Detailed explanation on how to quickly reconstruct the operation strategy of private domain e-commerce

Tencent’s official definition of private domain is: long-term and loyal user relationships. In a one-to-many communication relationship, merchants and users constantly simulate one-to-one intimate relationships through various means of contact.

The author adds that the narrow private domain can be understood as personal accounts and communities, while the broad private domain should include self-built digital platforms such as mini programs, public accounts, and APPs.

2019 is the first year of exploration of private domain theory. Under the catalysis of the black swan event in 2020, "private domain e-commerce" seems to have become the hottest topic in the field of private domain growth. It is one of the frequently appearing discussion topics in major Internet conferences, live classes, and big V public accounts.

However, when communicating with different brand owners about the demand for private domain e-commerce, you will find that many brand owners are following the trend, and some are decided by the senior management of the group, and the departments are forced to follow up passively, but they have not had time to think about whether private domain e-commerce is suitable for their own categories and brands. As for how to do it, they looked around and lacked any method. Some also tried to buy tools and routines, and directly copied homework after listening to some private domain conference cases, but the effect was minimal.

The beginning of 2021 is the best time to review the past and make plans. Every operator, trader, and person in charge of private domain e-commerce growth may need to establish a set of their own private domain e-commerce operation framework, think independently and re-examine, or they may find effective grasps and methodologies.

Below, I will use a set of private domain e-commerce operation strategies that I have recently sorted out to sort out how to build an operation strategy for WeChat private domain e-commerce. To help you sort out the ideas of the whole article, the following is the framework of the full article. The article is long, so I suggest you save it or share it before reading it. Enjoy:

01. Trends and risks of private e-commerce under the overall market data

Judging from the recent market data released by various official conferences and technology media, the commercialization of private domains is still showing relatively rapid growth. There are several key data that we can focus on.

1. The number of mini program e-commerce users is growing rapidly

At the Tencent Smart Retail Conference in November, it was disclosed that from January to August 2020, the GMV of physical goods in Mini Programs increased by 115% year-on-year, and the GMV of self-operated brands increased by 210% year-on-year. The WeChat ecosystem is accelerating the business closed loop, and the Mini Program market is showing steady growth.

Although the user base of mini program shopping is still growing at a relatively fast rate, the growth rate has begun to slow down. It is foreseeable that the cost threshold for brand mini program e-commerce customer acquisition will become higher and the growth effect will become more difficult.

2. The growth of WeChat private domain users is risky

At the WeChat Enterprise Conference which ended shortly after December 23, it was disclosed that the number of WeChat users connected and served by enterprises through WeChat Enterprise has reached 400 million WeChat private domain users, showing explosive growth in 2020.

However, from the calculations of Jianshi Technology, we can understand that the difficulty of converting users to private domains is increasing, from a 20%-30% pass rate in the first year of the private domain in 2019 to a 6%-7% pass rate in 2020. It is expected to drop to 2%-3% in 2021, that is, only 20-30 people out of every thousand new users will be converted into private domain traffic.

Therefore, when some of the previous means of attracting new private domains begin to become less effective in 2021, sometimes it is not just that your methods are wrong, but that the overall market will face a decline in the efficiency of attracting new customers. It will naturally become more difficult for mini program e-commerce to convert orders with the help of WeChat private domains.

A more important data that deserves the attention of all private domain operators is that each user may be allowed to become a brand private domain for no more than 15 brands. In other words, it can be roughly understood that the WeChat list of users is willing to accommodate up to 15 brands of personal accounts and communities. This situation has resulted in the battle among brands for user minds becoming increasingly fierce and difficult. Early entrants need to pay more attention to retention rates, while the operational difficulties faced by latecomers force brands into difficult mode.

From 2019, the first year of private domain, when we explored the value of private domain traffic, to 2020, when there was explosive growth and extensive operations, the author believes that 2021 will be the year for us to enter the stage of refined operations to retain traffic in WeChat private domain operations. The operating model of private domain e-commerce requires clearer thinking and a more comprehensive battle map.

