The product logic behind the epidemic topics of Toutiao, WeChat, and Alipay

In January 2020, at the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the new coronavirus pandemic was raging.

The epidemic that originated in Wuhan and quickly spread across the country became the focus of discussion among people across the country and also created a torrent of traffic. Major Internet companies have launched special columns in an effort to gain more traffic.

How do major Internet companies respond to emergencies and how do they iterate their special columns? Although I have not experienced it personally, we may be able to gain some insights through the changes in the rapid iteration of the product.

Today we will explore the design logic behind Toutiao’s products through its iterations.

1. Why launch a special column?

The epidemic is an emergency event, and it coincides with the Spring Festival holiday. Why did major Internet companies launch special columns so quickly? This includes two considerations:

1. Commercial Value

As the saying goes, "The only martial arts that cannot be defeated is speed." Quickly launching special columns online may give you an advantage in the battle for traffic and capture the minds of users. At the same time, it strengthens the brand awareness of the product in the minds of ordinary people.

2. Social Responsibility

Major mobile Internet platforms are growing rapidly and have a high penetration rate among the general public. In the face of major emergencies, we must stand up bravely and demonstrate our social responsibility.

2. Changes and Constants in User Groups

1. "Unchanged"

Toutiao, Alipay, and WeChat are all national-level applications. The sudden outbreak of the epidemic will activate user activity and attract more new users, but the user group has not undergone fundamental changes due to the epidemic.

2. “Change”

The COVID-19 incident has certain particularities. The user's physical condition and the region where they are located will affect their life and psychology, and thus generate different user needs. Therefore, I divide users into four categories:

1) The first type of users

The need for information is the strongest. Since we are at the epicenter of the epidemic and have symptoms, the most urgent need at this time is to confirm whether we have been infected. So what are the symptoms of COVID-19? Which hospital can confirm?

2) The second type of users

Although there are no physical symptoms, the tense atmosphere caused by the epidemic will also cause tremendous psychological pressure on users. They are worried that they are in the incubation period or have been infected. Therefore, they mainly pay attention to whether someone around them has been diagnosed, whether they have had any contact with confirmed patients, and how to protect themselves.

3) The third type of users

Psychologically, it is the most relaxed. In the early stages of the epidemic, there have been no major changes in lifestyle, and people pay less attention to the epidemic, and pay more attention to the development trend of the epidemic. However, as the epidemic spreads, demands consistent with those of the second type of users will gradually arise.

4) The fourth type of users

The contagiousness of the epidemic will cause certain psychological pressure on users, but since they have not been to or had contact with people from Hubei and Wuhan, they want to know more about the symptoms of new coronavirus pneumonia? I hope my body can recover quickly.

3. Impact on products

Although the first and second groups of people are smaller in number, they are more sensitive to information and have stronger needs. In conventional data analysis, it may be overlooked, but as this epidemic is a public event, they need more information help.

The third and fourth categories of people are large in number and are the basic groups for the special columns. However, as users are not involved in the incident, their attention to it is slightly lower. Therefore, product design needs to have clear hierarchy, enhanced guidance, and atmosphere creation to improve users' browsing experience.

3. Iterative changes of Toutiao

As the epidemic develops, people's focus will change. Products need to maintain keen insight and always focus on user needs in order to gain long-term attention from users.

I summarize the development of the epidemic and user needs as follows (see below for details):

1. Incubation period

1) User needs

During the incubation period of the epidemic, no one realized that this was a nationwide epidemic, and various types of information did not form an information flood, so user attention was low, and most users were more passive in receiving or even ignoring relevant information.

2) Product performance

The product perception of the epidemic is also weak, and major manufacturers have not paid attention to it as a key event. All information is delivered to customers as scattered information, so the product form has not changed.

2. Epidemic development period

1) User needs

The development of the epidemic has not broken the atmosphere of the Spring Festival. Although masks have been worn, the New Year’s Eve dinner and Spring Festival Gala still go on. By the first and second days of the Lunar New Year, the epidemic spread rapidly. At this time, people began to urgently need to know various information about the epidemic, and the needs of different user groups were also different.

2) Product strategy: meet basic user needs and launch quickly

In terms of product strategy, faced with billions of user traffic and ever-changing user demands, major manufacturers have adopted a "preemptive" strategy, striving to gain first-mover advantage and seize the minds of users. For example, Dingxiangyuan launched the epidemic map on January 20, seizing the opportunity.

3) Product Design

On January 23, Toutiao and Douyin urgently launched the "Fight Against Pneumonia" channel.

According to media reports, in the initial stage of its launch, the "Fight Pneumonia" channel was located in the fourth column of Toutiao's channel navigation bar. The content includes real-time tracking of the epidemic situation, news reports, authoritative interpretations, patient conditions, and how to prevent and treat the epidemic, covering the basic needs of users.

