book list, private books cannot be classified.

Unable to add to bookshelf. If the books in the book list are not added to the bookshelf, the function of adding to bookshelf is supported, so that users can search and read directly in the bookshelf later, providing user convenience.

advantage:

In the private book list settings, the books you want to read and have read are set as private books by default. In addition, when creating a new book list, you can check whether the book list is a private book list, which makes it easier for users to classify private book lists.

Move to desk and book details. Move to desk can move the book to the desk on the home page if the book is not on the desk, making it easier for users to read. The book details provide a reference for users to read.

shortcoming:

The book list does not support updating. Once a book list is created, it does not support updating. Either the books in the book list are deleted, or a new book list is created. For users, the convenience of updating the book list is reduced and the complexity of updating the book list is increased.

The book list sharing function is relatively weak and only supports external sharing of book lists, i.e. WeChat sharing. The app does not support book sharing among friends within the app, and there are few user sharing channels.

4.2 Navigation Design

Global navigation — A set of key points from where users are most likely to want to go from the final page of your site.

Local navigation - provides users with access to "nearby places" within the framework (parent-child relationships).

Auxiliary navigation — faster and allows you to jump at any time

Contextual navigation — Navigation that is embedded in the page's own content (e.g., hyperlinks).

WeChat Reading mainly uses the label navigation of the four labels at the bottom. "Discover", "Bookshelf" and "Ideas" are the main function navigations, while "Me" is the auxiliary function navigation. Since the navigation design of the previous main function pages is relatively simple and the functions of the "Me" page are more complex, there are more navigation function styles involved, including list navigation and drawer navigation.

NetEase Wugu Reading uses a label navigation with three labels at the bottom. "Desk", "Classification" and "Reading" are the main function navigations, while "My" is set in the drawer navigation in the upper left corner of the homepage. It not only simplifies the visual content of the page, but also does not affect the user experience. Because the "My" module of most apps is now placed in the upper left corner, the learning cost is low for users and they can adapt normally.

5. Presentation layer analysis

5.1 Visual Design

The startup page of WeChat Reading is a white background + logo, which is simple and clear. Although there is no startup page for page transition, the overall loading efficiency is relatively high, and it can smoothly go from opening the app to displaying the homepage, providing a good user experience.

NetEase Wugu Reading uses background painting + logo + slogan. On the one hand, it highlights the special features of the app, and on the other hand, it gives users a pleasing feeling and attracts users' attention. It tends to be literary and artistic. Although the text on the startup page is concise and the elements are simple, it can express emotions.

3. If I were a PM of NetEase Snail Reading

Book search optimization (basic requirements)

Judging from the four key points in designing the search box, NetEase Wugu Reading is currently lacking in the exploratory and known aspects. Secondly, there is no feedback mechanism for failure to search for books. First of all, the categories and quantity of books provided by mobile reading applications should meet the basic needs of users at different levels as much as possible. When user needs are not met, a feedback channel should be provided. Here are two suggestions. The first is from the internal perspective of the enterprise. You can refer to WeChat Reading in this regard, provide feedback on books that are not searched, and notify users in a timely manner when the book is online. The second is from the perspective of cooperation between enterprises. For books that are not searched, provide external physical book purchasing channels (such as Dangdang and JD related book links), which can not only meet users' reading needs, but also bring additional profits to the company.

Classification function optimization (basic requirements)

At present, the classification function of NetEase Wugu's books is relatively simple and there are overlaps between different categories. The optimization of the classification function can be reflected in two aspects. First, based on the current classification, a clear definition of the classification is made to ensure that there is no overlap of the same books between different categories; the second is to add innovative classifications, such as hot searches, new books, and good reviews, to guide users who read with uncertainty and further increase user stickiness.

Audiobook function (expected demand)

Reading is not limited to reading, it can also be listening to books, to meet the needs of those users who have the need to listen to books (due to their own conditions or external environmental influences), even if this user group is relatively small. My personal suggestion is that the audiobook function should be as user-friendly as possible, and using real people to read aloud may make readers more auditory-acceptable. Personally, I think that the app that does a better job in audiobook function is "Dedao", which uses real-person narration and is more emotional, but its cost is relatively high.

Intelligent book recommendation (expected demand)

There are two situations. One is to analyze user behavior (classification of books on the desk, classification of books on the book list, search history, classification of leaders followed. The best personalized recommendation is "NetEase Cloud Music") and recommend a book to the user on the desk within a period of time. The other is to recommend a category of books for users to find and read by themselves, which can also be achieved in the category.

Offline book club (expected demand)

While providing online exchanges of reading ideas, it also provides a platform for readers to communicate and exchange ideas with authors or reading leaders. However, this has relatively strict requirements for organizing offline activities. A successful offline book club can not only increase user stickiness, but also provide good word-of-mouth publicity for the corporate brand.

IV. Conclusion

Market demand: As more and more users develop the habit of using mobile devices for reading, and this user base is large, the abundance of books and the quality of content will become the core competitive direction of major mobile reading apps. The quality of books on the APP is conducive to gathering fan users, increasing user stickiness, and thus enhancing the user influence of the APP.

User needs: On the one hand, the needs of users of different age groups and different professions will be different. On the other hand, as users' personalized needs continue to increase and the functions of competing apps tend to be homogenized, those apps that focus on meeting users' personalized needs and continuously improving user experience will stand out. For now, personalized reading settings, intelligent recommendations based on data analysis, offline book clubs, and the development of wearable devices will all become possibilities in the future of mobile reading.

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

The author of this article @Dong Xiaobai  Compiled and published by (Qinggua Media), please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map