“I’m too South” was officially selected as one of the top ten catchwords of “Chinese Inventory 2019”. The selection was jointly sponsored by the National Language Resource Monitoring and Research Center, the Commercial Press and other units.
This meme originated from the fast-handed anchor, which eventually became popular after a clever evolution. There may be some realistic backgrounds. For Internet entrepreneurs, the biggest change in 2019 is that Chinese mobile Internet users have fallen for the first time.
The competition in the stock market has slowed growth, accompanied by rising costs. In this context, the WeChat ecosystem has shown its unique advantages in fission growth and cost reduction due to special product mechanisms, mass users, and innovative forms such as applets.
The entrepreneurs of the WeChat ecosystem are also changing. In addition to the early keen entrepreneurs of connected games, more and more offline companies, public institutions, and individual developers choose to explore on WeChat; WeChat service providers are also With the evolution of the ecology, there is a trend of survival of the fittest; small games have begun to appear more serious and creative games, but at the same time, it seems that there has not been a national-level game like a jump for a long time. Finally, the lack of centralized traffic and the lack of recall and retention mechanisms for small programs often test the patience and ability of entrepreneurs.
Recently, we talked to 16 WeChat entrepreneurs who have been bitter and bitter on WeChat in the past year.
Was it difficult in the past year? Was it the hardest year to toss on WeChat?
Different entrepreneurs have different experiences in 2019.
Offline retailing has long been facing a dilemma of declining passenger traffic. Because of the development of young consumers’ online consumption, this situation has not changed fundamentally in the past year. Di Xintong, one of China’s largest offline mobile phone retailers, bluntly stated that the past year has been a very difficult year for the mobile terminal retail industry. “The overall industrial environment has not improved.” Tianhong and Mengjie, the representatives of offline retail, Home textiles are also frank, “it has always been difficult.”
But at the same time, these retail companies have begun to take more and more actions on the WeChat ecosystem. For example, Dixintong has created its own private domain traffic through the upgrade of corporate WeChat, mini-programs and online and offline processes. The program realizes online and offline communication, as well as looking for increase in social channels.
Of course, with the increase in the number of retail companies doing this, competition in the WeChat ecosystem is also intensifying. Cheng Yan, vice president of Mengjie Home Textiles, told us that this year is “the highest cost of acquiring traffic since WeChat was created. The best year for user experience. “
The second major milestone is that we took the lead in launching the live broadcast service “Small Telecast” on WeChat Ecology. It is the earliest group of implementers and practitioners of WeChat EcoLive. We have served many and many customers in the past six months , And also constantly explore how to do live broadcasts in WeChat, mini-programs, communities and private domains.
Solitaire: Grow. Including the growth of the team, the cognitive growth of the small program product form in the WeChat ecosystem, and the growth of the vision, we increasingly love the field we are serving-community consumer services.
Dyson: We established Dyson’s third R & D center in Shanghai in 2017-Dyson Shanghai Science and Technology Laboratory, which is mainly responsible for exploration in the smart home scene. In 2019, our biggest achievement was the release of the Dyson Link WeChat applet, and pushed it to Dyson’s 2.8 million public account followers.We managed to handle the peak traffic. This also verifies the stability and robustness of our back-end cloud services.
China Merchants Bank Credit Card: Based on a small program and a colleague, a “smart risk control” system has been established to ensure that financial small programs can conduct business safely and conveniently, which is also regarded as the industry Inside set a benchmark.
Ink weather: We answer this question from two dimensions. The first is breadth. In 2019, the Ink Weather Mini Program has settled on a number of emerging small-scale ecological platforms. In addition to WeChat, we have also launched Ink Mini Programs on QQ, Baidu, Toutiao, and Alibaba. The second is depth. We can provide users with multiple tool applets at the same time. In addition to weather applets, we also have perpetual calendar applets, typhoon applets, etc., providing users with more solutions and product choices to meet Multi-dimensional user needs. In addition, the ink weather applet of each major platform also maintains the extreme product experience of ink weather. The ink ink applet is the first in the vertical category.
