Product analysis of Zuoyebang APP!

Currently, the entire Internet education market is in a booming stage after the epidemic. This article mainly analyzes the three aspects of market, product and function of Zuoyebang products. I hope it will be helpful to you.

1. Product Introduction

Product name: Homework helper

Product Introduction: Zuoyebang is committed to providing learning tutoring services in all subjects for primary and secondary school students across the country. The Zuoyebang question bank covers the textbooks and exercise books of primary, junior high and high schools across the country. It is a photo-taking question-searching and problem-solving tool with a large question bank, fast search speed and accurate answers.

Product positioning: Help primary and secondary school students solve problems in the learning process, provide learning guidance and exercises, and make learning easier

Slogan: Make learning easier

Version: IOS 13.11.0

Launched: January 15, 2014

Experience time: March 22, 2021

2. Market Analysis

1. Market Capacity

According to current data analysis, the market size of China's online education industry has grown year by year from 2015 to 2020, reaching 400.3 billion yuan in 2020; the market size of K12 online education has grown year by year from 2013 to 2020, reaching nearly 90 billion yuan in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 37.6%.

China's online education market size / China's K12 online education market size

2. User base

According to current data analysis, China's population of children and teenagers aged 3-18 years old has reached 261 million, with a huge user base; the scale of China's online education users reached 305 million in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%.

Population size of children and adolescents in China/Size of online education users in China

3. Distribution of competing products in the market

Based on the huge market demand and large user scale, the current education market is divided into platform, K12, tool, online comprehensive and other categories, with a total of more than 80 education apps. Zuoyebang APP belongs to the red ocean field and belongs to the K12 vertical education category.

Data from iResearch Institute

4. City level distribution

Judging from the city distribution of Zuoyebang users in the past three years, the proportion of second-tier and above cities has shrunk to 35.1%, while the proportion of third-tier and below cities has increased by 6.1%, among which the proportion of fourth-tier cities has increased the most, reaching 23.9%;

The data shows that Zuoyebang has a clear trend of sinking into lower-tier cities, and low-tier cities with great market potential provide Zuoyebang with huge room for development.

City level distribution map

5. Competitive product distribution

Judging from the comparative data, learning tutoring tool apps have a large user base, and comprehensive online schools attract more users' attention. Among them, the relatively comprehensive Homework Helper app leads other major platforms in terms of user scale.

This shows that for K12 online education platforms, tool-type products are conducive to rapidly expanding the user base, but if they want to retain more high-quality users and increase the commercial value of the platform, the layout of content and services is the only way for the platform to go.

Data from Aurora

The K12 online education market structure is uncertain but still shows a development trend. The leading platforms each have significant core advantages and competition is becoming increasingly fierce.

At present, taking the three leading companies, Zuoyebang, Yuanfudao, and Xueersi Online School, as examples, the user overlap between their three apps with the largest user scale is relatively small. Zuoyebang’s user exclusivity rate is as high as 85.7%, while Xiaoyuan Search Questions and Xueersi Online School’s user exclusivity rates are 60.2% and 50.2% respectively.

Data from Aurora

This shows that the leading platforms have obvious core advantages and a "monopoly" pattern has not yet emerged, which also reflects the fierce competition in the K12 online education market.

Judging from the layout strategies of leading companies in recent years, the expansion of vertical businesses, refined user operations, upgrading service quality, and improving commercial monetization efficiency are the development priorities for leading platforms to seize market share in the future.

6. User scale of the Zuoyebang series

The Zuoyebangzhu app occupies a major share of the K12 online education market; it has a large user base advantage in the K12 online education market and ranked first in the industry with a penetration rate of 15.34% in September.

Vertical apps such as Zuoyebang oral calculation and Zuoyebang live classes are growing rapidly. Zuoyebang app integrates functions such as photo search, intelligent exercises, live classes, and oral calculation correction.

In addition, the more vertically-focused apps under Zuoyebang are growing rapidly. For example, in September 2020, the average DAU (daily active users) of Zuoyebang oral calculation and Zuoyebang live classes increased by 3 times and 10 times respectively compared with the same period in 2018.

Data from Aurora

7. K12 monthly active user scale

Zuoyebang is the online education platform with the largest user base in China.

Currently, there are about 210 million active users of K12 applications in the market.

