User Activation Methodology of AARRR Model

What is the AARRR model ? The AARRR model is also called the Pirate Model because of its predatory growth method. It was proposed by Dave McClure in 2007. The core is the AARRR funnel model, which corresponds to the customer life cycle to help everyone better understand the principles of customer acquisition and maintenance. The author of this article interprets the activation methodology of the AARRR model based on his own experience.

Definition of Activation Rate

The proportion of new users who complete activation within a certain period of time

The purpose of statistical activation rate

1. It only takes a week to get results, which is the main indicator for measuring user activation and can be used as a leading indicator for measuring long-term retention.
2. Help the team find a clear focus for all new user onboarding, both inside and outside the product
3. By monitoring this indicator over a long period of time, the team can observe trends and understand whether new user activation is getting better or worse.

7 steps to increase activation rate

1. Identify key behaviors

• What might be the key behaviors?

1) What action do you want users to take every time they use your product?

2) Which behavior of users is more likely to make them stay in the company for a long time?

3) Which indicator does the entire company care about most? Which indicator do you most want to improve? Which user behaviors directly affect this metric?

4) Do you have several different products or features? What are they? What are the success metrics for each product or feature? Which user behaviors are related to it?

• How to identify the real critical behavior?

1) List possible key behaviors: 3-5, which should be closely related to the value provided by the product (e.g., completing the onboarding, continuing to browse the product after the product introduction, using core features, connecting with other users)

2) Screen key behaviors through data: by comparing the retention curves/conversion rates of different behavior groups

3) Further confirm key behaviors through qualitative user interviews (e.g., questionnaires, phone calls, paid recruitment, in-product survey software (which pops up after the user completes a key action))

4) Find the key behaviors

• Examples of key behaviors

1) Social products: Users who leave their personal information have a higher retention rate than those who do not;

2) Mutual financial products: The retention rate of users who have purchased financial products is higher than that of users who have not purchased them;

3) E-commerce products: The retention rate of users who received coupons is higher than that of users who did not receive coupons;

4) Information products: Users who comment have a higher rate than those who do not;

2. Find the people who complete the key behaviors

• For example, which user? What equipment was used?

3. Determine how long and how many times to complete

• The magic number is to draw a distribution chart of the number of times users complete key behaviors in the early stage to see which number is the critical value (after how many times the marginal impact on retention rate begins to decline)
• Time window: usually the first day, next day, first week, first month

• Excitement Index: The process of activating new users is to guide them to complete key behaviors (experience the value of the product for the first time) before their excitement index drops to 0. 1) User’s initial excitement index:
  • The bigger the brand, the higher the index
  • Good product design can increase the user's excitement index
  • The excitement index of users from different channels is also different
    • Users who come to us on their own have a high excitement index because of their strong demand.
    • Users recommended by old users have a high excitement index because they have social endorsement

2) The impact of each element on the excitement index (drawing the excitement index model)

• • Simulate the new user activation process yourself and record which elements can increase the excitement index at each step, which can reduce the excitement index, and whether the final sum is positive or negative

3) Regularly adjust each aspect of the excitement index model

• • Because the product is constantly changing, it is recommended to adjust the entire process regularly

4. Conduct growth experiments to monitor changes in retention rates after more users complete key behaviors to verify the exact cause and effect relationship

5. After verifying the exact cause and effect relationship, create a funnel report to complete the conversion rate of each step of the key behavior and classify users according to the access channel

6. Conduct questionnaire surveys and interviews on links with high churn rates to find out the reasons for churn.

• Questionnaire considerations (make sure it is useful and not offensive to users)

1) The questionnaire must be very short: 1-2 questions (open-ended)

2) The most appropriate time to send out the questionnaire

• • User activity reflects user confusion, such as when they stay on a page too long or leave a page. The user just completed a step that many people don’t complete, such as creating an account or clicking to buy.
• Questionnaire content: Questions need to be based on the churn node you are asking about

1) Are there any factors that prevent you from registering at this stage?

2) What concerns led to not completing the order?

3) Why didn’t you buy anything today?

4) What kind of information do you need to know before you can register with confidence?

5) What do you hope to find on this page?

6) Does this page contain the information you are looking for?

7) What is the reason for you visiting our website today?

8) What prompted you to place an order today?

9) It seems like you should be able to… (do what) on this page

10) Is there any room for improvement in our settlement process?

• Interview object: Want to know why users give up purchasing at a certain point. The most useful answers often come from users who did not give up purchasing.

1) They not only talk about what obstacles they encountered

2) They also explain why they continue to buy when others leave

For example: Ask a question on the last page of the order: What factor almost made you give up the purchase?

7. Experiment with growth strategies based on churn reasons

4 principles to improve activation rate

1. Enhanced power

• Keep external advertising and the new user welcome page consistent to reduce user confusion and increase a sense of security
• Explain to the user why he needs to enable various permissions and what benefits it will bring to him, instead of making direct demands
• Leverage social trust: For example, when a new Uber user accepts an invitation from an old user, the first thing they see when they open the interface is the old user’s name and photo.
• Involve users: After registering, users can take personalized tests and get the solutions they need

2. Reduce barriers

• Delay registration to allow users to use the product first
• Remove unnecessary steps and hide excess information
• Avoid cold starts, so that users don’t find everything blank when they enter the product

3. Timely boost

• Identify the window of opportunity
• Flexible use of various methods for user guidance

1) Let users experience the product before registration

2) Highlight the key steps

3) Pop-up windows guide users to perform operations

• Use external channels (SMS/email) to remind users to complete activation

4. Personal customization

• Use limited information to find the most critical user groups and guide new users to personalized