Tongcheng Yilong: We combine big data analysis and refine user operations to ensure the continued growth of main business revenue. We also tried the business of paid members. Through the paid member model, we The loyal user group has been screened to provide them with better services, while also expanding our source of income, followed by BIn terms of end-to-end cooperation, we have chosen a mutual cooperation mode with high-frequency entertainment products such as Tencent Video, which has greatly reduced our costs.
Weimeng: First, in terms of products: Weimeng ’s two core businesses, SaaS and precision marketing, are based on the WeChat ecosystem; in terms of customers: they have served Lenovo, Mengjie Home Textiles, Lin Qingxuan, Senma, Barabara, Carbin, Hongxingerke, Anner, Natural Hall, Rimba Menswear, Urban Beauty and many other well-known brands.
After 6 years of rapid growth, Weimeng was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 15, 2019. According to the financial report for the first half of 2019, the group’s revenue reached 656 million yuan, of which SaaS product revenue was 2.19 100 million yuan, compared with 26.9% in the same period last year, making Weimeng the leading position in the “New Economy SaaS First Share”.
Light Mang: Explored two new types of podcast applet and brand applet, and more subdivided the needs of different partners. I also gradually explored through the customization of small programs to help more partners design and develop specific small programs in a more cost-effective manner.
Three-body cloud movement: Firstly, the focus of the future three-body cloud movement was recognized, the second-generation SaaS was developed, and the follow-up development plan was determined; the second was to acquire more customers And partner recognition.
Know the cloud: Payment companies that know the cloud have increased 3 times and the scale of usage has increased 12 times. At the same time, we have added Alipay, QQ, Baidu on the basis of WeChat Mini Program Applet, iOS, Android, web support.
Heroes love the Three Kingdoms: Continuously maintain and iterate “Heroes Love the Three Kingdoms”, the products are more and more perfect, the team’s understanding of tcg is getting deeper, and many mistakes have been made in the process. Learned a lot. We didn’t get distracted to start new projects, and players have been with us for two years. I believe we will usher in an explosion in the new year, and hope that the entire team will be able to accumulate thick and thin hair.
When did you start making small programs / games / becoming a WeChat service provider? Looking back on the past few years, has it brought you joy, a sense of accomplishment, or disappointment, and more difficulties?
Dixintong: Dixintong’s applet should be started in 2017. The small program brings us a great sense of accomplishment, and everyone has made a lot of gains.
Tianhong: Tianhong is the first batch of small program internal testing companies in 2017. The earliest function was online shopping. In the past year or two, Texhong took the last fiveIn the past six years, more than 70 functions built on the Rainbow app have been put on WeChat to make more than 20 small programs. Not only is it a matter of quantity, but the functions that I wanted to do in the own ecology in the past can not be done, but also can be quickly built in the WeChat ecology. For example, we have realized the function of group fight, through online order, offline pickup, to achieve drainage to the store.
Meng Jie Home Textiles: I started making applets in 2018, and I feel half-happy for the past few years. The good thing is that the products and models have attracted a group of loyal users to satisfy many users. Demand, there is word of mouth and precipitation; the worry is that the market is changing with each passing day, and the user’s needs are constantly being tapped. It needs to be continuously customized and developed on the standard version, or at any time so it is ready to overthrow.
Group Solitaire: We recognized WeChat ecology very much from the beginning. It was the earliest batch of small programs. It started in March 2017. Making a group of Solitaire mini programs is a very wonderful journey in my entrepreneurial career, and I feel full of joy and achievements. We pay more attention to synergy with the environment, actively integrate into the WeChat ecosystem, adhere to and love WeChat values, and feel that there is no disappointment or difficulty. On the contrary, every so-called difficulty and disappointment makes us feel growth.
Dyson: The exploration of applets began in the second half of 2018. Disappointment and difficulties exist, but I have even seen him bring joy to our team, and the excitement and excitement after overcoming the difficulties. After all, we are pioneers in this field.
China Merchants Bank Credit Card: We are the first mini program launched on January 9, 2017, and it can be said that it has been accompanied by the growth of WeChat mini programs.
In recent years, I have grown a lot, and I feel a lot of sense of achievement, because in the continuous exploration, I have gradually figured out the correct way to open the applet, and the number of users of the applet has also grown a lot this year. Of course, there are many difficulties, such as how to cut into the business and how to promote growth, but overall there is a lot of sense of accomplishment.
