User Growth System Analysis (1): Overview

Refined operations are the most powerful means to retain users in an environment of homogeneous products, among which the user growth/level system is one of the commonly used means. A good user growth system can lead users to transform from novices to seed users, establish emotional connections with users, and ultimately improve user stickiness and platform value.

This article collects different types of product user growth systems, and then analyzes them horizontally and vertically. The horizontal aspect is mainly about the different user level strategies of products in different industries and finding certain rules; the vertical aspect is mainly about comparing the methods, advantages and disadvantages of different companies in this industry, as well as problems that need attention, or their own solutions.

The growth system is the evaluation standard and value orientation that reflects the user's use or participation in the platform.

There are many forms of growth systems. Almost every mature product will have a relatively complete user growth system. Such as level system, points system, wealth system, task system, badge system, and there are many ways to grow, such as consumption, daily check-in, doing tasks, posting replies, activity interaction, etc.; even hidden conditions and restrictions, the purpose is Realize the commercial interests of the platform and meet the core needs of users:

1) For platform operators: the growth system can ensure that high-quality resources or value-added services are used by core target users, and provide reasonable guidance for user behavior. Ensure the unity of user interests and platform interests, and build a healthy and stable platform ecological environment.

2) For users: The growth system can enable high-quality users to gain a sense of superiority, receive positive and negative incentives in a timely manner in the process of using the website to achieve use value, and enjoy the privileges brought by level improvement.

1) From the user's perspective

"KPI is a must, but products and business should not be considered from the perspective of KPI, but from the perspective of users." ——Zhang Xiaolong. For example, when building a similar writing platform, in order to increase DAU, users are required to write 1,000 words a day. This approach will only make users tired and bring a lot of worthless text to the platform. The correct way should be to set some daily tasks and tell users that sharing ideas is an excellent way of life. Reading more and sharing more will help lead a happy life, so they should be more willing to accept it.

2) Separation of experience systems

The growth systems of different business systems within a company must be separated. For example, Tencent Video’s members are divided into NBA members and Hollywood members. Different business systems have different growth systems, which can be more flexible and unrestricted, and more convenient to operate. There can also be different currency systems within a product. For example, reading apps are usually divided into book coins and vouchers. Book coins are obtained through RMB recharge, and vouchers are obtained through daily tasks such as check-in. Book coins have no expiration date, while vouchers have a time limit.

3) The system should reflect the core user characteristics of the platform

The daily tasks of the running app are set based on the number of runs, duration, etc.; e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD.com focus on purchase and payment. Set tasks and assign incentives such as posting orders and posting orders.

4) Incentives are perceptible

Avoid being a "chatter" in the app, but you can't not notify the user at all, especially when the user gets a reward, you should notify but not harass them. Users, the notification method can have the characteristics of the platform and be relatively novel.

5) The system must be scalable

Scalability must be considered in the early stages of system design. If there are few levels, the growth value recovery mechanism should be considered. If a game reaches full level within a few games, many users will definitely lose interest in the game. Using appropriate methods to achieve sustainable development of the system is an important factor that determines the quality of the system.

The modules of a complete user growth system include "entrance", "growth form", "calculation method" and "exit".

①? Define the business indicators of the product;

②? Classify/model users according to the product business characteristics;

③? Plan the best path for users , determine what behavior we expect users to do, from what type of user to what type of user, what is the ideal operation and path of the user in the process;

④? Define the purpose of each behavior according to the operational goals Weight, choose the appropriate growth form;

⑤? Calculate the upper limit of daily growth value based on the growth value (or other forms) obtained by calculating the behavior in the previous step;

⑥? Set the upgrade time for each level and the overall upgrade calculation method, such as exponential function, power function or Fibonacci sequence, etc., and divide the growth value required for each level;

⑧? Develop a growth system The exit of each entrance enables user behavior to form a closed loop, including design levels or other required medals and titles, etc., and planning of display locations.

⑨? After dividing users into new users, ordinary users, core users and seed users, the role and operation methods of each user group are different. We need to use different operation strategies to slowly Guide users to grow and gradually transform into in-depth users. The following is a description of the user growth path for video products.

The specific steps are as follows:

1) Select the entrance

User behavior should be able to form a "closed loop", and the user growth system should be based on the usage habits of non-users and purpose, providing more motivation points around their behavior and promoting them to form a closed loop.

There are many user behaviors in an APP. How can we choose user behaviors that can be used as entrances?

① According to the operation purpose

New, retained, active and lost users recovery

② User classification

Based on the use of unused users Habits and purposes provide more motivation points around their behaviors and promote them to form a closed loop. Our commonly used division dimensions:

Behavioral characteristics: a certain behavior performed by the user, such as activity, usage time, duration, a specific operation, etc.

? Identity characteristics : Based on the user's own attributes, such as gender, region, education, urban dimension, marriage and childbearing status, etc.

? Channel attributes: attributes determined based on the source of the user. Common channels include; Baidu, Push, mobile advertising, etc.

? Sensitivity attribute: An attribute judgment based on user psychology, such as price sensitivity, service sensitivity, etc.

Based on an online multi-player karaoke software For example:

③ Classification according to behavior

? Active behavior: refers to the behavior that users actively perform on the product, such as sharing personal homepages, posting, etc., mainly to increase user activity and volume. dimensions.

? Passive behavior: refers to the recognition behavior of others after a user makes an active behavior, such as likes, reposts, etc., to ensure the quality of user activity, rather than superficial and qualitative dimensions.

