Talk about the methodology of user operation

In user operation , user operation is the way to get closest to users. It is also to understand users through various operation methods, so as to achieve the maximum value of operation and realize user conversion. There are many ways in user operation, such as membership, points, etc.

1. My understanding of user operations

In the past few years, I have been engaged in work related to user operations. I have accumulated some operation methodologies in my work, so I would like to discuss them with you through this article.

First of all, it should be clear that this article does not involve detailed practical cases for a certain operation method, because there are already many tutorials of this type. Here I mainly want to communicate with you about the underlying logic and framework system of user operations.

My understanding of user operation is to guide and incentivize user behavior through reasonable resource allocation, so as to increase the number of users and user value of the platform; for two-sided Internet platforms, the users here not only refer to C-end users, but also apply to B-end users.

Speaking of users, we have to mention the AARRR model. AARRR corresponds to the acquisition, activation, retention, revenue and referral of a product.

Corresponding to the work of user operation, it usually includes two major modules: user acquisition and user activation and retention. This article talks more about the part of user activation and retention.

2. Classification of User Operations

Simply put, user operations are divided into two categories, namely small-scale user operations and large-scale user operations; small-scale user operations are mainly carried out through a one-to-many approach by operators, and are usually suitable for a small number of high-value users. Because the number is small enough and the value is high enough, operators can be more efficient through direct communication; while operations for large-scale users require formulating rules and establishing systems to communicate with users and maintain the healthy operation of users on the platform.

Think about why a country formulates and promulgates various policies. It is to maintain the healthy operation of society and continuously enhance the country's competitiveness. The same principle applies to Internet platforms.

3. The underlying logic of user operations

1. Make friends with users

The first principle of user operation is always to discover and understand user needs from the user's perspective, and at the same time to analyze and meet needs from a higher perspective than the user; only by making friends with users and communicating with users can you discover user needs, and then have the opportunity to better meet user needs.

In the words of our party, it means going deep into the masses and listening to their voices.

2. Data-driven

With the development of business today, the importance of data is self-evident. During the entire process of user operations, it is necessary to continuously use data to monitor goals, discover problems, verify assumptions, and assist in decision-making.

In addition to mastering basic data analysis skills, it is more important for operators to be able to understand and interpret data, but at the same time be able to detach from the data and not be deceived by it.

3. Refined operations based on stratification and classification

User stratification and classification operations are the core of refined operations. Faced with a huge user base, it is difficult to drive users with the same strategy; therefore, it is necessary to combine resources, appropriately stratify and classify users, and on this basis, formulate differentiated strategies to motivate user behavior, and establish paths to guide and educate users to achieve the transformation of users from low-value to high-value.

The difference between behavioral motivation and guided education is that behavioral motivation is to guide a certain behavior of the user to trigger it, but it does not necessarily improve the user's ability; while guided education focuses on improving the user's ability, enabling them to possess certain abilities and spontaneously perform certain behaviors. Relatively speaking, the cycle is longer.

Of course, user growth is mostly combined with behavioral incentives.

4. Productization of operation mechanism

The large-scale user base inevitably means that operations staff cannot conduct one-on-one communication with each user. By productizing the operation mechanism, it is possible to accurately reach different users, so as to guide and motivate user behavior. Many times, the problem is not in the strategy formulated by the operations staff, but in the reach layer of the strategy.

4. User Operation System

Before we begin, let's first clarify the difference between system and system. Baidu Encyclopedia explains system as a whole composed of things within a certain range or of the same type according to a certain order and internal connections. It is a system composed of different systems.

Regarding systems, scientist Qian Xuesen believes that a system is an organic whole with specific functions, which is composed of a number of interacting and interdependent components, and this organic whole is also a component of the larger system to which it belongs.

If this theory is applied, the user operation system is composed of a user stratification system and a user growth system, with user incentives as the underlying system, and the goal is to increase the number of users and user value of the platform.

1. User Tier System

Classification is an effective way to solve problems. By properly classifying the problems and looking for solutions to similar problems in the past, the answers to the problems will become obvious. For user operations, hierarchical classification is the most basic work.

