Growth strategy of the Douyin App

As Douyin exploded in 2019, more and more attention has been paid to this new trendy online shopping community. Today I will briefly analyze the growth strategy of this product from the perspective of new user activation.

Let me first briefly introduce the product "Dewu (Du)":

• Product Industry: E-commerce (2017 to present) + Community (2015-2017)
• Business model: C2B2C
• Slogan: "Toxic sports x trend x equipment"
• User characteristics: The mainstream users are young consumers born in the 1990s or 1995s

1. Dewu (Douyin) User Group

Since this article starts from the perspective of new user activation, we have to first analyze the user group of "Douwu (Du)".

Data source: iResearch

It is not difficult to see from the above picture that the users of "Douwu" are mainly concentrated under 24 years old and between 25 and 30 years old, which are the people often referred to as post-95s and post-90s. Among them, users born after 1995 account for as high as 31.88% of the user share. The consumption views of users born after 1995 are as shown in the figure below:

Data source: iResearch

in short:

• Product demands are for individuality, fun and the desire to try new products.
• Independent taste and certain purchasing power, pursuit of quality and cost-effectiveness.
• The spiritual demand for consumer goods is much greater than the material demand.
• Self-pleasure consumption, paying for interests, hobbies and happiness.

The above points happen to be in line with the product concept and value of "Douwu (Dou)", and also indirectly confirm the reason why "Douwu (Dou)" can rise to the occasion.

2. New user activation behavior and corresponding indicators of "Douwu (Douwu)"

First, let me briefly explain: What is new user activation behavior?

New user activation behavior, that is, the user's first confirmation that the product is "valuable" to him or her, means that the product leaves a strong enough "first impression" on the user. Lay the foundation for continued use of the product in the future.

"Douwu (Dou)" currently focuses on e-commerce monetization, so the editor will only discuss the e-commerce attributes of "Douwu (Dou)".

Due to practical limitations, the author is unable to determine the new user activation behaviors of "Douwu (Du)" through user surveys. He can only guess what the new user activation behaviors are by asking key questions.

2.1 Asking Key Questions (Buyer)

2.2 Key issues in qualitative analysis

Through the analysis of the above table and combined with the product functions of "Douwu (Douwu)" (e-commerce + community), we can speculate on the possible activation behaviors:

For the above possible activation behaviors, analyze them one by one:

1. " Complete a product selection and place an order ": As a product focusing on e-commerce, this user behavior is the most direct way for users to experience the core value of the product and meet their basic needs. However, this behavior is difficult to complete, requiring users to trust the platform and merchants, and recognize the platform's product concept and value.
2. " Complete registration and receive the new user red envelope ": Since users today have a high level of awareness of Internet e-commerce, the registration behavior in this process is extremely easy to complete. The act of receiving red envelopes for new users is also relatively easy to accomplish by taking advantage of the user's "greed" and "getting a bargain" mentality. However, after the act is completed, it does not meet the user's basic needs to access the e-commerce product, that is, to purchase the desired goods.
3. 「 Complete newbie tasks 」: The tasks mainly include setting nicknames, uploading avatars, liking content, following influencers and other social behaviors, and a coupon reward mechanism is provided for each small task. The degree of behavioral completion is low, but it has little correlation with the core value of e-commerce products.
4. " Complete a product purchase and review the product ": The first half of this behavior overlaps with the first item. Although it meets the criteria for activating the behavior, it is difficult to achieve. The second half, "Evaluate Product", requires users to log in again to evaluate the product after using the purchased product. The life cycle of the behavior is prolonged, so it is very difficult to complete the behavior completely, and the cost-effectiveness is not as high as the first one.
5. " Complete a dynamic release ": This behavior can increase the stickiness between users and the community, but due to the data ratio of content publishers and content consumers of content community products, this behavior is relatively difficult to complete. And it has little relevance to the core value of experiential e-commerce.

2.3 Conclusion

Among the buyer users of "Douwu", since there is no real data of "Douwu", the activation behavior of new users cannot be obtained through quantitative data analysis. We can only speculate through qualitative analysis that " completing a product selection and placing an order " may be an important behavior for activating new users.