Ink weather: More sense of accomplishment for us.
Ink is the first group of companies to enter WeChat gadgets in 2017. After the optimization and promotion of applets by major platforms in the last two years, applets have basically formed ecology in the major giant series of APPs. Ink weather applets can understand intuitively the various attributes of users on the weather in the ecology of various programs. use. The small program is not only a breakthrough innovation of ink in different markets, but also a new track we are very optimistic about.
Tongcheng Yilong: We started to contact the mini-program in October 2016. We started synchronizing with WeChat mini-program on January 9, 2017, and launched the wallet entry switch on March 12, 2018 It ’s been three years since the program was run. I think it ’s a more positive impact during the period. Using the mini program, our ecology in WeChat is no longer the only entrance to the wallet. Using the mini program, we have expanded a lot of social fission play. Using a small program, we quickly converted offline traffic to online.
Weimeng: The official mini program started in 2016. I believe that every Internet company will have happiness and encounter difficulties on the way forward, and more of it will be the joy brought by overcoming difficulties. The small program is a vent. BAT is trying to connect. Everyone crosses the river by feeling the stones. There is no ready-made model to apply. Our achievements are greater than disappointment.
Light Mansions: Light Mansions Mini Program + was officially released in July 2017. But when the WeChat Mini Program started its internal beta, we started to make the first version of the Light Manga Mini Program +.
At first, I still think that the applet is a vent, and everyone is very concerned about trying it. We received more than 1000+ applet creation applications during the beta period. But after some time exploring with partners, I also found that the mini program did not usher in the so-called explosive growth, nor did itThe method directly increases the subscription number. We are also more focused on the essence of the product-what value can a small program create for the user in the WeChat ecosystem and return to normality. On the contrary, it also helped us to more effectively subdivide the needs of partners and made more matching applet types.
Three-body cloud movement: Three-body cloud movement has been making applets since 2016. At the beginning, our applet positioning was not very clear, it just developed some basic functions. However, with the development of applets and the opening of more interfaces, and our customers’ awareness and needs for applets have become clearer and clearer, we have realized more functions and data collection, interconnection, and applications on applets. Customers have thus obtained the help and drive of big data under the blessing of small programs, and gradually formed a digital information operation, which will also be the key driving force for the future development of enterprises. On the whole, in recent years, the mini program has developed very fast, and it continues to surprise Sanstom Cloud and customers.
Sweep: There is more sense of accomplishment. WeChat’s openness has always been good, giving a lot of capabilities, which can be freely packaged and applied.
Know the cloud: Winter 2016. Both. Overall, there are still more achievements.
The heroes love the Three Kingdoms: We started making small games at the end of 2018. We are a relatively small game team. The team’s philosophy is to make fun games. WeChat can recognize our philosophy. It gave us the motivation to continue. For an entrepreneurial team that has been between innovation and death, the sense of accomplishment in the past year comes from the fact that we have been insisting on our philosophy, and we are still alive and still making breakthroughs.
Are there any bonuses for mini programs / games?
Dixintong: The bonus of applets will continue. Depending on the WeChat ecosystem, the development of applets will become better and better.
Tianhong: On the one hand, we can see from the press conference that both Zhang Xiaolong and the person in charge of the applet have a reflection on the product and continue to upgrade. And they not only upgrade the product functions, but also from the perspective of humanity and philosophy to think deeply about how to make a product that cares with users. As a platform, this is very rare, so we are also willing to use WeChat ecology Long-term cultivation.
On the other hand, many people will say that the bonus period of WeChat public account has passed, but you can still see some new public account operations become large. In fact, there is always a point in Tianhong that owning a tool is not the most fundamental. It is more important to run the tool well. Therefore, we will also explore new operating methods based on WeChat ecology and small programs, improve new product capabilities, and achieve new sales increments.
Meng JiejiaSpinning: In the case of apps flying and limited mobile phone capacity, mini-programs are currently the best option for expanding business. The precipitation of data such as passenger flow, product flow, and transaction flow will still be in the context of C2B precision marketing. There are more bonuses; based on the enterprise level, the applet continues to improve the iteration of people, goods, markets, and devices according to the needs of the business scenario to create more bonuses; based on the social level, generates more content tools that interact with customers, such as red envelopes Mini-games, point mini-games, knowledge punch-card mini-games, etc. retain bonuses.
