With the past of mobile Internet user dividends, the current product competition has entered a period of hand-to-hand combat. For people who do products on the front line, what is needed is not only to make the product, but the more important issue is how to make the product sufficient in the market. Competitiveness.
Take an example of a project from 0 to 1. How to evaluate whether a project is worth the continuous investment of resources?
Project innovation -> Achieve key progress -> Give more traffic -> Continue to iterate
The cycle of a failed project is generally:
Project innovation -> unable to make critical progress -> resource shrinkage -> project halted
Therefore, when starting a project, the most critical element in the first step may not be direct product design or even demand analysis, but the definition of key indicators. All the goals are to achieve this key indicator. This key indicator is It is like leveraging the project to the next step. Only by grasping this point can the project be promoted.
In the process of making a product, you will encounter various such key links. It is necessary to grasp the various elements of the system with triggering capabilities at different stages, and use these elements to design and iterate the product.
Here, I disassemble the product design process into 7 key steps : demand analysis, user research, product positioning, prototyping, version iteration, data analysis, and product growth . These elements are interrelated and interact with each other, and finally promote the product. The ball rolls bigger and bigger, and continues to grow positively.
1. Demand analysis
The product manager is the filter of requirements. Therefore, the most important task in daily work is to analyze user needs at all levels, such as those from real users, bosses, and operations, find out their essential needs, and provide solutions, that is, product needs. In the process of demand analysis, the following principles need to be grasped.
1. Distinguish between product needs and user needs, the user’s essential needs are higher than the solution (product needs) than the user’s surface needs
The user said that he wanted to eat, and his essential requirement was that he was hungry. He might give him a bowl of old Beijing fried noodles that he could eat more fragrantly. Here, the user wants to eat is his superficial need, his essential need is to be hungry, and the old Beijing fried noodles is the solution.
In the same way, when users want a faster horse, their essential requirement is to move faster. At this time, providing a T-car is a better solution. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the most real needs from various sounds in order to provide a solution that exceeds the expectations of users. This is the product demand.
At the same time, user needs are constantly evolving, because people are adaptable to the products and services they have already received, so they will always pursue a better experience. This is a crisis for old products and an opportunity for new products. Therefore, it will take a while to implement a higher level of abstraction for your own solutions, so that more essential user needs can be obtained. Based on this more essential user needs, think about your product needs.
2. Grab the most painful pain points and do it first
In real work, we will encounter various needs, front-end functions and back-end functions, and the boss’s requirements for user complaints. At this time, perceiving the different pain levels of the needs and prioritizing is what the core product manager needs to do. At this time, the product manager must dare to refuse but also dare to take it. It is necessary to first identify those users’ most painful points. This involves user research in the second section. At the same time, they should increase their priorities and complete them first; at the same time, intersperse with a good experience. Optimization.
3. Look at the demand from the life cycle of the product
The basic law of Internet products is to first stick to users by solving the most basic rigid needs, obtain channel value, and then obtain cash through marketing products (advertising, e-commerce, finance, knowledge, etc.). Therefore, the product not only carries the user’s use needs, but also carries the developer’s business needs. Therefore, different needs focus will be used at different stages.
In the product start-up stage, it is necessary to verify user needs and make a product that can meet the user’s just needs.
In the growth stage of the product, more users are obtained through user recommendation and shop channels. At the same time, the product needs to ensure the stability of the system when so many users are influx, and solve various problems and introduce new functions.
The following is the commercial realization of products. At this time, whether you are selling your own products or selling other people’s products or advertisements, how to better monetize traffic is the most important requirement of the product at this stage.
At the same time, in the mature period of the product, you may face a flow bottleneck. On the one hand, the users that can be covered by the most basic needs are inherently limited, on the other hand, the market supply and demand are balanced. At this time, the refined operation of the old users is very important. , The user stickiness of the product needs to be made, because the maintenance cost of the old customers is lower than the cost of new customers. At this time, it is necessary to continue to improve the DAU and MAU of the product through the activeness of the old customers.
