How to establish a complete user growth system?

The Internet has entered the second half of its era. Due to technological advances and industry competition, the cost for companies to acquire users is rising sharply. Everyone is facing problems such as difficulty in acquiring customers, high costs, poor retention, and low frequency.

Then establishing a complete user growth system may be able to solve some business problems.

The significance of building a complete user growth system: Users need incentives, and the platform must establish a user growth system to more effectively retain users, promote user activity, and enhance user stickiness.

User operations personnel attract users through various means, and then need to maintain and manage these users to increase the time and frequency of their product use, thereby improving product stickiness and user life cycle. One very effective way is to design a user incentive system and reach users through refined operations.

For Internet users, user growth systems can be found almost everywhere. For example, QQ has yellow diamonds and experts, Meituan and iQiyi have points and growth values, Didi has Didi coins, JD has Jingdou, and Alipay has its own Sesame Credit. They appear in various forms and are sometimes called point systems, coin systems, or user incentive systems.

1. How to establish a user growth system

The user growth system should run through the entire product cycle. A complete user growth system can play different roles for users at different stages. Once designed, it is best not to change it easily.

First, two points should be made clear: What kind of product is suitable for user growth system? When is the most appropriate time period to introduce a user growth system?

As we said at the beginning, the core of the user growth system lies in motivation. For products with strong demand, users will actively use them even without incentives, such as WeChat.

On the other hand, level upgrades require more frequent user operations, and for products with low-frequency demands, it is not suitable to establish a user level and user growth system.

Therefore, high-frequency products with less intense demand are more suitable for establishing a user level system, such as communities and e-commerce.

The second point is when to establish it.

The user level and user growth system is essentially a system for managing users. We can plan this system at the beginning of product design, but it can only really work when we have a certain base of users.

At the same time, we can also design a user system that is more suitable for the product based on the existing user data.

1. Nine principles for establishing a user growth system

1. The system should reflect the core business characteristics of the platform: the elements and mechanisms therein should be as unique as possible, rather than being something that can be used anywhere.
2. The input and output of the system need to be balanced: preventing excessive costs, only obtaining meager returns, or not having a carefully calculated growth mechanism is an important part of not forcing the company to death.
3. The experience system needs to be separated: the growth system and monetary system between different business systems within a company must be separated. Different business systems have different growth systems, which can be more flexible and unrestricted and easier to operate.
4. User needs classification: Different users are motivated in different ways. Users can be divided into new users, ordinary users, active users, core users, etc.
5. The system can be expanded: If there are too few levels and users can easily reach the maximum level, the system will lose its original value and function. Realizing sustainable development of the system in an appropriate manner is an important factor in determining the quality of the system.
6. The threshold is open: If the entry threshold is too high and the difficulty is too great, it is easy to lose the meaning of motivating users. In the first step, you should pay special attention to not scare users away.
7. Incentives should be perceptible: users should not be harassed, but neither should they not be notified at all. The presence of the user growth system should be emphasized in a timely manner to reflect different differentiations and expressibility, so that users will be motivated to play.
8. Levels can be expected: use mechanisms and gameplay to maintain a sense of scarcity, and consider adding demotion or lower limit mechanisms: for example, if you do not speak for 12 consecutive months, your account will be cancelled, and if you fail to complete a task, you will be downgraded.
9. "Fake brushing" can be prevented: including daily tasks can only be completed a certain number of times, specific behaviors only count the first time, repeated identical content is not counted, etc., which are also effective ways to ensure the sense of scarcity in the system.

2. The 6 core steps to build a user growth system

1. Users are layered and graded according to their behavior. Different rewards such as bronze, silver, gold, diamond, glory, star, etc. correspond to different welfare systems, or correspond to different rights and interests, to cultivate a fan system.

2. For users at different levels, determine which means can achieve our goals, such as promoting activation, promoting transactions, promoting retention, etc.

3. For different goals, we are considering behavioral means, such as repurchase, recharge, cash back, card purchase, points, multiple openings, monthly cards, such as Meituan’s free shipping, redemption, etc., and building verification scenarios.

4. After determining the user level, stage goals, and testing methods, the next thing to solve is the reach channel.

5. Next is the presentation format, which involves text and pictures, APP pop-up process, SMS connection, poster QR code process, etc.

6. Finally, there is data feedback and data collection, timely feedback and post-event analysis.

3. Classification and positioning of user growth system

Here we involve a classic POM principle analysis of its own user growth system (three classic systems):

• Welfare-driven: Didi, Mobike, UCAR, Pinduoduo, various memberships of e-commerce platforms, etc.
• Content-driven: Zhihu, Everyone is a Product Manager, and Xiaohongshu have enhanced their sense of honor and communication power through account upgrades.
• Function-driven: iQiyi membership, Tencent Video, Ctrip, and Fliggy, unlock various skills through account upgrades.

Enterprises should select a user growth system based on their own product functions and user demands, and continue to operate it as the enterprise grows. Only continuous operation has continuous value, and it should never be left unattended. The formulation of welfare rules often represents the will of the enterprise and is the development direction that the enterprise hopes to see.

4. Case Study of Didi’s User Growth System

Didi is a typical example of a relatively sound user growth system. Let’s break down its principles.

Didi’s user growth system is a typical combination of user level and functional rights. Different levels correspond to different welfare incentives, which is also your intention to show off and pretend to be cool.

As a product with rigid demand for taxi-hailing, the right of priority in taxi-hailing promotes users’ motivation for continuous upgrading, promotes high-frequency usage, and increases user stickiness on the platform.

The thoughtful growth path and platform rule analysis point out the upgrade path for high-frequency users, while also deeply occupying the users' minds.

2. Conclusion

The user growth system is a set of product connectivity that is independent of the core functional value of the product but is integrated between users and products.

A good user growth system will effectively promote user activity, enhance user stickiness, and improve the commercial value of the product. When a product develops to a certain stage, it needs to start building its own user growth system to further enhance the product value.

After establishing the user growth system, like many products, you still need to spend time studying conversions at each level.

Based on data-based user behavior guidance and rewards, if the user growth system shows good data conversion in the initial stage, you also need to prepare to increase user awareness in the APP, organize activities, improve entry points, etc.

It is not difficult to build a basic product. After the product is built, the most energy-consuming and challenging task for operators is to adjust the operation according to data and actual needs. I hope to encourage you all.

Author: Zhang Bancheng

Source: Operator

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