There is a subtle difference between stratification and classification. Stratification is a vertical structure. Users at different levels have a progressive relationship and the same user will not belong to two levels. Classification, on the other hand, divides users into different types. The same user can have different types of intersections. What we often call user portraits is to label users with classification labels of various dimensions in order to better understand them. Classification can also have the characteristics of a stratified vertical structure.

The purpose of user classification is to distinguish users with different characteristics in order to formulate differentiated strategies based on these characteristics; and the essence of user stratification is value stratification. Only by dividing users into low-value and high-value can we build a user growth path and realize the transformation of low-value users into high-value users.

It should also be emphasized that stratification and classification are only a means, and the ultimate goal is to increase user scale and user value.

1) Common user stratification models

Pyramid Model:

The pyramid model is actually a vertical structure that divides users according to a certain user value indicator. This allows us to formulate different strategies for users at different levels and establish paths to convert low-value users into high-value users.

A typical case is that content platforms divide creators into levels based on the number of their fans and carry out tiered operations.

Exponential Model:

The exponential hierarchical model is suitable for situations where there are many indicators that determine user value, often more than 4.

The index model first needs to determine the indicators for measuring user value, then assign different weights to each indicator, and finally calculate the index values ​​of different users, and then formulate different strategies for users with different index values. A typical case is the index system of the early Toutiao App Toutiao account.

2) Common user classification models

Life cycle model:

The user life cycle is divided into five stages according to the stage of the user on the platform: introduction, growth, maturity, silence, and churn. After stratification, it is necessary to establish growth paths for users at different stages, so that users in the introduction and growth stages can gradually move towards the maturity stage. Users in the silent period need to be awakened and a churn warning mechanism needs to be established to improve user retention. Users who enter the churn period need to be re-reached and recalled.

Boston Matrix Model:

The Boston Consulting Group established a two-dimensional rectangular coordinate system with relative market share as the horizontal axis and sales growth rate as the vertical axis. It divided the company's business into star business, problem business, cash cow business and dog business, and formulated strategic countermeasures for the corresponding business. This classification method can be used in user stratification.

RFM Model

The RFM model is often used in user stratification in e-commerce. It establishes a three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system through three indicators: Recency: the time interval between the last purchase, Frequency: the frequency of purchases within a period of time, and Monetary: the consumption amount. Each indicator can be divided into 2 levels, so users are divided into 8 categories in total, and different strategies are formulated for each category of users.

Having talked about so many models, I always want to emphasize that any model has its limitations. We cannot blindly believe that the model is omnipotent, and we cannot apply it mechanically.

In the actual operation process, the specific stratification and classification method to be chosen needs to be combined with actual conditions such as resources and industry characteristics, and must always focus on the goal of increasing user scale and value. This only provides one approach.

2. User Growth System

The user growth system achieves the conversion of low-value users into high-value users by establishing a user growth path, and mainly serves the user's activity and retention indicators.

Common user growth systems include user level systems, membership systems, and points systems; these systems are usually bound to key user behaviors to enhance user value by guiding user behavior.

1) Level system

The purpose of the grading system is to help users grow by guiding them to complete designated behaviors, gradually elevating users from the introduction stage and growth stage to the mature stage, which is reflected in data indicators as improved user activity and retention.

The rating system has the following characteristics:

• The level system guides users to gain experience points by completing designated behaviors. Different experience points correspond to different levels, and different levels correspond to different rights and interests. As the level increases, the rights and interests become increasingly scarce or precious.
• Generally, the number of user levels should not exceed 15, because too many levels will make users feel that it is difficult to achieve, and then give up level upgrade;
• Levels are usually combined with experience points because users' key behaviors often include persistent behaviors, such as daily logins. Continuous behavior can better reduce the user level by converting it into numerical values; and the experience value is generally in a power function relationship with the level, that is, as the level increases, more and more experience points are required; because resources are limited, high-quality resources must be tilted towards a small number of high-value users.
• Levels are often irreversible because the growth of users on the platform is an established fact, and the benefits of the level system are relatively inexpensive.

（bilibili user level）

2) Membership system

The membership system is usually associated with payment, and its core purpose is to enhance the value of paying users, including the activity and retention indicators of paying users.