Therefore, it needs to be clear that products not only have user value, but also carry commercial value, and there will be different needs in different stages of the product.
2. User research
Users and needs are consistent. In product iteration, user needs are one of the driving forces of the product. Satisfying the needs of users is a prerequisite for the existence of products. Only on this basis can the next step of commercial realization be realized. Researching users is to better grasp who the product should be done for and how to create core values to stick to users.
1. Know the user
Users can be understood from two perspectives: abstract and concrete. User portraits are a description of user profiles. Through user portraits, we can understand more clearly what users are like and what specifics need to be considered when designing products. need.
2. User classification
User classification can cut complex users in order to better treat users differently and dig out needs. For example, NetEase Cloud Music cuts the user’s age and music preference to obtain four types of users, corresponding to white-collar workers, adolescent college students, people who have worked for many years, and senior music lovers. It is more targeted to analyze the needs of individual groups and break each one.
3. Become a user
The most real experience is to become a user, jump out of the identity of the product manufacturer, and see the product from an external perspective; in this way, you can better understand the pain points in the process of use, and observe and think from the perspective of the user. , In order to dig out some detailed demand points and gain insights on how to adjust the details.
3. Product positioning
In a market where supply and demand are balanced, only a position can be found to make an opening, making users more inclined to choose you rather than other competing products. This positioning is the reason why users choose you, which represents the user group the product serves, and what is the core value created.
In the early stage of the product, through user research, it was found that users’ singing needs were not fully satisfied. After analyzing similar products in the market, we looked for competitive advantages that could attract users and discovered the core of Tencent. The advantage is the social relationship chain, so the positioning of the product is clarified, an independent singing tool with an acquaintance relationship chain.
Positioning represents the direction of the product, and the continuous polishing around positioning can make the product positioning become a product characteristic that users can perceive. Therefore, they focused on the core positioning of “singing tools” to improve the basic experience. At the same time, the introduction of acquaintance relationships into the product detonated user growth and built a closed-loop capability for the product.
Therefore, when looking for and polishing product positioning, there are three key points:
1. Find unsatisfied pain points in the market
Positioning should start from the mind of the consumer, not from the product itself. First find the batch of users you want to serve, and then find out what you can provide among the unsatisfied pain points of this batch of users.
2. Provide core values based on your own advantages
Based on this unmet need and its own advantages, polish the core functions of the product, increase users’ awareness of the product, and gain users’ preference for choosing you.
3. At the right time, adjust the positioning of the product to obtain a more in-depth development
The positioning of the product is not static, but is constantly evolving as the number of users grows. For example, 51 credit card housekeepers in the tool category were initially positioned to manage credit cards. As the number of users accumulates and the scene deepens, they begin to discover that users essentially want to manage their own liabilities. Therefore, our product positioning From credit card management to debt management, it has access to a series of online debt account management functions such as JD Baitiao and Ant Boring. Such a positioning change not only increases potential users, but also enhances the depth of services, increases user stickiness, and lays the foundation for the product’s longer-term development.
4. Prototype design
Internet products are divided into two categories, web-side products and client-side products, one is a local file, and the other is directly accessed through a browser. Therefore, whether it is a user-oriented front-end product or a B-side back-end product, the most basic component is the page. But for C-end users, the focus is to guide the user’s experience and purchase, while for B-end users, it is more for operating activities and data statistics.
1. Process combing
At the beginning of the prototype design, the entire process needs to be sorted out. The roles and paths can be analyzed clearly by drawing a swim lane diagram, and then connected through the appropriate process to complete the sorting.
2. Prototyping
This mainly refers to the design of specific pages, which involves page distribution, navigation, specific copywriting display, and where the copywriting is obtained. At this time, understanding a little development knowledge will help to sort out the needs.