(Picture from the Internet)

① Using the channel page format and placing it in the front position can quickly attract users' attention and facilitate the expansion of product content in the future.

②The core content of the page is the classification information of the number of infected people, which is expressed in text form and has low reading efficiency. An epidemic map has been added below, allowing users to get an overview of the infection situation in provinces across the country, but city-level epidemic information cannot be viewed in the detailed list.

This may be due to the fact that data changes overseas are not obvious and user attention is low.

On January 26, the copywriting of the epidemic situation was adjusted. The content focused on the domestic epidemic, removed the overseas epidemic, and displayed the data of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan separately (see the figure below).

③The channel adopts a long page format. In addition to the epidemic map, it also adds authoritative interpretations, direct reports from Wuhan and other aspects, which increases the overall page length and reduces user perception.

2. Epidemic spread period

1) User needs

As the epidemic spreads rapidly, user needs are changing.

For example, the number of confirmed cases is increasing rapidly, especially during the Spring Festival travel season when there is a large flow of people, and it is necessary to find out potential patients as soon as possible to avoid secondary infection. For ordinary users, they also need to know whether they have come into contact with confirmed cases during their travels, so the "Same Trip Query" widget appeared.

2) Product strategy: Integrate information content and upgrade product experience

The original framework structure cannot meet the increasing amount of epidemic information. In order to better facilitate users to quickly locate and read, information needs to be finely integrated and transmitted.

3) Product iteration

On February 2, Toutiao carried out product iteration based on information content and user needs.

①Integrate information by categories and establish 10 sub-channels to better guide users to understand relevant information in a targeted manner;

② A floating window was added to the map to display the number of confirmed cases and deaths in the user's province, but the information content was limited;

③Optimize the display level of information. Data details and development trends are not of concern to ordinary users. Users are more concerned about conclusive content, so they are weakened to the second level, reducing the amount of content in the first level. After optimization, the jump button for epidemic details cannot be displayed on one screen. In order to facilitate the operation of users who are concerned about such information, detailed information can be quickly jumped through data cards or maps. However, the guidance of clickable jump is not strong and it is not easy for users to perceive it.

④Added the function of sharing real-time epidemic situation to better attract new users and promote activity;

⑤Added “first-line live broadcast” to the first level. According to my personal observation, the content of this module mainly comes from authoritative institutional media, which is more credible and presented to users first;

Video has won more opportunities for Toutiao. Compared with simple pictures and texts, videos have a stronger sense of involvement and immersion, and are more attractive to ordinary people.

⑥ “Epidemic Situation” optimizes the original text-based data presentation format into a more readable digital card format. With the help of color differences, users can read information more conveniently.

Needs beyond epidemic information

Due to the epidemic, most users have taken the initiative to isolate themselves at home. In order to help users kill boring time, stimulate user activity and increase user time, Toutiao changed the "short video" in the main navigation to "screening room". Free viewing of the Lunar New Year film "Lost in Russia" and other films sparked a wave of marketing topics and successfully attracted users' attention.

3. Epidemic stabilization period

1) User needs

As the epidemic entered its ongoing period, users gradually gained more knowledge about the epidemic. At the same time, due to factors such as information fatigue and working from home, users' attention to the incident was gradually declining.

For example, infections caused by large-scale population movement during the Spring Festival travel rush have gradually disappeared, and various types of traffic control have also reduced population movement. Users generally stay at home for epidemic prevention, and at the same time, when taking various types of transportation, they must leave personal information, so that finding people is no longer difficult. The practicality of “Tongcheng Query” is declining.

At the same time, taking into account the traffic control information in various places and the users' later return trip or self-driving travel, users' demand for traffic information is upgrading.

In addition, due to the long-term epidemic atmosphere, users may become tired of or even reject epidemic information.

2) Product strategy: refine the scenarios and enrich the emotional experience

Users’ attention began to decline. On the one hand, this is a normal user behavior. On the other hand, the product needs to find new user motivation points through some changes, and emotional design is one direction.

3) Product iteration

① Added "National Epidemic" card

In response to the decline in user attention, Toutiao added a "National Epidemic" card to the "Recommendation" channel, which on the one hand increased users' touchpoints with content and strengthened guidance for users. At the same time, it reduces the user's operating costs and facilitates users to quickly understand the epidemic overview information and important headlines, without having to enter the channel page to obtain epidemic information.

At the same time, in order to reduce interference or disgust to users, card information will only appear when the user browses the "Recommended" channel for the first time every day.

