How to attract users through business?

Most operational work is generated with the Internet, and member operations are no exception.

Compared with traditional industries, the two positions that operations correspond to are customer service and sales, both of which are top-notch roles that attract users through business.

Newbies who don’t know how to flirt can do it one by one slowly, while experienced players who know how to play can lead users into business scenario groups to have fun.

Judging from recruitment websites, the recruitment requirements for member operations vary. Some descriptions look like customer service, and some are similar to data operations. So what are the core work indicators of member operations? Listen to what the experienced operator has to say.

1. Startups: Attract new customers

A product in its start-up phase is like a penniless teenager who wants users to be obsessed with it as soon as it is launched...either your dad is really awesome, or you are just thick-skinned and good at flirting. Before you determine the product direction, attracting new users at this moment is equivalent to helping start-ups open their eyes and see clearly whether there are pitfalls or ways forward in the market? Can we find suitable customers to work together? As the company grows, operational goals will be revised based on user feedback.

From the perspective of new customer acquisition channels , it is divided into external acquisition and self-operated product acquisition. Common external means of attracting new customers is a form of cooperation that mainly uses traffic operations in the form of Internet advertising such as SEM and SEO , supplemented by offline ground promotion , BD, WeChat influencers, and advertising behaviors such as hanging out with wealthy men. Newbies usually only need to master one or two of them, because according to the data, most companies also show a very obvious 28 principle in attracting new customers. There are only two or three types of omni -channel promotions that are truly effective in bringing in sustained and stable new customers to the company; the popularity of each form is different, and experienced people will observe the effective data feedback from each channel during the process of attracting new customers. Determine continuous channels based on data feedback, use other channels as auxiliary channels, cast a wide net and focus on achieving results.

After having a certain user base, start modeling users. Drawing user portraits is the key to operational development. User portraits are labeled portraits abstracted from user demographic information, social relationships, preferences, habits, and consumption behaviors.

The core work of building user portraits is to "label" users, and some of the labels are obtained directly based on user behavior data, and some are obtained through a series of algorithms or rule mining. The data obtained directly is easier to understand, such as the data that users actively fill in and upload on the website or APP. Some strict platforms (such as e-commerce platforms) will require users to upload their ID cards, student ID cards, driver's licenses, bank cards, etc. The accuracy of such data is higher. Therefore, there is no doubt that Alibaba and Tencent are far ahead of Baidu in the accuracy of user basic data.

The labels obtained through algorithms and data mining can be understood as follows: if a user has recently started buying maternal and child products (such as stage 1 milk powder, New Baby diapers), then we can infer whether the user is a new mother/father based on the frequency and quantity of the user's purchases, combined with the user's age and gender.

The user portrait revolves around core users. These users can bring in more users and more resources. Some companies also position them as users who can continuously contribute to cash flow and build the core competitiveness of the company.

Another common way to attract new customers is through self-operation of products or activities. For example, the 2C industry has a large target user base and a user decision-making time period, and often uses new user discounts, red envelope fission, or various forms of themed discounts, market operations and other activity planning , such as free books on WeChat Reading, Didi's new user red envelopes, and sharing red envelopes; for the 2B industry, to be honest, the old drivers have never heard of any hot spots or crashes. Basically, it is about doing a good job of brand building and public relations around users, educating the market together, and then promoting products and services with peers. Or it can be the best and latest page suitable for conversion.

In short, it is to exhaust the competitors and then wait to reap the market.

2. Born in acquisition, die in retention

After attracting new customers, it’s time to compete on product and operation skills. Novice operators only want to organize activities, put pages up, and find traffic, while experienced operators will first define the user life cycle, determine the stage of different users in the product, and use targeted strategies to extend the life cycle.

The common user life cycle is divided into four stages: entry, growth, maturity, and decline. For example, when a new project is launched, it will generally receive a lot of attention in the short term, then the traffic will drop, with a stable opening rate for some of them, and finally no one will be interested. Most Internet products cannot escape this fate. In China's more than a decade of Internet development, there have been thousands of products that have been short-lived, but there are also rare evergreens. So, what are the characteristics comparing their operations at different stages? The experienced person will help you understand the different user stages.

Step 1: Entry period

From the time a product is designed and put into production to the time it enters the testing phase when it is launched on the market, being able to solve users' core pain points and being fun and useful are essential elements.

Think back to those products that were once popular, which one didn’t bring us an interesting and enriching childhood? Whether it was Weibo, WeChat, QQ, or group buying, when they first came out, people were crazy about them, and they spread by word of mouth and quickly accumulated a huge user base.

In this process, what operations need to do is to create products or activities based on market demand and cater to user psychology. If your product is dull and not trendy enough, and you want to make money right away during the initial stage, then it is possible that your product will fail in the womb. The key is to be able to attract customers.

Step 2: Growth period

The product entry stage is usually also the product debugging stage. Once the product has been debugged correctly, it can be put on the market in large quantities and enters the growth stage. The Internet market is unpredictable. When you are still cheering for quickly attracting a large number of users, similar products will soon appear on the Internet. The most important thing at this stage is to expand services and product functions. The continuous innovation capability of products is crucial. Operations need to focus most of their efforts on the product itself, and use operational means to find directions that may lead to sustainable profits in the future.

