Golden rules for creating hit products for new consumer brands

For a long time, many people have had certain misunderstandings about the concept of "hot products", thinking that a product can be called a "hot product" if it has high sales volume. In fact, if a hot-selling product does not have its own competitive barriers and product barriers, it will not be able to sustain a company, let alone become a true "hot product."

So, how can we create a truly popular product? What requirements do hot-selling products need to meet?

In this regard, Mr. Wang Jingqiu, former head of Alibaba's Southwest Operations and founder of New Species Consulting, shared with everyone in the live broadcast room of Mantou Business School the three golden rules for creating explosive products from three aspects: vertical category segmentation, product strength building, and operational promotion methods .

1. Sufficiently vertical sub-categories

What is considered a sufficiently vertical niche?

WonderLab, a new meal replacement consumer brand established in 2019, achieved sales of 60 million in its first year, becoming the No. 1 new meal replacement consumer brand.

After Double 11 last year, monthly sales increased by 5 times, and overall revenue increased very rapidly.

In addition, WonderLab also collaborated with Heytea, appeared in Wei Ya’s live broadcast room, and then swept the screens of Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Weibo.

One of the factors behind its success is that WonderLab has found a sufficiently vertical niche category. Its flagship milk tea flavored meal replacement shake is a sub-category in the meal replacement product field.

Moreover, WonderLab targets a very precise consumer group. Compared with the general "post-90s young people", WonderLab's target users are young women born after 1995 who want to lose weight by eating meal replacements but cannot resist the temptation of milk tea.

When a brand is able to find such a vertically segmented category and a precise user group, it becomes clear how the product should be made.

So, how can brands find niche categories that are vertical enough?

My suggestion is to deeply explore product scenarios and design differentiated product pricing . Differentiated product functional performance should be considered comprehensively from three aspects.

1. Scenario-based experience

First of all, we need to clarify the target user group of the product and the scenarios in which the user group will use the product.

After clarifying the user group and the usage scenarios of the "product", the next step is to determine the five elements in the scenario : Who, When, Where, Do, and How.

The five elements correspond to the product's usage scenarios, namely: who, when, where, what, and how to do it? Based on these five elements, we design solutions for corresponding scenarios.

How to verify whether the solution is what users really need? You can use the following scenario self-checklist to determine:

In addition, I think it is also necessary to comprehensively judge whether to adopt a certain solution in a certain scenario based on the actual business situation, the intensity of competition in the industry, the execution resources available, etc.

2. Differentiated prices

To design differentiated prices, brands must first target price gaps in the market. With the same performance, make the price of your products within a range that is easy for users to afford.

Santonban, a new coffee consumer brand, has targeted the blank price segment in the coffee market. It has found its own price positioning between Nestlé and Starbucks, and set the unit price of its products between 5 and 10 yuan. However, the taste of Santonban coffee is slightly better than the coffee sold at convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and FamilyMart for around 10 yuan.

Therefore, for Santonban’s target users, it is easier to place an order at this price.

3. Differentiated product functions and performance

Pop Mart, which went public in Hong Kong this year, has been a popular brand that has been loved by young people in the past two years. Pop Mart’s stores can be seen in many shopping malls.

For Pop Mart, the initial product design had many directions. Someone once suggested to Pop Mart’s CEO that the Molly in the blind box should be designed into the shape of a USB flash drive, or the blind box should be designed into a ring box, etc.

But the CEO of Pop Mart adopted a reverse thinking approach to create product ideas . He doesn't think about what users want, but what users don't want. Users may need a USB drive or a ring box, but they can have 10 blind boxes at home but not 10 ring boxes. Therefore, Pop Mart’s blind box is not built in these two directions.

This is a typical example of using reverse thinking to create differentiated product functions and performance.

2. Create the ultimate product strength

The second step in creating a hit product is to build the ultimate product strength. We can start from four aspects: creating user experience, design is justice, users are a combination of needs, and users are an integral part of the product.

1. User experience creation

Creating user experience, that is, quantitatively managing user experience , is mainly divided into three directions: system delivery of experience, transcendence of experience, and creation of peak experience.

(1) System delivery of experience

The experience is actually delivered as a whole system, which can be divided into multiple levels and multiple links. Taking our live class as an example, the experience can be divided into three levels: core experience, sub-core experience, and peripheral experience. These three experiences can be divided into multiple links, as shown in the following figure:

You will find that this experience is divided into three levels and various links, including before sharing, during sharing and after sharing, so the experience is actually a systematic delivery process.

If we want to deliver this experience well, we need to sort out each link of the user experience, which is the critical path. Then identify the key touchpoints in the path and create a systematic experience with a path and priorities. At the same time, it should be noted that, precisely because the experience is divided into multiple levels, we need to focus our efforts, resources and energy on the most core experience, rather than applying evenly distributed efforts at each level.