Market giant: Zuoyebang has 110 million monthly active users, accounting for 51%.

First-line products: Xiaoyuan Search has 25 million monthly active users, accounting for 11%; Yiqizuoye has 21 million monthly active users, accounting for 10%.

Second-tier products: KuaiDuiHomework, XueersiHomework, and Xiaoyuankousuan each account for approximately 5%, while YiQiXue, Zuoyebang Live Class, Zuoyeling, and Yuanfudao each account for approximately 2.5%.

Data from Analysys Qianfan

8. User satisfaction analysis

The survey shows that when parents choose online education products, they pay most attention to the reputation of the platform, the configuration of teaching staff, and the scale of the platform; followed by course design, online course prices, and learning atmosphere, while after-sales service, network fluency and other factors are not the key reference factors for users;

Factors affecting satisfaction

The teacher ratings of Zuoyebang online courses rank low among K12 education platforms, so the data shows that the purchase rate and user satisfaction of Zuoyebang online courses are relatively low;

9. Company Iteration Process

• 2013.12.31 The official internal QQ group of Zuoyebang was established;
• 2014.1.15 Zuoyebang APP was officially launched;
• 2015.5.19 Zuoyebang and Beijing Education Media signed a cooperation agreement. The cooperation content involves "Zuoyebang" opening up a free photo-taking and question-answering technology interface to Beijing Education Media for use, and Beijing Education Media authorizes "Zuoyebang" to use more than 40,000 video contents of its "Classroom Live" and "Kuaxuewang";
• 2015.6.4 Zuoyebang launched the "Celebrity Explanation of High School Entrance Examination Questions" public welfare activity, with the number of participating students exceeding 30 million;
• 2015.9.2 Zuoyebang announced its spin-off as part of Baidu’s “Aircraft Carrier Plan”, with the A round of investment jointly made by Sequoia Capital and Legend Capital. Received USD 25 million in Series A funding from Sequoia and Legend Capital;
• 2015.9.4 Zuoyebang joins hands with CCTV and the Ministry of Education to become the partner of "First Lesson of School";
• 2015.10.31 Zuoyebang Education Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. officially started independent operation;
• 2016.9 Zuoyebang once again joined hands with CCTV and the Ministry of Education to become the partner of "First Lesson of the School Year". Received $60 million in Series B financing led by GGV and Xianghe, followed by Sequoia and Legend Capital;
• In August 2017, Zuoyebang completed its US$150 million Series C financing;
• 2018.11 Zuoyebang received USD 500 million D+ financing from SoftBank;
• 2019.10 Zuoyebang opened a column in Xuexi Qiangguo, relying on the 180 million intelligent question bank of Zuoyebang, covering multiple subject knowledge points at the elementary and high levels, and was set up as a special topic for Xuexi Qiangguo;
• 2020.6 Zuoyebang completed US$750 million in Series E financing.

10. Product iteration process

• 2014.1.15 Zuoyebang Android was officially released;
• 2014.3.19 The iOS version of Zuoyebang was officially launched on the app store;
• 2014.9.10 Zuoyebang launched a new video course of famous schools;
• 2015.1.6 On the first anniversary of Zuoyebang's launch, the new version 4.0 was launched, focusing on the "photo search" function;
• 2015.8.18 Homework Helper version 5.0, added the function of synchronous practice;
• 2016.6.1 Zuoyebang 6.0 was launched, adding one-on-one online tutoring and Chinese-English translation functions;
• 2016.7.7 The live class function of Zuoyebang was launched, providing online teachers and course services, allowing interaction and tutoring on mobile phones;
• 2018.9.8 Zuoyebang officially launched the country’s first youth information security protection platform - the “Cungong” platform. Cumulatively activated users: 300 million, monthly active users: over 60 million;
• 2020.4 Zuoyebang launched free online live courses such as "College Entrance Examination Gas Station" for senior high school students and opened a series of learning tools. The cumulative number of activated users exceeds 800 million, and the number of monthly active users exceeds 170 million.

11. Market Analysis

The data shows that using tool-type K12 products as an entry point is more conducive to rapidly expanding the user base, but if the platform wants to retain more high-quality users and increase its commercial value, then the layout of content and services is a must for the platform, which is also conducive to increasing the frequency and duration of use.