Xiaodianpu: If it comes to WeChat’s bonus, I think today’s bonus may not be targeted at such entrepreneurs who want to be platforms, but rather more emerging For consumer brands and small and medium-sized businesses, brands are growing through WeChat. I think that this dividend is still huge.
Solitaire: Of course, the opportunities in 2020 far exceed 2019. Cultivating user habits and supporting ecological construction on WeChat are all cultivating more dividends.
Dyson: I think the trial of smart homes on applets has just begun, and more manufacturers will join in the future. WeChat will also continue to improve and layout smart home scenes, and the imagination space in the future is still large.
China Merchants Bank Credit Card: Yes. The capabilities of applets are still increasing.As mentioned in this public class, you can directly search WeChat content, applets can run on hardware, etc. These facts are constantly enriching the traffic entrance of applets.
In theory, the WeChat app has the capabilities that small programs can have, and WeChat itself is constantly evolving, so the small programs will also evolve. At the same time, there are still many capabilities of the small programs that have not been released yet, it is still worthwhile. Go look forward to it.
Ink weather: We think it is. WeChat is constantly optimizing the business model of small programs, and other platforms are continuously providing more new gameplay. We are also trying to add transaction-type functions in the applet, gradually forming a closed loop of transactions, and enhancing the business capabilities of the ink applet. In the future, small programs will still have great expectations in the commercial sector.
Tongcheng Yilong : WeChat is also continuously exploring the mini-program ecology. This year, more of it is based on WeChat search and search, such as everyone ’s use, brand area Next year, WeChat will continue to make efforts on search and search. Combining big data algorithms, user social relationships, and third-party resource services, it is worth looking forward to accurate resource recommendations.
Wei Alliance: There are bonuses. Judging from the signals released by the entire industry and WeChat Open Class Pro, mini-programs will still be a battleground for soldiers in 2020. In releasing business capabilities, applets have shown strong growth momentum and have become an important force in changing the industry and affecting the business landscape. In 2020, mini-programs will focus on three aspects: naturally adding users, actively pulling back, and better commercialization. They will focus on helping businesses build their own business closed loop. In terms of transactions, WeChat focuses on building overweight business transaction scenarios such as brand certification, optimization of logistics tools, and establishment of a transaction guarantee system. These are very good for businesses who want to achieve drainage and user retention and business growth on WeChat and applets.
Light Mang: The WeChat applet seems to have been a blast in the past, but now it seems to be no longer. But I may never feel the so-called bonus.
The value of the WeChat Mini Program is to help brands in WeChat to provide users with more services. WeChat does not provide a stable source of traffic for the applet. The core still depends on the brand’s own traffic, and whether the applet is useful.
Light Mang Mini Program + has served a small group of creators from the beginning, and now offers self-service and customized services for a wider range of brands. There are not fewer partners with these needs. Nowadays, there are still many brands finding light mansions to discuss with us how to build applets. But this is not a bonus, it is a very simple thing, and the needs of partners are also very simple. Some people did ask us a few years ago if the applet could increase the number of fans. Now it ’s much less.. You just need a place to present your brand and organize your content. Give first-time users a more complete experience, give loyal users a better reading experience and a more convenient entrance, and cooperate with WeChat groups or subscription numbers. We actually helped them solve this problem and made this feature.
Three-body cloud movement: The entire ecological chain of WeChat is becoming more and more open and perfect. Small programs + corporate WeChat + three-body cloud movement will definitely bring a new batch of bonuses.
Sweep: The dividends in the payment industry should be small, and everything behind should be hard work.
Know the cloud: In the big picture, it’s quite a thing. The amount of small program transactions in 2019 announced in the open class reached 800 billion yuan, while Taobao’s transaction value was 3 trillion yuan at the same time, about 1/4. This growth is quite rapid, after all, applets are only 3 years old. From a business perspective, Taobao is a shop in a large supermarket; WeChat is a small shop in major streets and buildings in the city. What is this concept? In Guangzhou, for example, there are only over 30 large shopping malls, while countless self-employed.
