How to promote WeChat mini programs? What can it bring to us?

I have been chatting with many friends recently, and we often talk about mini programs. The most discussed topic is what can mini programs bring us? How to play the mini program? In this article, let’s discuss the advantages and gameplay that mini programs can bring.

Improving one's sensitivity to new technologies and new tools is an essential quality for marketers. Mini Programs can be regarded as a new tool that marketers can fully utilize, but as far as I know, most marketers at that time were not very clear about the future direction of Mini Programs. Although many friends wanted to make Mini Programs, there were still many who insisted on waiting. Since the birth of the mini program, I have maintained a relatively in-depth tracking and analysis of it. Here I would like to discuss with you what the mini program can bring to us and how we should operate and promote the mini program. This article is just a comment. I hope that the knights of the Marketing Inn can communicate and discuss together, stimulate creativity, and finally use new things to create new energy in the field they are good at.

What can mini programs bring us?

The knights are all engaged in marketing or business, what can the mini program bring to us? It undoubtedly brings us money directly or indirectly. Either it brings in traffic, brings in users, increases sales, or it increases user awareness, improves CRM processing, increases user repeat consumption frequency, and so on.

But what WeChat mini programs can bring us specifically varies in different scenarios. Below, Dongguan mini program developer Feng Chao roughly divides the mini program into the following situations where it may be able to unleash huge power.
Connecting offline and online
Integrate with self-media
Upgrading to traditional micro-business
Complementary with APP
Connecting offline and online

We often see various "Scan QR codes to download APP" in outdoor print advertisements, but in fact, because there is no WiFi outdoors and data is precious, downloading an APP requires at least 10 or 20 megabytes of data. Very few people actually scan the code to download the APP. However, since mini programs do not need to be downloaded and basic functions in the APP can be completed by scanning, it is easier to go online from offline.
The connection between online and offline is what the WeChat team wants to achieve most. Offline stores can create many consumption scenarios, which can provide WeChat with a lot of offline traffic imports. Currently, companies that have done a good job in connecting online and offline include Mobike, Aixianfeng Flash Delivery Supermarket, Poly Ruobilin Community Convenience Store, etc.

The application scenario of Mobike's mini program is that you want to use shared bicycles, and you only have Mobike bicycles with you, but there is no APP on your mobile phone. At this time, you only need to open WeChat and scan Mobike's mini program code to use Mobike. Because mini programs do not require downloading, Mobike has become one of the first beneficiaries of mini programs. The person in charge of Mobike’s product once revealed: After Mobike was connected to the mini program, the weekly usage has increased by 100%.

Aixianfeng's flash delivery mini program works through the positioning function of the mini program. When you want to buy some fresh fruits but are too lazy to go to the supermarket or are not sure if there is a fresh food store nearby, you can open the WeChat mini program to search for fresh food. At this time, the fresh food you want to buy will be searched based on geographic positioning and keyword searches. There is no need to download the APP or even follow the official account. Whatever you want is at your fingertips. Based on this scenario, the data of Mingxiang Network Mini Program is as follows:

The Zorbia convenience store mini program is designed to address the pain point of long queues during peak shopping hours. All products in the store are connected to the mini program through QR codes. Customers only need to scan the QR code through the WeChat mini program before putting the product in the shopping cart to complete the payment, without having to queue up to check out. The shiny data is as follows:

In addition to the three relatively successful cases mentioned above, the reservation consumption scenario represented by ordering food is also very consistent with the characteristics of the mini program. This is also the scenario that Zhang Xiaolong cites most as an example.

For example: If I want to eat but am too lazy to go to a restaurant, I can open the WeChat mini program and search, and the surrounding restaurants will appear on my screen. I can choose one of my favorites and order takeout to enjoy a delicious meal. Another example: I want to eat at a restaurant with delicious food, but it usually takes an hour to queue, and I don’t want to queue, so I can open the WeChat mini program and enter the store to place an order, and I can know more accurately how long I have to wait before I can eat at the store. Another example: I went to a restaurant to eat, but there was no waiter in the restaurant, but there was a prompt saying that I could complete the order by scanning the mini program QR code on the table, so I scanned the QR code, and the menu appeared in an orderly manner on my mobile phone screen. I ordered my favorite dish and took the opportunity to take a look at the recipe, nutritional ingredients, cooking methods, etc. of the dish. The dish was served very quickly, and I was very satisfied.

In addition to ordering food, mini programs can also be used in many in-store consumption scenarios such as hotels, KTVs, cinemas, milk tea shops, etc. I can even place an order for the products I want to buy on the way to the store. The store staff will pack my ordered products and I only need to pick them up in the store. It would be even better if the goods can be delivered to my door. In short, using mini programs to connect online and offline will be one of the primary development directions of mini programs in the future, and it can also bring huge traffic to WeChat. At least from now on, WeChat officials are promoting this development direction.
Integration with self-media The self-media here mainly refers to self-media based on WeChat official accounts. Judging from the series of new functions launched by WeChat in April, official accounts and mini-programs have become inseparable. Not only can the official accounts be bundled with 13 mini-programs, but more importantly, the mini-programs can be directly pasted into WeChat texts and pictures using the mini-program codes, and can be directly inserted into the “mini-program page” into WeChat texts and pictures.

