Lizhi APP Product Analysis

This article aims to analyze the current status of China's online audio industry and understand the product features of Lizhi APP . It analyzes Lizhi APP from several aspects, including industry background, product overview, competitive product analysis and functional analysis, and combines the development trend of the online audio industry to put forward some suggestions to share with you.

1. Industry Background

1.1 Analysis of China's Internet Audio Industry

PEST is a method to analyze the external macro-environment of an enterprise from four aspects: politics, economy, society, and technology, based on the company's strategic perspective. The PEST analysis method can better grasp the current situation and changing trends of the macro environment from all aspects. Therefore, in order to have a deeper understanding of product analysis, this article adopts the PEST analysis method.

1.1.1 Analysis of policy environment

As early as 1990, the Seventh Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China and made several amendments to it, clarifying the copyright protection of audio products. In addition, relevant departments cracked down on online infringement and piracy, and audio industry norms were gradually implemented.

However, the UGC model that online audio relies on is still prone to copyright disputes. On the one hand, many users put the same content on different platforms for profit; on the other hand, many platforms, in order to seize the market, also condone this behavior of users and are often negligent in content review. For example, well-known audio playback platforms such as Lizhi FM, Qingting FM, and Himalaya FM have all been complained by competitors due to copyright issues, resulting in the APP being removed from the Apple store.

In January 2019, the state issued the "Management Standards for Online Live Streaming Platforms" and "Management Standards for Online Live Streaming Anchors", which cover many aspects of live streaming platforms, such as anchor monitoring, account supervision, and platform inspections.

In addition, in order to promote the healthy and orderly development of online audio and video information services, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the National Radio and Television Administration have formulated the "Regulations on the Management of Online Audio and Video Information Services", which came into effect on January 1, 2020, vigorously promoting the integrated development of cultural and creative service industries such as audio, online literature, and publishing.

Overall, with the tightening of policies, the copyright environment in the online audio industry has improved.

1.1.2 Economic Environment Analysis

With the growth of national income and the continuous development of audio business, more and more high-quality content and high-quality anchors have emerged, and users' willingness to pay has increased significantly, which has promoted the development of content monetization model in the audio industry in the mobile Internet era. Moreover, audio interaction modes are diverse, which combines the business model of user rewards with the audio industry well to expand diversified income. In addition, the deepening development of the full-scenario ecosystem will bring more imagination space to the entire network audio industry and will drive the further growth of the market size of the network audio industry.

According to statistics from iResearch Consulting: In 2019, the market size of China's online audio industry was 17.58 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 55.1%. It is expected that the growth rate of the market size of the online audio industry will slow down from 2020 to 2022, but the scale will still increase.

Data source: iResearch

As of the end of 2018, the national car ownership reached 240 million, an increase of 22.85 million from 2017, a growth of 10.51%. In terms of vehicle types, the number of small passenger cars exceeded 200 million for the first time, and private cars (private small and micro passenger cars) continued to grow rapidly, stimulating the demand for in-car audio entertainment.

Trend of China's small passenger car ownership from 2014 to 2018

Data source: Zhiyan Consulting

1.1.3 Social environment analysis

The unique media properties of online audio can liberate user usage scenarios and attract users to meet their content and entertainment needs by listening to audio. In addition, the audio business can be connected with many other scenario ecosystems to jointly provide audio services to users. At present, major audio platforms are constantly expanding content distribution channels, and have reached ecological cooperation with mainstream brands of the Internet of Things and Internet of Vehicles manufacturers such as mobile phone manufacturers, super APPs, smart speakers, Internet TVs and OTTs, smart homes and wearable devices, and are constantly expanding the coverage of audio users and listening scenarios by providing high-quality content and refined joint operation services.

Against this backdrop, China's online audio has ushered in a period of vigorous development of the "ear economy". In 2019, the scale of China's online audio users reached 490 million, a year-on-year increase of 30.4%, injecting new vitality into the development of the industry. With the resource investment and quality content supply of online audio platforms, the user scale in 2020 is expected to be further stimulated.