Heroes love the Three Kingdoms: Mini programs also have bonuses, especially small games. As mentioned earlier, game users have an educational process. This process needs to last one to two years. In two years, it will be a bonus, and the WeChat mini game user has his unique characteristics, which will lead to new categories.
Will applets / games / wechat-based services continue to be the core business in the future?
Dixintong: The future of applets will replace apps to a certain extent, except in the professional field. So there is still a lot of room for future development of applets, because applets will still be one of the core businesses in the future.
Sky Rainbow : Required. At the same time, we saw that in this WeChat public class, WeChat released a lot of new features and capabilities including corporate WeChat hundreds of people, shopping guide circle of friends, native mini program live broadcast formation, face payment as membership, payment as service, etc Many eggs are worth our good use.
Belle: Yes, judging from the data disclosed by WeChat Open Class Pro in 2020, this ecology is still thriving, and Belle will continue to explore and tap new business value in the field of applets.
Meng Jie Home Textiles: Meng Jie Smart Retail 2.0 is a model of online and offline integration + cleaning service. In the future, it will also use the mini program and other tools of WeChat ecology to complete the implementation of the 2.0 model.
Small electricity shop: We will continue to use WeChat ecology as the carrier of our core business in the future, which depends on the fact that we have been rooted in this market over the past few years and we have built up Our service format has accumulated high-quality partners.
Solitaire: Of course. WeChat has a large number of active users. WeChat applets are almost equivalent to mobile Internet, and the ceiling is very high. As long as WeChat has the heart and sincerity to build an ecology, we will all in WeChat Mini Program in 2020.
Dyson: Dyson has always been committed to understanding China ’s digital ecosystem, understanding users in China, and launching products and services that are most suitable for Chinese users. Applets are a very successful attempt. We will continue to improve and expand the services we provide on applets in the future.
China Merchants Bank Credit Card: In the WeChat ecosystem, we will continue to treat applets as our core business. Use small programs to provide better services for users, and integrate more with our public account and app to form a complete service closed loop.
Ink weather: The future applet is still one of our core businesses. While providing accurate weather services, the ink applet will also try moreWe are planning on the expansion of the service functions in terms of services.
Tong Cheng Yilong: Yes, the applet is still one of the company ’s column traffic platforms. Its experience is undoubtedly much smoother than H5, and in the applet, it can be explored in conjunction with user relationships. More new gameplay, so it will still be the core business in the future.
Weimeng: Yes, WeChat Open Class releases a series of tools and capabilities to help service providers grow, and WeChat Mini Programs release service provider assistant tools to help companies and service providers grow together.
Light Mansions: Light Mansions Mini Program + has always been a particularly important business for us, and will continue to be.
Three-body cloud movement: It is inevitable that applets are a core business, which will facilitate more connections and interaction between offline stores and consumers, and make it easier for consumers to identify information. Authenticity and good or bad. China enters the era of “good people make money” in 2020, and Sanshen Yundong will continue to develop applet applications to help the industry develop more steadily.
Sweep: In the future, we still have to focus on WeChat ecology.
Know the cloud: Yes. The potential of this platform has just begun.
Heroes love the Three Kingdoms: No doubt, they will.
What do you think of Zhang Xiaolong’s video lecture on 2020 WeChat Open Class Pro?
Dixintong: In this speech, Zhang Xiaolong talked about the direction of product thinking as always, which reflects the strengths of Tencent as a company that is good at products, and it considers the future development of WeChat. What impressed me most: the speed of information dissemination and the difficulty of information selection. For our customers, the difficulty of selecting information means that it is more difficult to provide customers with good products. The rapidity of information dissemination has led to the marketing of the Internet era being able to reach and reach the market faster than the era of traditional models. Affect users.
Meng Jie Home Textiles: WeChat is a great social app that has brought huge changes to society and our lives. He is very aware of the social responsibility carried by WeChat, which leads us to use WeChat in a more convenient and socially-friendly way. I was very impressed. First of all, he mentioned that we would make more improvements in short content. This is what we are looking forward to. Secondly, we are also curious whether the upper limit of the number of WeChat friends will be adjusted to break the 5000 mark. Three points of concern are: follow-up content is not distributed, but pushed, and more emphasis is placed on the effectiveness of user information; the fourth is the display and attention of long-tail users; the fifth is the search upgrade of applets, not only Is the search title and there is a smallSearch for program content. These are functions that are closely related to our life and work.
