How to comprehensively analyze the product operation system from the three stages of the product

The Law of Operational Demand: The lower the level of product and technology breakthroughs (it has nothing to do with UI, excellent UI is naturally just), the higher the level of operational demand.

How to build a complete operating system? When should you do what? How to get started?

Operations work is like Cupid. We already have a girl to be married, she is our product, and our goal is to find a partner for her.

Channel is the bow and content is the arrow. Use the bow to shoot out the arrow and capture the hearts of others. The channel determines how many people can see it. The content determines whether it can impress others. Wait until others become interested in the product. , we also need to build a bridge to communicate with users. This bridge is the user system.

Let’s talk about the main role and purpose of operations at different stages according to the different stages of the product.

1. Before product launch

Core purpose:

Product warm-up, market testing

Channel:

Social media such as WeChat, Weibo, and Zhihu

Content:

The content and copywriting pushed by operations should be determined according to the expected target users of the product. First, you must know What kind of users do you want, what kind of content will they be interested in, and write push content and copy around this content.

Reason:

At this stage, the team is usually in the seed round/angel round financing stage. The core of the entire team is basically focused on the product, and there is not enough money to spend. Operationally. WeChat and Weibo are good channels because they are free and the number of effective users of the platform is almost unlimited. What operations need to do is to make your voice heard and let users see you through the editing of content and copywriting.

At this stage, there is no need to think too much about activities and brands (of course you cannot discredit the brand), and go all out to acquire users who are interested in the product direction and cultivate angel users. You can do this appropriately. Some simple interactions, such as voting, encouraging replies, etc., can be used to collect the opinions of the user group, filter out the ones you find useful, and provide feedback to the product.

I have seen many companies shouting that users come first and experience comes first. However, when I tell them my suggestions, it always comes to nothing. WeChat official accounts always respond automatically, and customer service always redirects them. User experience is not necessary. If your product is extremely groundbreaking, users will treat you as God even if they never pay attention to you. But more often than not, companies are eager to be God and don’t think about whether they have the qualifications.

2. Product polishing stage

Core purpose:

Product release, observing market feedback, communicating with users, optimizing products, and verifying product logic

Channels:

WeChat, Weibo, Zhihu and other social media; five major portals or portals in vertical fields; App Store/third-party application stores; offline activities; user QQ group/WeChat group ; Product own channels

Content:

PR drafts related to product releases, social marketing content around the product, ASO related content, user behavior incentives, and content that can promote activity Topics/Activities

Reason:

When the product is launched, there is generally not much money left in the angel round. Some companies will choose to raise pre-A or directly raise A wheel, giving the product more room for trial and error.

For product release, some companies like to make big news, and some companies like to have a low-key cold start. This depends more on the completion of the product, the CEO's tone, and the resources at hand.

If you want to plan a product launch, you will be very busy with operations, venue, media, process arrangements and overall planning. Why not write a review after the launch? We also need to contact various new media channels to help promote it. Of course, there will be no budget for these.

If the product is an app, the operation must be responsible for listing it in major stores. For iOS, it must be sent to the app store for review, and for Android, it must be listed on various third-party markets.

At this stage, the overall work still revolves around polishing the product. The first version of the product is often not perfect enough, or it is a Beta version, which may not be suitable for large-scale promotion. The angel users trained previously are here. The stage can play a huge role in introducing as many people into the product as possible, letting them experience the product and listen to their suggestions.

If you did a good job in the previous stage, you should have some angel users who love the product and maintain long-term interaction. Their power at this stage is huge. Not only can they give effective feedback on the product, but they can also form the top part of your user pyramid and drive the activity of bottom users.

The ideal state at this time is that the number of product users is stable at 1,000 – 10,000. There is no need to pursue explosive growth. It is more important to maintain stable growth. Always pay attention to every behavior of users. Why do users come? What did you do? Why leave?

Among these three questions, "Why leave?" is the most important, and don't be confused by short-term retention data. Focus on DAU data and lengthen the observation period. If users feel that the product If it is of no use, you may not uninstall it immediately. Instead, you will take the initiative to uninstall it after a period of time when you feel that the APP is no longer useful.

3. Product promotion stage

Core purpose:

Ensure long-term sustained growth in user level and activity

Channels:

App store recommendation position; transaction volume; DSP channel; three major searches; new media such as WeChat and Weibo; offline advertising; five major portals or portals in vertical fields; user QQ group/WeChat group; products Own channels; pre-installed channels; local promotion

Content:

Social marketing content around the product, ASO, SEM related content, user behavior incentives, can promote new acquisitions Special Topics/Activities

Reason:

At this stage, financing should reach B and C rounds. User size and market share have become the core of operations. The foreshadowing made before It's time to explode. Before launching full-scale promotion, be sure to ensure the core competitiveness and completion of the product, otherwise the promotion will be counterproductive.

When doing promotion, first ensure the establishment of traditional channels, that is, the channels listed above. These are relatively basic methods, and the costs are relatively stable. You can choose the channels suitable for your products to promote.

More importantly, don’t be boxed in by these methods. In various industries, the cost of traffic is relatively stable, and the cost of customer acquisition is also relatively stable. If you can’t break out of the siege by relying on products alone, then operations The importance is self-evident. How to obtain high-quality users at a lower cost? How to quickly achieve user-level explosions and breakthroughs? How to stand out from competing products?

Many CEOs do not recognize traffic costs and believe that good operations should acquire customers quickly and for free. They believe that good operations can sell products even if they are shit. Any company with this idea will surely die, and the market has 100% confirmed this.

One of the invisible thresholds for starting a business is whether there is room for fluctuation in traffic costs in the industry. However, 90% of CEOs do not know this.

We will see a lot of very cool marketing methods and very cool ideas, but "creativity" is by no means the reason for their success. This is why the same idea can be used by some companies to hit the circle of friends, while other companies can only get single-digit retweets.

Channels and content are interdependent. If we insist on a distinction, channels account for 51% and content accounts for 49%. Content reflects creativity and channels reflect execution.

To take the simplest example, if the same article is posted on different official accounts, the reading numbers will be completely different. Tuba will obviously have more reads and forwards, but Tuba itself relies on countless high-quality content.

Many companies want to create national-level marketing, but they never pay attention to cultivating their own channels, let alone spending money on advertising. In the end, the results are not good, and the pot basically depends on operations. back.

In this era of information explosion, you only see those awesome ideas, but you never care about how they come to you, nor do you know that more awesome ideas have failed to make people When you see it, you are lost in the torrent of traffic. The era of becoming famous simply by relying on good products is getting further and further away. Competition in every field is fierce. What’s more, is your product really good?

This goes back to the first sentence at the beginning. The lower the level of product and technological breakthroughs, the higher the level of operational demand. Just changing the UI and interaction does not mean that the product is “good”.

When I was doing marketing channels before, I encountered a lot of disdainful looks, "Who can't spend money?" If I get 100,000 yuan, I can get the effect of 200,000 yuan, but you get 100,000 yuan. Ten thousand, if I spend one hundred thousand, my ability to acquire customers will be twice as strong as yours. I will occupy a larger market and get more financing. Every company has limited money. How can it be responsible for every penny?

Whether the content is good or not depends more on the planner's own intuition, which is difficult to measure. Just like a well-written article means a well-written article, and interesting means interesting. This thing requires long-term training and polishing and cannot be achieved overnight, but channels are relatively more controllable. Only high-quality content combined with high-quality channels can produce phenomenal communication effects.

The job of operations is to form a strong bond between "market", "product" and "user", use limited power to leverage the largest market, let the product go out, and let the Users settle down.