3. Non-functional requirements design
Mainly related to page compatibility, stability, opening speed, etc., these are in order to better make the product service to the user’s consideration.
5. Version iteration
Many products are not born with NB, but they are constantly acquiring users. In the process of continuous iteration, they have found shortcuts to growth. The better the better. Therefore, after the completion of the product from 0 to 1, it is very important to raise the product. ability.
1. Rhythm of iteration
Iteration is a kind of team work. It is necessary to grasp the rhythm of requirements, development, testing, and release so that the team can operate more efficiently. Just like marching, it is necessary to grasp the discipline of the team before it can come. War, war can win.
2. Demand Arrangement
In the iterative process, it is best to intersperse large and small versions, and at the same time, according to the life cycle of the product, it is necessary to identify the priority of the function. For start-up products, quickness is very important, and quick release and quick feedback to obtain good conversion can survive the fierce competition. For products in the stable period, the more important demand is to be active and monetize. Therefore, the arrangement of requirements needs to be determined according to the life cycle of the product and the pace of development.
6. Data analysis
Internet products can evolve rapidly, and an important factor ahead of atomic world products is digitization. All user information, visits, and conversions are traceable. Therefore, data analysis is one of the most important functions for Internet products to achieve high-dimensional attacks. The key to data analysis is to define key indicators, analyze weak links, and obtain product inspiration.
1. Define key indicators
Page visit indicators can be broken down into three main categories: the source of traffic, the distribution of traffic, and the conversion of traffic. The source of traffic, that is, where the main user source path is, it is convenient to tap more traffic; the distribution of traffic is where the traffic on the navigation page is mainly concentrated, in order to better achieve your goals, you can do better guidance in the navigation ; The conversion of traffic is a process of concern, the user’s conversion funnel, and the conversion rate in the link is analyzed to facilitate the discovery of weak links.
2. Look for weak links
After defining the key indicators, the changes in the conversion rate of those key links are what we should pay most attention to. If in the entire conversion funnel, it is found that the conversion rate of a certain link is particularly low, then it is necessary to optimize the revolving door for this link.
3. Get product inspiration
From the data, it can be found that the user’s click preference has been user characteristics. Based on these characteristics, to launch services that meet the needs of users is the main source of data to drive product innovation. For example, on the discovery page of 51 credit card, we found that users clicked on the credit inquiry very much. Therefore, this shows that users are very concerned about their credit information. At the same time, most users have their own credit report through inquiry. Therefore, we launched lending products that grant credit through credit reporting reports, and achieved good conversion results. Therefore, user behavior can bring user insights and help us find products that satisfy users.
7. Product growth
Paul Gram said that the essence of entrepreneurship is growth. For products, the biggest problem they encounter after landing is also growth. Only by acquiring more and more users and bringing more and more conversions can we involve more resources and invest in the iteration of the product, making the product bigger and bigger, otherwise the situation will be very dangerous.
In product growth, there is a classic AARRR model, that is, the growth target is divided into five steps: pull new, promote activation, improve retention, realize monetization, and spread recommendation.
I mainly do the monetization part, so I will focus on the product monetization logic. For traffic monetization, there is a complete formula that can be summarized:
Traffic value = traffic × conversion rate × customer unit price × repurchase rate
Therefore, the key to all realization problems is around:
- How to get more effective traffic
- How to increase the conversion rate of traffic
- How to increase the customer unit price
- How to improve users’ repurchase
The 4 links are gradually unfolded, through these measures, to promote the growth of the product
A product is a system. A project goes from 0 to 1 and then from 1 to N. It is in the process of repeated iterations, in the competition with similar products, it is getting bigger and bigger.
The seven weapons of demand analysis, user research, product positioning, prototyping, product iteration, data analysis, and product growth will help us create a market-competitive product. Next, I will disassemble each weapon in detail. The specific concept to usage.
What weapons are in your product methodology, please leave a message to share.
