The operating system behind iQiyi’s active users

For a complex product, a complete user operation system is needed to promote user activity and retention. As a leader in the comprehensive video field, iQiyi has also established a set of operating strategies. The author of this article disassembled it and explored the operating system behind iQiyi's active users.

iQIYI products have the following 9 tabs, and their functions are briefly analyzed as follows:

1. The "Home" tab carries various content channels such as long videos;
2. The "Hotspot" Tab carries short video content;
3. "iQiyihao" is a gathering place for original short video creators;
4. “Literature” carries the content of the novel;
5. “Manga” carries comic content;
6. “Knowledge” carries learning courses and user payment functions;
7. The "Bubble" Tab carries content and social retention functions;
8. The "VIP Membership" Tab carries membership services and user payment functions (it is the most important module for iQIYI products to achieve commercialization);
9. The "My" Tab is used to combine various functional modules and contains various incentive systems;

1. iQIYI Product Commercial Channels and User Value Development Path

iQiyi is a product that users pay directly for and use frequently.

1. Content module: comprehensive content, divided into three parts: video content (long, short, live), reading content and paid knowledge content;
2. Community module, divided into bubble circle and hot spots (short videos)
3. The payment module is divided into VIP membership, knowledge payment and live broadcast reward (Singularity recharge)

IQiyi acquires video content through multiple channels, retains users through Bubble Circle and iQiyi accounts, and ultimately realizes commercial monetization through membership services and knowledge payment.

▲The growth path of iQiyi’s user value

Based on the user value growth path, all possible paths for iQiyi's user value growth are broken down as follows:

• Register -> Consume
• Register -> Watch video content -> Consume
• Register -> Community Publish Content -> Consume
• Register -> Watch video content -> Publish community content -> Consume
• Register -> Watch video content -> Browse community content -> Publish community content -> Consume

For products, users’ high-value behaviors mainly include:

1. Browsing content: browse, comment, post comments, subscribe, collect, and follow;
2. Browse community content: add circles, comment, like, and follow;
3. Creative content: posting pictures/videos, creating short videos, and initiating live broadcasts;
4. Consumption: membership purchase, knowledge payment;

2. iQIYI User Value Growth Ladder and User Operation Model

1. iQIYI User Life Cycle Definition and Value Growth Ladder

▲Iqiyi user life cycle diagram

IQiyi is a mature and complex product with hundreds of millions of users, which requires extremely sophisticated operations for users.

From the perspective of user type, iQiyi users can be divided into: passerby users, content consumption users, content creation users, and consumer shopping users. The same real user may play multiple product user roles in the product.

▲IQIYI’s 4 types of user portraits and data definitions

▲IQIYI user growth ladder

According to the above analysis, the four behaviors of user content browsing, membership consumption, community active interaction, and community content publishing can be defined as the four most important behaviors in the product;

In the product, there are users in the content business module, users in the membership business module, and users in the community business module (the community business is further divided into the bubble circle community and the short video community). These four types of users can be further subdivided.

2. iQIYI user segmentation

1) Users of iQIYI’s content business module correspond to comprehensive video content consumer users. For products, what we focus on is the user's visit frequency and visit duration, which can be stratified by the variant model of user RFM.

▲Data definition is subject to the actual product

2) iQIYI membership business module users , corresponding to paid consumption users, use RFM model to stratify users

• R: the time difference between the last consumption of iQiyi users in the past 90 days;
• F: The number of consumption times of iQiyi users in the past 90 days;
• M: The average amount of spending by iQiyi users in the past 90 days;
• The average values ​​of the above three data of users in the past 90 days are selected as data nodes, and 8 types of Keep consumption user values ​​are defined for tiered operations.

3) Users of iQIYI’s Bubble Circle community business module correspond to community content consumers and content producers, and the pyramid model is used for user stratification.

▲Screenshot of Bubble Circle certification

It can be seen from the Bubble Circle certification instructions that iQiyi divides community kols into two parts: celebrities and field experts.

▲Popular user pyramid model and definition

4) The short video community can be seen to be divided into two parts: hot spots and iQiyi accounts. One is the content distribution outlet, and the other is the content creation outlet. User stratification is applicable to users of the entire community, while for creator users, a variant model of RFM needs to be used for specific segmentation.

▲Short video community user pyramid model and definition

▲The definition of iQiyi author data is subject to the actual product

3. User operation model

3. User Optimal Path Sorting

1. User registration → Pass the beginner period and become a trial user

Step 1 User registration

Guide users to register through the experience of [New users receive VIP rewards for their first login]

Step 2

Users who come to iQiyi can be divided into two categories. One category has a clear purpose and knows what they want to watch and can find it quickly using the search function. The other category has no purpose and does not know what to watch. Then different personalized needs are adopted to meet the needs of different types of users.