Xiaodianpu: Zhang Xiaolong’s failure to participate in the Pro conference is an inflection point. WeChat should completely change from a product with Zhang Xiaolong as a label to a more social, more organized, more A state of inaction. Zhang Xiaolong gave some important information in this speech. One point that I think has a lot of inspiration is that Zhang Xiaolong reviews the core concept of the public account business and will do more short content, including short videos and live broadcasts. The development of scenarios may be a major guide for the next development direction of the public account service.
As a core participant in this ecology, we actually have a lot of expectations for such a signal. We also hope to see this change coming online in the next year and also to launch WeChat new The strategic core direction is better integrated with our business.
Group Solitaire: I relatively recognize Xiaolong’s values. Every time I take it as an opportunity to learn and absorb. Although I have never contacted Xiaolong to communicate, I feel his entanglement and sincerity. The speech was even more so. I was particularly impressed by how to find a balance between the user’s uncontrollable desire and the original deficiency and under the technical background. Xiaolong made decisions based on sincerity and kindness. Xiaolong’s speech this year,Although short, it is more impressive than in previous years.
China Merchants Bank Credit Card: This speech is relatively short, but it has always been the style of Zhang Xiaolong’s speech, and it has also been very rewarding. Zhang Xiaolong is the product manager we worship. I personally define him as a “classic product manager” (similar to Su Hua, and a “modern product manager” like Zhang Yiming). He pays more attention to “people” and “nature”, ” “Nature” refers to advocating the natural growth of products and obeying human nature. His speech this year is still inseparable from the discussion of people, communities and information dissemination, and he can still be inspired after listening. Although his thinking is not as deep as his, he also inspired himself to think in this direction.
What impressed me most was the “short content”. I was curious about the form in which such products would appear. I was also curious about how WeChat would take into account the use of corporate entities after paying more attention to “individuals.” Appeal.
Tong Cheng Yilong: Although Xiaolong Ge’s speech was only 12 minutes, he still revealed a lot of information. One of the most impressive words is: what information is pushed to determine the user What information he sees determines what kind of world he is in. Many people are not willing to take the initiative to obtain information, but prefer to obtain it passively, because we ourselves are also doing sophisticated user operations, no matter how small The program is still a public account. Whether it is inside or outside the station, we have also implemented a personalized push function, so this is also the direction we will continue to work hard, followed by several new features of WeChat: search can The key evokes the small program, the diversity of the public account content, and the innovation highlights of the WeChat red envelope in the Spring Festival.
Weimeng: Mini Programs are also the focus of WeChat. Massive Mini Programs can support various long tail search needs. At the same time, the WeChat Open Class emphasized that the small program will continue to release its capabilities in search, live broadcast, and trading scenarios, and strive to help merchants build their own business closed loop, while the small program carries an important part of the closed loop of commercial realization. It can be predicted that future small programs will have good development potential in commercial transaction scenarios, leading the e-commerce retail and other industries into a new technology cycle and a new era of commerce.
Light Mang: The deepest impression must be his elaboration of the logic of content dissemination. Zhang Xiaolong said, “Many people are not willing to take the initiative to obtain information, but prefer passive acquisition.” Of course, this sentence is true, but I have also been thinking, which group of users do you want to serve and users? Which side of it is actually your choice. For me, I still hope that the service is a little proactive, at least those who are willing to take the initiative to obtain information.
Three-body cloud movement: WeChat is very restrained in product design. Less is more. This is something many companies ca n’t do. We are also asking WeChat.Learn. WeChat has researched the user’s usage, habits, experience, and scenes. At the same time, it has controlled the core needs of users and formed products in a controlled manner. It will not blindly accumulate features and cause product bloat.
Knowing the cloud: Mr. Zhang is very sincere. Candid several issues on the road to product development, and thought about the relationship between information and people in a higher dimension.
The heroes love the Three Kingdoms: We didn’t watch Zhang Xiaolong’s speech. We didn’t pay much attention to the policy changes of the platform. For us, making the game well is all.