Data source: iResearch

With the increase in my country's per capita GDP and the rapid development of the content payment industry, the content payment business model has been widely accepted, and the payment awareness and payment ability of online audio users have gradually increased. In 2018, user payments accounted for as much as 57% of China's online core copyright revenue. Moreover, according to iResearch Consulting’s survey results on the payment situation of online audio users, 76.0% of users have made payments on audio platforms, with an average annual expenditure of 202.3 yuan, and the overall payment situation is good.

Data source: Analysys Qianfan and iResearch Consulting

In addition, the emergence of various trendy cultures such as the second dimension and dubbing has not only enriched the audio content, but also gathered people with the same interests and hobbies, forming a sound community with a virtuous cycle.

1.1.4 Technical environment analysis

Mobile wireless network technology has made tremendous progress, allowing people to move from the Internet era to the mobile Internet era. The popularization of 4G technology has made the spread of online audio faster and more convenient. The application of 5G technology in the future will provide more room for innovation in the application of online audio. The development of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies has created a good foundation for content production on online audio platforms, and the continuous application of big data technology has realized personalized intelligent recommendations for users.

1.2 Development History of China's Network Audio Industry

According to the iMedia Research report, my country's online audio has gone through three development stages:

1. The disorderly development period (2005-2011): In the traditional broadcasting era, people listened to the radio online through computers or downloaded content and imported it into mobile devices such as MP3.
2. Audio platform exploration and rise period (2012-2016): The mobile audio era began. During this period, many audio platforms emerged and adopted differentiated competition strategies to acquire users. The competitive landscape of the audio industry was basically formed.
3. The period of rapid development of all scenarios (2017-present): The "ear economy" era has arrived, competition has continued to intensify, and online audio platforms have increased their layout in supporting anchors and developing voice live broadcasts. The full-scenario ecosystem has deepened its development. After Lizhi FM de-FM, it went public and became the first stock in the audio industry. (The so-called "ear economy" refers to people's ability to consume information through hearing, which corresponds to the "eyeball economy")

Development History of China's Network Audio Industry

Source: iiMedia Research

2. Product Introduction

2.1 Introduction

Lizhi is a Chinese UGC audio community. With the mission of "helping people show their vocal talents", Lizhi reshapes the originally fragmented audio production, storage and distribution industry chain in the traditional audio industry, enabling everyone to create, store, share and interact in real time through a one-stop mobile phone, allowing people to "record and share life with sound".

• UGC-dominated content production model: everyone is a creator, with new music live broadcasts, emotional live broadcasts, etc., making the content more diverse and rich.
• Diversified content: emotions, two-dimensional, radio dramas, audio books, entertainment information, light music, sleep aids, children's songs, etc., to meet different listening scenarios.
• Upgraded community: Music and emotional live broadcast - supports online voice communication in the live broadcast room; Lizhi Laboratory - open experimental platform, listen to the voice to find friends, etc. Use sound as a medium to connect users and build a sound community.

Slogan : Together with voice

Product Positioning : With the mission of helping people show their vocal talents, we build a three-dimensional voice live broadcast model and are committed to creating a global voice interactive entertainment platform.

2.2 Product Function Structure Diagram

The Lizhi APP is divided into five modules: audio, live broadcast, recording, dynamics and me.

1. Sound: The audio content area, which basically covers all audio content (except for audio content spoken with the heart).
2. Live broadcast: Live broadcast content area, users can see all live broadcast content on the platform in this area, and can also start live broadcast.
3. Recording: Setting recording as a separate module is a major feature of the UGC audio community, which encourages users to create audio.
4. Updates: Community interaction area, where you can browse friends’ updates and communicate (comment, like, forward, etc.).
5. My: Personal information area, users can manage their own audio content, view downloads, historical playback records, etc. in this area, and can also enter the Lizhi Laboratory to participate in internal testing.