02. Under the background of people, goods and places, the retention era of WeChat private domain e-commerce

The operating model of private domain e-commerce may not be applicable to all product categories. Low-frequency and high-priced products such as 3C home appliances and furniture pay more attention to pre-sales marketing reach and influence, while private domain e-commerce essentially pays more attention to multiple and repeated retention reach. When communicating with multiple brands about private domain operations, many brands' marketing investment and methods are only focused on attracting new customers.

Therefore, in WeChat private domain e-commerce operations 2.0, extensive traffic diversion needs to transition to refined retention operations and management.

First, from the model of attracting traffic from the public domain to the joint operation of the public and private domains

Second, from the extensive new user acquisition model to the refined operation of user touchpoints

Among them, "people-goods-place" is still the thinking entry point that we cannot avoid when planning the operation ideas of WeChat private domain e-commerce. In the operation 2.0 stage, we should pay more attention to "people-centered, closed-loop place, and innovation of goods" as the origin of systematic thinking.

1. Closed loop of the market: official account + mini program + personal account/community

In "Super Connection" published by Tencent Smart Retail, three major private domain business formats have been defined: mini program official mall, official shopping guide, and super community. It can be seen that whether it is a brand or an individual, a large or medium-sized enterprise or a micro-enterprise or self-employed individual, WeChat private domain e-commerce/retail has a "field" combination, allowing private domain operators to customize appropriate operating methods.

The author believes that the combination of WeChat private e-commerce market is: Moments + Mini Program + Official Account + WeChat Group/Personal Account + Video Account; and the operation of the core market should focus on the combination of "Mini Program + Official Account + WeChat Group/Personal Account".

In 2020, the integration of WeChat for Enterprise into WeChat private domain community capabilities, as well as the emergence of video accounts and mini-programs and small stores, have provided new combinations and possibilities for the private domain market. However, as of now, the combination of video accounts + live broadcasts + small stores is still in the process of continuous iteration and empowerment, and there is still no sign of an explosion that can directly drive commercialization; and personal accounts + communities + mini-programs are still the first choice for many brands' private domain e-commerce combinations.

The author believes that official accounts (special service accounts) are still the most core field in the closed-loop positioning of the private domain e-commerce market. Although the opening rate and reading volume of public account tweets have declined, the official has made great efforts in the public account's ability to connect content in the past year, and promoting high-quality content is still the magic weapon for the public account to survive.

Whether in fan management, new product launches, or e-commerce activity conversions, official accounts remain an important retention pool and the first official endorsement portal for brands. Therefore, the combination of official accounts (content sales + services) + mini programs (sales) still needs to be regarded as the core position for e-commerce sales conversion.

Judging from the user's habits of obtaining e-commerce information in the above figure, three of the top five ways of obtaining e-commerce information in the WeChat ecosystem are social groups/friend circles/recommendations from acquaintances. These are natural C2C social methods, and it is difficult for brands to directly influence user dissemination.

However, through official accounts and mini programs, brands can have a deep impact on B2C. Official accounts and mini programs naturally have the conversion capabilities of traffic entrances and retained e-commerce exits. In the closed-loop infrastructure of the market, the combination of official accounts and mini programs is the optimal combination for brand traffic acceptance and conversion.

2. People-centered: Rebuilding new relationships is not just about customer service and customers

For major e-commerce platforms, when users open the APP or web page, no matter if they are browsing casually or for shopping purposes, the platform or merchant in the e-commerce scenario is more of a single sales relationship of "customer service and customers", and the social attributes subsequently derived from the e-commerce platform are only "e-commerce social", and this relationship is difficult to separate from the sales orientation.

However, the logic in WeChat private domain e-commerce is actually different. The platform/brand is on a social platform, and a large proportion of users do not have shopping needs and motivations when receiving information. However, official accounts, community/personal accounts, mini programs and other means of contact actually have to assume the role of product professional consultation, increasing brand exposure, and maintaining user relationships, so social relationships come first, and then the relationship between e-commerce shopping guides and services.

We can see some cases, such as Watsons’ personal shopping guides and Perfect Diary’s portrayal of besties and makeup artists that resonate and connect with users’ lives. They provide a sense of warmth + professional service-oriented relationships, rather than a bombardment-style sales-oriented relationship.