(2) Transcendence of Experience

The transcendence of experience is composed of a sense of surprise, a scale that can be covered, and a speed of iteration .

When it comes to the transcendence of experience, I will take the example of Haidilao, a brand that everyone is very familiar with. Ten years ago, a story about Haidilao was circulating on Weibo.

It is said that a couple went to Haidilao to eat. As the watermelon was free, the customers took the watermelon but did not finish it. So they asked the Haidilao waiter if he could pack it up for them.

Then the waiter resolutely refused him and said no, the watermelon has been stored for a long time and is no longer fresh. Let me pack a whole watermelon for you.

This is the story of how Haidilao served the general public 10 years ago.

Last year I saw a new joke on Weibo. It is said that a man went to Haidilao to eat with his friends. While waiting, he heard some noise coming from across the street. Then he stood up slightly and wanted to see what was happening across the street.

At this time, a waiter from Haidilao came over with a plate of watermelon and said, "Eat your watermelon first. We have sent a waiter to help you find out what happened."

You probably won’t find the above “sexy” operations anywhere else. It can be said that Haidilao has continuously surpassed the experience of the spectators, with new surprises, coverage scale, and iteration speed .

If we want to achieve transcendence of experience, there are actually only two conditions:

The first is that the quality of your talents is good enough ; the second is to have a good mechanism to ensure that talents are willing to stay here and continuously create good experiences. Haidilao is such a typical case.

According to the financial report, compared with catering companies of the same size such as Xiabu Xiabu, KFC and Pizza Hut, Haidilao's labor costs are the highest among all companies . It spends the most manpower cost to hire the most dedicated people, and then spends the most manpower cost to motivate such people.

We all know some of Haidilao's systems. For example, every waiter has the authority to give a free dish to customers. If an apprentice brought up by an old employee goes to another store and creates good results, the old employee can get a commission, etc.

It has a series of rules and regulations to ensure that every employee will think about how to improve user experience and ensure that every employee can implement it in place.

(3) Creating Peak Experience

Let’s talk about how to create the peak experience. The so-called peak experience is the most enjoyable feeling that the user achieves at a certain moment.

How to design peak experience?

Here are a few examples of how I’ve created peak experiences at work. After each one-on-one consultation, I will compile a mind map and send it to the person who came for consultation. The other party will be surprised after seeing the mind map.

He was surprised that I was able to come up with a mind map for him based on his business characteristics in such a short time. So the moment he got the mind map was the peak of the experience.

I once taught a large offline course that lasted for 6 months. During the last training course, I was thinking about how to give the trainees a peak experience.

At that time, I prepared a trophy for each student, with the award + name engraved on the trophy, such as the most learning-capable student so-and-so, the most empathetic student so-and-so, and then I awarded the trophy to the student. The students were very excited after receiving the trophy.

When I was doing offline activities before, I would also make a deliberate design.

Our activity has about four processes. For each process, I will ask the photographer to take three pictures for each person, so that each user will have 12 beautiful photos.

Because this is an activity with many people participating, and users can receive 12 photos centered on themselves, so they can collect 9 photos in total and post them on their Moments when they are happiest, thus promoting our brand.

Therefore, it is also very important to create the peak experience.

Regarding user experience creation, I would like to emphasize again that there is no need for us to make every aspect of the enterprise and all links of the entire system perfect. The cost of doing so is simply too high.

We just need to do the key links well and be slightly better than our competitors.

2. Design is justice

Next, let’s talk about design as justice. How can we create more value through design and convert users at first sight? The first thing that needs to be made clear is that we should not just pursue an empty appearance, but an appearance with performance.

For example, the Coca-Cola cup in the upper left corner of the picture below is a sharing cup for two people, which can be twisted together or separated for two people to share; the lower left corner is a carrot shape with oranges inside, which is also very cute; in the middle is an oven-shaped packaging box for biscuits...

These designs are not only beautiful, they also convey practical performance. So how do you create a high-end design? We can make breakthroughs in five directions: overall beauty, compassion, creativity, metaphor and recognizability.

(1) Overall beauty

Beauty can be planned . Everyone knows that "beauty lies in bones, not in skin". A beauty is distinguished by her three parts of the face and five parts of the eyes.

Therefore, women will make plans when putting on makeup, such as making their brows higher and the tails of their eyes longer, etc., in order to make them look more beautiful overall.

Therefore, beauty itself can be planned and has rules to follow . Therefore, when we design a product, we need to take comprehensive considerations and plan its overall appearance from a macro perspective.

