After trying more than 20 mini programs, I have something to say

On January 9, WeChat's [ Mini Programs ] were launched. Although the first batch of mini programs was small in number, they already covered most categories of native mobile Internet apps. Although Zhang Xiaolong said that mini programs will not have a demographic dividend, as a long-awaited event in the industry, early developers can at least win the traffic of the first wave of early adopters, and these early adopters will bring secondary exposure to the product through word-of-mouth sharing. Therefore, the first batch of mini programs launched online will have dividends and will affect the direction of the mini programs in the future.

For those who are concerned about the development of mini programs, these first developers are worthy of in-depth study. The following content will analyze the pros and cons of current mini programs from a product perspective. These are all subjective opinions, and teachers are welcome to discuss and criticize.

1. Mini Programs are not limited to low-frequency products

For a long time, most analyses have pointed to one thing - mini programs are suitable for low-frequency tool products. But after the mini program went online today, everyone can find that although the sharing mechanism is very restrained, the mini program can be pinned to the top of the chat list (remember when the official account opened the top list function?). This function can be regarded as a signal sent by the WeChat team - high-frequency applications can be played on the mini program. Let’s take Tencent’s [Watchlist] app as an example. The stock market fluctuates at any time, so the need to observe fluctuations is very high. If a stock investor simply wants to observe the stock trend, then by pinning [Watchlist] on WeChat, this need can be met.

However, when a stock investor not only wants to observe the stock trend but also wants to browse investment guides and conduct buying and selling transactions, then using a native app with more complex functions and better experience will be the best choice.

As shown above, the left picture is the self-selected stock applet, and the right picture is the stock app Flush. The self-selected stock applet only has the function of viewing the market trend.

From the above, it can be seen that mini programs can be used as high-frequency tools, but they are limited to [mild high frequency], such as just observing stock trends. Once it involves [heavy and high-frequency] demands with longer stay time and stronger interaction, it is better to use native apps for the time being. From this point of view, the imagination space of mini programs is already very broad. For example, the demand for browsing news is very high frequency. If users just want to see what happened today, or what is popular at the moment, they can meet their needs by using or pinning related mini programs. However, if users want to browse news for a long time and make complex interactions such as commenting, a better way is to download a native news app.

2. Simplified migration of native apps

Mini programs are opportunities for entrepreneurs . For products that have already become giants in the native app field, in order to control competitive risks, it is definitely safer to develop mini programs than not do it well. However, this does not mean that mini programs will become crude transplants of native apps. If mini programs are used properly, they will be an opportunity for giants to expand their branches. Take JD.com as an example. JD.com has an entrance called shopping on the [Discover] page of WeChat, but the JD.com WeChat in the entrance is very confusing. This time, JD adjusted its strategy. The mini program [JD Shopping] only has two pages, a search page and an order page.

As shown above, the left picture is the previous JD WeChat, and the right picture is the JD shopping mini program. The new JD shopping has realized the "minimalism" of e-commerce .

JD.com’s mini program not only simplifies the page, but also improves the process accordingly: search for results - jump to the product details page - click Buy Now on the product details page (there is only one main button) - pay - order is successfully placed. There are no dazzling operational positions, no social functions, no personalized recommendations, and even no shopping cart. Usually, there are three types of shopping demands on e-commerce platforms: [clear purchase purpose], such as having to buy a certain model, [vague purchase purpose], such as having to buy a certain category, and [no purchase purpose], which means just browsing around. When the user's purchasing goal is very clear, shopping using the JD Mini Program will be a very comfortable experience.

On the other hand, let’s take Qingmang Magazine as an example. The native app of Qingmang Magazine is well done, but the ported version in the mini program is too complicated. The themes and contents are as numerous as the native app. Why don’t I use the native app? Native apps should not rely on WeChat's traffic to acquire a group of low-frequency users, but should separate out needs such as "clarifying purchase purpose" and provide functional satisfaction on mini-programs.

As shown above, the left picture is the Qingmang Magazine mini program, and the right picture is the Qingmang native App. At first glance, the Qingmang mini program seems to be more complicated than the native Qingmang.

3. Native low-frequency apps have no room to survive

This point has been thoroughly interpreted by various forward-looking analyses. If there is a team working on low-frequency tool apps, it is time to switch positions. Taking the mini program [My Calculator] as an example, the functions provided include general calculations, mortgages, exchange rates and salary calculations.

As mentioned above, the mini program - My Calculator, integrates some "high-frequency needs" in the low-frequency.

Although every user will use these functions several times, they cannot escape the fate of being covered in dust after use. So, what changes will mini programs bring? Take the demand for personal tax calculation as an example. In the past, a user needed to open the App store , search for the personal tax calculation app, download it, open the app, and calculate, a total of 5 steps, or open the search engine, search for personal tax calculation, and calculate, a total of 3 steps. These steps are not many in themselves, but if there are ten low-frequency requirements, a total of at least 30 steps are required, which is very inefficient.

The above are two ways to solve personal tax calculation in the past. The left picture is the App store search, and the right picture is Baidu and then jump to the personal tax calculation page.

Are these needs solved more efficiently on mini programs? Not necessarily. Even if you want to use it and leave, it still requires two or three steps. But the good thing about mini programs is that WeChat itself is quite high-frequency and does not require switching pages back and forth. At the same time, the development difficulty is low. Developers can integrate the needs and open up low-frequency functions in vertical fields. In other words, the operating cost (psychological cost) users incur when using mini programs is lower. One of the keys to whether a tool is useful or not is whether we invest too much cost in the tool itself. The platform provided by mini programs allows users to solve problems more quickly, which is the biggest advantage that developers should take advantage of.

in conclusion

The above are some thoughts I came up with after trying more than 20 mini programs. I hope they are incomplete and please feel free to criticize me if there are any shortcomings. Whether the mini program can develop well depends on whether user habits can be cultivated. This innovative feature does not inherently attract fans. Putting aside the blind praise of practitioners, solving the demand in another place does not seem to be that attractive. Only if this ecosystem can reduce the cost of users solving problems or improve the efficiency of problem solving can it truly attract and retain users for a long time.

I hope developers can create excellent mini-programs as soon as possible.

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