Therefore, based on the communication scenarios with users and business characteristics, you should create a persona for private communication and establish a personality image that suits the social atmosphere. A persona that is overly utilitarian and sales-oriented will more easily make users wary. Thinking from the perspective of users' underlying needs and values ​​will help brands communicate with customers through their WeChat private e-commerce personas.

3. Product innovation: let products speak

2020 is a big year for new consumption and new brands. We can see that multiple sub-categories are showing rapid growth and emerging brands are developing rapidly. We found that in addition to strong product strength, making products speak for themselves and coordinating traffic and content operations can help brands gain more social traffic exposure and self-propagation opportunities in the operation of WeChat private e-commerce.

For example, emerging consumer brands such as Zhong Xue Gao, Sandunban, and Liziqi have turned products into "currency" in social interaction and life, connecting friends, relatives, and colleagues, and infiltrating social topics. Therefore, when we see them in the circle of friends, we will find that their exposure is natural. While shaping product strength, users are also willing to express their quality of life, interests, and attitudes through emerging brands and products. In this way, brands can more easily penetrate into users' minds and scene communications under private domain e-commerce operations.

Therefore, when we start to operate our own brand in the private domain of WeChat, we must first clarify our own brand and product positioning, and what product value and premium it brings to consumers. Through content operations, products can be closely linked to users’ life scenarios, thus increasing the value of social currency.

In addition, when focusing on the operation of goods, we must also pay attention to the fact that the strategies and methods of different categories will be different (as shown in the figure above). Different purchase frequencies will require different interactive demands and methods. Some categories focus on media promotion, some categories focus on one-to-one private communication, etc. If you only copy a single method and do not combine it with product positioning to develop a suitable operation strategy, you will get half the result with twice the effort.

Therefore, the operational innovation of goods is not only an innovation in product strength. How to make goods a social currency to connect users' life scenes and topics, and how to set operational priorities based on product attributes and positioning are two important parts of our re-examination of our private domain e-commerce operations.

03. Learn from Watsons’ WeChat private domain e-commerce layout strategy

The author has researched and analyzed the platform layout, product functions, content traffic, and retention and conversion strategies of different types of new retail brands in private domain e-commerce. Here, it is recommended that friends who want to operate the entire WeChat ecosystem can refer to the Watsons case. Basically, Watsons will follow up on WeChat’s latest new retail methods and functions.

From the data summarized in the above figure, we can see that in Watsons WeChat ecosystem, WeChat official accounts + mini programs are used as the core platform for traffic and conversion; at the same time, traffic is deployed in various mainstream private domain touchpoints outside the WeChat ecosystem, and content marketing is carried out to promote the strategy.

From a strategic perspective, I believe Watsons has three points worth learning from in terms of WeChat private domain touchpoint layout, positioning, and channel opening:

• First, Watsons’ public account matrix has a clear positioning
• Second, Watsons Mini Program has multiple scenarios and smooth linkage and intercommunication.
• Third, the personal account image is personalized, connecting the public account and the mini program positions

Due to limited space, we will focus on the key points for analysis below. If you are interested in case analysis, you can leave a message and I will do more analysis for you later.

Watsons’ public account matrix currently has three main forces: Service Assistant, Worth Buying, and Welfare Club, especially Service Assistant and Worth Buying. Their three public accounts are different and complementary in positioning and style, and communicate with users in multiple scenarios.

Watsons focuses on membership operations, and its service assistant focuses on providing services, activities, and rights to member users, with strong official brand attributes.

For users, Zhiyoumai is more like an IP seeding platform, with interesting operations and promotional ideas reaching users through topics, content, and IP, allowing users to perceive the healthy beauty solutions provided by Watsons through valuable content. The virtual IP character is transformed into the image of a handsome boy or a boyfriend, which is aimed directly at the target group of young women.

For users, the Welfare Club is a direct platform for getting bargains. Simple and direct promotional activities and coupon activities bring together Watsons’ online and offline promotional information, giving users the perception of a discount booklet. However, I personally believe that the public account positioning that is solely oriented towards discounts is still relatively weak in the current e-commerce environment where promotions are everywhere.

It can be seen that although Watsons seems to have many official accounts, its business positioning and differentiation are actually relatively clear, and the layout of the retention pool of official accounts has formed a complementary value of the crowd.