(2) Sympathy

Compassion means that I use my body to perceive your heart . Let me give you a simple example.

During the epidemic in the first half of the year, I ordered takeout hot pot many times, but there was only one takeout hot pot that left a deep impression on me. I think this store is very smart and really understands the customer's psychology.

Nowadays, many takeouts are packed in plastic bags, but the bags of this takeout hot pot restaurant are not. Not only are its bags of great quality, they are also very large, and the logo on them is very obvious.

What is the cost difference between the two packaging? It may be the difference between the cost of one dollar and the cost of ten cents. Such a difference is almost negligible.

At that time, many people around me didn’t know that they could order takeout hotpot. They only found out after I posted it on WeChat Moments. The photos in my WeChat Moments might have the name of this brand on them. This actually served as a publicity stunt.

In addition, many residents in my community will go to the community gate to pick up their meals. If they see such a large logo displayed there, they will easily and naturally think of whether they can also order a takeaway hot pot. This leaves an impression on people invisibly.

So this store made "compassion" part of its product portfolio through in-depth observation.

(3) Creativity

There are several creative design methods. The first is to extend the function , which is more common in our daily life.

In the upper left corner of the picture below is a jar of honey. The packaging of the honey is made of relatively hard beeswax. After eating the honey, you can turn the honey jar upside down with a wick on top, and it becomes a very creative candle.

The one on the lower left looks like a woodpecker, but it's actually a shoe box. The shoelaces grow out of the bird's nostrils, which is very cute, just like it is holding a small insect in its mouth, and it is also an extension of its function.

Another creative design method is to show the specific usage process.

For example, when designing the champagne in the picture above, its usage was taken into consideration. There may be a usage scenario where the wine will be given to a friend as a gift, so a layer of paper was added on the outside as a gift package.

In fact, there are many creative design methods, and you can pay more attention to them in your daily life.

(4) Metaphor

If you want to create a high-end design, metaphor is a very good carrier that can trigger imagination . So what are some ways to convey metaphors?

One is to give a story related to the brand. Many high-end brands have brand stories behind them.

For example, LV suitcases sank to the bottom of the sea during the Titanic sinking. A hundred years later, the suitcase was salvaged and when it was opened, not a drop of water was found inside. Such a brand story conveys a metaphor, telling you that my box is of very good quality.

The metaphor of a brand may also correspond to some positive implications or some aesthetic value choices. For example, Steve Jobs’ design concept for Apple incorporates aesthetic values ​​related to Zen.

In addition, it is also very important for metaphors to be consistent throughout the entire chain . What does consistency throughout the entire chain mean? It is your brand metaphor, which can be reflected in the process of employees serving users and every link when the product is presented to users.

(5) Identifiability

The design should reflect a strong recognizability, so that as soon as we see it, we know what brand it is and what it does .

For example, the domestic beverage "Genki Forest" that has become popular in the past two years has a product design style that follows the Japanese fresh and clean style. It is highly recognizable and can be recognized by consumers at a glance.

For example, Heytea’s logo design is a little man with minimalist lines and a classic pose of drinking cheese tea, which is also clearly recognizable among new consumer brands.

3. Users are a combination of needs

What is a user? Take WeChat as an example. As the most commonly used social tool, if WeChat did not have Moments and WeChat Pay, would it still be the WeChat it is today? Its user base may still be 1.2 billion, but the services it can provide will be greatly reduced.

So at this level, users are not just users, but a combination of needs.

User needs include the following three aspects :

First of all, when users are individuals, when we create products, we actually create a variety of functions within the budget that users can afford to maximize their satisfaction of various needs .

Secondly, users are in social relationships, and the products we provide must be able to become the social currency of users .

Because users are not independent individuals, they are people in relationships, so we also need to consider whether users are willing to post our products to their friends or forward them to their friends.

Finally, the user is still an imagined self, and he also has the need to transcend classes .

Everyone has some expectations and aspirations, and even if their income is not high, they will want to buy luxury goods. This is also why the variety show "A Longing for Life" can resonate with users, because the audience also has a strong desire for freedom, health and beauty.

Therefore, when creating a product, in addition to considering product functions, price and user experience, whether it can satisfy the user's imagined self is also a key focus.

4. Users are part of the product

The last element in creating the ultimate product power—users are the integral part of the product .

With the advancement of technology, we find that products are not entirely composed of product design.

For example, the videos on Bilibili appear to be produced by up-loaders, but in fact, it is the barrage + up-loader content that together constitute the Bilibili product.

Barrage is generated by users. When barrage becomes an integral part of Bilibili's products, its chances of becoming a hit product will greatly increase.