When "Douwu" is an e-commerce platform, the user life cycle is longer, and the frequency of use of e-commerce products is lower than that of social products. You can set:

• Time limit for activation behavior to occur : within 3 natural days from the first login;
• Activation time : New users complete product selection and place an order within three days of registration;

3. Analysis of the new user activation process of "Douwu (Douwu)"

3.1 New User Activation Process of "Douwu (Douwu)"

From the above figure, we can see that the process of activating new users of "Douwu" (from obtaining products from channels to users placing orders) includes multiple product means and operational strategies that support activation. The following discussion focuses on these support behaviors and strategies.

3.2 App Acquisition: Product Introduction in App Stores (Operational Strategy)

After entering the mobile app store and opening the product introduction of "Douwu (Dou)", 5 product posters will appear (the first 4 are for the appstore). The posters highlight the core highlights of "Douwu (Dou)" and inform new users that they can get high-value red envelopes by using the product. It uses the users' "greed", "getting a bargain" and "curiosity" psychology to induce users to download the APP.

3.3 Opening the app for the first time: Confirming user notification (operation strategy)

During the user notification stage, compared to other mobile apps’ pop-up notification behavior when the app is first launched, “Douwu” gives users a more friendly experience in copywriting, and gains a stronger sense of user trust than other apps. Emphasis is placed on items 1-4 which are specially mentioned. This lays a more humane foundation for obtaining system permissions in the application in the future.

3.4 Application landing page: display of new user gift package and one-click registration (operation strategy + product means)

When a new user enters the APP for the first time, the landing page is displayed as a floating layer showing the cover of the new user gift package. The highlighted amount of 520 yuan captures the user's "greed" and "getting a bargain" mentality very well. Click the [Get] button and the login page will pop up. Log in/register and use the [One-click Registration] product method, which is convenient and fast, and reduces the possibility of loss due to the cumbersome registration process and reduced user experience.

Psychological characteristics of users who take advantage of small opportunities:

The higher the discount value, the more it can attract users' attention and purchasing desire.

Whether it is targeted consumption or non-targeted shopping, except for those extremely wealthy tycoons, the more favorable the discount on the product, the more attractive it will be to users.

Greedy user psychological characteristics:

As long as the prize is tempting enough, users will try it even if the probability of getting it is small.

Anyway, even if the user does not get a prize, he does not have to pay any (or very small) cost. And users appear to want to "give it a try", but in fact they really hope to win the prize in one go.

3.5 Guiding users’ first purchase intention: page structure in red envelope details (operation strategy + product means)

When the user successfully registers, he will enter the details page of the new gift package:

1. The first screen of this page is a gift package amount description page, which briefly explains the coupon description rules and again allows users to perform the [Receive Immediately] action, enhancing the user's sense of ritual and satisfaction in receiving the red envelope.
2. When the screen slides to the second screen, the buyer's show/seller's show of trendy product influencers (KOLs) guides the user's purchasing intention and enhances the desire to buy.
3. The page has a two-screen layout design, which highlights the main purpose of the red envelopes. It does not have three or five screens of dazzling product displays, causing visual fatigue and difficulty in choosing for users.

3.6 Product Details Page Usage Guide (Operation + Product Methods)

When you first enter the product details page, a floating window will appear to prompt you to use the function. The floating window will last for about 2-3 seconds and will gradually disappear, giving users a good guidance effect and friendly experience. Cultivate users' usage habits and provide user retention and stickiness through collection and purchase functions.

3.7 Coupon grabbing/lottery activities (operation strategy)

• "Share to get coupons" & "Share to win prizes" increase new customers through sharing behavior. Since sharing can get coupons, whether users have the intention to buy or not, they will have the mentality of not taking advantage of small bargains, which makes it easier to trigger sharing behavior;
• "Limited-time coupon grabbing" increases the sense of urgency and takes advantage of the user's desire to "get a small bargain" by using a specified time and quantity to encourage users to log in and grab coupons. Increase users' next-day visits and encourage users to place orders through coupons;

3.8 Personalized Recommendation: (Product Method)

Allow users to select content of interest, further improve the accuracy of customized recommendations for purchasing related products, increase user stickiness by increasing the number and duration of user readings, and more easily trigger ordering behavior, thus reaching the activation moment.