2.3 User flow chart

2.3.1 User Listens to Audio

2.3.2 User Recording Audio

2.3.3 Users Listen to Live Broadcast

2.3.4 User starts live broadcast

2.4 Product iteration information

From the iteration record of Lizhi APP in the past year, it can be seen that its new and optimized functions focus on the interaction between users, reflecting that Lizhi has always been committed to building a UGC audio interactive platform.

Data source: Qimai data, compiled by the author

3. Competitive Product Analysis

3.1 Competitive product selection

At present, in my country's online audio industry, the top three pattern of Lizhi, Himalaya and Qingting FM is difficult to break for the time being. Therefore, this article chooses Himalaya and Qingting FM as competitors.

Some data sources: Qimai Data and Analysys Qianfan, compiled by the author

3.2 User Group Comparison

The results of iResearch Qianfan’s survey show that the quality of audio live streaming platforms is more important than the quantity; audio platforms are more popular among users than music platforms for audio live streaming. Among them, Himalaya has a certain advantage in top anchor resources due to its long-term accumulation of audio content, and has the best user awareness and a usage rate far exceeding that of Lizhi and Qingting FM.

Data source: Analysys Qianfan

According to Qimai data, the average daily downloads of Lizhi, Himalaya and Qingting FM in the past 30 days were 4339, 32890 and 6976 respectively, and the daily download volume of the three apps was ranked as follows: Himalaya>Qingting FM>Lizhi. This shows that the promotion of litchi needs to be strengthened.

Data source: Qimai Data

According to Analysys Qianfan data, in 2019, the user scale of major online audio APP products remained basically stable. Himalaya has achieved sustained growth, providing good conditions for the promotion and development of its audio live broadcast. Although the monthly active volume of the Lizhi APP has not changed much, it has always been the lowest among the three APPs. It is worth thinking about how to break through in the future.

Data source: Analysys Qianfan

4. Analysis of the core functions of Lizhi APP

4.1 First level page

4.1.1 Sound Page

Page entry: Open the Lizhi APP to enter directly, or click the "Sound" button in the main menu

Page layout: The navigation bar at the top of the page has three categories: Follow, Recommend, Topics, plus a list button on the right.

Floating window - the audio you are listening to: click to quickly enter the audio playback details page

(1) Functional experience

a) Sound - Recommended Page

• Main menu ((As shown in the following icon ①)

Located at the bottom of the screen are the entrances to five pages: "Sound", "Live", "Recording", "Dynamics" and "My". Click the title button to enter the corresponding page; open the Lizhi APP and go directly to the "Sound" recommendation page. The "Sound" button is the color of the Lizhi logo - Lizhi red, and the other buttons are gray. If you switch to another page, the button of the page you switch to will turn red, and the buttons of other pages will be gray.

• Page switching area (as shown in the following icon②)

Click or swipe left or right to switch between the following/recommended/topic interfaces. The icons on the interface are enlarged and bolded in black font, while the other icons are gray.

• Audio browsing area (as shown in the figure ③ above)

As a listener, when I enter this page, what catches my eye is a list of 4-6 audios. Each audio displays the host's avatar, host nickname, audio introduction and topic category, so I can quickly understand the audio overview, pull down to refresh the page, swipe up and down to browse the recommended audios, click the play button to listen, and click the audio cover to enter the audio playback details page. From my personal experience, I clearly feel that the recommendation page is based on the user's selected interest tags and historical listening habits. For new users, it is difficult to discover high-quality content, the search cost is high, and it fails to attract users.

