Build a user growth activity matrix in 3 steps

The online education industry has achieved rapid development due to years of entrepreneurial accumulation, with the maturity of service models, improvement of technical facilities, and the boost of the 2020 epidemic. However, there are still many difficulties in growing and acquiring customers, and the competition for users has become the key to the success of online education companies.

This article shares with you the user growth projects in the K12 online education industry and how to build a growth activity matrix, exploring the possibilities and methods of low-cost, large-scale customer acquisition in the online education industry. The article is long, the directory structure is as follows:

1. How to achieve user growth in online education

1. Six types of user growth projects

In order to achieve the user growth goal, various resources such as human resources and finance are integrated. All work tasks carried out within a given time and cost can be called user growth projects. Based on the content and form characteristics of user growth projects, I divide user growth projects into six categories:

Market-based growth projects are mainly based on performance advertising and brand advertising. They have higher costs, but they also acquire a large number of customers. Leading companies in the industry with strong capital attach great importance to market-based growth projects.

Functional growth projects use product features and processes to promote customer acquisition. They have very low costs, mainly design and development costs, and can steadily and continuously acquire customers for products, but the scale of customer acquisition is relatively small.

Activity-based growth projects are mainly fission activities and reward activities. They have many packaging forms and creative gameplays, and there is a lot of room for development. The cost is lower than advertising, and the scale of customer acquisition is also considerable. This is especially important for companies that do not have sufficient funds for advertising.

Strategic growth projects focus on data-driven refined operations and are often combined with other types of user growth projects to bring out greater value. They are more suitable for products with a larger user base.

Word-of-mouth growth projects , through exceeding product experience and proper guidance, form social communication to drive user growth. This is also the goal that all teams within the company work together to achieve, and it is quite difficult to achieve.

Comprehensive growth projects focus on the exploration of new growth methods and the integrated use of resources. Private domain traffic is currently a popular comprehensive growth project with great potential for acquiring customers, but it needs further improvement.

For the current online education industry, the main types of growth projects that contribute most to customer acquisition are market-based growth projects and activity-based growth projects. Market-based growth projects are growth projects that only leading companies in the industry can invest heavily in due to their high costs. Activity-based growth projects are suitable for online education companies of different sizes. They have low costs, large customer acquisition scale and great potential.

2. Advantages of activity-based growth projects

Activity-based growth projects are a more theoretical term, or more simply put, they are growth activities . In the Internet field, activities are very common. The goal of discount promotions is to increase GMV by user payment, the goal of sign-in lottery activities is to increase user activity and daily activity, and the goal of growth activities is to acquire users and increase user scale and value.

Growth activities are suitable for online education companies of different sizes and verticals, mainly because, compared with other types of growth projects, growth activities have four main advantages:

The first is that the cost is lower and the customer acquisition scale is larger . Growth activities are more accurately paid for results, that is, users can only get activity rewards and feedback after completing the new customer acquisition behavior. The cost is more controllable and lower, and the personalized and creative activity format can stimulate the enthusiasm of user participation. It has a larger operating space and ensures a larger scale of customer acquisition.

The second is that it is flexible and controllable, with a faster iterative verification speed . Growth activities are different from relatively fixed product functions. Their iterative optimization is more flexible, which facilitates experimental comparison and continuous optimization of activity effects.

The third is that the forms are diverse and easy for users to accept . There are many packaging forms for growth activities, which provide greater room for creative thinking. Users have more choices and are more willing to participate in them.

The fourth is data-driven, which can be used for refined operations . What user growth values ​​most is data-driven and experimental culture. In growth activities, point-of-care monitoring can be used to ensure timely feedback of data, guide further optimization of activities, and amplify the effects of activities.

These four advantages also solve the common problems in user growth to a certain extent: limited budget, high customer acquisition targets, poor user experience, and immeasurable results. These advantages are also the reason why I attach great importance to and recommend achieving user growth goals through growth activities.

Given that growth activities have obvious advantages and value, how do you plan growth activities in your user growth efforts?

2. Build an online education growth activity matrix

User growth is a company's long-term mission goal. Temporary short-term activities are unlikely to meet the needs of user growth. A rich and complete growth activity matrix can continuously contribute to user growth and promote the realization of the company's long-term user growth goals.

The growth activity matrix allows different users to participate in suitable growth activities. It solves a series of problems such as which users (who), at what cycle stage (when), in what specific scenario (where), for what motivation (why) and how (how) participate in the activities to bring in new users. It can maximize the use of user growth and attract new value and achieve sustainable user scale growth.

An example of a growth activity matrix is ​​shown below. It may be confusing when you first see it, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s see how to build such a growth activity matrix step by step.