Official accounts + mini programs are the core infrastructure of Watsons’ WeChat private domain e-commerce. They all adopt a highly customized development approach. Official accounts are used to accumulate activities and attract fans, while mini programs serve as an outlet for converting members and sales. Although Watsons has a variety of mini-programs, the channels between them are connected in terms of experience and links, and the official account jumps and traffic are relatively good.

Although there are cloud store mini programs and membership mini programs, their activities and membership points are unified, the user's identity attributes are unified in different scenarios, and the shopping experience is coherent. The advantage of using highly customized development is that you can design a good closed-loop path to allow user traffic to flow smoothly. Of course, this is also a development cost and operating cost that is visible to the naked eye.

In the process of private domain operation of social networks and personal accounts, personalization is an important feature of Xiaoqujia, which makes private domain shopping guides and communication more personal, professional and trustworthy. The guide to online activities and benefits is output through Qu Chenxi's personal virtual IP image, which is more relaxed and interesting, making the promotional content more acceptable.

The store shopping guide and payment-as-shopping guide functions are built with the image of professional consultants, creating professional-level beauty consultants, making users more trustworthy in Watsons' professionalism.

Through the creation of the personal settings of these two types of personal accounts, the youthful and professional brand image characteristics are unified and reflected in the value output of private domain operations.

If you ask me whether Watsons’ WeChat private domain is impeccable, I would say there is still a lot of room for improvement from the perspective of customers and third parties. However, I would like to use Watsons’ WeChat private domain layout and construction case to express several core viewpoints of WeChat private domain e-commerce operation strategies that are worth our review and consideration:

First, identify the core "fields" and what each "field" wants to position and recognize for users, and think clearly about the priority;

Second, whether the relationship and channels between “people” and “fields” have been considered to be a complete closed loop, and whether the ultimate optimal solution has been achieved from the user scenario and experience;

Third, "goods" does not only represent product power. Service, image, and user premium are all manifestations of "goods" in WeChat's private domain. Warmth, personality, and communication play a very important role in helping to connect the various private domains of the brand.

04. Four-step method for building WeChat private domain e-commerce strategy

In the previous article, we clarified the changes in the overall trend of WeChat private domain, and then went to the operational focus of private domain e-commerce under the three elements of people, goods and places. We then used cases to express how to position, layout and channels the touchpoints of WeChat private domain e-commerce.

Next, we will review and formulate the operation strategy of WeChat private domain e-commerce based on the framework of people, goods, place and four forces.

Before formulating our own WeChat private domain operation framework, there are some ideas that I think are universal and replicable. Given the complexity of people's identities, the diversity of goods, and the fragmentation of market forms, there are four key points in private domain e-commerce operations that need to be grasped.

Focus on the user life cycle and enhance the vitality between users and brands; enhance the social currency attributes of goods and increase the attractiveness of private domain purchases; the marketing ability of content-driven products runs through the goods and the venue, becoming an important tool to connect users' e-commerce conversions; continue to innovate activities and bring users shopping interest in private domain operations. Yifang Data’s marketing automation is the key to sustainable brand operations and improving operational efficiency.

Next, I will take the strategy construction process of a fast-moving consumer goods product as an example to summarize and analyze the ideas and steps of strategy construction:

• First, analyze the factors that influence WeChat private domain GMV;
• Second, build a WeChat private domain traffic conversion map;
• Third, diagnose the inadequacies and optimization space of existing private domain operations (brand private domains have been established);
• Fourth, reconstruct and unify the user operation methods at different touchpoints.

Step 01: Disassemble the factors affecting WeChat private domain GMV

GMV is the primary goal of e-commerce. No matter from the product or operation perspective, everyone is trying to optimize and improve it. However, many brands seem to be confused about which angles to approach, which are the corresponding touch points, and how much to invest. Recently, when I was providing an operational strategy for a daily FMCG brand, I discovered the above-mentioned pain points.

Therefore, in the above picture, I helped them start from GMV again based on daily FMCG, breaking down the influencing factors layer by layer, so as to find the key points for improving private domain e-commerce operations and the corresponding touchpoint platforms.

