The loss of users (fans) is accelerating. What else can you do

If you are extremely sensitive to user activity, you should note that since April and May 2017, whether it is Knowledge We Media represented by Luo Ji Thought, or various vertical public accounts, its User churn The rate keeps rising

Not to mention a large number of ordinary public accounts or entertainment big V, many of them have almost disappeared from public view.

On the other hand, even under such a background, new products of homogeneous competition (such as bike sharing, or a large number of new vertical content products) are still pouring in to further exacerbate the environmental deterioration.

Everything has its "fresh-keeping period", from fruit, toys, to games, work, to hobbies (even love), there are always times of boredom, Neither content nor product can escape this fate 。

Then, when conventional means such as cash, activities, and accelerating the iteration of function versions cannot reduce the high user turnover rate, what else can we do Greatly improve the life cycle of the product, and then fundamentally reduce the loss rate of users What about?

Although this article is about serious business issues, we might as well start with "life events" (the internal essence of the two is the same):

In love life What factors can make two people have a happy and lasting love (Marriage)?

Maybe Romeo will think that it is "breaking the taboo of feud", while Xu Xian will think that it is "protecting small animals", and Huanzhu Gege thinks that it is necessary to "make more trouble if there is nothing to do"

However, for most of us ordinary people, it is generally said that matching families, mutual tolerance, and personality harmony are the basis of a healthy marriage.

From the statistical data, the answer is really close.

However, we are talking about "happiness", not just "together":

For example, one party always tolerates the other party on the premise of sacrificing the quality of life, or has no more choices, or is afraid of children and compromises... These are not "happiness".

The secret of maintaining happy love is to fundamentally eliminate the accelerated loss of users

American sociologists have done research from different dimensions, and the results consistently show that the most successful partners in love have one thing in common:

The two sides have a good sense of humor.

What a surprise, isn't it?

Not only that, in the United States today, when choosing a mate, women place a sense of humor in the second place (intelligence is the first) in their requirements for men's characteristics, which is higher than the characteristics traditionally valued, such as money, status and appearance (if China is also so unaware of whether housing prices can be so strong).

It can be seen that humor is important for a happy marriage.

Then why is humor so important to happiness, to the maintenance of love, and to the "permanence" of marriage?

This involves the interpretation of the essence of humor.

Fortunately, The essence of "extending product life" and "maintaining healthy and happy love" is the same 。

let me put it another way, Once we can find the answer , which means We have found a way to make our users who are fickle and ungrateful can maintain their love for products in the longer term 。

What is the essence of humor?

1、 The essence of humor is surprise. Nobody is immune to surprise

Brain neuroscience has found that when we laugh from the heart, the brain will secrete the most typical self reward: dopamine.

Then why can "smile" so easily produce a sense of pleasure?

Let's take a short story as an example:

The lady led a pet duck into the hotel. When the bartender saw it, he asked, "Why are you holding a pig as a pet?"

The lady said, "I'm holding a duck."

The bartender said:

"I'm talking to ducks."

Why do many people laugh when they see here?

Because according to the general logic, the bartender must be talking to the lady, so readers will feel strange (conflict) about the "pig" he said. Then when the bartender said that he was talking to the duck (conflict resolution), most people will suddenly realize the laughing point - he is satirizing the lady fat (may also imply that she is bossing around).

In the end, the correct interpretation of the joke (also called insight) in our hearts is the reason why we laugh:

We can gain pride and joy from solving problems (insight) Physicist Feynman called it "the thrill of discovery".

"Insight" does not require you to solve "quantum physics" or "human genetic engineering".

In reality, even if it is as simple as a joke, or if we hold up a dumbbell (painted with foam and camouflaged with color), or even walk on a disabled escalator, we suddenly feel the inertia of slight loss of control... it will make us laugh (insight).

From the perspective of human evolution, laughter is a flexible response (interpretation of conflict) to unexpected things (conflicts). This response is more suitable for most occasions than the other two: fear and anger.

Otherwise, if we just see others stepping on dog poop, we will be inexplicably angry and wield an axe at people. How can we build a harmonious society.

In contrast, smiling is more harmless to humans and animals. In addition, it is said that smiling girls can bring good luck.

So happy couples always:

One party is good at creating humor, and the other party can catch the laughter points (which is also a "reward" for the humorous party).

This has brought Happiness, if quantified into secular meaning , just like if two people are together, they can:

Not only won the lottery (small prize), but also found 100 yuan, and received a thank-you letter from the customer, the stock just bought went up and down on the same day, foreign travel also met the local supermarket once in ten years, and the full market discount promotion

Can such a marriage not last.

So far, we " Extend product life cycle "The answer is on the paper:

By some operate means Create random surprises for users 。

Product "fresh-keeping" strategy I: create random surprises

So, what is random surprise?

