Analysis of NetEase Snail Product Operations

With the continuous development of the cultural and entertainment consumption market, reading products are also constantly being innovated. The author of this article shares the analysis document of NetEase Wugu products, and conducts a specific analysis from two aspects: the current status of the industry and the product positioning function.

Product analysis document:

• Application version: V1.9.30;
• Experience device: Honor 9X HLK-AL00;
• Experience system: HarmonyOS 2.0.0;
• Experience time: 2022-04-15;
• Purpose of the survey: To provide reference for the community development of “WeChat Reading” by investigating “NetEase Wugou Reading”. This article focuses on community-related functions, such as leading readers and finding people to read with.

1. Industry Status

1. Overall development of the industry

1) P: Strong support from national policies.

In 2016, the digital creative industry was included in the national strategic emerging industries for the first time.

In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, implement the digitalization strategy of the cultural industry, and promote the high-quality development of the digital cultural industry, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Digital Cultural Industry" in November 2020.

A number of suggestions were put forward in terms of consolidating the development foundation of the digital cultural industry, cultivating new business forms of the digital cultural industry, and building a digital cultural industry ecosystem.

In 2020-2021, under the impact of the new crown epidemic, digital cultural industries and other digital-related industries have received increasing attention from the country, and national departments such as the State Council and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have successively introduced policies and measures.

Guide the development direction of the digital cultural industry, strengthen the development of digital cultural products, build a new digital platform economy, and plan to lead 20 leading enterprises in the next five years, create 5 industrial clusters leading the digital cultural industry, and develop a number of approximately 200 exemplary digital cultural industry projects.

2) E: The cultural and entertainment consumption market is booming, and there is also certain growth in the sinking market.

March 2, 2022 News Recently, the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics released the Statistical Bulletin on National Economic and Social Development in 2021.

The communiqué pointed out that in 2021, the consumer price index for education, culture and entertainment increased by 1.9% over the previous year.

Among them, the prices of education, culture and entertainment consumption of urban residents increased by 2.0% year-on-year, and the prices of education, culture and entertainment consumption of rural residents increased by 1.7% year-on-year.

This shows that digital reading also has a certain market in the sinking market.

3) S: The digital reading market continues to grow.

The huge scale of Internet users constitutes a booming consumer market for the cultural industry, and also lays a solid user base for the digitalization of the industry.

The 46th "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet" shows that as of June 2020, the number of Internet users in China reached 930 million, and the Internet penetration rate reached 67%.

According to data from the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, the average number of e-books read per person in my country in 2020 was 9.1, and the average number of audiobooks read per person was 6.3, an increase of 5.5% from 2019. The average number of paper books read per person was only 6.2, a decrease of 2.6 from 2019.

As people become more accepting of digital reading methods, my country's digital reading market has continued to grow in recent years.

In 2020, the scale of digital reading users in my country reached 494 million, an increase of 5.56% over 2019.

The overall industry scale of digital reading is 35.16 billion yuan, an increase of 21.8% over 2019, of which the scale of mass reading is 32.67 billion yuan and the scale of professional reading is 2.49 billion yuan.

4) T: Big data and cloud computing are developing rapidly.

Personalized recommendations help users understand their preferences, accurately recommend content that they are interested in, and increase their willingness to pay.

New technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, VR, and AR are emerging in an endless stream and will surely burst forth with greater vitality in the future.

2. Who are the players in the industry? What is the industry logic?

Although the reading market is vast and developing in a positive direction, there are many competitors in the industry.

1) Free software

For example, Tomato Free Novels is backed by Douyin and occupies the sinking market, and Douyin can help Tomato attract traffic.

Free does not match the tone of many software under NetEase and cannot provide any help. NetEase is not good at this type of APP, and the overlap rate with NetEase's previous users is very low.

2) Paid software

In terms of online literature, Qidian, Xiaoxiang Academy and Jinjiang have firmly controlled male and female users and great authors. They have existed when online novels were just beginning to develop, even though their user experience is average.

As long as many core authors are still there, users will not choose other new apps. NetEase Wugou has no advantage in this regard and cannot compete with them.

In serious literature, the library is weak and its user experience cannot compare with NetEase.

In the early days, many books were published for free. Later, due to strict copyright enforcement, the number of books decreased and many users were lost.