According to the data, the current service quality upgrade in the market is mainly based on platform reputation, teacher configuration, and platform scale. In order to seize market share, it is still necessary to provide users with high-quality teaching and teaching conditions.

The data shows that after occupying the exclusive rate of the segmented vertical business, the expansion of the K12 vertical business of the Zuoyebang APP needs to quickly divert traffic from its field to other segmented vertical fields.

The data shows that Zuoyebang has a clear trend of sinking into lower-tier cities, and low-tier cities with great market potential provide Zuoyebang with huge room for development.

3. Product Analysis

1. User scenario analysis

1) User analysis

• Main target users: K12 students aged 6-18, as well as parents who need tutoring, teachers in public schools and teachers in training institutions;
• Auxiliary target users: Parents of K12 students aged 30-50 who attach great importance to their children's education;

2) User needs

• Children: When doing homework, they can’t solve difficult problems. They feel academic pressure and hope to have a platform where they can interact with their peers. When it is not suitable for deep learning, they can check some formulas and knowledge points.
• Parents: Too busy to tutor their children. Want to tutor their children, but not capable enough. Worried about difficulty in controlling the situation when hiring a tutor. High trial and error costs. Letting the elders take care of the children has high safety risks.
• Teacher: The class needs to correct a lot of student homework and exercises, and I want to reduce the workload.

2. Operation model analysis

1) Understand

• Conduct targeted user promotion on Internet platforms (such as TikTok, Weibo, WeChat official accounts, etc.);
• Market penetration through offline agents;
• Drain traffic through low-cost courses;
• Through the operation activities, 30 yuan cash reward can be given for each new user invited. The cash reward can be used to increase the number of new users and cooperate with TV dramas to insert advertisements.

2) Trust

• Signed an exclusive global endorsement contract with the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team in the public domain;
• Carry out public welfare activities through internal Bangbang coins and other means;
• Through cooperation with authoritative institutions such as CCTV, Women's Federation, Ministry of Education, Peking University, etc., we launched projects such as "College Entrance Examination Gas Station", Youth Information Service Platform, Dandelion Education Plan, etc. to protect students and expand the market through offline agents;
• Attract traffic through low-cost courses.

3) Value

• Zuoyebang provides high-quality free trial classes and low-priced regular course experience packages;
• Provide teacher qualifications, teacher personality tags, user reviews, etc. on the course teacher details page;
• In the process, traditional contact methods such as WeChat cold calling are used to provide more personalized services and enhance user trust;
• Provide users with a better user experience at every stage of the entire conversion chain;
• Provide refund channels and customer service hotline in the App.

4) Conversion

• Live courses provide unlimited replay capabilities;
• Use coupons, course packages and other means to dispel users' consumption concerns and promote user consumption. Zuoyebang has also expanded its user VIP services and shopping mall module assistance;
• VIP services can further increase the added value of VIP members while ensuring that ordinary users meet their search needs, such as providing personalized video explanations of questions;
• Personalized Q&A can be conducted, answered by a professional team, improving efficiency, etc.
• The mall provides stationery, peripherals, books, wrong question printing, corresponding teaching aids, etc. according to the target user groups, building a one-stop service platform.

3. Profit model analysis

Zuoyebang’s current business includes live teaching, VIP services, mall business modules, etc., among which the core business is live teaching on the platform.

• Zuoyebang has developed targeted strategies in teaching and research, teacher qualifications, course experience, platform course levels, etc., and provides various types of live courses.
• VIP provides personalized video explanations of questions, personalized Q&A community, summary of frequently tested points, and answers from a professional team.
• The mall provides stationery, peripherals, books, correct answer printing, corresponding teaching materials, etc. according to the target user groups; continuously expands the business scope by optimizing the user experience, enhances user stickiness, increases product revenue capacity, and provides refund channels and customer service hotlines in the App; courses provide unlimited playback functions; and uses coupons, course packages, etc. to dispel user consumption concerns and promote user consumption.

4. SWOT analysis

Advantage(s):

• Incubated by Baidu, we select local questions from all over the country by combining big data and algorithms. We currently have a question bank of more than 130 million questions, covering a wide range of subjects and grades, and a user base of hundreds of millions.
• Free course playback, personalized learning mode, multi-category practice question bank, online automatic correction mechanism, automatic saving function for wrong questions
• Zuoyebang creates a good learning atmosphere and interactive enthusiasm through mechanisms such as redeeming rewards for answering questions for cash. Users can also invite friends to send cash to increase community activity, and user activity is high.
• Cooperate with major authoritative organizations such as CCTV, Ministry of Education, Women's Federation, and Beijing Education Commission on community projects.

