100 Angel users are enough to detonate a product

The users and methodologies mentioned in "Crossing the Chasm" are more suitable for technology products for large enterprises, rather than software for the consumer market.

I use the three-part method to improve it into: angel users, beneficial users, and perfect users. And try to provide their formulas and calculation methods.

First of all, the term "angel user" is translated from the West. I think it is inaccurate. It specifically refers to the earliest users of a product. These people spend a lot of time for free and can ignore the roughness and imperfections of the product. They accompany the product to grow from the first 0.0.1 version, like angels. In fact, if converted into Chinese, it should be called "enthusiast users", which is clearer and more accurate for everyone to understand. However, for the sake of terminology, I will still try to use angel users to explain the following content.

For example: Car modification enthusiasts, in order to upgrade the performance of their cars a little bit, can spend a lot of money to repeatedly test different accessories.

According to reports, Xiaomi's Lei Jun 's first step in making a mobile phone was to ask Li Wanqiang to find 100 mobile phone enthusiasts to accompany them in testing the Xiaomi ROM which had not yet started development. It can be said that this is the first step in making an Internet product, which is 0.0.0.1 from 0 to 1. Without this user base, making products is like a blind man touching an elephant, no matter who is the product manager , even if it is Ma Huateng, Zhang Xiaolong or Zhou Hongyi.

A little brain-burning test: Where can I find Xiaomi ROM enthusiasts?

I think it should be in a forum on Baidu Tieba.

Reference: Characteristics of Huajiao Angel users

First, most of them are young women between the ages of 18 and 26, who have no historical habits or baggage and can quickly accept new products and new things on the Internet;

Second, their phones are frequently updated with new apps and social products, and they are early adopters of similar products. You can easily find them among the early adopters of similar new products, rather than those of popular products that have already become popular;

Third, most of their families and childhood personal growth were not very happy, so they can overcome numerous obstacles and use all kinds of controversial products. Children from happy families are usually followers rather than trend leaders.

Users can be divided into "angel users", "benefit users" and "perfect users" according to their characteristics, needs and development stages.

How to define “angel user”?

In the early stages of a product launch, someone who is willing to volunteer with the product team to test and use a product that is still very difficult to use and extremely rough, and actively provide feedback for free. Usually the core function of this product satisfies a simple and high-frequency pain point for this type of people. You can also call them "enthusiast users".

The most pressing pain point for angel users: fun.

Usually, the pain point of Internet angel users is fun rather than usefulness, and "more fun" makes users migrate from one product to a new one. At this time, the user's only investment is emotion, regardless of cost.

Three characteristics of angel users:

First, they are young: they are the youngest users in the target user group and are not burdened by historical habits.

Second, they love to talk: they are active in speaking, have been trying similar products, and have been working hard to express their opinions in relevant channels . They are also high-frequency users, using the product more than three times a day, with a total duration of more than 15 minutes to half an hour. A user who is unwilling to provide product suggestions is not an effective angel user. But they are not necessarily the opinion leaders that are often reported by the media. I put them in the second and third categories because they have vested interests.

Third, pioneers: These people must be the most advanced people in this product field, whether in psychology, physiology or IQ. They can break through the discrimination and barriers of existing society, and are commonly referred to as “trendsetters”.

Finally, these people must be of high density: to facilitate communication and dissemination, as well as to gain cultural recognition in a timely manner.

Let’s see that Facebook’s angel users started from Harvard. Does it fit this characteristic?

Because Facebook was mainly based on text input in its early days, and required computers and access to the Internet anytime, anywhere, and other prerequisites, relaxed universities became the youngest group of eligible users at the time. Compared to schools on the West Coast that like sports, schools like Harvard are more willing to express their opinions in words. In China, this would be Peking University and Tsinghua University, rather than the Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Film Academy.

Finally, Harvard was the pioneering institution of thought in the United States at the time, not Stanford or the University of Southern California in Silicon Valley on the West Coast. With the popularization of mobile phones, the production of content has changed from text to pictures and videos. It is natural that Snapchat's popularity started from the more active West. When calculating the number of angel users, we can usually find 10-20 standard angel users, which is enough to complete the early research of a product.

But how many daily users does a product usually have?

Calculation of the number of users:

The struggle among the princes = 0.1% of the total population of target users in a single market. China has 1 million daily active users. The product has entered a relatively leading period in the industry, and it is difficult for latecomers to catch up.