WeChat Reading does not focus entirely on the field of serious literature. Its users' reading preferences are concentrated on published popular novels, including popular film and television IPs and classic works.

The social part is integrated with three-dimensional life through WeChat friends.

Therefore, there are still development opportunities in the field of serious literature, and NetEase can leverage its advantages to create a stylish reading APP with excellent reading experience.

In terms of social interaction, choose two-dimensional social interaction, which is guided by the production of high-quality content.

2. Product positioning and functions

NetEase Wugu Reading focuses on serious literature and in-depth reading to bring users a high-quality reading experience.

Innovate the payment model and use time as the payment dimension. Innovate the reading leader model and form a reading community.

• [One hour of free reading every day] The first high-quality app in China that focuses on free reading;
• 【Massive high-quality publications】Update books published by high-quality publishers such as Ideal Country, Shanghai Translation, Guomai, and Motie;
• 【Various categories of fine books】Historical masterpieces, Internet business management, psychology and social sciences, film and television novels, comic picture books;
• [Selected Paper Books at Discount Prices] Recommended Paper Books at Discount Prices All Year Round
• 【Reading Stream Q&A Review】Professional readers recommend reading lists and provide Q&A interactive reviews for each book;
• [New Notepad Mode] Swipe right to write comments in scroll mode, and enjoy reading with an independent thinking brain;
• [New co-reading function] The new version has an exclusive co-reading function, which allows you to read and chat with your friends;
• [Personalized Reader] Minimalist style, supports custom settings of themes, fonts, page turning methods, etc.

1. User, scenario, and demand analysis

The main users of NetEase Wugu are divided into three categories based on whether they produce content: reading users, output users (lead readers, official accounts), and operators.

• Ordinary users: basic reading needs. Social needs include exchanging book reviews, sharing insights, and watching others read.
• Reading leader: basic needs of reading. Share your own output, including book reviews, notes, articles, people reading your works, and answering questions, while earning extra income to meet your spiritual needs.
• Official account: enhance brand influence and drive traffic to accounts on other platforms.
• Operations staff: meet the needs of improving user activity and increasing the quality of content on the platform.
• Main needs: finding books, reading books, sharing and communicating.

NetEase Wugu Reading meets users' reading and social sharing needs through reading leaders, dynamic sharing, article sharing, book review writing, and co-reading functions.

At the same time, the realm points, leading readers and co-reading modes encourage users to read more and produce more, meeting their psychological needs.

2. Business Logic

The leading readers provide outputs such as book reviews and articles, the operations staff screens and pushes high-quality outputs, and ordinary users read the outputs. At the same time, operators encourage ordinary users to become outputs through activities.

3. Functional architecture

The recommendation part belongs to the square, which recommends high-quality content to increase exposure, add freshness to users, and increase users' online time.

Follow some small circles belonging to users, where users can communicate with the readers more by liking and commenting, and establish deeper connections.

Finding someone to read with provides a way for users to communicate while reading, brings users of the same level closer together, and increases user reading time and experience.

People's attention is limited. Especially nowadays when work and study are stressful, it is impossible for users to concentrate on reading for a long time. At this time, the reading-ahead function provides a good way to relax.

At the same time, if there is no reading module, after the one-hour free time, for free users, which account for a large proportion of users, the APP is equivalent to having no functions, which is very unfavorable for user retention.

4. Page Design

The icon design of NetEase Wugu’s reading page is bright and lively in color, using various artistic fonts. The event poster is also very creative and very much in line with the aesthetic tastes of young people.

The icons on the classification interface are simpler, and the low-saturation colors give people a calm feeling, allowing users to feel peaceful, which is in line with its positioning of focusing on serious literature.

The difference in style between the two is very clever and pleasing. All of them use bright colors and lively styles, making it look like an entertainment app with no style. Bosses would not bother to use it because it lowers the status.

Using a low-saturation style for everything is too serious, without a fresh sense of design. It looks like a simple learning and education app, making ordinary people lose the desire to open it.

The reading page is lively, which suits the preferences of young users and is also a necessary feature of the social part. The reading-related pages are simple and stylish, without deviating from its positioning as an in-depth reading APP.

5. Iteration Information

1) 1.0.2 2017-03-17

• Fixed the problem of sudden brightness change in the book text;
• Fixed the issue that the reading progress is not recorded when opening recently;
• Fixed the problem of inaccurate positioning of the Snail page when calling it from a third-party app;
• Optimize page refresh mechanism.