② "Fight Pneumonia" channel

a. The original background atmosphere image is adjusted to a scrolling banner image to display the headlines and other content. Users can click directly to view it, which enhances the user's perception and guidance of the content;

b Refine the scenarios and make corresponding adjustments to the 10 sub-channels. At the same time, official content is introduced to enhance the value and credibility of the channel. For example, a sub-channel called "Wuhan War Epidemic" was added as an exclusive channel for the Wuhan COVID-19 Prevention and Control Command Center;

(Iteration diagram from top to bottom, the bottom is the latest version)

c. Local epidemic information is added to the epidemic information card. Users can simply browse the information on this page without having to jump to other pages, which enhances the user experience;

d. Enrich emotional experience. A column for praying for those who died in the line of duty has been added to pay tribute to the deceased and strengthen users' sense of mission in participating and forwarding messages.

When I thought all this was over, I didn’t expect that Toutiao would undergo an iteration today (February 23).

As the number of newly confirmed cases gradually decreases, and even reaches zero, the epidemic has been brought under control. Users are paying more attention to the macro level, hoping to understand the trend of the epidemic through the national situation.

This iteration has undergone significant changes in content and presentation:

① The number of newly confirmed cases in the country has decreased, and the core content of the data has been adjusted to the number of existing confirmed patients, and the trend chart can be used to more intuitively understand the changing trend;

② Weaken the display of epidemic maps to the second level, and at the same time, the statistical granularity is refined from the provincial level to the city level, and the epidemic trend is displayed by comparing the number of cities with zero cases and cities with cases;

③ Users can customize statistical data for multiple cities. Users who study or work across cities or are concerned about the Wuhan epidemic can understand data information more quickly. However, the card bar lacks the amount of data change, which will create a certain memory burden for users. If you want to know more details, you need to go to the corresponding city epidemic page;

④Increase the content of daily epidemic report. It aggregates data information, hot news, and epidemic information of concerned cities, so that users can quickly read it when taking a break or before going to bed.

⑤ To speak for the common people, to be the official mouthpiece, to add a new section for people’s questions and answers, and to build a bridge between the common people and the government;

⑥A new “At Home” channel was launched to adapt to the changes in people’s lifestyles caused by the epidemic and to test new business models with external partners.

4. WeChat & Alipay

1. WeChat - Expand your reach

On January 23, WeChat launched a real-time search function for "New Coronavirus Epidemic Updates", allowing users to view the latest real-time updates on the new coronavirus epidemic in various regions across the country.

At the same time, the [Fever Clinic Map] was launched to facilitate users who suspect that they are infected with the disease or need to undergo relevant examinations to accurately find designated hospitals for treatment and hospitals with fever clinics.

(From left to right, they are "Search", "Fever Clinic", and "Take a look")

Starting from January 26, the "Medical Health" service was added to the WeChat "Payment" page for users across the country, and a special section for "National Novel Coronavirus Epidemic Updates" was opened. At the same time, the “epidemic supervision” function was launched on the city service page.

At the same time, WeChat serves as the main entrance, and some pages and content will be diverted to other products. For example, the coronavirus epidemic page on “Look” will be redirected to “Tencent News”.

In addition, during the information reading process, there are many page jumps, making it difficult for users to understand the internal logical relationship.

(From left to right, they are "Tencent Health", the epidemic page redirected by "Tencent Health", and the epidemic page redirected by "Tencent Health")

Product Experience

As a personal social platform, WeChat may not want to cause too much disturbance to users' normal lives. Therefore, no epidemic information was added to the core chat page. Instead, special topics on epidemic data were launched through multiple pages such as mini-programs, search, look, payment pages, city services, etc., achieving "multi-point blossoming". However, it also caused some functional paths to be too deep, resulting in low user reach and high operating costs.

In order to make up for the shortcomings in user reach, a data subscription function is added to the epidemic special page, allowing users to choose whether to receive epidemic information.

2. Alipay – Online Lifestyle Platform

On January 27, a special topic on fighting against COVID-19 was launched on the homepage of Alipay. On January 30, the “Patient Travel History” query tool was launched.

In addition to providing content related to the epidemic, Alipay's "Fighting COVID-19" special topic relies on Alibaba's comprehensive ecosystem to create a full-scenario life platform for users in home isolation. On the other hand, it added an entrance to the medical and health channel, increasing the traffic to Ali Health.

At the same time, Alipay has also launched fun mini-game functions such as "Answering Questions for Epidemic Prevention" and "Health Check-in" in an effort to enhance user stickiness.

V. Conclusion

From the iterative process of the anti-epidemic topics of the three Internet giants Toutiao, WeChat, and Alipay, we can summarize several design principles in product iteration:

1. When faced with emergencies, we need to act quickly, and “speed is better than perfection”;
2. Make product design strategies based on platform positioning, use user experience as the standard, and maintain your own product bottom line;
3. Focusing on user needs, we refine scenarios and maximize the coverage of user needs;
4. Give full play to your own strengths, while ensuring basic user needs, enrich the emotional experience, enhance user participation, and make the product no longer cold

Author: Mr. Zimu

Source: Art-Design-Life