Disadvantages (W):

• After completing the corresponding online courses for remedial/advanced/top students, you need to practice questions of a difficulty level suitable for students with poor/average/better foundations. (After selecting the course difficulty, you will need exercises of the corresponding difficulty)
• Faced with the knowledge blind spots of individual students, it is difficult for teachers to explain them in detail on a large scale in class. Since it is not a one-on-one course, teachers have limited opportunities to interact with students and cannot know the students' specific learning effects. (Real-time feedback on students’ learning can be provided through after-class exercises on specific courses)
• There is no parental supervision or interactive community.
• There are no famous teachers, extracurricular reading, scientific exploration, etc. to enhance students' learning interest. (Product modules need to be improved and expanded)
• The product has not been optimized based on the market's demand for famous teachers and word-of-mouth.

Opportunity (O):

• The user base is large, and the user base accounts for the highest proportion in K12 online education
• The popular functions developed independently, such as photo search, entered the market before other brands, and the first-mover customers have higher trust.

Threat (T):

At present, there are numerous offline tutoring institutions, which have taken up most of the market. The market space is already small, so it is relatively tight. Secondly, for live classes, you must find top teachers to record the lessons so that you can engage students through the screen.

4. Functional Analysis and Optimization

1. Information Structure

Homework Helper Information Architecture Diagram

2. Content Module

In the module on the homepage, there are few choices for discounted courses, and there is no desire to buy, and there is a lack of user incentives. In terms of market analysis, the IP of the famous teachers has not been well built.

Home page module

In the live class module, the course sequence is snap-up area-free area-purchase area-snap-up area-free area. We only see the promotion of the platform, but do not see the learning content between users, and there is a lack of user incentives.

Homework helper live class module

3. Summary of product optimization plan

• Home page - Content module - Change the purchase area to "Everyone is learning" (to motivate users);
• Home page - Content module - Language and mathematics plus some materials changed to popular teacher module (optimize user operation process and create top IP);
• Optimization of the grid type of the Chinese composition module list (optimization of the content module);
• After selecting the course difficulty, you need to do exercises of the corresponding difficulty (users will lose users because the questions are too difficult after learning the course);
• It can provide a forced screen lock function during class (parents worry-free mode);
• There are no famous teachers, extracurricular reading, scientific exploration and other functions to enhance students' learning interest. The product modules need to be improved and expanded (module optimization);
• There is a lack of content push for learning between users.

4. Optimization suggestions

A) The "Special Courses" module on the advertising recommendation page is changed to "Everyone is learning", and the module is changed to a display module, showing up to 6 cards.

The first three cards are what you are currently studying, and you can easily access them with one click.

The last three cards are what everyone is learning recently: they are recommended to users based on the weaknesses of users' daily search questions + the projects they are actually learning + the courses promoted by the platform.

B) The title of "Add some extra ingredients to Chinese and Mathematics" was changed to "Popular and famous teachers".

A Advantages: Optimize user operation steps and directly enter the course interface; improve course comparison/snap-up/quantity purchase rate and increase platform revenue; B Advantages: Build a platform super IP and generate top traffic for segmented subjects.

Before Homepage Optimization/After Homepage Optimization

A. Before optimization, essay samples and essay materials used two content modules, which would increase the user's operating costs, and the list-style content module took up too much space, resulting in too little selected content being displayed on the first screen. After optimization, the content was modified to a palace-style content module to reduce the proportion of this content module.

B. Before optimization, the module did not highlight the visual strengths of the composition titles in this area, and the ranking of content and title was unclear; after optimization, the first visual aspect of the module was the title, ensuring that users would observe the title first and then the content.

Advantages: Reasonable adjustment of the page proportion of each module, and optimization of the visual highlights of the daily selection of essays, are more conducive to users discovering the topic objectives of the essay module.

Before Chinese composition page optimization/After Chinese composition page optimization

Thank you all for reading. I am just a newbie and welcome your criticism and suggestions if you have any questions.

Author: KAI

Source: KAI