Product operation: new user activation rules!

The traffic dividend has slowly faded away. From the current market investment situation, we can feel that the consumer market is gradually entering a "cold period". At this time, traffic is no longer traffic, but retention.

Many consumer brands have begun to try every possible means to activate traffic that originally did not focus on retention actions for conversion. As a result, the GMV of private domain business has never increased , and the LTV is also declining . It’s really a headache!

So what methods and ideas are used to activate new users?

In fact, the answer is very simple. Use the 44 rule for activating new users . What is the 44 rule?

These are the four ideas that influence activation and the four methods that promote activation . These are the most effective practical references for activating new users. At the bottom, there will also be cases of investment apps to illustrate the methodology for exciting new users.

1. User Behavior Formula

For new users who need to be activated to use or pay after entering your traffic pool, a formula can be used here:

Behavior = (motivation - resistance) * nudge + reward

1. 4 ideas that influence new user activation

①Behavior : The behavior you want users to complete

For example: you want users to register an account or want users to complete their first investment.

② Motivation : The user really wants to accomplish something

For example: there is not enough supplies at home, so people have to rush to buy food at 6 o'clock in the morning, so this situation gives him a strong motivation to use Dingdong or Meituan software.

Or there may be some assistive behaviors when using the product.

For example: There are only 3 places left for group buying, hurry up and join the group.

③ Resistance : How easy is the behavior to do?

For example: when using a product, you just want to buy a certain item within the product, but it takes you 20 minutes to register, and you instantly lose the desire to buy.

④Nudge : Prompt users to take action

For example, if you place an order on a shopping platform but have not paid, the platform will keep reminding you how long you have to cancel the purchase.

⑤Reward : What kind of feedback can users get after completing the behavior?

For example: After purchasing a product, the platform will push a message to you saying "Congratulations, you have successfully purchased the product on the ** platform."

❗Note❗ : Motivation and resistance are the main factors , because the stronger the motivation, the higher the user's willingness to complete the behavior; the greater the resistance, the lower the possibility of users completing the behavior.

Boosts and rewards are relatively auxiliary factors that play a supplementary role, but they are not the main reason for users to take action.

2. Factors that influence user behavior

1) Own needs

Does the user have a strong and urgent need to use the product?

Do users have any other alternative options?

For example: In addition to purchasing supplies on Dingdong, I can also order vegetables on Meituan

How long does it take for users to make a decision?

For example: a company is planning to purchase a SaaS tool from a certain company, but after thinking about it for half a year, the user is likely to switch to another company to purchase.

Are the user and the decision maker the same person? This is a critical factor, which requires different solutions for activation objects.

2) External assists

Using psychology to improve user motivation in the new user activation process

• Bandwagon effect ; for example, when you follow a public account, you will find that a lot of your common friends also follow this public account, and you will follow the crowd.
• Scarcity ; for example, Pop Mart has many hidden models, and users have a strong desire to buy unknown and scarce products.
• Urgency ; for example, when buying a train ticket, it will show “last ticket left” to speed up your purchase.
• … …

3. Factors that influence user resistance

1) Difficulty and ability

How difficult is it for users to feel the price of the product?

Are the functions of the product itself understandable and easy to use?

Does it take users long or short to reach their Aha moment?

What are the capabilities and qualities of the users themselves? For example: if the product is technological, middle-aged and elderly people will not be able to use it and will encounter certain obstacles.

(Aha moment: the moment of surprise, refers to the moment when the user first realizes the value of the product and blurts out "Aha, it turns out that this product can help me do this." In simple terms, it is the pleasant surprise experience of the user when using it for the first time)

2) External assists

Physical barriers in the onboarding process

• Do I need to register to use it?
• Are there many steps in the activation process? Is there any interference?
• Does it require a lot of steps? Is there any interference?
• Do I need to pay to use it?

Cognitive barriers in the onboarding process

• Is the onboarding process and copywriting confusing?
• Are new users given too many choices or a cold start?
• Is there inconsistency in the information, causing confusion to users?
• … …

4. User activated four quadrants

Combining the user's motivation and resistance, the four quadrants are used to preliminarily assess the difficulty of activation, and the regions are divided based on the four dimensions of the strength of user needs and the ease with which users can perceive the value of the product.

2. User Activation Pyramid

Now that the ideas for activation have been sorted out, of course you still need to use some " means " to guide users to use products or conversion actions. If no measures are taken, these traffic will be equivalent to being in the public domain even if it is in your private pool, or even lost.

1. 4 ways to increase new user activation

Products are the most basic and most widely applicable method. By polishing the onboarding process for new users, optimizing the first product experience, and recommending good content/products to users, etc.

Channel refers to channels that can communicate with users, such as SMS, push, email, and service accounts. It plays a role in the user activation process, mainly communicating with users to form a closed loop with user behavior habits.

★For example: When a certain behavior is not completed in the product, it is possible to reach users through channels in a timely manner, pull users back into the product, let them continue to complete key behaviors, and achieve the Aha moment.

Incentives are one-time stimulations that can be given to new users in the form of red envelopes, discounts, low prices, free trials, etc., which stimulate users to overcome the obstacles of new user decision-making and complete the activation behavior.

Manual labor is relatively less common, and its auxiliary role for SaaS products may be customer service and customer success teams; for ToC products, it may be community operations, user operations, etc. Because labor costs are relatively high, it becomes the top of the pyramid and is not applicable to all products.

The cost of activation increases from the bottom to the top of the pyramid. The product may be the cheapest, and the means of activation can be improved through optimization. However, when it comes to the channel, costs are already incurred. Sending text messages and push notifications all require costs.

Incentives definitely involve costs, and the actual costs will continue to rise. Therefore, when choosing different activation methods, the higher the cost, the user's LTV or average order value will also need to increase accordingly.

2. Four quadrants of activation methods

The activation methods are divided into regional forms according to the progressive use of the four methods, and the user LTV and the degree of differentiation of user needs are determined from the combination of products, channels, incentives, and manual labor .

3. Case: How can a stock investment app optimize new user activation?

1) Evaluate activation difficulty

① High motivation : When a new user downloads an investment app, it means that his willingness to invest is still quite high, but at the same time, there are relatively many alternative options, so the motivation is high, not the highest.

②High resistance ; because users need to open an account, which requires a lot of sensitive information, and the process is long, and they also need to complete the first capital injection before they can start using it

It also involves the issue of money, so the overall activation difficulty is still relatively high!

2) Select activation method

Because stock investment products are still a bit difficult to activate, and the average order value and LTV are relatively high, in this case you can use new user discounts , new user red envelopes , and customer service telephone support to help with activation.

Therefore, in addition to products and channels, users can also be activated through red envelopes or phone calls.

3) Optimize the activation process

For example, if you know that one of the user's obstacles is that they need to fill in sensitive information such as their ID number and that they have security concerns, you can explain why or help users dispel such security concerns.