1) Let users choose their own interests and preferences

2) Recommendations based on user consumption history

3) Provide different guidance according to different user purposes

4) Guide users according to different groups

12 ways to increase activation rate

1. Increase order rate: enjoy XX yuan discount for the first order

2. Eliminate friction in user experience: Conversion = Desire - Friction > 0

3. The first landing page of a new user experience must accomplish three fundamental tasks

• Communicate relevance: How well the web page matches the visitor’s goals and desires “Is this what I want?”
• Demonstrate product value: Quickly and concisely answer the visitor's question, "What can I get out of this?"
• Provide a clear call to action: Give visitors an attractive next step

ps. Parts that need to be tested: text and image elements: content, size, proportion, color, position, deletion and addition, whether to add explanation or not 4. Single sign-on: a way to simplify the registration process

• Reduce the personal information people have to provide
• Use "social account login"

5. Flip the funnel: Let visitors experience the fun of your product before asking them to sign up

6. Subtle resistance: A team tried to add more text information to the call to action to encourage users to register, including inserting high-quality user reviews and text explaining the value of registration. As a result, the registration rate dropped because the text disturbed users and distracted them.

7. Fill out the questionnaire after registration

• benefit

1) It helps us understand users and provide better services. 2) It helps us show users that we strive to provide them with personalized services (for example, after filling in the due date on a maternity and childbirth website, we provide accurate information on pregnancy and childbirth).

• Questionnaire writing tips

1) There should be no more than 5 questions, all of which should be multiple choice questions with no more than 4 options per question.

2) Add pictures and visual effects (such as cartoons)

3) You can provide rewards for completing the questionnaire

Note: The questionnaire needs to undergo rigorous testing and a control group is required

8. Gamification (positive friction)

• Rewards are used to train people to perform certain behaviors
• Focus on three aspects

1) Meaningful rewards

2) Create surprise and fun by varying the methods of earning and displaying rewards

3) Provide elements that bring immediate gratification

• When people face a challenge that is just the right level of difficulty, they feel a great sense of satisfaction and are in a flow state, where they are so focused that they forget about time.

1) Gradually increase the difficulty of the game and the intensity of rewards 9. Use triggers to increase the user's willingness to act

• The willingness value depends on the strength of the user's motivation + the ability to take action (how easy it is to complete this action)

1) Behavior = motivation + ability + trigger

• Key points for using triggers to increase motivation

1) The motivation for contacting the user should be to remind the user that there is an opportunity that is obviously valuable to him 2) Trigger classification

• • Assistive triggers: used to help users with high motivation but low ability to take action (driving traffic)
  • Motivational triggers: used to motivate users who have high ability but low motivation to take action (conversion)
  • Signal triggers: used to help users with strong motivation and ability move in the right direction and encourage them to repeat actions (repurchase/activity)

10. Newbie Guide

• Rule 1: Eliminate user doubts and reduce frustration

1) The registration process is simpler

• • Reduce the number of required registration items and allow for later filling
  • Log in with a third-party account authorization
  • Paid services offer free trials or demo accounts

2) Welcome message

• • Welcome email, showcasing the product’s key features and value
  • Use floating pages to guide users
  • Simulate a robot assistant to easily communicate with users
• Rule 2: Provide users with immediate benefits

1) Let users experience the main functions immediately

• • After registration is completed, jump to the page where the main functions are located immediately
  • Performing "standard actions" is a required step and cannot be skipped directly
  • Arrange another user to actively initiate interaction (applicable to social products)

2) Ask for feedback

• • When users encounter problems, communicate with them in time to solve the problems

3) Provide suggestions

• • After users move from the novice stage to the advanced stage, we provide them with tips and advanced gameplay to improve their efficiency and pleasure.
• Rule 3: Give different users different small favors

1) Encourage users to invite friends and give rewards

• • One-time rewards, coupons, etc.
  • Permanent commission
  • Unlock Permissions
  • List reputation

2) Experience based on user personalization

• • Content prediction, guess you like/recommend
  • Identity trait category, issuing coupons for designated products to individual users
  • Personality display category: users who reach a certain level can choose theme backgrounds, accessories, signature tails, etc.

3) Provide nutritional long-term value

• • The increasing wisdom
  • Rising tides of wealth lift all boats
  • Friendship continues to grow
  • And we need to highlight these values

11. Methods for strengthening guidance

• Use rankings, popular searches, etc. to help users discover more content
• Predict users’ shopping preferences and recommend products or services that users are interested in
• Frequently asked questions
• customer service
• Community

12. Product A/B test iteration

• Iteration content

1) Functional iteration

2) Button/entry position iteration

3) Button color iteration

4) Interactive iteration

5) Copywriting iteration

• Iteration Notes

1) Provide multiple solutions for parallel testing 2) There is only one variable between different solutions 3) User groups have a unified label

• • Same area
  • Same cohort
  • Same area
  • Same gender
  • Same age

4) The data is credible only when the UV exceeds 1,000

5) No-perception diversion

6) Accurately observe different traffic groups

7) Verify the results through A/B testing (the experimental group and the control group have the same products, but the number of samples is different)

8) Use certain criteria to determine the results and select the most strategic

8 common operational mistakes

• There are too many steps in new user registration and guidance, and the process is too long
• Not focusing on one key behavior, and asking users to do too many things
• Spending too much time teaching users how to use the interface instead of letting them use the product
• Taking users through setup too quickly without providing enough education
• New user registration is too smooth, and no necessary obstacles are set to screen out unqualified users
• Use “registration completion” as the metric for measuring new user onboarding, not “user activation”
• Treat every user the same
• Follow the best practices above without A/B testing

Author: Zexue Notes V

Source: Zexue Notes V