2) 1.1.0 2017-4-20

• High-quality reading information flow, famous book reviews, and book lists help you find books quickly;
• Create wonderful book reviews with one click, and everyone can become a leader;
• The minimalist desk expands the space and contains all the good books you want to read;
• The reading list is presented sincerely, and the new classification module improves the efficiency of book selection.

3) 1.1.2 2017-06-20

• The editor of the alluring snail has introduced more good books for everyone, such as: The Good Angels in Human Nature and Thinking, Fast and Slow published by CITIC Publishing House, Lolita, The Art of Travel, Love Notes, The Moon and Sixpence, and The Great Gatsby published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House;
• Support modification of the reader authentication information;
• Support viewing the personal homepage of the category recommender;
• The desk has added an activity reminder function;
• More than 30 functions have been optimized.

4) 1.2.0 2017-08-28

• The Q&A function is now available, which means you can say goodbye to the half-understood reading method.
• The reader is fully optimized and has all the settings you want;
• Added scroll reading mode to read all the wonderful content in one go;
• The message center has been overhauled to include all positive reviews, likes, and welfare notifications.

5) 1.3.0 2017-10-16

• Adapt to iOS 11 system;
• Reading time supports automatic renewal;
• My page can view the reading history;
• Pin excellent comments to the top of the book and article comment area;
• The new book list adds a special area for displaying today's new books;
• By reading every day, you can accumulate snail shells to exchange for books.

5) 1.4.0 2017-12-21

• Added wallet recharge function, and books can be purchased and collected directly;
• Added snail level score to quickly measure reading level;
• Added personalized reading recommendations to discover more interesting content;
• The feedback function has been optimized. If you have any questions, please come and chat.
• Support QQ login and sharing.

6) 1.5.0 2018-02-08

• The book review and answer editors have been revised to support more typesetting styles;
• Book reviews support audio and video presentation, more exciting content is coming;
• The book details page adjusts the page layout to increase the exposure of book review content.

7) 1.6.0 2018-04-23

• Notes are transformed into annotations, and a new notepad editing mode is introduced. You can write annotations by swiping right on the book text (scroll mode);
• Is it boring to read alone? Snail's innovative shared reading function allows you to read and chat with your friends;
• The personal homepage has been greatly redesigned to help you discover more interesting Snail Book Friends;
• Snail Classification has added 7-day reading list and new book list, making it easier to find good books;
• There are more surprises waiting for you to discover in the book details, so explore more;
• Added the function of adding book friends as attachments to the fan follow list.

8) 1.6.1 2018-05-28

• The feedback function has been fully upgraded, and online customer service can answer questions in real time;
• The leader reading stream supports one-click following of the leader;
• The author area supports one-click sharing of portfolios;
• The application page for book leaders has been fully upgraded, and you can become a book leader by writing book reviews.

9) 1.7.0 2018-07-21

• Paid users are fully upgraded to Turbo members, with new member-exclusive benefits such as member library and 50-person reading group;
• Added real-time messages for shared reading, allowing users who participate in shared reading to discuss more timely;
• “+∞” public space reading plan, scan and log in to “+∞” in the cooperative space to read all good books without time limit, reading has no boundaries, and new knowledge is endless.

10) 1.7.3 2018-09-15

Adapted to iPad, innovative interactive design brings a more efficient reading experience.

11) 1.7.5 2018-11-13

• A new shared reading plaza has been added, which allows you to read in groups and gain more new knowledge.
• Added co-reading management function to help active co-reading;
• The layout style of book reviews has been optimized, making the reading experience more comfortable.

12) 1.8.0 2018-12-03

iPhone version:

• The reading flow has been greatly revamped, with editors' picks and friends' dynamics clearly displayed;
• The text of book reviews has been optimized, and the review forum can be accessed with one click;
• Added Snail Daily to get new knowledge every day;

13) 1.8.2 208-12-29

• A new city cultural map has been added to the personal center, allowing you to find bookstores in the city and mark your cultural footprints;
• Snail Reading's paid article solicitation is now online. Write high-quality book reviews and win Snail membership gift cards.
• We take every pixel of the UI seriously and add a lot of dynamic interface effects.

