Analysis of Yuanqi Forest’s user growth!

In 2020, a beverage emerged out of nowhere and quickly made its mark in the beverage industry. This article reveals the secret of Yuanqi Forest 's continuous growth from the perspective of private domain operations.

1. Case Introduction

Case name: [Yuanqi Forest] Global Strategy Analysis

Case industries: e-commerce, fast-moving consumer goods

Case objectives: attract new customers, promote retention, and convert to cash

Case tags: attracting more followers, increasing GMV

1. Industry Background

The sugar market has grown from 2.2 billion in 2015 to 11.7 billion in 2020, an astonishing growth rate.

Judging from the overall market situation, with the changes in consumption habits and concepts, the sugar-free beverage market has great potential and the market size will continue to grow.

2. Company Profile

The official website states: "Yuanqi Forest is an Internet innovative beverage company that focuses on healthy and delicious beverages for the younger generation."

(1) Brand positioning: The product focuses on “0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories”, taking into account both taste and health, and meeting consumers’ pain points

The reason why Qi Senlin was able to break through the moat of countless tea brands when it was first established was that it accurately grasped the unique consumption psychology of the new generation of consumers, did a good job of differentiated product positioning, and found a niche market between traditional carbonated beverages and tea beverages.

(2) Product design: breaking the circle with Japanese-style high appearance

Qi Forest also pays great attention to product design. In recent years, the Japanese aesthetic style has become popular, and major beverages have begun to adopt a cool and simple style. Compared with the arrangement and stacking of selling points, spokespersons, and slogans, the clean and refreshing appearance of the products can attract more attention from the audience. Yuanqi Forest’s super-good-looking packaging and “Qi” brand logo captured the audience’s mind from the first impression.

(3) Brand marketing: Increase Internet marketing to capture consumers’ minds

Like many new consumer brands, Yuanqi Forest’s success is inseparable from its strong marketing. Through its unique brand positioning, it enters the segmented market and uses large-scale, high-frequency advertising bombardment to form brand memory in a relatively short period of time and gain consumers’ trust.

(4) Channels: Combining online and offline channels to occupy convenience store channels and quickly distribute products

Unlike internet celebrity brands such as Perfect Diary and Three Squirrels, which first focused on online channels, Yuanqi Forest has focused its energy on offline channels from the beginning. It is also with the help of convenience stores that Yuanqi Forest has been able to quickly enter the young people's market.

3. User portrait

In terms of age distribution, the majority of customers are women under the age of 24. Compared with men, women pay more attention to healthy living and care more about their figure. This is also in line with Yuanqi Forest’s slogan of 0 sugar, 0 calories, and 0 fat.

Source: Entdata

In terms of geographical distribution, they are mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal areas and first- and second-tier cities. This is closely related to the convenient and smooth transportation network in big cities, and is also to a greater extent affected by the large young population.

4. Product Overview

Qi Forest has a total of 6 series, namely, full score micro-bubble juice, alien series, soda sparkling water, milk tea, fitness tea, and burning tea.

2. Overall Operational Strategy

The most basic rule of Yuanqi Forest’s private domain operations is “create voice in the public domain (user mind), transfer the public domain to the private domain, operate in the private domain, and use operations to gain membership.”

Qi Forest quickly captured the market through large-scale online and offline advertising. Then, by transferring the public domain traffic to the private domain, and completing the refined operation of users through communities, membership systems, and points systems, the business can flourish both online and offline.

1. Public domain quickly occupies the market

In addition to collaborating with popular film and television shows and variety shows, Yuanqi Forest also placed corresponding advertisements on popular channels such as short videos and social platforms.

Next, we will use channels such as large supermarkets, convenience store chains, and mom-and-pop convenience stores to reach users.

2. User accumulation in private domains

Similar to the private domain operation ideas of other brands on the market, Yuanqi Forest will also use "official account + mini program + corporate WeChat + membership system + video account" to complete refined operations for users.

We will complete the further analysis of Yuanqi Forest’s operational ideas in the third part.

3. Private Domain Construction

1. Grab traffic from the public domain

Qi Forest has carried out large-scale online and offline investment, including popular variety shows, Bilibili, Baidu keyword bidding ads, WeChat Moments, Douyin short videos, anchor sales, etc., closely focusing on the brand positioning of "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories" for publicity and market education.