The general formula for breaking down the primary goal into the secondary goal is: GMV = number of users x purchase conversion x average unit price x repurchase frequency

We disassemble and think about the key influencing factors of the secondary goals based on the actual business and the three elements of people, goods and venues:

1. Factors affecting the number of users

Generally, private domain e-commerce operations start from attracting and retaining users, and attracting new users needs to be divided into two types: attracting new users through drainage from public domain to private domain, and attracting new users through self-fission users. Regardless of the operation field for attracting new users or existing users, it will be in the private traffic pool of its own e-commerce conversion, that is, official accounts, social networks & personal accounts, and mini programs.

2. Analysis of factors affecting purchase conversion

Personally, I believe that the driving force for purchase conversion in WeChat private domain operations should be considered and influenced from three perspectives, including: content operation power + product attractiveness + user operation power.

Content operation capability refers to the ability of content to bring goods and conversions. Good content is valuable to users, allowing users to identify with products and brands through creativity, pictures, videos, live broadcasts, and interactive gameplay.

The attractiveness of a product refers to the topical attribute that the product possesses. How to create topical products into social currency should be a point for all brands to think about. Especially for consumer products with serious homogeneity, brands can try IP collaboration, community customized products and other special products to enhance the attractiveness of products operated in private domains.

User operation capability refers to the one-to-many or one-to-one operation capability of private communities. In addition to character building and SOP construction, it is more important to undertake user customization needs and traffic closed loops. The active retention of users in public accounts/communities/personal accounts focuses on the creation of user operation capabilities to meet the needs of thousands of people. This capability is even more important in heavy user operation industries such as the education industry.

3. Factors affecting average customer spending

For private domain e-commerce, the core of the impact on average order value lies in private domain pricing, that is, the planning of the mechanism of private domain promotional activities. Only promotional activities that can mobilize the community/fans/personal account friends can affect the average order value. When the single group buying and bargaining model greatly increases the user immunity, new promotional gameplay planning needs to be constantly tried, verified, and iterated.

4. Factors affecting repurchase frequency

E-commerce focuses on the operational capabilities of the user life cycle, because completing an order once is not the core goal of e-commerce. In particular, the advantage of private domain e-commerce is that it can use the private domain retention pool to repeatedly and accurately reach users. Therefore, the construction of automated marketing + the design of operational means for the user life cycle becomes particularly important. After all, the cost of retaining old customers is much lower than that of attracting new ones.

Step 02: Build a WeChat private domain traffic conversion map

Under the trend of public-private domain linkage, re-examining user traffic sources and conversion platforms is the core action of the second step of customizing private domain operation strategies, because only through the analysis of traffic sources and exits can we find the conversion methods of private domain e-commerce from a global perspective.

For example, the picture above is the private domain traffic map that the author has reintegrated and sorted out for daily FMCG brands.

1. Core private domain dual drive: public account matrix (membership service + content seeding) + mini program matrix (sales field + equity field)

Official accounts are the core of content marketing and interactive marketing. The dual official accounts that focus on service and content are helpful for building a brand's private domain and positioning the preferences of the crowd. The mini program is the core of sales. Whether it is for general crowd conversion or deep member repurchase conversion, it is the only outlet for orders.

2. Private domain retention pool: The community matrix + personal account needs to remain active and attract new members. Multi-dimensional community building and attracting new members are the sources of community retention, and the personal account plays the role of a 1-to-1 precise consultant.

3. Four types of public domain traffic pools: WeChat public domain, e-commerce platform, offline public domain, and other online partners’ public domains. The focus of diverting traffic from different public domains to private domains will be different.

For example, on e-commerce platforms and other online public domains, we can focus on interactions and welfare fans to direct traffic to official accounts, while offline public domains and WeChat public domains can be divided according to scenarios into brand interactions, which direct traffic to official accounts, and scenario-converted user sales, which direct traffic to mini programs.

I have positioned the core private domain of this daily FMCG brand. The official account is used for private domain brand interaction, and the mini program is used as the core place for orders (the inefficient and disorderly sales method of personal accounts is abandoned). The official account, mini program, community and personal account are combined and connected in pairs:

a. Social media/personal account + public account = brand interaction

b. Community/personal account + mini program = GMV transaction conversion

c. Official account + mini program = GMV transaction conversion

Only in this way can we develop a battle map for WeChat private domain e-commerce from "traffic to retention and then to sales conversion" while linking the public and private domains.