For example, the "incentive money" launched by WeChat payment and Alipay recently is not a surprise.

The first time a user receives incentive money, it is a surprise;

It is also a surprise to get more random incentive money for the second time than for the first time;

In addition, it is not a surprise (the user has known in advance that there will be a bonus next time), and it may even bring adverse effects.

For example, the last time I drew 0.99, this time I only drew 0.22, which will make me instantly produce a trace of "Kao, next time I use Alipay".

This is why Li Shaojia emphasized many times in his previous tweets:

Operators should be as many as possible Creative thinking Operation and promotion strategies other than cash incentives—— Cash incentives are hard hit 。 (You must not think that it is a good strategy to play WeChat and Alipay like this.)

In fact, as long as we deeply understand the connotation of humor: Create conflicts and let users realize on their own Can come up with many more effective methods than the vulgar and uninspiring strategy of cash incentive.

Again, Key principles for creating random surprises Yes:

First, it is beyond users' expectations (never be regular);
Secondly, let the user "spontaneously" have insight (do not give the user an explanation, let him explain himself).

According to this principle, we can try to "create random surprises".

Taking "Gudong Sports" as an example, the demonstration thinking of "creating surprises" is as follows:

When users use Gudong sports, what they expect is that there will be reminders of time, mileage and speed when running, and they will check the running path and record mileage after running.
So, how can "unexpected" events be interspersed?

For example, when running, it suddenly announced: "There is a large wave of zombies chasing behind you... 10 meters, 8 meters, get rid of them quickly."

This is an unexpected plan.

Or, when users finish running, try to unlock more "medals" (at present, only record breaking medals are the main ones, too low frequency, how many people can constantly break through themselves at high frequency). For the "mysterious medal" type, you can think more:

For example, the "Ode to Joy Beat" award was awarded when running;
Grace Award for Turning Range;
Even the record breaking running award (why not keep silent)

If you have the experience of playing games, you will realize that the treasure box dropped randomly after the fight is a typical "random surprise".

In addition, The joke itself is a random surprise with the highest "cost performance" , for Content oriented products , using this element of humor appropriately (except for entertainment products, humor is not unexpected at this time after all), can get Good user perception, extending product life cycle 。

Similarly, no matter what products we operate, as long as we Follow the core value of the product without destroying it User experience Preconditions of core value process Next, insert a user "Positive event" of "unexpected" , can produce Surprise effect 。

Another example is Pulse. When your published articles reach a certain amount of approval, they will remind you that you have gained new influence. These are unexpected surprises.

Well, except Surprise users during product experience What other strategies can keep users interested in the product?

Product "fresh-keeping" strategy II: let users get things they don't have the right to get

Human instinct has: Cognitive preference of constantly seeking external recognition 。

This gradually evolved what psychologists call "flattery preference".

This is why when we try on clothes, the shopping guide almost always praises you. Even a person with dark skin wearing bright pink clothes will be said to "match your skin color"

Even if you know their praise is "ulterior motives", you will still feel good about yourself.

Of course, this level of naked flattery is not high, but the upgraded version of this psychological preference:

Give users what they think they have no right to get 。 This can Greatly increase users' love for the product, thus greatly extending the life cycle of the product 。

For example, if you are the reader operation of the library, what strategies can you think of to significantly improve readers' satisfaction with the library for such highly random reader groups?

Usually, people think that this kind of lifeless business unit is the furthest away from creativity.

Actually not.

One library took advantage of what Li Shaojia said: let users get the services they (think they are) not entitled to, greatly improve the utilization rate of reader cards, and reduce the card return rate.

The library has launched the following services:

All readers (users) of the library can directly select any new book in the book purchase center (book store) of the city where they are located, and they can take it for free after running a process on the APP. After reading the new book, return it to the library directly. (It is equivalent to that readers assume the purchasing responsibility of the library)

This is a very successful service, which typically allows users to get services they think they are not entitled to: everyone imagines that they are swaggering around the bookstore to take their favorite new books.

The launch of this service does not cause any loss to the library (it also saves a lot of work). They already need to purchase books.

Similarly, diamond customers like banks and credit cards enjoy certain privileges, such as green channel for business handling, VIP lounge of airlines, business class, etc.

Have we ever thought about what "privileges" can be delegated to users when operating the product?

For public account fans, can you give a tweet to let users choose their favorite topics?
What about giving some enthusiastic users the right to "leave a message on the top" and "ask a question"?
For products, some additional functions can be opened to some users, such as some customized product skin themes;
Or open some harmless internal data query permissions, or even get the right to directly talk with the main person in charge of the product (within a given time), etc.

Incidentally, when giving users additional privileges, Be sure to give users a reason to enjoy privileges at the same time ； Otherwise, the "privilege" effect will only be ignored by people all the year round like the "garbage sorting" on the street.