3.9 Novice Tasks: Task System (Operation Strategy)

The core logic of "Newbie Tasks" and "New User Red Packets" is similar, using the psychology of "getting a small bargain" to encourage users to complete a series of simple operations and enhance user stickiness in "Dewu (Du)";

3.10 Summary

First, let’s briefly talk about the thinking logic of user behavior:

According to the behavior formula, the above-mentioned product means and operation strategies to support the completion of activation behavior are classified as follows:

4. Comparison of the activation process between Dewu (Doudu) and competing products

4.1 Comparison of the activation process between "nice" and "get things (poison)"

Let me first briefly introduce the product "nice":

• Product industry: E-commerce (2018 to present) + Community (2013-2018, abandoning the community attribute)
• Business model: B2B2C
• Slogan: "A community for reselling sneakers and trendy brands"

Nice new user activation process:

Compared with "Dewu (Du)", the relevant strategies designed for the activation process of "nice" are not as friendly and smooth as "Dewu (Du)". Here are a few simple examples:

• To log in to "nice", you must first register/log in, but this is not required for "Dewu(Du)". Increase friction for users to activate;
• Although "nice" mainly guides users to log in with WeChat, they still need to bind their mobile phone number when logging in for the first time. If they do not log in with WeChat, in addition to binding their mobile phone number, they also need to "upload a profile picture", "fill in a nickname", "select gender", and "select location", which lengthens the registration process and increases the chance of user loss;
• When launching the landing page, a red envelope exclusive to new users will appear, but if there are other pop-up ads, they will overlap and display. This is a bug and should not appear in a product of the size and level of "nice";
• The login landing anchor point is in the "Discover" tab instead of the "Goods" tab, which disperses the penetration rate of the e-commerce module compared to apps that focus on e-commerce attributes;
• When visiting the product details page of "nice" for the first time, the page guidance is not as concise and clear as that of the product details page of "dewu (du)";

4.2 Comparison of activation process between "Youhuo" and "Dewu (Du)":

Let me first briefly introduce the product "Youhuo":

• Product industry: E-commerce (2018 to present) + Community (2013-2018, abandoning the community attribute)
• Business model: B2M2C
• Slogan: "E-commerce platform for trendy brands"

The strategy design of "Youhuo" in the activation process is different from that of "Dewu (Du)". Here are a few simple examples:

• When you log in to the APP for the first time, in the "Confirm User Notification" stage, the wording of "Youhuo" is more formatted than that of "Dewu (Du)". Although it makes it clearer what system permissions the APP needs to obtain, I personally feel that the copywriting of "Dewu (Du)" is more humble (left: "Dewu (Du)", right: "Youhuo");
• The reminder text of "Youhuo" in reminding users to turn on the "Push" function is more humane, telling users what positive effects turning on push will bring to users;
• Although Youhuo uses the "one-click login/registration" function in the login/registration process like Dewu, the secondary verification interaction of the verification code in subsequent operations is relatively different from Dewu, which brings resistance to the activation process. It also forces users to set an initial password and send it to them via SMS. This operation may pose a security risk. And after logging in, there is no follow-up policy to guide users to change their initial passwords.

5. Growth optimization strategy for the existing activation behavior of "Dewu (Du)"

5.1 Possible optimization solutions obtained through HMW method

The activation behavior for "Dewu(Du)" is the behavior of " completing a product selection and placing an order ". Conduct demand analysis, here we use the HMW method to analyze and get the following figure:

5.2 Analyzing the value, cost, and difficulty of optimization strategies

5.2.1 Negative Optimization Strategy

5.2.2 Alternative Optimization Strategies

5.2.3 Recommended Optimization Strategies

The short-term recommended optimization strategy mainly focuses on pre-order operation copy guidance + post-order operation strategy undertaking, which can be divided into the following two points:

• For a limited time, you can enter the lucky draw after placing an order;
• Free authentication/shoe cleaning service after placing an order.

The optimization strategies recommended in the medium and long term are mainly:

Based on the recommendation engine, we formulate accurate recommendations for similar products that users like based on their browsing history, favorites, likes, and comments through information push channels (in-site messages, push notifications, recommended spots on the first screen of e-commerce modules, etc.).

This is the end of the analysis of Dewu’s growth strategy (new user activation stage).

Author: Yang Sanji

Source: Yang Sanji