Logically speaking, this question is actually quite grand (without scenarios, without input on the current business situation), and it is not a particularly good question. But based on this question, I still want to sort out some of my personal understanding of the four words "user growth". (Original article mirror link: https://mirror.xyz/arthurwu.eth/bgznO4gUkGhAIJGZImHQh7xv5PFp1pp_CMI4pudbJwM)
Definition of User Growth#
The position of "user growth" has been relatively popular in the domestic market in recent years, for a simple reason: every business company needs to show the market, users, and investors that the company is moving forward, and the intuitive data indicator is: user growth.
My personal definition of the four words "user growth" is: based on the user itself, the company/product provides a better solution, ultimately leading to an increase in the number of users/ROI.
I have divided "user growth" into two dimensions: user + growth, and there is a sequential relationship between the two, with users first and growth later. Many companies have turned user growth into growing users, reversing the order. When you rigidly assign growth as a core indicator to the team, assuming that the indicators are relatively unscientific, it is likely to result in the appearance of "vanity growth" and ultimately end up in a mess.
My Understanding of User Growth#
Dao#
User growth should actually be a natural result, not an indicator. My understanding of these four words ultimately comes down to the four words "Dao Fa Zi Ran" (道法自然).
If we observe those well-known products in the market (e.g. Instagram and Facebook overseas, WeChat and Xmind in China), they all have a common feature: they have achieved significant user growth without spending a lot of resources (human and material).
So why does this phenomenon occur? Essentially, it is because these products have a clear positioning, they solve the core problems of the target user group, and they provide better solutions than other competing products on the market. Clear product positioning, focusing on a specific user group, and matching with the best solution result in natural user growth.
In abstract terms, user growth encompasses three aspects: product positioning, users, and strategic solutions. Only when these three aspects are combined can there be user growth.
Shu#
Currently, most commercial companies in China have a user growth position. Apart from some differences in organizational structure (some companies have a separate growth department, while others are under certain business functions), the functions themselves are similar, ultimately responsible for DAU/ROI.
In the company, you often hear job titles like "C-end functional product", "strategic product", "recommendation product", "supply chain product", "customer service product", "user growth product", etc. Among these positions, I believe that "user growth" is different from other functional positions.
Other functional positions are more horizontal (products of the function architecture), while user growth is more vertical.
It can be seen that "user growth" is a position with higher comprehensiveness. Logically, you can really think of the core user growth product as a small CEO of a company (think about it, they need to understand positioning, users, business, and execution, just like a CEO).
Of course, in the user growth position in our commercial companies, everyone only needs to take on part of the responsibilities, with the main focus on "users" and "strategies". Even in many user growth products in companies, they do not have a deep understanding of users. Most of them are standing on the platform of large companies to overlook users and make decisions. This is also worth a separate article: What kind of people do we really need?
Qi#
I divide user growth into three categories, from easy to difficult: traffic-based growth → brand-based growth → product-based growth.
Traffic-based Growth#
Currently, 99% of companies in China are doing this: traffic growth. Traffic growth can be divided into two parts: broad growth focused on advertising placement and matrix growth focused on private domain traffic.
Most medium and large companies are basically the first type, where they do two things: advertising placement and funnel operations after users return. With the downturn of the Internet environment, there are fewer and fewer companies that have the resources and capabilities to participate in advertising placement. Everyone is exploring how to do user growth when they can't spend a lot of money on buying traffic.
Then you will find that some companies/teams are constantly cultivating "private domain traffic", and they live relatively easier. The essence is also very simple. Compared to bought traffic, private domain traffic has two intuitive advantages:
- First: Users can be reused. Bought traffic is a one-time payment, and if the same user is reached multiple times, you have to pay for each time. Relatively speaking, the logic of reusing private domain traffic can greatly reduce the cost per user.
- Second: Short user touchpoints. Advertising placement involves a lot of uncertainties, such as data transmission, user package upload, granularity of tracking points, user return, etc., resulting in a high funnel loss. In private domain traffic, there are no intermediaries making price differences, and the touchpoints are very short.
Because buying traffic can bring rapid data improvement, it is reasonable for most commercial companies to allocate resources to advertising placement. But I have always held the belief that in addition to advertising placement, there should be multiple mechanisms for acquiring users. This is the embodiment of a moat, especially in extreme and harsh environments like "pandemics", where having one more solution means having one more way out.
Brand-based Growth#
Moving from "traffic" to "brand" is not a simple progression from 1 to 10, it may be an exponential increase in difficulty. Foreign examples include Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook, Elon Musk for Tesla; domestic examples include Chen Ou for Jumei, Luo Yonghao for Smartisan/Make Friends.
The difference from traffic lies in the way users remember your product. It is not user → product, but user → brand → product. It seems that the chain is longer, but because there is a symbol of "brand" rooted in the user's mind, the proportion of the product itself is not that high. Taking all factors into account, the conversion rate is much higher than that of traffic-based growth.
Growth in this field is more inclined towards marketing, so it will be "less internetized" to some extent, somewhat equivalent to "creating stars". If the brand person to be promoted is an industry KOL (e.g. Luo Yonghao), the difficulty will be relatively lower. On the other hand, if you want to go from 0 to 1 to create a star, the difficulty and success rate will be doubled compared to growth in a single aspect.
Therefore, if you want to pursue brand-based growth, it is best to choose a "person" with a certain amount of topics (e.g. similar to Cristiano Ronaldo in the foreign football world, LeBron James in the basketball world; Cai Xukun in the domestic entertainment industry), and build a complete growth loop around them. Otherwise, the difficulty and success rate will be doubled.
Product-based Growth#
The most difficult type of growth is based on the product itself, and the most vivid example in China is "WeChat".
You have never heard of WeChat having an advertising team or a marketing team. The well-known figure is the product manager of WeChat, "Zhang Xiaolong". What is the reason for this? Everyone assumes that the success of this product is strongly related to the product's understanding of users and WeChat. This is a classic case in the domestic Internet field where a product has created a myth.
From seeing the popularity of Kik overseas to the idea of creating a WeChat; from competing with Momo to conquering the market with features like "People Nearby" and voice messages; from simple communication and chat to a comprehensive platform including Moments, Official Accounts, and Video Accounts. Since its launch in 2011, WeChat has gone through 12 years of iterations and feature updates, which are no less than the Spring Festival in the domestic Internet circle. Every Internet practitioner hopes to see new opportunities for wealth creation from the iterations of WeChat.
In the past few years, people in the Internet industry have asked every year, where is the next social product? Who will overthrow WeChat? However, the results show that WeChat's DAU and MAU are still growing, which is the true charm of product-based growth. When a product mines the core needs of users, finds the best solution, and occupies the market high ground through a series of actions (resources, marketing, etc.), it is difficult for latecomers to compete with it.
Logically, what we define as "user growth" is actually "product-based user growth", but because this growth model is extremely difficult and highly dependent on timing, location, people, and the founder's insights, we continue to mythologize products that truly achieve "product-based user growth".
Conclusion#
- Every business company needs a "user growth" position, but in some startup companies, the CEO is responsible for related work.
- User growth is a vertically integrated position that encompasses product, users, marketing, strategy, business, etc.
- User growth is based on "users" + "growth", not "growth" + "users".
- There are three types of growth, from easy to difficult: traffic-based growth → brand-based growth → product-based growth.
- Welcome to do growth (whether it is web2 or web3) or talk to me if you want to do growth.