Click on the "Audio currently being listened to" floating window to quickly enter the sound details page to view information, listen to audio and interact with the host, etc. This interactive design is very thoughtful and the experience is very good.

b) Voice - Focus Page

• This page displays the audio and live broadcasts released by the hosts that the user has followed, arranged in reverse chronological order. The user can choose to listen to the audio or live broadcast and enter the audio playback area. After I followed several anchors, I found that the content of this module was simple and the actions that could be performed were limited. Moreover, when I followed a lot of anchors, I could only browse them slowly in chronological order, which was very patience-consuming. It was difficult to find the audio or live broadcast that I was interested in at the time, and the experience was very poor.

c) Voice - Topic Page

• Topic classification area (as shown in the figure ① above)

After entering the topic page, you can see the classification of various audio programs in the left column: 24-hour hot topics, latest topics, music and more than 10 other topics. There are many categories, and different users can easily find corresponding content according to the categories. However, there are certain problems with too many categories. For example, some categories overlap with each other, such as "Chatting about Life" and "Life", and the content is homogeneous.

• Corresponding topic browsing area (as shown in the figure ② above)

After clicking into any topic, you can view topic information and announcements, browse by "recommended" or "latest", listen to other users' updates, and choose to join and post topics.

d) Sound - List Page

• List classification area (as shown in the icon ① above)

According to audio and live broadcast, the list is divided into the voice list and the anchor list

• Channel switching area for Voice Ranking/Anchor Ranking (as shown in the icon ② above)

The four category tabs of the Voice List are pinned to the top of the page, allowing users to click horizontally on the topic list they are interested in; the anchor list is divided into three rankings based on the anchor type, which is a major feature that is different from the hourly, daily and weekly rankings of most live broadcast APPs.

e) Sound - any audio playback page

• Audio playback area (as shown in the icon ① above)

After entering the sound details page, you can click different buttons to play/pause the audio, select the previous or next audio, the playback order, etc.; after clicking the playlist button on the right, when I want to take further action, I find that I cannot delete the audio I don’t want to listen to, nor can I collect the audio I like (as shown in Figure 2).

• Audio interactive area (as shown in the icon ② above)

It includes basic interactive functions such as likes, shares, and comments, and supports other functions such as fast forward/rewind 15 seconds, 0.5, 1, 1.25, 1.5, and 2x speed playback, and timed playback. For me, listening to audio is mainly to help me sleep before going to bed, and the timed playback function supports the application scenario of listening to audio before going to bed.

• Audio information area (as shown in the icon ③ above)

In this area, you can follow/unfollow, reward the host, and download audios of different sound quality. Swipe left or click "Details" on the top bar to enter the details of the playing audio. You can view the audio introduction and audio recommendations of related topics (what everyone is listening to). This function always recommends a steady stream of audios that I am interested in.

(2) Optimization suggestions

1. On the sound recommendation page, add recommended high-quality audio content for new users . The design of the recommendation page can easily confuse new users. Consider adding a high-quality audio column such as "New friends, here's what you want to listen to." On the one hand, for listeners, high-quality audio content can leave a good impression on users and attract them to experience it again; on the other hand, for anchors, it can increase exposure and increase fans.
2. In terms of interactive design, the topic category labels of the topic page are added to the voice recommendation page . On the topic page, the topic tags that users are interested in (i.e. "My" on the topic page) can be added to the top tab of the "Recommendation" page, which helps users quickly switch between topics of interest and find the audio they want to listen to.
3. On the dynamic page, add "Special Attention" . A "Special Attention" button can be added under the search box. When users enter this page, they can choose to pay special attention to the host's audio or live broadcast and listen to it (see the second picture of the "Sound - Dynamic Page" for the improved page).
4. Integrate topic categories . The current segmentation of audio content is a good thing, but the boundaries between some categories are ambiguous, which can easily cause confusion for users. Similar categories should be integrated and in-depth research should be conducted on specific segments.
5. In the audio details page, add relevant functions of the playback order area . Referring to the practices of music apps, you can add "Collect All" and "Clear" buttons to the right of "Play Order" in the top bar, and add a "Delete" button to the right of each audio, so that users can delete audio they don't want to listen to (see Figure 3 of "Sound - Any Audio Playback Page" for the improved page).

