How does WeChat Reading activate new users?

In most companies, new user activation is the easiest place to find opportunities and is also the most critical link.

How can we let users discover the value of our products and how can we let users know that our products can meet their needs? This determines whether new users will stay and become active users, and is also an extremely critical "sieve" in the entire user conversion funnel.

1. Where are the Aha moments of WeChat Reading users?

The “Aha moment” is the moment when a product makes the user’s eyes light up, the moment when the user truly discovers the core value of the product - why the product exists, why they need it, and what they can get from it. In other words, this is when users realize why the product is indispensable to them. It’s this moment-in-the-moment experience that transforms early adopters into super users and ambassadors of the product.

——Growth Hacker

WeChat Reading’s Aha moment: when users see their long-cherished book for free within 1 day.

2. The process of WeChat Reading users reaching the Aha moment

The shortest process to reach the Aha moment on WeChat Reading:

Process 1: Share with friends

1) Share pictures — Paving the way for Aha moments

The books in the picture shared have high resolution: "The Three-Body Problem" - a science fiction masterpiece, "Criminal Investigation Notes" - an exclusive masterpiece on WeChat Reading, and "The Forking Path of Musings" - a popular novel with a rating of 8.9.

In addition to these three popular books, the half book that leaked out at the bottom of the screen is obviously a book for girls. "Empress Xie" on the lower right is also a very exciting palace fighting novel.

Sharing popular books that appear in the chart can increase users’ sense of “freshness” and “excitement”, which can both reduce the user churn rate before reaching the Aha moment and enhance the user’s satisfaction when reaching the Aha moment.

2) Share copywriting – endorsement by friends increases driving force

In the copy shared by a friend:

"xxx days of using WeChat Reading" - I have been using WeChat Reading for a long time.

"I decided to invite you to read together" - "I decided" expresses that I made the decision after a deep experience, "invite you" expresses that I think WeChat Reading is very suitable for you, and "together" enhances the driving force of the copy from the perspective of social relationships.

Process 2: Enter the applet

1) Mini Programs: A magic weapon to reduce churn rate

Mini programs are lightweight and low-cost.

After clicking the shared link, the user will be directly redirected to the mini program. It eliminates the processes of downloading, registering, logging in, and authorization. Reducing the processes means reducing user churn rate.

WeChat Reading attempts to allow users to reach the Aha moment directly on the mini program, which now seems to be a very successful decision.

2) No need to log in - crazy "savings"

The form of mini programs has reduced a lot of processes and operations, and the most crazy thing is that users don’t even need to log in before they reach the Aha moment.

From entering the mini program, to viewing the book rankings, lists, detail pages, starting to read, and even adding a book to the bookshelf, there is no login authorization required, even if the login authorization only has a pop-up window and you click to confirm.

3) Log in to get unlimited cards - small investment, big boost

The cost of a one-day unlimited card for WeChat Reading is almost negligible, but on the one hand, this one-day unlimited card can make users feel that they are "getting a bargain", and on the other hand, it can make it convenient for new users to read any book, so that users can quickly feel the value of the product.

At the same time, go to the APP to receive the 20-day unlimited card. The two gifts add up to a total of 21 days, and 21 days is a magical number.

Step 3: Find the book you want to read

1) The books the sharer is reading - birds of a feather flock together

There is an old saying that “Birds of a feather flock together”, but now “The 5 people you interact with the most determine your ceiling”

The first screen when entering the WeChat Reading Mini Program is to share with your friends the books they are reading. On the one hand, recommending books that friends are reading can satisfy the human nature of "voyeurism". On the other hand, the books that friends are reading are also very likely to be books that the recommended users will be interested in.

2) Recommended books - Even if you haven't read them, you've probably heard of them. Even if you haven't heard of them, you should be interested.

"The Competitiveness of Introverts": Based on the recommendation of "Intimate Relationships" that a friend is currently reading, the key words are "introversion", "playing to one's strengths", and "competitiveness". As long as you are not a very extroverted or unmotivated person, you will more or less want to click on it and take a look.

"Rich Dad Poor Dad in Practice": "Rich Dad Poor Dad" has been very popular on the Internet recently, and related books and concepts are also very popular.

There are only 5 recommended books, but they cover several major angles of reading: personal growth, success, novels, and suspense.

3) Large amount of resources - many books

I won’t go into details about this, but when WeChat Reading first started, there were many disputes over copyright issues. The readability and quantity of books are the primary competitive advantages of reading products.

4) There are xxxx people watching - social proof principle

"Following social norms or imitating what others do is the most powerful driving force behind purchasing behavior" - This excerpt from "Growth Hacker" is exactly what I recorded in the notes function of WeChat Reading. I have to say that this function is very useful.

“So many people are reading this book, it must be very good, right?” This may be the thought of most users when they see this information. This information plays a vital role in the book details page. It accounts for half of the conversion rate of the last page before the user reaches the Aha moment.