How many of today’s Internet products are made with real money? If investors fail to see your profit direction and possibilities during the rapid growth phase, then it will be difficult to attract investment for your product. Don’t ask the old driver why he knows this, it’s all sad memories.

Step 3: Maturity

The happiest stage of operation is the maturity stage. After laying a good foundation in the early stage, this stage basically only involves consolidating existing channels and expanding new channels. Because we already have a large share in the industry and a stable customer base, we should now establish industry rules and let users dance within our own rules.

During the entry and growth stages, we need to focus on users. When we enter the mature stage, we can make users feel respected and needed through points, privileges, rules, etc. At the same time, we must reduce the platform's dependence on users to avoid the crisis of users hijacking the platform. For example, in the early days, Xiaohongshu used influencers as the core to attract new users. Since the emergence of influencers stealing pictures, Xiaohongshu has adopted the strategy of weakening influencers and strengthening content, which can also avoid falling into various crises in the mature stage.

Step 4: Decline

No product will last forever, and every product has a decline period. Member operations can only establish an early warning mechanism, extend the life cycle, and let users say goodbye later.

As the relationship between users and products enters its twilight years, it becomes particularly important to upgrade them in moderation. Take email as an example. It came into being at the very beginning of the Internet. More than ten years later, email has already entered its twilight years, but it has also become the most basic product on the Internet. Its functions are no longer limited to sending and receiving emails. We use email more often to register for new products, subscribe, etc. This is how email has a permanent life.

Of course, some products become half-dead after experiencing their glory days, and are even criticized as being old but not dead. Since ancient times, people have always treated honest elders with respect and courtesy. Isn't it the same for virtuous Internet products?

3. The first step to becoming a veteran driver is to be good at reviewing

You think that you can become a veteran by doing the above, but in fact, those are just the basic skills of membership operation. Why do some operators conduct activities to attract new customers day after day, but find it difficult to improve when they reach a bottleneck? Some operators can reach higher positions at a young age. Can the key be reviewed through data analysis ? The first step for an experienced driver is to look at the changes in data every day. These items are: next-day retention, weekly retention, and monthly retention.

• Next-day retention : Since they are all new users, we analyze the reasons for user loss based on the product’s novice guide design and new user conversion path. Through continuous modification and adjustment, we can reduce user loss and improve the next-day retention rate . Usually, if this number reaches 40%, it means that the product is excellent.
• Weekly retention : During this period of time, users usually go through a complete usage and experience cycle. If users can stay at this stage, they are likely to become more loyal users.
• Monthly retention : Usually the iteration cycle of a mobile app is 2-4 weeks for one version, so the monthly retention rate can reflect the user retention of a version. The update of a version will always affect the user experience to a certain extent, so by comparing the monthly retention rate, we can determine whether each version update has an impact on users.

User life cycle = cycle / (1-newly added retention rate within the cycle)

If the monthly retention rate of new users of a product is 70%, then it is estimated that:

Average user life cycle = 1 month / (1-70%) = 3.3 months

4. Activation has routines, not just sending, sending, sending

If you take over a product that has been operating for a long time, in addition to attracting new users, you also have a thankless job called activation.

If the first time a user uses a product is during the passionate love period, then the last time the user uses the product is when they officially announce their breakup with the product. As the operation time gets longer, more and more users enter the silent period. The huge number of silent users are like a piece of chicken ribs, which is a pity to throw away but difficult to eat.

Waking up the silent user is the process of winning your ex back and making him fall in love with you. You tell me, as an operator, do you need to know how to flirt? ! !

Keep in touch often, show your presence, and recall every detail of him/her and the product.

Commonly used methods include EDM, in-site messages, and text messages. Silent users also need to be classified:

1. There are similar replacement products;
2. Forget to use the product;
3. There are too many product bugs and the experience process is not satisfactory;
4. Simply want to take advantage of new customer discounts, no strong demand

After clearly defining the cause, we will then carry out targeted combined awakening.

1. If there are similar replacement products : Use similar products while understanding your own products to show that users still have demand. It is best to guide users to follow WeChat subscriptions or service accounts and refresh them frequently. Use auxiliary text messages to inform users of the latest activities and give away exclusive gift certificates, etc.
2. Forget to use products : There is more and more information on the Internet. Except for commonly used products, the opening and usage rate of most products is not high. It is normal to be forgotten by users. It is best to add functions such as check-in, community, and tags in the early stage of product design, increase presence through stickiness between users, and at the same time customize exclusive activities for this group of users to guide conversion, such as an exclusive gift package with a long letter of emotional communication.
3. Too many product bugs and unsatisfactory user experience : This type of user loss is a major flaw of the product. You can send text messages to inform old users of the latest version and receive exclusive discounts for old users, or just inform them of the new feature upgrades and solemnly invite them to experience them. The person who tied the bell must untie it. At the same time, old users who are still active can be rewarded with points or cash for finding bugs.
4. Simply wanting to take advantage of new customer discounts and just wanting to get discounts : This type of user usually has experienced a lot of products and is a very good dissemination user. They are also a good weather vane in the circle of friends. They can be awakened by attracting new customers, offering rebates, and big promotions.

I have been engaged in operations for five years and have gained some experience, but I have not yet become a top operations talent. Through my sharing, I hope to grow together with everyone.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media information flow

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