2. Private domain sedimentation traffic

Path 1: Follow the official account - receive an automatic reply, add the corporate WeChat account - enter the welfare group - guide the user to become a member

Path 2: Yuanqi Forest Service Account - 30 yuan coupon - Add corporate WeChat - Guide to open membership

Path 3: "Yuanqijia" applet - add corporate WeChat - enter the community

The program exposed many entrances to enterprise WeChat (enterprise WeChat groups), including the floating window on the home page, the waterfall flow on the home page, and the "My" page to enter the Goose Circle. Different locations correspond to different corporate WeChat accounts. Users can add other friends repeatedly and have multiple corporate WeChat personal accounts.

4. Private Domain Operation

1. Overall thinking of private domain operation

Qi Forest's WeChat ecosystem is relatively well-operated. Mini-programs and public accounts have corporate WeChat entrances, allowing new users to be added to the private domain in a timely manner for experience and understanding. In addition, a user can add multiple corporate WeChat accounts and enter multiple communities, allowing users to receive event information.

From the perspective of Yuanqi Forest's entire private domain positioning, the functions currently used by each module are as shown in the following table. Through such organizational design, a 4-in-1 private domain service system is formed.

From the perspective of private domain operation ideas, they all revolve around "membership". It can be said that Yuanqi Forest has spent a lot of thought on converting registered users into member users. Next we will break down the personal account, circle of friends, community, membership system, points system and label system one by one.

2. Personal account

(1) Personal account positioning

(2) Nickname

4 corporate WeChat accounts have been added. There is no unified format for the nicknames, but they all contain the word "Genki Forest". For example, Yuanqijia-Xiaofei, Yuanqi Forest Arale;

(3) WeChat profile picture

For example, using an avatar with a flower making a heart shape gives a cute look. The flower makes people feel energetic, which is also in line with the brand name.

(4) WeChat background & one-sentence introduction

The background text of the letter is: Yuanqijia, those who love to eat will choose to share sincerely

Sentence introduction: Eat and drink with confidence, and live a relaxed life

The scenery picture and one-sentence introduction highlight the personal IP positioning, which is to select high-quality food and drink products for everyone, make everyone's life easy, and convey the brand image.

(5) Automatic welcome message & delayed message

In each link, we will focus on the group entry rate indicator to improve the conversion rate from adding friends to joining the group.

In this session, Qi Forest first introduced its own positioning, namely, welfare small yuan; then distributed large coupons of [30] yuan; after that, it informed users of community benefits, including new member rights, community welfare days, full discounts and full gifts, flash sales, daily draws, exclusive tastings, etc.; finally, it emphasized that if users are still friends after 7 days, they will be given a 20% discount trial membership card.

Use preferential treatment to increase the rate of joining the group.

3. Friends circle

There are three pieces of content in the Moments every day, which fully utilizes the current rule of WeChat for Business to send three Moments to the group every day. I added 4 corporate WeChat accounts and found that the content in the Moments was consistent, so the content should be edited by the content department or private domain operation department, and then pushed uniformly by each member.

Sending time: 12:30pm, 6:30pm, and 7:30-9pm

Contents sent: Good product recommendations (no fixed rhythm), new products on Wednesday, free tasting (irregular), Friday welfare day, Saturday and Sunday community lucky draw

Sending format: Product selling points + high-definition product pictures + purchase link in the comment area

4. Community

Group nickname: Yuanqijia official welfare group xxx

Group positioning: Official welfare group, push some daily benefits, lucky draws, etc., as well as recipes, new products, member days, etc.

Group structure: Group owner*1+Group management*2

Welcome message: Every time a new user enters the community, a welcome message will be triggered. The content of the welcome message includes new user rights + community exclusive benefits + reply keywords, participate in the lucky draw, etc.

Contents sent: Discounts, flash sales, new products on Wednesday, flash sales on Friday, daily draws

Sending form: text, picture, video, mini program

Sending frequency: 3-5 times/day on normal days. During holidays or flash sales, the frequency will be adjusted according to specific circumstances.

Sending time: Reach users during the prime time periods of 12 noon, 5-6 pm, and 7-8 pm

5. Membership System

1) How to become a member?

Qi Forest adopts a paid membership system, that is, users need to purchase a monthly or annual card to become a member and enjoy membership benefits.

Monthly card: 18 yuan/month

Annual Pass: 98 yuan/year

Gas annual pass: 198 yuan/year

Gas Annual Pass & iQIYI Joint Annual Pass: 248 yuan/year

2) Membership Benefits

There are 8 member benefits in total, namely: 20% off on all items, save 70 every month, buy more and earn more, capital guarantee after opening the card, Friday carnival day, weekly tasting, first purchase of new products, and double points.

3) How to make a registered user become a member?

No matter how beautifully designed a membership system is, if you don’t work hard on how to make registered users become members, it will be difficult for this membership system to stimulate user repurchases and increase the user’s lifetime value.