4.1.2 Live Page

Page entry: Click the "Live" button in the main menu.

Page layout: The navigation bar at the top of the page includes 2 categories: live broadcast and dating, plus a start broadcast button on the right. The list button next to the search box can view the live broadcast list.

Floating window - "I want to match": the system matches the user to any live broadcast room and connects with the anchor

(1) Functional experience

a) Live broadcast - Live broadcast page

• Live broadcast type switching area (as shown in the figure ① below)

There are two types of live broadcasts at the top of the page: Live Broadcast and Dating. Click to switch between categories. The start broadcast button on the right is convenient for one-click start.

• Live channel switching area (as shown in the figure ② above)

You can swipe left or right or click the button to switch live channels, covering nearly 10 types of live broadcasts, including music, emotions, two-dimensional, audiobooks, etc. By selecting the channel I am interested in, I can find the live broadcast of interest more quickly.

• Live browsing area (as shown in the icon ③ above)

The live broadcast rooms are displayed in a list in a mixed manner with high and low popularity. Although this can reduce centralization and increase the playback volume of low-popularity broadcasts, it still has a major user pain point: it is not easy to find high-quality anchors and the content is relatively mixed. Scroll up and down on the page to browse different live broadcasts under this category and select a live broadcast to listen. I browsed the music and sleep-aid channels that I was interested in, and found that the page simply displayed the host avatar, host nickname, number of participants, and category label of each live broadcast room. The introduction was only a few words, and it was difficult to see the difference between the live broadcast rooms. There was a feeling that "the live broadcasts on a live broadcast channel are all similar."

It is also worth noting that when browsing the "Popular" channel, when I scrolled down to the next page, I found a banner that displayed recent activities, some rules and advertisements, etc. It is not easy for users to pay attention to this banner, and they are not very interested in clicking on it.

After I tried to randomly click into multiple live broadcast rooms, I found that many of the live broadcast rooms with a high number of participants in browsing the page had very few people online in real time. Some live broadcast rooms showed hundreds of thousands of participants, but the actual number of people online was only dozens. So before I entered the live broadcast room again, I took the initiative to lower my expectations.

In addition, after I clicked the "I want to match" floating window button, the system matched me to any live broadcast room under the current channel and directly connected with the anchor. Without knowing anything about the live broadcast room, the anchor started communicating with me directly, which I personally felt was a bit abrupt.

• Live broadcast room details (as shown in the figure above, number ④)

After entering the live broadcast room, you can find that the functions of the live broadcast room are basically the same as most video live broadcast rooms: basic functions such as following, viewing announcements, exiting the live broadcast room to view the anchor information page (follow, @ anchor, homepage display, sending private messages, reporting), as well as interactive functions such as chatting (recommended text, custom text), connecting to the microphone, sharing, sending gifts, and receiving rewards for listening to the live broadcast.

b) Live broadcast - dating page

• Channel switching area on the dating page (as shown in the figure ② above)

It includes five categories: popular, looking for a boyfriend, looking for a girlfriend, matching, and entertainment. Users can choose the type of partition they are interested in according to different social needs to find the live broadcast they are interested in. After I tried finding a boyfriend and matching channels, I found that the live broadcast rooms I entered were all similar. They were all matched with live broadcast rooms of the opposite sex based on my gender.

• Dating page browsing area (as shown in the figure above, number ③)

Slide the page up and down to browse different live broadcast rooms and select the live broadcast to listen. The page structure is basically the same as the live page browsing area, with the difference being that the banner is placed at the bottom of the first page. When you click on the page, you can see the activity banner, which helps attract users to scroll down to view activities and other social live content.