Step 03: Diagnose and analyze WeChat operation tools

In addition to the unclear positioning of each platform, when conducting demand research and analysis with brands, we found that some brands did not actually conduct systematic analysis and classification of their own operating methods. They had not thought clearly about which operational actions achieved which goals, and which aspects of user operations should be focused on at each stage.

Then at this time, we really need to sort it out carefully. The author suggests that we can sort out and analyze it layer by layer through the following framework:

1. Vertical Dimension

Based on the operation of the private domain retention pool touchpoints (official accounts, mini programs, communities & personal accounts), we will conduct a breakdown analysis. If the official accounts and mini programs are in a matrix form, we will break down each official account and mini program.

Communities and personal accounts are broken down into two levels based on community classifications with different positioning (such as interest groups, membership groups, and activity groups), and operational tools are classified for different types of touchpoints, in an effort to ensure that no target touchpoints are missed in the analysis.

2. Horizontal Dimension

Based on the analysis of the core links of user operations, I generally divide it into four operation stages: "attracting new users - retention - conversion - fission" based on the characteristics of WeChat private domain and the user's AIPL model, thus forming an analysis grid from touchpoints + operation links.

Then match all the operational levers one by one to find out the missing links and areas where things are not done enough. As shown in the figure above, the author analyzed and disassembled a fast-moving consumer goods daily necessities brand. It can be seen that the brand focuses on retention and conversion, but the form of gameplay is relatively simple and the goals are unclear.

However, we are relatively weak in attracting and generating new users, so we can make targeted suggestions and optimizations in the future.

Step 04: Reconstruct user operation handles

Finally, we return to the factors in the formula of step 1, combine the positioning layout of step 2 and the deficiencies of step 3, and finally we need to formulate the operation direction and grasps after reconstruction and apply them in different user life cycles.

As shown above, we hope that brands will re-emphasize the following three aspects of operation:

First, different touchpoints mean different scenarios, and users and brands have different relationships. Therefore, the emphasis in different scenarios is different on brand trust communication, product conversion, or active interaction.

Second, pay attention to every link in the user's life cycle. The designed operational actions should have a clear purpose. Whether it is to attract new light members, convert the first order, or recall and repurchase, the operational purpose must be clarified first.

Third, the outlet for user traffic and retention conversion must ultimately lead to sales. How to use activities in the WeChat private domain to get users to buy while chatting and browsing is the core strategy point when we think about private domain operations.

Only through layer-by-layer analysis and strategic deduction can we unify the means of private domain e-commerce operations, because WeChat private domain operations are indeed too flexible and rich, and simply copying homework may not necessarily find a suitable approach for private domain e-commerce for your own brand.

Conclusion: The key to private domain in 2021 is to make traffic become retention

The private domain itself has no traffic, and only through the support of operational means can it bring in fresh water. No matter how the four sets of user operation tools (official accounts, corporate WeChat, mini programs, and video accounts) are laid out, if they are not unified and laid out at the content level and link level, the traffic cannot be retained and turned into useful retention.

The linkage between public and private domains + social warmth are still the biggest differences between private domain e-commerce operations and platform-based e-commerce operations. The reason why everyone is entering the private domain e-commerce track is that they are attracted by the user "compound interest" brought by private domain e-commerce.

So to sum up the whole article, doing the following five key points is the core of building a private domain e-commerce strategy. You can grasp these key points to reconstruct the operational thinking framework in 2021.

The above eat

If you find some of the ideas and thoughts mentioned in the article helpful, I suggest you share them with your colleagues or friends and discuss the topic of private domain e-commerce with me. If you want to read the contents of the PPT in high definition, you can click to read the online version of the original text. If you like it, you can click a like to encourage the author.

There are too many ways to play private domain e-commerce, and no one company has the final say. The author hopes that some of the thoughts in this article can help everyone find some new sparks of ideas, learn and communicate with each other, and also hope that we can find more opportunities in the field of private domain e-commerce in 2021.

Author: KnowBeta

Source: KnowBeta