Taking the example of Yuanqi Forest, which has put a lot of effort into turning registered users into paying users, let’s analyze it one by one.

1. Activate for 0 yuan in the first month. Here, Yuanqi Forest is actually playing a word game. The opening meeting will return an 18 yuan cash coupon. It is speculated that there will be a threshold for the use of the cash coupon, but it is not high;
2. Capital guarantee upon opening the card. If the amount of money saved during the membership period is not enough to cover the card opening amount, the difference will be directly refunded to the balance, eliminating user concerns.
3. Membership benefits. 8 benefits are designed, which are rich and can make users feel a sufficient sense of "gain";
4. The community guides students to become members. In addition to the mini program product itself stimulating users to open membership, users are also encouraged to open membership within WeChat for Business. After adding the corporate WeChat account for 7 days, users will receive a 20% discount on membership and a 3-day VIP trial card. In addition, users will be reminded in the group to apply for a VIP annual or monthly card.

6. Points system

1) How to earn points?

Customers can earn points at a 1:1 ratio based on actual consumption, and members can earn points at a 1:2 ratio.

2) How to use points?

Users can use cash to deduct points at a ratio of 100:1. Points accumulated over 100 points can be used to deduct cash, with the deduction amount not exceeding 50% of the order amount. This can be used to redeem peripheral products.

7. Labeling system

In fact, there is also a labeling system for private domain operation assets. This can be achieved through manual tagging (such as user needs) and automatic tagging content (channel source, purchase history, user preferences, etc.).

Static tags: user gender, region, age, channel source, etc.

Dynamic tags: user purchase history, user preferences, whether or not a member, etc.

Then, based on the user's tag system, targeted user stratification and refined operations are carried out.

1. Be polite when inviting

Program invitation gift activities are one of the important means to increase the number of mini program users , as shown in the figure.

Rewards for inviting people: 148 yuan - 20 yuan coupons and 10% reward of the order amount of new users, up to 100 yuan

Inviter reward: 50 yuan new member discount

5. Summary of Private Domain Operation

1. Points for reference

1) The operational idea is very clear

Adhere to the principle of "use the public domain to gain popularity (user mindset), transfer the public domain to the private domain, operate the private domain, and operate the membership", quickly occupy the market and educate users through large-scale online and offline launches, and then use various methods to settle users in the private domain for long-term maintenance, and then complete refined operations through paid membership systems, point systems, label systems, etc., to tap into the long-term life cycle value of users;

2) The user path is clear

The consumer goods industry to which Yuanqi Forest belongs is characterized by low prices and high frequency. It guides users in every step through large coupons. From the user's perspective, it shows what the user has gained, and the user experience is good and the conversion rate is high. For example, words such as "large coupons, benefits, flash sales, buy one get one free, and the last 11 copies" can stimulate users and guide them to follow the designed path.

3) The membership system is well designed

The page is concise and the benefits are highlighted, so users can see what the benefits are as soon as they enter the page.

Saving 70 yuan every month, which is distributed in a tiered manner, can increase users' repurchase rate and stickiness, while also preventing those who take advantage of the service from taking advantage of the service.

The more you buy, the more you earn, and the direct cash back form makes users feel that they are getting a bargain, and they have the mentality that less meat is better meat. At the same time, the higher the amount, the more cash back. For users, it is a waste if they don't use the coupons. With this mentality, users will consume again next month.

The card guarantees principal upon opening, which eliminates the user's mentality of not being able to spend all the money. It also considers the user's perspective and dispels their concerns.

The 3-day membership card experience function and the 0-yuan card opening for new users (with an 18-yuan cash coupon) can also stimulate ordinary users to convert into member users.

2. Optimizable points

1) Refinement and enrichment of community operations

Apart from the sending time and frequency, the community content and sections are rather messy. It is recommended to divide the community into sections, such as preferential benefits, new activities, Friday flash sales, etc. On the current basis, the content of community operations will be more standardized;

2) User group or channel operation

It is speculated that there is no division of users from all channels, such as the official account menu bar, mini program entrance and users from other channels. Different user attributes lead to different operational methods.

3) Product screening

In addition to daily SOPs, product screening and combination are also very important points in private domain operations. Yuanqi Forest quickly grew in popularity with products such as sparkling water and milk tea, and also developed some other snacks. The proportion of snacks in the group that I experienced was very high, including cakes, beef balls, biscuits, etc., but products such as sparkling water and milk tea were hardly promoted. Therefore, we can change our thinking in terms of product screening and product combination.

Author: Private Domain Deep Operation

Source: Private Domain In-depth Operation