• Live broadcast room details (as shown in the figure above, number ④)

The details of the live broadcast room are basically the same as those entered from the live broadcast page. The only difference is that the "connect to microphone" in the interactive function area is changed to "apply to be on microphone", which reflects the social function and aims to meet the user's needs for making friends.

c) Live broadcast - start broadcast page

• When I tried to start the live broadcast, I learned that real-name authentication was required before the broadcast. After filling in my name and ID number, I was transferred to the Alipay page for real-name authentication. The whole process was very smooth. After real-name authentication, fill in the live broadcast topic and select the live broadcast tag, and you can choose to preview or start online voice live broadcast immediately. The operation is very simple and quick.

(2) Optimization suggestions

1. Added sorting function and information content to the live broadcast room display list . Add a sorting function to each live broadcast channel, allowing users to choose to sort by the number of followers, number of participants, etc. The live broadcast room introduction can be slightly supplemented with content, such as a two-line text introduction, to help users distinguish between different live broadcast rooms and enter the live broadcast room that they are really interested in. In addition, it is recommended to add a display of the number of online users, so that users who want to interact in real time will quickly find a live broadcast room with a large number of real-time online users.
2. Increase banner exposure . Currently, the banner can only be seen on the second page under the "Popular" channel, and its exposure is limited. You can move the event banner to the top or add the event banner to other channels to attract users to participate in the event and make it easier to discover high-quality anchors.
3. Added live tutorial . For new anchors, it is inevitable that they will feel a little confused when they directly enter the live broadcast room to broadcast live. If a tutorial can be added to the broadcast page, it will attract more anchors to join.

4.1.3 Recording Page

Page entry: Click the "Recording" button in the main menu.

Page distribution: The page is mainly divided into two parts: self-recording and follow-up reading, plus the "You Write, I Read" recording manuscript submission function and the "Voice Check-in" function.

(1) Functional experience

a) Recording - Self-recording page

• Recording audio area (as shown in the figure ①)

Click the "Record" button in the upper part of the recording page to enter the recording page. This page is simple and clear, and you can add music and lines. What’s very thoughtful is that the list option in the upper right corner provides a “user tutorial” to guide users in recording.

• "Speak with your heart" module (as shown in the figure ② above)

When I was recording, I found that there was an entrance to "Say with Heart" in the upper right corner of the recording page, so I tried it out briefly. The audio details page of "Say with Heart" is a bit like a static version of the Tik Tok video page. You can swipe up and down to listen to the same audio read by different leaders, and click the "Read this article" button to record, create and publish your own audio.

Overall, this module can increase user retention and stickiness to a certain extent, but it has certain shortcomings: "Say It with Your Heart" is sorted by popularity and cannot be refreshed. As a result, no matter which category you scroll down from, there are always a few audios with high popularity. Users always see repeated content, which will cause them to lose interest in the "Say It with Your Heart" module.

b) Recording - Reading the page

• Audio transcript browsing area (as shown in the icon ① above)

It displays recorded transcripts of what everyone is reading, new manuscripts, celebrity readings, and emotional expressions. Click on any manuscript to follow along.

• Recording transcript details area

After clicking to enter any recording transcript, the page layout feels similar to the static version of the Tik Tok video page. Before the audio content begins, the reader usually introduces himself. When I listen to the audio, the audio transcript does not scroll down with the reading voice. I need to manually swipe up and down to view the transcript. On the right is the interactive function area where I can use the interactive functions of likes, comments, and sharing (as shown in icon ② in the picture above).

• Follow-up reading area

Click the "Go Follow Reading" button to start following reading. There are fewer functions than in the independent recording area, but the music is already matched and can be re-recorded, auditioned, paused, etc. Once the recording is complete, it can be released.