• After users enter the product, they are directly guided to search . The search page allows users to quickly find the content they want to watch through rankings such as [Guess what you want to search] and [Hot search];
• After entering the product, users can find the content they are interested in through content recommendations;

Typical growth path:

[Guide users to register] → [Quickly find the content you are interested in] → [View content]

2. Become a trial user after passing the beginner stage → become a loyal content consumer

In this phase, in addition to increasing content and improving the user experience when watching videos, community functions were also added.

1) Content Resource Tab

Provide more channel content to cultivate users' viewing habits.

• Provide diversified content to meet the different needs of users.
• Added collection function, and when content is updated, users can be notified through push/pop-up window/system information notification, etc.
• Add an honor incentive system to encourage users to develop the habit of watching videos through medals and charity donations;

2) Bubble Circle Community Tab

Recommend popular community content, topics, and interest circles, and encourage people to join the circles.

• Recommend related topics and bubble circle content based on the video content browsed by the user, and the user can directly enter the relevant page by clicking
• Guide users to join circles, like and comment, and promote community atmosphere. Each circle adds an official account to provide users with high-quality content and actively produces community content through circle topic promotion.
• Enrich community content, including interest circles and idols, to meet the different needs of users;

3) Short video community tab

Recommend short video content to guide attention and viewing of the main film.

• Recommend short video content based on the long video content and habits of users;
• Guide users to like, comment, follow and watch the feature film;
• The content updates are notified to users through system information, and users can directly click on "Hotspots" on the homepage to view them.
• Richer short video content, including entertainment, variety shows, games, ACG, etc.

Typical growth path:

• [Discover programs you're interested in] → [Collect programs] → [Develop a habit of browsing content]
• [Enter the community] → [Browse content and interact] → [Develop the habit of browsing content]

3. Become a loyal content consumer → Become a material consumer

User payment scenarios can be divided into:

• Watch videos, read literature, and read comics to consume;
• Recharge Singularity Points for learning knowledge and rewarding anchors during live broadcasts;

Typical growth path:

[Make relevant recommendations within the content consumed by users] → [Guide users to purchase] → [Make recommendations for users who have paid before]

4. Become a material consumption user → Become a creative contribution user

The scenarios in which users publish content are divided into:

• Post comments and comments while watching videos;
• Post in Bubble Circle to participate in topic discussions;
• Proactively publish original video content;
• Participate in topic activities and publish short videos;

Typical growth path:

• [Users frequently view content] → [Try to reply and interact with others] → [Try to post yourself] → [Get positive feedback] → [Continue to post]
• [Community through activities, honors, benefits] → [Incentive to improve users' production capacity and enthusiasm]

5. Sorting out the optimal growth path for users

4. Behavior analysis and strategy formulation for users’ needs

The behaviors are divided into the following three categories, represented by red, gray, and yellow respectively.

1. One-time behavior that is strongly related to the main experience process
2. One-time behavior that is weakly related to the main experience process
3. Persistent behavior

▲Operation strategy from new users to trial users

▲Try the operation strategy from user to loyal content consumption stage

▲ Operation strategy for the stage from loyal content consumption to material consumption users

▲ From loyal content consumption to creating contributing user operation strategy

5. Review of iQiyi’s User Incentive System

1. Sort out the existing incentive system

1) Medal Incentive System

2) iQIYI Points System

3) Task system (game incentives)

Similar to Ant Forest, energy points are gained through some basic behaviors and donated to charity. iQiyi’s game incentives are divided into levels, and the higher the level, the higher the love value obtained.

4) Membership system

It consists of a growth system + a task system. The growth system is cashed out through level + growth value + equity, and the growth value is obtained through the task system.

5) iQIYI account level growth system

6) Interest circle level growth system

2. Sort out product function modules based on user growth path

3. Analysis and summary of the incentive system

iQIYI's product modules are divided into three modules: content business module (comprehensive video/non-video) ; community business module (bubble circle and short video) ; paid business module (VIP membership)

1) Content business module + paid business module

Content is the focus of iQiyi, and content payment is iQiyi's most important means of monetization. It can be seen that iQiyi's incentive system for these two modules revolves around the following formula. At the same time, according to the above analysis page, it can be seen that the resources of the entire membership system are tilted towards these two business modules.

Membership system = growth system (membership level + growth value + level rights) + member task system + points system + medal incentive system

2) Community business module

In order to retain users and extend their stay in the app, iQiyi has added two communities: Bubble Circle and Short Video. The Bubble Circle is designed with a level growth system, and users must join the circle to obtain growth points. The short video community adopts a hierarchical growth system for content creators, while the incentives for content consumers are still mainly based on content modules.

Author: Beautiful woman with a big soul

Source: Beautiful girl with a big soul