Three Kingdoms = 1% of the total population of target users in a single market. In China, there are 8-10 million daily active users. The market is usually split among three oligarchs and enters a stalemate. For example, in short videos , Meipai occupies the extremely beautiful positioning, Kuaishou occupies the extremely ugly (rural) positioning, and Miaopai occupies the media positioning. Each product has about 8-10 million daily active users.

Unifying the market = 10% of the total target user population in a single market, or 100 million daily active users. At this point, the product has completely captured the market, and other competitors have no chance at all.

Angel users are 1% of the users during the period of contention among the princes (10% of 1 million daily active users are heavy users, and 10% of heavy users are angel users), which means 10,000 daily active users, or about 100,000 people. If we can find 1% of these 10,000 people, that is, 100 people, it will be enough to launch a product. If you can quickly reach and cover this market of 10,000 people, you will also monopolize the angel user market of such users. You can then clearly know who your product's potential competitive opponents are and what your product does right.

While users are getting used to the product, it is not suitable for formal promotion. The product can only enter the formal promotion period when users’ suggestions change from being unusable to a more comfortable experience and they are willing to recommend it to their friends, generating word-of-mouth and viral transmission points. The target user group has entered the beneficial user range.

In China, usually when the daily active users of a popular product in the first stage of its life cycle reach about 1 million, the market will attract the attention of interested users. At this time, if other products have not completed the polishing period, they will not be able to keep up with the market rhythm and enter the second stage. It is necessary to transform in time and find new market segments.

The next-day retention rate of the angel user group exceeds 40%, and the 6-month retention rate exceeds 20%. Congratulations, you have seen a $1 billion unicorn.

The rigid needs of beneficial users:

Useful (saving money or making money).

Three characteristics of beneficial users:

First, only look at the money, not the fun, only care about the changes in income and expenditure. More than 10% of monthly income or monthly expenditure is the turning point. Changes in income will allow them to quickly migrate to other products;

Second, there are few suggestions and no active research. Interested users will not actively contribute suggestions. They will only feel the urge to speak up when the product affects their income.

Third, conservatives usually hold a conservative attitude towards new functions and new designs, and it is difficult to discover new demands from them. Their frequency of use is positively correlated with benefits.

The calculation of beneficial users is related to the Engel coefficient and Maslow's needs model.

Maslow

According to Maslow's need theory, people are divided into physiological, safety, emotional, esteem and self-actualization.

Adding the Engel coefficient can roughly determine the conversion relationship between food expenditure and demand.

Example:

Physiological = Food expenditure accounts for 69% - Poverty

Safety = food expenditure accounts for 50-59% - food and clothing

Emotion = Food expenditure accounts for 40-50% - moderate prosperity

Respect = 30-40% of food expenditure – wealthy

Self-actualization = less than 30% of food expenditure – most affluent

Based on the current domestic income situation, we can roughly conclude that:

Physiological needs = monthly income below 3,000

Emotional needs = monthly income below 8,000;

Respect needs = monthly income of 2-50,000 or less;

Self-realization = monthly income of 30,000 to 50,000 or more.

Usually the annual revenue of a product accounts for more than 10% of his monthly income, which means at least more than one month's income will attract his attention, or save him 10% of his monthly expenses. A percentage lower than this number will not attract users' attention.

The income here is in a broad sense. For example, after having more fans on Weibo, you will get more opportunities to film movies, which will affect your income.

The conclusion is that if the direct or indirect income generated by your product accounts for more than 10% of the annual income of your target users, and the market share reaches more than 40%, you have occupied the market. When the market share reaches more than 10%, you can transition to the perfect user promotion stage.

Of course, you need to rationally analyze which type of users your product meets useful needs. Of course, the definitions of usefulness are different for physiology and self-actualization.

In China, when the number of profitable users of a mass product reaches 5-10 million daily active users in the entire market, a cultural phenomenon is formed, attracting mass users, that is, perfect users. If products of the same period cannot reach a turning point in market share or user density, they will be eliminated. Generally, 1-5 million daily active users is a watershed.

The perfect user’s first need: tools .

At this point, the product has become a basic necessity in the lives of a certain group of people, and its tool attributes are highlighted.

Three characteristics of a perfect user:

First, scenario-based, users only use it in certain special scenarios.

Second, it is low-frequency. The frequency of use is greatly reduced compared to the previous users, and it is only used in scenarios where it is absolutely necessary. Use 1-2 times a month.

Third, it is intolerable. Any difficulty or complexity in the product will cause users to become unable to tolerate it and leave, looking for more suitable alternatives. Products must be as close to perfection as possible because the number of replaceable products increases and users become extremely picky. This is a good time to polish product details, such as red envelopes versus cash.