(2) Optimization suggestions

1. Move the entrance of the "Speak with Heart" module and add different sorting methods . The location of "Say it with your heart" is relatively hidden and not easy to be found, so it is recommended to put it on the main recording page; in addition, you can add a sorting method based on the number of listening times, the number of "read this article", etc. to reduce repeated audio content.
2. Improve the convenience of audio recording . Lizhi mainly produces UGC, and the convenience of user recording directly affects the quality and richness of the content. However, the current APP recording can only add sound effects during the recording process, but not during editing, which causes certain inconveniences; and audio cannot be deleted during the release review period, which is also an area for improvement.
3. Added text scrolling function on each audio details page. Manually sliding the document content is not a very good experience. You can refer to music apps and use the reader's voice to scroll the document content down, making it convenient for users to follow along in real time.

4.1.4 Dynamic Pages

Page entry: Click the "Dynamics" button in the main menu.

Page layout: There is only one dynamic tab in the navigation bar at the top of the page, plus search, follow friends and post updates, which is extremely simple compared to other pages.

(1) Functional experience

• This page displays the updates posted by the people the user follows. In addition to displaying the updates of the people the user follows, the updates page will recommend some live broadcasts that may be of interest. After browsing the page, I felt that the content was rather monotonous and did not arouse my interest in interaction.

(2) Optimization suggestions

• You can add popular updates to the dynamic module and use hot searches to guide users to view updates, so as to stimulate users to discuss popular updates and strengthen the social function of this module (the improved picture is shown in Figure 3 above).

4.1.5 My Page

Page entry: Click the "My" button in the main menu.

Page distribution: From top to bottom, it includes three parts: user personal information (user nickname and avatar, points, following and fans, sound, download, etc.); "record" and "start broadcast" buttons; fan membership, messages, my likes, draft box, Lizhi Laboratory, etc.

(1) Functional experience

• The "My" page prominently displays the "Record" and "Live Broadcast" buttons, which makes me want to try recording and live streaming. After clicking the "gift box" icon in the upper right corner of the page, you will enter the "My Task" page, where you can clearly see your points details and some task rewards. This motivates me to listen to/live broadcasts to earn points to a certain extent, but the points redemption function is currently being upgraded, which makes it difficult to understand the use of points.
• On this page, I found the "Lychee Laboratory" module, which has experimental functions such as finding friends by listening to voice, making friends in the entertainment hall, Lychee check-in, and voice identification card, which makes people want to experience them all.

(2) Optimization suggestions

• Using the points mechanism to encourage users to create, for UGC platforms, it is extremely important to promote users to continuously produce content. Therefore, the "gift box" icon can be changed to a dynamic display, which can better motivate users to create.
• The "Lizhi Laboratory" module is a highlight. Experimenting with new functions can not only satisfy users' desire to experience new functions, but also provide strong user feedback support for the improvement and update of the Lizhi APP. Therefore, it is recommended to rank "Lizhi Lab" to the top three options on the "My" page.

4.2 Public Pages

4.2.1 Login Page

Page entry: when the user enters the Lizhi APP for the first time; "My" page - "Click me to log in" entry; when the user is not logged in, when the user uses interactive functions such as follow, comment, share, etc. when listening to audio or live broadcast, or when the user clicks the recording, start broadcast and other button entry, it will automatically jump to the login interface.

• Set up three login methods: mobile phone verification code login, account password login, and third-party authorized login (WeChat, QQ, Weibo, email).
• When entering the APP without logging in, users can listen to audio and live broadcasts, view charts and updates, etc., but cannot follow, like, comment, or record audio. To perform the above operations, you need to jump to the login page;
• When logged in, you can perform all operations except live broadcast.

4.2.2 Search Page

• When the user clicks to enter the search page, the search box is activated, the cursor flashes, the search terms are displayed, and the keyboard is called up;
• Added search keywords of recent visits, search discoveries, and history records to meet user habits.