2) Organize the selected entrances and weights

After determining which entrances are needed, we usually classify them and determine different usage frequencies for different entrances. The purpose is to create a variety of gameplay and mechanisms to ensure that the user growth system will not get bored easily, and at the same time guide different users to play around the core behaviors that suit them.

①? Newbie tasks

For new users, the threshold is low and it has educational and guiding significance. Common entrances include registration, completing personal information, and completing a user behavior for the first time.

②?Daily tasks

Mainly used to increase DAU and encourage users to open your APP, which is the first step to let them use the product. Common forms include signing in and completing certain main tasks for the first time. Daily tasks and main tasks may overlap. The focus is on completing them for the first time that day, and the rewards will be somewhat different.

③? Main tasks

These are the tasks that are designed to allow users to do the behavior you most want them to do. The core functions and value points of each product are different, so Varies by product. The main task should be the one with the most rewards, the fewest executable restrictions, and the greatest weight. Common main tasks include live broadcasting (live streaming platform), uploading works (karaoke software), reading (reading tools), exercise (fitness platform), etc.

④? Non-fixed income

As the name suggests, it is not a task income that occurs in a fixed period. Most of them are things that bring surprises and extra encouragement to users. These include additional rewards from fans, rewards from operational activities, rewards from other users, and treasure chests that are common in games.

⑤? Common growth forms

Growth forms refer to the presentation methods and rules for obtaining rewards or user growth through the entrance. Different products are suitable for different growth forms and come in many varieties.

? Number of relationships/fans: reflects the user’s influence and right to speak/status

? Identity authentication: authentication required for relatively rational and serious products, including real-name authentication, Enterprise certification, asset level

? Feature certification: mostly provided for official review, including V certification, expert certification, etc.

? Medals/Titles: Can be obtained through some specific user behaviors, Titles independently obtained for on-site operation activities, external advertising promotions, etc.

? VIP membership: trial-able, with validity period, and multiple time packages. It is essentially a value-added service (IVAS), with the purpose of encouraging users Paid

? Charm points/experience points: targeted points related to various businesses

? Growth values: comprehensive points, non-consumable, and can be recycled regularly

? Points: can be consumed

? Virtual currency: can be consumed

? Virtual props: similar to a privilege, also used as gifts , with the attribute of being exchanged for secondary sales

? Ranking: Rewards can be set for being on the list

? Level: divided by points and other numerical values, and can have a validity period

? Series of tasks: Package multiple simple tasks into one big task, and you can get medals, titles, commemorative cards, etc.

3) Test the growth value

①?Power function

Power functions are generally used on platforms with more levels, such as Mafengwo and PokemonGo.

A platform that has a large interactive space, a very broad scope for obtaining growth value, and is easy to grow is suitable for configuring more levels. Therefore, online games generally have a lot of levels, because there are many ways to gain growth value, such as killing monsters, daily tasks, activities, dungeons, upgrade bonuses, equipment forging, life skills, reproductive systems, competitions, etc. The growth system is mainly for DAU rather than GMV. You can consider setting up more levels and configuring a larger interactive space.

Example: PokemonGo’s growth system, after regressing its total experience value, the formula in the figure below is obtained

②? Exponential function

Fibonacci sequence Exponential functions are generally used for platforms with fewer levels, such as e-commerce platforms such as JD members and Tmall members, and vertical platforms such as NetEase Cloud Music. E-commerce platforms and some platforms do not have much room for interaction other than purchasing, commenting, liking, and logging in, and accordingly there are fewer ways to obtain growth value. (It does not rule out that the product manager is too lazy...233333...) So if your platform has little interaction and the growth system is mainly for GMV rather than DAU, you can consider setting fewer levels.

Example: QQ member growth system, after regressing its total experience value, the formula in the figure below is obtained.

③? Other piecewise functions

The growth of piecewise linear functions is relatively gentle, and the upgrade difficulty is relatively low. Generally can be used when level is not too important for the platform.

The picture below shows the level distribution of LOL. The summoner level of League of Legends is actually of no use. It mainly depends on the player’s operational level, because LOL has a very good team matching system. It is rare to give you a level 1 summoner. Match the opponent of the strongest king (unless you team up with the strongest king...)

4) Calculation method

Based on the user's historical data, the weighted average obtains what the user can get every day The experience limit is A, the set number of levels is B, and the system can last for C. Calculate the proportion of each level according to the exponential function or power function (custom coefficient term), allocate the sustainable duration C to each level in proportion, and calculate it to see if the value is too outrageous. For example, it takes 10,000 days to upgrade. Tencent has only been in development for 19 years now. It takes users 27 years to play one level...

After determining that the number of days Dn required for each level is approximately reasonable, use A * Dn to get the nth The upgrade experience required for a level. If you want to get the total experience required for each level, you can sum the experience of the first n-1 levels.

Take QQ membership as an example. Since we don’t know the proportion of QQ users with different payment methods, here is an example using the average of the highest and lowest:

The calculation proves that you use What function is used to calculate it? The calculated number of days required, total experience, and experience at each level are basically consistent with the function used.

5) Export

Export refers to the physical rewards or services that users can exchange for themselves through the obtained growth value/points/virtual currency, etc. When exploring exports in a variety of different products, the same problems as in growth forms are discovered, namely diversity and non-identity.

①?Function privileges

? Gift redemption

? Advertising

? Product-related practical function extensions

? Obtain birthday gift package

? Obtain more experience points (acceleration) in a single operation

? Reach the event participation threshold

②?Resource priority

? Official popular recommendations

? Add tags, official tag classification recommendations

? Priority recommendation to participate in official activities

? Increase the event winning rate