China’s experience shows that 10-30 million daily active users is the dividing line. After this daily active user rate, one company becomes the dominant player while other products quickly shrink and are eliminated.

The calculation of the perfect user is based on the tool efficiency of the usage scenario. That is, in similar scenarios, is your product tool efficiency ranked first? How many similar scenarios can you satisfy?

Here is some extended knowledge. Zhou Hongyi mentioned the six-word formula for products: "pain points, rigid needs, and high frequency", and also mentioned simplicity. I classified them again. Pain points and rigid needs mean the same thing, so it is "pain points, high frequency, and simplicity". In this era, it is rare to meet the basic needs for survival, and most of them are pain points that cannot be met by existing products.

Lei Jun mentioned the seven-word formula "focus, extreme, word of mouth, fast"

Zhou Hongyi's "Pain Points, High Frequency, and Simplicity"

I also derived the concept of "sustainable, perceptible, and rewardable", which I will share with you separately when I have the chance.

You can mix them to correspond to the three user stages just mentioned.

First, rapid iterations can satisfy the high-frequency pain points of “fun” for angel users, which can be perceived by users, generate word-of-mouth, and achieve perfection in a single point;

Second, focus on meeting the "useful" needs of interested users, and do so sustainably to generate new word-of-mouth points;

Third, meet the “tool” needs of perfect users so that they can receive continuous rewards.

The decay period of angel users is calculated in years, mainly due to differences in education. A major iteration occurs every 6 years, and a complete change occurs every 12 years. Technological changes will cause a large-scale shift in angel users.

Usually, products need to update their user research groups every year, including recommended content and opinion leaders, to keep up with changes in the times. Otherwise, the content and functions of the products will become outdated, like Douban and Tianya in the past. However, major changes in technology will cause a large-scale shift in the entire group. For example, from text to pictures to short videos to live broadcasts , the user groups are completely different. YY and 9158, the live streaming companies in the PC era, were defeated by Inke and Huajiao in the mobile era. A big part of the reason was that they defined their angel user group according to old experience - profitable users on PC, and completely ignored the new market brought about by the major historical changes that happen every 12 years.

1. Cultural potential of angel users

According to Maslow's needs model, the number of users decreases step by step, but the cultural potential increases step by step, that is, the bottom users hope to flow to the upper users, and it is one-way. Therefore, if we start from the lowest-level users, it will be difficult to use the potential energy brought by cultural appeal to attract more advanced users and create cultural exclusivity. Products that are popular among high-level users can expand to the next level of users, generate cultural potential, and defeat products that already occupy a leading position in the lower-level market.

2. Frequency of use by angel users

1-3 times a day, each time lasting more than 3-5 minutes. These are usually the 10% of your early users who spend the longest time using the app.

3. Density of Angel Users

The first generation of the Internet completed the migration from the ground to the air, and the mobile Internet WeChat completed the migration from PCs to mobile phones. Therefore, the usual angel users have evolved from the previous campus classes to mutual attention in WeChat groups , QQ groups or Weibo.

4. How to quickly discover and expand angel users?

You can divide your user groups by age, gender, education level, marital status, fertility, annual disposable income, brand preferences, personality traits, and frequency of use of a representative software or product, and most importantly, divide them into angel user groups. It is best to concentrate them on the Internet, that is, WeChat groups for management, because WeChat’s circle of friends can help users socialize and learn by themselves, and even lay the foundation for subsequent self-reproduction.

5. Differences in thinking between tool products and social products

The attributes of users of tool products are not clearly distinguished, but the evolution of the products still has the above-mentioned characteristics. There is a huge difference between tool thinking and social thinking. What tools care about is the tools themselves, such as saving power and cleaning; what is important in social interaction is the establishment of rules, and social rules become a function of social tools.

The characteristic of a tool is that users only interact with the software, the characteristic of a social one is that users interact with each other, and the characteristic of a community is that users' communication is focused on the content itself.

6. Common Mistakes

a. Are employees, friends and even product managers angel users?

Definitely not. It’s very difficult to find angel users. How could you come across one so easily?

b. Start from the interested users

Many companies have money and they directly pay people to use their products and ask them to ask questions. This is how they benefit users. Interested users are not demanding about products. Since they are low-frequency users, they cannot polish your products to perfection.

7. Off topic

What I hate most is someone saying, you just know a few girls with big breasts, just pull them over and help me cold-start the product. If you meet this kind of person or partner, send him the four letters qnmd and pray silently that you will never see each other again in this life.

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

The author of this article @胡震生 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!