Membership systems can be roughly divided into two categories. One is bound to the user's key behaviors. Its essence is a growth system for paying users. It is slightly different from the level system. The most representative one is Tencent Video membership. The other is not bound to the user's key behaviors. It only provides rights and interests. It is more common on e-commerce platforms. The most representative one is Alibaba's 88VIP.

The following is an explanation of the two different types of members:

Membership system tied to key user behaviors - Tencent Video Membership:

This type of membership system has the following differences compared to the level system: the levels of the membership system are often up and down. Firstly, the level benefits of the membership system are distributed on a cyclical basis and are more expensive than the level system; secondly, the regression of levels can create negative incentives for users. The rest of the features are similar to the grade system.

(Tencent Video User Growth System)

A membership system that is not bound to key user behaviors - Ali 88VIP:

Only users with a Taobao value of 1,000 or above can activate Ali 88VIP at a price of 88 yuan per year. Its essence is to screen users, filter out high-value users, and then provide services with a seemingly relatively low membership fee and high-value rights and interests.

The core reasons are as follows:

• Better service can improve the retention of high-value users;
• A considerable part of 88VIP benefits are brand discounts, which can promote consumption and enhance user value. And it is very likely that the cost of this part of the discount benefits will be borne by the brand, and the brand may even need to pay extra to buy traffic on top of the discount.
• 88VIP’s benefits include various partners inside and outside the Alibaba system, and they can conduct traffic exchange;
• 88VIP is strongly bound to Taobao Value. Taobao Value itself is a user growth system, and 88VIP has become the core benefit of Taobao Value, thereby enhancing user value.

(Ali 88VIP member)

In general, a membership system that is not tied to a user's key behaviors is suitable for e-commerce platforms, because the value of users on e-commerce platforms is reflected in the amount of consumption, and the brand discount rights included in their membership rights can promote user consumption.

In other words, the key user behavior on e-commerce platforms is purchasing, so there is no need to bind it to other behaviors; while for non-e-commerce platforms, the improvement of user value often requires users to perform multiple key actions, so it is necessary to set up a hierarchy and bind it to the user's key behaviors.

3) Points system

The points system mentioned here actually refers to the product's currency system. The main form is to guide users to obtain points by completing specified behaviors. The points can be exchanged for cash or other rights at a certain rate, such as Kuaishou's points system.

The points system requires the following considerations:

• Not all products need a points system. This is usually because the product itself is not valuable or attractive enough to users, and additional incentives are needed to increase user activity and retention.
• Not all users need a points system. The points system mainly solves the problem of user activity and retention. For a user who is already very active or not sensitive to points, the points system will only interfere with the user and make it easier for the user to churn. For example, Kuaishou's points system is a kind of interference to me.
• Points are actually currency, and currency inevitably involves exchange rates and inflation issues. Exchange rates must be strictly considered at the beginning of the design to prevent ROI from getting out of control;
• Selection of key user behaviors and value conversion. Key user behaviors are usually divided into one-time and continuous. One-time behaviors usually have a certain impact on user retention after the behavior is completed. For example, users with complete profiles in social products are more likely to be retained. For continuous behaviors, the daily score limit needs to be controlled; at the same time, reasonable value conversion needs to be made according to the difficulty and importance of the behavior;
• Points usually attract sensitive users, so the progress of behavioral tasks needs to reach users in real time to form a closed loop of perception.

(Kuaishou Points System)

3. Common user incentives

Incentives are the foundation of the entire user operation system. The reason why user incentives are called the foundation rather than the system is because user stratification and user growth will ultimately be combined with user incentives.

Common means of user incentives include rankings, medals, titles, remuneration, material benefits, etc.; of course, these are superficial. To further explore user incentives, we can combine the theories of the two books "Addicted" and "Gamification in Action". We will discuss this with you further later.

V. Conclusion

In general, a C-end user growth system is not a must for a product, because product retention problems often cannot be solved through a growth system, and even if they are solved, they are only temporary.

A user growth system for the B-side is often necessary, such as those for merchants and creators, because it is necessary to establish a growth path to enhance the capabilities of corresponding B-side users. A user stratification system is indispensable whether it is for the C-side or the B-side.

Author: Who am I

Source: Who am I