14) 1.8.5 2019-04-16

• 30% off member purchase discount (April 4 to April 12);
• A new paper book purchase function has been added. Adhering to the principle of selection, it offers good discounts all year round and solves all your problems in book selection, book purchase, book reading and book discussion in one stop.

15) 1.9.0 2019-07-24

• Shared reading can be paid, and your carefully written comments are the gold in the book;
• Added the previous reading function, you can relive the time of reading with everyone at any time;
• A new function of returning to the original reading position has been added to view the reading progress of others' annotations without losing it.

16) 1.9.1 2019-08-02

• New book cover function added. Is it inconvenient to manage too many books? Cover similar books with the same cover;
• Added the function of adding book lists, quickly creating themed book lists to share with others;
• Added a quick bookmark button so you don’t have to worry about losing your reading progress;
• New hidden benefits have been added, and there are many snail shells waiting for you to discover.

17) 1.9.3 2019-09-05

A new topic function has been added. It must be very pleasant to hear scholars talking together.

18) 1.9.5 2019-10-16

• Optimize the list of people to read together, making it more convenient to read in a group;
• Added new line annotation style;
• Added reading percentage display on the desk management page;
• Optimize video playback operations.

19) 1.9.6 2019-12-03

• The book Q&A has been fully upgraded to topic discussions, making it more convenient for book lovers to chat about books;
• Added desk search function;
• Anything you want to talk about? Come and apply to become a topic host.

Cold start phase (V1.0.1~V1.2.0):

The focus of the iteration is to improve the basic reading experience, upload a large number of books, and provide the most basic reading APP functions. Add the book review Q&A function and the reader mode to prepare for the community.

Rapid development stage (V1.3.0~V1.9.10):

The focus of the iteration is to improve the construction of the community, enrich community functions, achieve growth through social attraction, and improve user experience.

Through the realm points and shared reading functions, users are encouraged to read in depth and increase user stickiness. Stimulate user output through the reader function.

The nearby book friends function increases social interaction. Conduct paid exploration, collect paid submissions online, and pay for shared reading. Adapt to iPad and iOS systems to expand the market.

6. User Reviews

Only the ratings of Huawei users are captured, and the conclusion is drawn by combining the reviews of various app stores.

The overall scores are all above four points, user reviews are very good, and NetEase's consistent excellent user experience has been recognized.

Most of the negative reviews were concentrated in the early stage, mainly due to: the phone overheating, bugs, not many books, etc.

These problems were also solved during version iteration. Later comments showed the contradiction between charging and user experience.

Conclusion

The digital reading industry is developing well, has a broad market, and is supported by national policies. It will also have excellent development in the next few years.

At the same time, in the era of the epidemic, the reduction in outdoor activities has also increased the demand for indoor entertainment activities, which has increased the market for digital reading to a certain extent.

In this industry, NetEase Wugu chose to focus on the field of serious literature with a clear positioning.

It meets users' reading needs for serious literature. At the same time, it also meets the high requirements of such users for reading experience.

The leader section meets the users' demands for a reading community. At the same time, the level of the leaders forms user stratification, which promotes users to speak out actively, provides high-quality content, and meets users' spiritual needs. This is similar to Bilibili in the video field.

NetEase Wugou’s page design is also excellent, with simple and clear interactions and a lively design that coordinates with other interfaces, in line with product positioning and user preferences.

When iterating the product, we ensured the experience of basic reading functions in the early stage, focused on polishing the product, and accumulated user reputation.

Later, we added the functions of leading reading and reading together, and started community-based operations on a large scale, which received good reviews from users. The main contradiction at present is the balance between charging and user experience.

Personal thoughts:

You need to reach 400 realm points to be followed, so you can accumulate a good reputation in the early stage.

Later on, reading leaders and reading with others have become product features. New users who come here "because of its reputation" need to reach a certain level of points before they can follow the reading leader and read with others. Is there a problem of too high a threshold?

For example, if a user wants to find his three-dimensional friends to read together, after attracting new users, he will find that he needs to improve his realm points before he can read together.

For NetEase Wugu, which focuses on user experience and has most of its users as undergraduates, the application of AI, VR, and AR is very necessary and can become one of its future development directions.

NetEase Wugu cannot compare with WeChat Reading in terms of book resources and social channels.

But he took a different approach and started from content community and high-quality experience, and created his own development path. From the perspective of a product manager, this is undoubtedly an excellent product.