There are actually many ways for users to become part of a product. For example, you can print the pattern designed online onto a scarf with just one click; you can print a scannable pattern on a bag and scan it with your phone to see part of an interactive game.

You can even put up a billboard with a tree trunk painted on it on the side of the road, and put green paint next to it, so that passers-by can paint branches and leaves on the tree. This is also a way to make users a part of the product. Because they are involved, they are more willing to spread the message actively.

3. Find the most efficient operation and promotion method

The third key point to creating a hit product is how to find the most efficient operation and promotion method , which is also divided into three parts:

1. Build a good infrastructure for traffic reception

Bosses who lack systematic thinking often ask, how to get some traffic?

However, he has never thought about it carefully. Without online carriers such as official accounts, communities, and Taobao stores, how can he handle the influx of large amounts of traffic? If even a single transaction is not completed, users will quickly leave, not to mention the subsequent repurchase process.

Therefore, we must build infrastructure that can handle the traffic. How to build infrastructure?

The funnel model that everyone is familiar with is no longer applicable. Now user sources and conversions are more in line with the butterfly model shown in the figure below.

Traffic may flow in from multiple platforms such as short video platforms, Xiaohongshu, Toutiao, Weibo, etc., and then be converted into transactions, deposited into the private traffic pool, and become a retained user.

Next, for these retained users, we can use a series of operational methods, such as repeat purchase coupons, membership systems, etc., to encourage users to repurchase and increase purchases, and then encourage them to share, so as to generate more users by having old users bring in new ones.

Only after thinking clearly about the series of processes such as transaction, repeat purchase, new customer acquisition and fission , and then taking over the upstream traffic, can you achieve twice the result with half the effort.

2. Take a ride and find hidden bonuses

In fact, traffic has a hidden bonus called IP. But the hidden bonus is not the IP itself, but the maximization of IP utility. The core of IP has been changing. In the past, it was stars and celebrities, but now it may be KOLs, comics, and animations.

How to maximize the effectiveness of IP? We can start from 3 points:

(1) IP Cooperation

Many brands are now using IP cooperation and cross-border marketing. For example, the milk tea shop Heytea is a leader in IP cooperation.

Because milk tea has become a super red ocean, if new brands want to gain attention, leveraging the power of IP and engaging in brand co-branding is an effective way . This is a common way of cooperation between us.

As we mentioned earlier, KOL is actually a kind of IP, so more and more brands choose to cooperate with KOL.

So how do we tap into some hidden benefits in our collaboration with IP?

First of all, we can have deeper and longer-term cooperation with IP . Because of this, he will have a deeper understanding of your products and services, and will recommend your products to other users from the bottom of his heart.

Secondly, the cooperation with IP should have multiple touchpoints.

For example, you invite a KOL to promote an event. Then, the whole cooperation process can be as follows:

Step 1: Before the event starts, ask KOLs to do research in their WeChat Moments to find out which groups of people are interested in the event and what products they want to purchase in the near future.
Step 2: One or two days before the event, make a product discount announcement.
Step 3: On the day of the event launch, send a notification to announce the launch of the event;
Step 4. After the event is over, make a review and summary, such as how many people participated in the event, how many people purchased, and what everyone’s feedback was.

This creates multi-touchpoint interactions between KOLs and fans , and also allows your brand to reap hidden benefits and ride on the coattails of this IP collaboration.

(2) Short videos and live broadcasts

When making short videos and live broadcasts, the first thing to think about is how to monetize . The second thing to think about is how to retain users after they come . For example, how to add them to your WeChat, how to join your community, where to retain them, a public account, a community, or something else.

The third is the positioning of the account . If the account positioning keeps changing, then your labels in the Douyin system may also be confusing. Tik Tok will mistakenly think that you are posting short videos in the same way as posting to Moments, rather than standing from the perspective of an operator, and the traffic support it provides to you will decrease.

3. Make a complete statistics of the input-output ratio of the product

Finally, we need to sort out the costs and benefits of both parties when merchants sell products to users.

Here I would like to focus on explaining the user benefits. The first is new experience minus old experience.

It means that when a user uses your product, his benefit is the difference between the freshness brought by using your product and the old experience he had in the past when using other people's products. This difference is his core benefit.

The second is social currency. The social currency that a user can obtain by using your product and sharing it with others.

As for merchants, many of them only focus on users' single order purchases, which is actually short-sighted. Now, if all industries want to survive better in the economic cycle, they need to focus on long-term returns and long-term growth and have a stronger spirit of long-termism.

Therefore, the merchant’s profits include not only the profits from the current order purchase, but also the profits from the user’s entire life cycle, and the profits from the user’s help in spreading and forwarding the information.

Author: Mantou Business School

Source: Mantou Business School