The first step is to build a growth activity framework

Conduct user stratification horizontally and divide the cycle stages vertically to solve the problems of who (who) participates in growth activities and at what stage (when) to participate in growth activities, thus forming the basic framework of the growth activity matrix.

Horizontal user stratification can be divided according to the courses consumed by users. Currently, K12 online education mainly has three types of courses: 0-yuan trial courses, low-priced experience courses, and full-priced system courses. Based on the courses, users can be stratified as follows:

New user: a newly registered user who has not consumed any type of course

Trial class users: users who receive a free trial class

Low-price course users: users who purchase low-price trial courses

Regular price course users: users who purchase regular price system courses

Silent users: new users who have not been converted and are silent, and users who have attended courses but have not renewed their enrollment and have stopped taking courses

Users in different layers have different characteristics. When planning growth activities, designing different activities for different users can better ensure the effectiveness of the activities.

In addition to stratifying users based on courses, you can also combine product and user characteristics to stratify users based on grade, subject, quarter, platform channel, regional distribution, and even performance in activities, to explore the characteristics of different users and find corresponding growth activities.

The vertical cycle stages can be divided according to the class time stages, which can be divided into before class (from course purchase to before class), during class (class stage), and after class (after class). The user characteristics of each stage are still different.

Before class, during class, and after class are the stage divisions for users who receive/purchase courses. For new users, the cycle can be divided into the key conversion period and the churn risk period. The key conversion period is generally 3-5 days after registration. If users fail to complete the course purchase during the key conversion period, they will most likely churn afterwards. Therefore, the period after the key conversion period is the churn risk period. The value of the silent user segmentation cycle stage is relatively low and does not need to be specifically divided.

Through user segmentation and stage division on the horizontal axis, a basic growth activity matrix framework is formed. The next step is to think about how to further plan growth activities.

Step 2: Enrich the types of growth activities

Under the growth activity matrix framework, we further approach from the scenario dimension, motivation dimension, and behavior dimension to solve the problems of in what scenario (where) users participate in growth activities, why (why) they participate in growth activities, and how/what they do (how/what) to participate in growth activities.

【Scene Dimension】

Let’s first look at the scenario dimension. I divide the scenarios in online education products into learning scenarios and non-learning scenarios. The learning scenarios are further divided into live class scenarios and independent learning scenarios. User goals and preferences are different in each scenario, so they can be considered accordingly when planning activities.

In the live class scenario, users are highly attentive and focused on learning, and activities combined with the course can further improve participation. For example, after-class note sharing and check-in, users can share their class notes and get points or physical rewards;

In the autonomous learning scenario, users have learning needs, generally doing homework, watching replays, doing previews, etc. In this scenario, planning activities to help students learn will be more effective. For example, in a one-for-one learning materials promotion, a user can give the learning materials to a new user. After the new user receives the materials, the user who participates in the activity will also receive a copy of the materials.

It is more scattered in non-learning scenarios, but it also occupies a certain amount of user time. In this type of scenario, more profit-oriented activities are more appropriate, users can freely choose to participate, and the impact on learning is relatively small. For example, in the common invitation-gift activities, you can receive red envelopes or gifts by inviting new users to purchase courses.

Scenarios influence user preferences and needs, and planning activities tailored to local conditions can greatly enhance user participation. Let’s look at the following case.

Yuanfudao’s “I am a Little Teacher” sharing activity is an excellent example of growth activities in the learning scenario. After the course, student users need to complete the "I am a Little Teacher" homework. The Little Teacher homework book is a function to externalize the effect. That is, the child will explain and record an interactive question related to the classroom knowledge after class. He can explain and demonstrate at the same time, and finally record a video. On the one hand, it can help students strengthen classroom knowledge, and on the other hand, it allows parents to see the learning effect of their children. Based on the teacher assignments in the user's learning scenarios, sharing activities have been added to allow users to spread and share their children's learning outcomes, and free trial classes have been added to the sharing. After new users view the students' lecture videos, they have a more comprehensive understanding and recognition of Yuanfudao, and are more likely to receive free classes, thereby acquiring new users.

Motivational Dimension

Let’s look at the motivation dimension. The motivation dimension addresses why users are motivated to participate in growth activities. Motivation can be divided into external motivation and internal motivation.

External motivation refers to external incentives. Users are driven to take certain actions because of external incentives. External motivations are further divided into internal rights and external rights. Internal rights refer to rights incentives that are highly correlated with the product, such as courses, learning materials, course coupons, etc. After users participate in activities to obtain internal rights, they will use and consume the internal rights within the product, thereby increasing user activity retention. External benefits refer to general rewards that are less relevant to the product, such as common red envelopes and gifts. Compared with internal benefits, users cannot directly increase their active retention in the product after obtaining external benefits. They can withdraw or redeem the red envelopes and gifts. However, the advantage of external rights is that they are more universal and valuable, and users are more motivated to obtain external rights.