At present, the methods mentioned are all operation strategies in the process of product use. Then, some people may also put forward the requirement of "almost creating difficulties":

Li Shaojia There are ways to "extend the product life" when users first experience the product What?

Well, I can answer you definitely.

Product "fresh-keeping" strategy III: Let users invest appropriate efforts

In the love philosophy of being obsessed with men and complaining about women, there is a saying:

"The easier it is to get, the less people cherish it."

For people with low mental maturity (commonly known as giant babies), this sentence is almost correct. Therefore, many girls refuse some tall, rich and handsome for two words: childish.

This is really not a show. It is a wise decision to find someone who is mature in mind.

Interestingly, beyond the "love field", this mentality is more universal.

In recent years, psychologists have found a mentality called "IKEA Effect".

To be fair, in the field of home furnishing, IKEA's products are neither of good quality nor of high cost performance. But why can IKEA capture such a large number of users and have such a high repurchase rate (you can understand it by visiting IKEA on weekends)?

A big reason is that most of the furniture IKEA buys is to Users do it themselves To assemble (it has been designed as a simple assembly, just follow the instructions).

and The more efforts we put into a thing, the higher its value perception in our hearts 。 (The dual effects of "endowment effect" and "loss avoidance effect")

Most typically, for kindergarten children, "little red flowers" (rewards for good performance) and gifts from outsiders make them choose one from the other, and most children will choose small red flowers with no real value to give up gifts.

Or, for UGC products such as Zhihu and Douban, the loss rate of those "content producers" who have had content input behavior is far lower than that of pure "content consumers".

Similar "IKEA effect" can be applied to the operation of new users.

Some experienced Internet veterans may think that this strategy is contrary to common sense: in general, the product experience is not as smooth as possible for users to get started?

Yes.

But this sentence is only half correct (only when the product is in the red sea competition).

When users are "most interested" in the highlights of the product, why not ask them to make a little effort?

Especially when you put“ User's efforts ”When the design is more interesting.

This is just like the stage when a boy is crazy about pursuing a girl. The girl asks him to put on a Kumamoto fur coat and run for 10 laps on the playground, singing "Love You 10000 Years" while running. He is also happy.

Cool reminder: This strategy is especially applicable to new products that are attractive to users, or new functions of old products. In addition, it is recommended that users should experience the new function at least once before making "users make efforts" to obtain the product (or new function) permanently. Of course, this "effort" must be closely related to your product features.

For example, for bike sharing products (at the beginning of the fire), users can do a small test on environmental protection knowledge.

Or, for WeChat reading products, why not randomly generate some interesting small questions in the books that users have read to test their reading intentions (the length of time for correct answers)?

As for the problem that some people (especially the team lacking creativity, or the so-called experts with "rich experience") worry about will cause users' aversion, I just want to say that as long as:

Emerging products
Users are enthusiastic
"Effort" is positively related to product

On the premise of meeting these requirements, users will only appreciate you more.

Li Shaojia has done verification before:

The retention rate of some users who "make users work hard" is 2.5 times higher than that of users in the same period (control group), which is quite amazing.

Human nature is very subtle. Sometimes you take users too seriously, but they don't care about you.

summary

According to the current trend of business development, it can be clearly predicted that:

No matter what type of product The product life cycle will be shorter and shorter, and the time abandoned by users will be faster and faster 。

This is no exception even for the Big Mac WeChat (if someone has the intention to observe the activity rate of the circle of friends, they can reverse the launch of WeChat is in danger)

Therefore, for our operators (or product people), how to Scientifically proven operation strategy doubles the product life cycle Can form Great barriers to competition Has.

When the typical, uninspiring, follow the trend monetary incentives and material incentives are gradually ineffective, we can also get from "less work" 3 Breakthrough enlightenment ：

In combination with product characteristics Unexpected by users , WIP Create random surprises in the experience process
Give The user has some privileges that do not belong to him , and Tell the user "because he has some good qualities" To gain these privileges
When the product is most attractive to users, Let users pay for products (Related to product characteristics) Interesting efforts

At this point, it is reasonable that this article can end perfectly and receive applause and flowers (or slippers and eggs).

However, according to the analysis conclusion of this paper, we have sufficient reasons to believe that: Operators who can make users love the product so much also have the ability to maintain love and happiness 。

Therefore, Li Shaojia is obliged to make a collective wish for all outstanding single readers of "Less Class":

Girls (boys), if you have an excellent operator around you, you should marry.

#Columnist#

Li Shaojia, WeChat official account: less classes, everyone product manager Columnist. The author of Evolutionary Operation, the proposer of "user development operation framework based on user perspective", an independent researcher of Internet business operation management Experts.