5) Popular and inspiring book reviews - The Other Half of the Sky

Just like buying products on e-commerce websites, great reviews are a crucial part. Wonderful comments are generated by users, expressing their insights on the book and the inspiration/enhancement it brings to them. This part of the description is exactly about what needs the book meets (whether it is ability improvement, accumulation, or simple pleasure). When other users see the wonderful comments, they will intuitively understand the value that this book can bring to them, thereby increasing their desire to start reading.

Step 4: Start reading for free

1) Swipe up to read directly

WeChat Reading has further shortened the process from the book details page to the content page, directly putting the book details page and the content page on one page, so users can start reading directly when browsing down.

Here I wondered whether this unusual design would make users feel uncomfortable, leading to a decrease in experience or conversion rate. However, after analysis, it was found that if the user wants to read this book, this extremely minor discomfort will not make the user give up reading. The benefit of this setting is that it conveys an intuitive message to users: "I didn't pay, but I can read this book", thereby improving the conversion rate of these users.

3. Page element design

After entering the mini program, as long as the user does not exit, they will eventually see the book content no matter how they click.

Here we analyze the page elements that the WeChat Reading user activation process goes through one by one.

1. Mini Program Home Page

Free 1-day unlimited card - closely related to new user activation.

• Red area: Search function (search for books), the next step after searching for a book - book details page.
• Green area: Books that friends are reading (main KV). Here you can view the books that friends are reading. The next step is the book details page. Go to the WeChat Reading app to receive a 20-day unlimited card. The next step is to download the WeChat Reading app (more effective conversion).
• Blue area: book recommendations/rankings/categories, next step – book details page.

It can be seen that almost all elements on the mini-program homepage entered through the sharing link are to guide users into the next step of the user activation process, among which "Go to WeChat Reading to receive an unlimited card" is a stronger conversion element.

2. Book details page

• Red area: book cover, book introduction, ratings and number of readers. The elements here are book information elements and conversion elements (449,000 people are reading) - let users understand the book; click on the prompt of 449,000 people reading: go to WeChat Reading APP
• Blue area: book reviews - increase the desire to read.
• Green area: Go to WeChat Reading app to receive a 20-day unlimited card - download WeChat Reading app (more effective conversion).
• Yellow area: Book content — let users start reading directly.

4. Product Design

All of the above methods of guiding users to the Aha moment are based on the premise that the Aha moment determined by the product is the user’s real Aha moment. If the product’s functions cannot meet user needs, users will not discover the value of the product when they reach the “Aha moment set by the product manager”, and the product’s expectations will not be met after the activation process is completed.

Then product managers should think about:

1) Can our products meet the needs of users well?

If user needs cannot be met well, a needs analysis should be conducted on the target user group again, and the generated user data should be analyzed to understand the reasons why user needs cannot be met. Optimize product functions and forms based on the analysis results, and conduct A/B testing or other rapid experiments.

2) Are the users we acquire through various channels the target users with such needs?

Who are our target users? Among the users we acquire from various customer acquisition channels, which channels have a higher user activation rate?

By measuring the efficiency of customer acquisition channels by the activation cost per user in the channel, you can consider increasing investment in customer acquisition channels with higher activation rates and reducing investment in customer acquisition channels with lower activation rates.

Channel single user activation cost = customer acquisition channel investment cost / number of activated users from this channel

3) In the process of guiding users to activate new users, are you giving users overly high and unrealistic expectations?

Imagine if WeChat Reading claimed in its promotion that users could read a recently popular book on WeChat Reading, and claimed that users could read all books on WeChat Reading for free forever. However, after entering WeChat Reading, actual users discovered that the popular book that was promoted during the publicity was not in the library, and the unlimited card was only valid for 21 days. Will users continue to use it?

When guiding new users, just show them the value of the product. Just some minor repairs, no need to go overboard. Otherwise it may have the opposite effect.

V. Summary

From the new user activation process of WeChat Reading, we can see that:

1. Lightweight carriers are a key step in reducing the new user activation process. Choosing the right carrier can significantly reduce the resistance for users to reach the Aha moment, which is also the customer acquisition cost.
2. “Save as much as possible” - In the new user activation process, processes other than new user activation will be cut out to help users quickly reach the Aha moment.
3. “Remove distractions” – Reduce the elements in the onboarding process that will take users out of the onboarding process. In the new user activation process, there are only three types of elements: 1. Elements that enter the next step of the process 2. Elements that enhance user motivation 3. Elements that accelerate conversion
4. In the process of activating new users, try to add motivation-enhancing elements to each page to continuously promote user experience of the product and complete activation.
5. Give rewards and encouragement after completing a stage: "Open the mini program to get a 1-day unlimited card, download the app to get 20 days", which increases the excitement and freshness of new users.
6. Avoid user cold start: The "Friends Are Reading" and "Recommendations" functions first help users select some books instead of letting users find them themselves. At the same time, there are only 3 books that “friends are reading”, so try to help users make choices or avoid users facing too many options.

Author: Xiaofeng

Source: Xiaofeng