Internal motivation refers to the user's inner psychology and needs, and they take actions from the heart. For example, in order to improve one's knowledge or pursue class ranking, one works hard to prepare for class and review, and to get good grades on tests. These are user behaviors driven by internal motivation. Internal motivation can be planned together with external motivation in activities. Internal motivation is responsible for driving users, while external motivation is responsible for pulling users. The combination of the two makes users more willing to participate in growth activities.

There are few event planning activities that utilize users’ internal motivations, mainly because users’ internal motivations are weak, making it difficult to get them to spread the word about the product. Common methods include annual reports, learning rankings, etc., combined with sharing mechanisms to attract new users. There are more activities that are rewarded with external motivations. Let’s also look at the growth activity cases under the motivation dimension.

The first is Zhangmen’s one-on-one invitation activity to friends to get red envelopes , with direct cash red envelopes as rewards. The second is the Zebra AI class team-up activity to get gifts . Invite friends to download the APP, and everyone can get learning stationery. However, these two are more external rights and interests, and do not form a closed loop with the product. Users do not have a continuous relationship with the product after receiving it. The third one is the special courses provided by Liulishuo. Share with friends to get help. When the number of people reaches the requirement, you can get the designated courses. The fourth one is the learning materials provided by Zhangmen Youke. You also need to share with friends to view or download the materials in full. The courses and learning materials meet the characteristics of educational products. After receiving them, users need to further learn and use them within the product, forming a closed loop and improving user active retention. Therefore, this kind of activity based on internal rights and interests is more meaningful.

【Behavioral Dimension】

The last dimension is the behavioral dimension, which addresses the question of what users need to do to participate in the event and receive rewards. I divide behaviors into low-threshold behaviors and high-threshold behaviors, and further subdivision can be considered in practical applications. The behavioral thresholds of activities should also vary due to different user characteristics and behavioral capabilities.

Low-threshold behaviors in growth activities mainly pursue the sharing and dissemination of specific courses or content, with the goal of exposure. For example, users can get some rewards by sharing course posters to their friends, or they can get rewards if their friends click on them in the WeChat mini program. The threshold for these activities is very low, and users only need to share them to easily achieve the goal and get rewards.

The high-threshold behavior is mainly to invite friends to purchase courses, and the goal is order volume. For example, by inviting friends to pay for courses, users can get red envelopes or gift rewards. Alternatively, by inviting friends to take trial courses and completing the courses, users can get corresponding rewards. Such activities require users to share invitations, recommendations and introductions, and also require new users to complete specified behaviors before they can receive rewards. Not only is there great social pressure, but the possibility of receiving rewards is also low.

The behavioral dimension should not only consider the behavioral threshold of existing users participating in the event, but also the behavioral threshold of new users reached by the event, so that new users can quickly understand and use the product after being invited/reached.

Users are diverse. Some users like socializing and have many parents with learning needs around them, so they are more suitable for growth interactions with high-threshold behaviors. On the contrary, those who are not socializing and have fewer familiar parents around them can participate in low-threshold activities.

Taking Zebra AI courses as an example, both low-threshold sharing-gift activities and high-threshold invitation-gift activities are set up. The sharing-gift activity requires users to only share posters to their Moments and keep them for 2 hours to receive rewards. There is no need to invite friends to purchase courses. Participating users can complete the activity unilaterally. The invitation-gift activity requires users to invite friends to pay for courses in order to receive rewards. Of course, the threshold for sharing gifts is low, while the threshold for inviting gifts is high, and the corresponding rewards are also different. However, having these two activities in parallel gives users the right to choose, and they can participate in both, maximizing the value of user invitation communication.

When enriching the types of growth activities, we can solve three main problems through the scenario dimension, motivation dimension, and behavior dimension: in what scenario to participate in growth activities (where), why to participate in growth activities (why), and how to participate in growth activities (how/what). In addition, the three dimensions are not separate and independent, but closely related. Scenarios influence motivations, motivations promote behaviors, and behaviors match scenarios. Only by combining these considerations when planning activities can we ensure that the activities are complete and effective.

Step 3: Form a Growth Activity Matrix

After completing the first two steps, you can assemble a matrix system of growth activities, stratify users on the horizontal axis, divide the cycle stages on the vertical axis, and fill in and layout the activity type content from the scenario dimension, motivation dimension, and behavior dimension. In this way, you can form a complete matrix system.

However, this matrix system is a guiding model for growth activities. When it is actually applied, thinking and planning should be carried out under the growth activity matrix system. From five aspects, namely user (who), stage (when), scenario (where), motivation (why), and behavior (how/what), we should think and combine to form activity ideas and specific plans to form a specific growth activity matrix.