V. Conclusion

5.1 Future Development Trends of the Network Audio Industry

In the era of mobile Internet, young consumers have gradually become the main consumers, and traditional social methods cannot meet their social needs for a long time. This provides a good opportunity for the online audio industry to enter the social field. In the new application scenarios opened up by online audio, voice social networking that “does not care about appearance” has become a new trend. Voice social networking has its unique advantages and appeal, breaking the “appearance” monopoly of traditional social networking, and its usage scenarios are more casual. It only needs to judge whether it is compatible with the other party through voice. Many audio platforms have smelled business opportunities, and while their original businesses are booming, they have begun to explore more application scenarios and complete their self-transformation.

However, the development space for online audio platforms is still difficult to grasp. On the one hand, they have to face competitors in the same industry - there is a tendency for content homogenization among various audio platforms, and they are scrambling to grab KOL resources; on the other hand, they also face pressure from outside the industry - for example, live broadcast apps (such as Inke APP) have launched a radio function to support audio live broadcasts by anchors. On the live broadcast platform, people can choose both audio and video. The "Listen" and "Party" under the live broadcast module of music apps (such as NetEase Cloud Music APP) also cover various audio live broadcasts such as emotional healing, talk shows, and making friends. The competition faced by audio platforms in the future will be further intensified.

5.2 Optimization suggestions for Lizhi APP

As a typical comprehensive audio platform, after de-FMization, Lizhi FM is committed to achieving light social interaction through voice interaction. In order to increase interaction, it insists on using AI technology to give every ordinary person the opportunity to gain fans here, and transforms from a single mobile radio station to a diversified voice interactive entertainment social platform. On the one hand, we cooperate with many celebrities to create celebrity audios and annual ceremonies to increase our visibility. In terms of product design, in addition to the original interaction between hosts and listeners, we begin to strengthen the interaction between listeners and listeners. On the live audio page, users can communicate in the form of dialog boxes and live broadcasts, and use the form of making friends to increase user stickiness. On the other hand, by running podcast academies, anchor selection competitions and other activities, we have accumulated anchor resources and further increased user activity. Overall, rich marketing activities and high-quality anchor resources have driven the steady development of Lizhi, but it still has a long way to go in the future.

Here, I would like to make some suggestions:

(1) With the vigorous development of the online audio industry ecosystem, Lizhi should focus more on the specialization of anchors and the segmentation of content.

High-quality audio is the key to the Lizhi APP. Since Lizhi adopts the UGC production method, the content is both rich and messy. Although Lizhi has carried out many activities to support anchors, most of the rewards are not high and the duration is short. Lizhi should be committed to developing long-term training for audio anchors and launching UGC high-quality content, so as to further accumulate high-quality anchor resources and improve competitiveness.

At present, the audio live broadcast content of Lizhi is mainly limited to several major areas such as emotions, making friends, sleep aid, music, etc., and most of the audio and live broadcasts are not continuous, which is not conducive to improving user retention rate. You can consider launching continuous audio and live broadcast columns, such as daily science popularization, a daily bedtime story, etc., and plan activities to attract anchors to join. In addition, in the future, we should consider expanding into more diverse segments, reducing content homogeneity, focusing on content in a certain segment, and creating exclusive and platform-specific products to increase user stickiness.

(2) Although Lizhi has reached an important cooperation with Xiaodu, an artificial intelligence hardware brand under Baidu, and Xiaodu has launched a large amount of audio content from Lizhi, the user usage scenarios still need to be expanded. As voice interaction and Internet of Vehicles continue to drive the development of the network audio industry, Lizhi should actively seek cooperation opportunities and use voice interaction technology to continuously expand user usage scenarios such as home, education, car, and travel.

(3) The platform’s monetization methods must be continuously upgraded. As a platform that mainly produces content through UGC, Lizhi can use a variety of monetization methods such as virtual goods (gifts, props, red envelopes, etc.), fan economy (rewards, fan circles, anchor protection, etc.), membership system (recharge, special effects, upgrades and speed-ups, etc.), and live broadcast room advertising, mainly using audio live broadcasts to upgrade monetization methods. At the same time, we should also support high-quality audio content and monetize it through charging.

Author:Lily

Source: Lily