What is the effect of such a combination?

The purpose of combining WeChat mini programs with self-media is to help self-media realize profits. How to cash in? Let's first understand why it is difficult for subscription accounts to monetize. According to statistics, nearly 90% of self-media's revenue comes from advertising, and e-commerce revenue accounts for only about 10%. Some time ago, Pechoin had such excellent copywriting but the sales conversion rate was unfortunately low, not to mention the help of general text and picture information to the sales conversion rate. Why is it difficult to do e-commerce with subscription accounts? The key is that it is difficult to connect the store or product with the subscription account content. Compared to WeChat stores that can only be set up in the menu bar, mini programs can be directly inserted into articles in the form of mini program pages, and the products you want to promote can be directly set as mini program pages. With pictures and details, clicking on the mini program can constitute a purchase. As long as your article copywriting is well-written, it is easy to generate rational consumption of users, which will greatly improve sales conversion. Moreover, in the past, for personal subscription accounts, the purchase link could only be placed in "Read the original text" (because personal accounts cannot be authenticated by WeChat, cannot link to external links, and cannot conduct business), but with the mini program subscription account, it can be bound to the authenticated mini program, and can also be directly monetized through e-commerce. The combination of WeChat mini-programs and official accounts will greatly unleash the power of official accounts, especially subscription accounts and self-media. Those who run their own media should make good use of mini programs.

Sellers who want to upgrade traditional e-commerce and do WeChat business, Taobao, JD.com, or Tmall should study mini programs carefully. It is not certain who the mini program stores can overthrow or replace, but at least the mini program stores can supplement and upgrade traditional e-commerce. From the two points of "connecting online and offline" and "integrating with self-media" mentioned above, we can see that mini programs have strong business characteristics. Whether it is buying things in physical stores or rational consumption on official accounts, mini programs carry the business of products, that is, e-commerce characteristics. Moreover, based on the above two points, once users form the habit of using mini programs on WeChat, the traffic inlet will be very huge. For example, one day in the future, when I want to buy something, in addition to thinking of Taobao and JD.com, I also want to search on the mini program to see if there are such stores nearby. The WeChat mini program will definitely divert traffic from traditional e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com.

For micro-businesses, WeChat mini-program stores are much more standardized. Mini-programs with business functions must be certified, and certification requires a business license. In addition, the products listed on the mini-program must be consistent with the business scope on the business license. Therefore, the products on WeChat mini-programs are more reliable than those on micro-businesses and Taobao, and can gain more user trust.

So, how to upgrade traditional e-commerce?

For pure e-commerce companies without physical stores, whether they are WeChat merchants, Taobao merchants, JD.com, or Tmall merchants, it is recommended to allocate a small part of their energy to run mini program stores, and running mini program stores must be done in conjunction with official accounts. In addition to using official accounts to obtain traffic, you can also forward it to friends and groups, share it with friends circles and other internal WeChat communities through mini-programs embedded in WeChat texts and pictures; you can also obtain traffic through various online channels with traffic, and scan codes for traffic in offline related scenarios, etc.

Moreover, based on the keyword search capabilities of mini programs, the earlier a mini program is launched, the greater the possibility of being searched.

Complementary with APP

WeChat mini programs are unlikely to replace apps, but at least 80% of apps will use mini programs to complement each other. For example, JD.com, 58.com, Meituan and other channel-type apps have all developed mini programs to complement their apps.

What are the advantages of APP over mini programs?
The data is completely in your own hands
More powerful functions
There is no risk of being controlled by Tencent
The application path is shorter (the proportion of Android phone users who add mini-apps to their desktops is very low)
What are the advantages of WeChat mini programs over APPs?
No download required, no memory usage
Low production and promotion costs
There are no ads, users understand well

Because APP and mini-programs each have their advantages and disadvantages, most larger companies will choose to rely on both APP and mini-programs. For example, giant APPs such as WeChat, Alipay, UC Browser, Taobao, and Baidu Search will not use mini-programs. Of course, there are also commercial competition reasons that cause some APPs not to use WeChat's mini-programs. In addition, some physical stores may only use mini-programs and will not make their own APPs.
In short, it is more suitable for small and medium-sized businesses with weak strength to develop mini programs.

Summarize
That’s all we have to say for now in this article. There is no doubt that mini programs can bring real money to us marketers, but the key lies in how to use mini programs appropriately in combination with your own product consumption scenarios. In general, mini programs can bring us a wave of business opportunities in the following four aspects:
Connecting offline and online
Integrate with self-media
Upgrading to traditional e-commerce
Complementary with APP
Based on these four aspects and the work we are doing, we can deeply consider how our business can be integrated with mini programs, and hope that we can make some money from it.