This activity matrix, shown at the beginning of this article, appears for the second time. This time, you should be able to understand it. When actually applying the growth activity matrix, users are first stratified on the horizontal axis and the cycle stages are divided on the vertical axis. From the framework of different users and different stages, product and user characteristics are considered, and activities are arranged in combination with scenarios, motivations, and behaviors.

First of all, new users cannot be strictly divided into stages before, during, and after class, but they can be divided into the key conversion period, as well as the loss risk period after the key conversion period. During the key conversion period, we should not interfere too much with the user's conversion process. More importantly, we should guide users to buy courses. If users do not convert during the key conversion period, you can take advantage of activities with low behavioral thresholds such as teaming up to receive gifts or helping to receive courses. With the dual incentives of gifts and courses, you can guide these unconverted new users to participate in growth activities and bring in new users.

In the pre-class stage after receiving the trial class, trial class users can use learning material rewards from the motivational dimension to help users better experience the product's satisfaction of their needs and at the same time bring in new users. The conversion cycle of trial class users is relatively short, so no growth activities will be carried out during and after the class, and instead the focus will be on service conversion.

Low-priced users will also be given the privilege of free courses after purchasing the course. After the user initially approves the course and purchases the course, they can give the course to their friends for a trial class to study together. During and after the course, the user will have a further understanding and approval of the product and course, and can participate in invitation-gift activities to invite friends to purchase low-priced courses to receive rewards.

Users of full-priced courses have a long course cycle and can participate in long-term activities. From the behavioral dimension, sharing-gift activities and invitation-gift activities can be carried out. Users can get gifts by sharing specific content, such as course posters and study notes, and can get rewards by inviting friends to purchase courses. In addition, based on the user's performance in the event, we screen out users with strong ability to continuously invite and attract new users, carry out distribution activities, and continuously incentivize users to share invitations.

Silent users are similar to unconverted new users and are difficult to convert. Low-threshold reward activities can be used to maximize their final value in attracting new users and extend their retention cycle.

This forms a specific growth activity matrix, ensuring that all types of users participate in appropriate activities at each stage, driving user growth. Of course, such a specific growth activity matrix is ​​not suitable for all online education products. Only by combining your own products and user characteristics and using the growth activity matrix approach for planning can you better build an activity engine for user growth and achieve your user growth goals.

Prioritize User Growth Activities

A complete growth activity matrix is ​​one of the engines for sustained growth of online education companies. However, in planning and implementation, the resources and manpower of the growth team must be considered, and each activity under the growth activity matrix must have certain priorities.

The ICE model can be used to determine the priority:

Impact : The scale of users that growth activities can reach

Confidence : The likelihood of success after the campaign is launched

Ease- Difficulty : The difficulty of implementing the activity, including development cost, operational difficulty, etc.

Prioritize growth activities by evaluating and scoring their impact, confidence, and difficulty. Each dimension has a maximum score of 5 points and a minimum score of 1 point. Evaluate each dimension separately and finally calculate the total score of the activity to determine the priority:

The greater the impact range, the higher the score; the greater the confidence level, the higher the score; the lower the difficulty level, the higher the score;

When evaluating and scoring, competitive product analysis, data analysis, project experience, and discussion among various roles in the growth team should be combined;

If the total scores are the same, the item with a higher confidence score will be given priority. If the confidence scores are still the same, the item with a higher difficulty score will be given priority.

There are some basic priority conclusions for online education growth activities:

Priority will be given to large-scale and high-quality user groups : users of regular-priced courses/users of low-priced courses;

Prioritize learning in strongly related stages and scenarios : learning sessions/scenarios;

Priority will be given to low-cost, more controllable activity rewards : courses, materials, and other learning-related rewards.

Gradually implement growth activities according to priority, run through the growth path, and finally form a complete growth activity matrix to continuously drive user growth.

IV. Conclusion

Finally, let’s summarize. The rationality and perfection of the growth activity matrix are reflected in the perfect application of the 5W1H rule, and it forms a framework to guide the planning and layout of user growth activities.

User stratification corresponds to who : which users participate in growth activities

The cycle phase corresponds to when : at what time stage to participate in the activity

Where : In which scenarios do you participate in the activity?

Motivation corresponds to why : Why users are willing to participate in the activity

Behavior corresponds to what/how : what users need to do in the activity, that is, how to participate in the activity

The growth matrix perfectly matches the 5W1H rule, and also uses the 5W1H rule to help everyone understand.

Growth is the unchanging goal of business development. It includes growth in user scale, number of products, operating income, etc., and user growth is the core of growth in the context of the Internet.

Growth activities are only a part of user growth work. There is still huge room for exploration and practice of user growth. As growth continues, our work is also full of challenges and fun.

Author: Wu Yijiu

Source: Wu Yijiu