Low-unit-price, high-repurchase categories are very suitable for private domain operations. From an operational perspective, as long as senior management supports it and the organizational structure is reasonable for deployment, it is easy to extend customer lifetime value and drive profit growth. First, let's look at a private domain GMV formula. Private domain GMV = Private domain user volume * Conversion rate * Average order value * Repurchase frequency * (1 + Referral rate) + Second growth curve GMV Excluding the second growth curve from cross-industry cooperation and resource exchange GMV, for this category, the focus is on increasing average order value, repurchase frequency, generating referrals, and increasing conversion rate. The nature of low unit price determines that product profit margins are not very high, so operational actions should be based on low-cost, batch conversion as much as possible. Deep 1-on-1 private chats are clearly not feasible from a labor cost perspective. Therefore, the corresponding operational actions are based on tiered community batch conversion, with membership cards to lock in customers, SOP product portfolio recommendations within repurchase cycles, and referral distribution as the core. Community Tiering: Fine-grained operations for users at different life cycle stages To achieve high conversion rates, the ideal state is 1-on-1 private chats providing consultative services to guide conversion, but this would be very costly in labor and time. Especially for low-unit-price products, profits are already thin, so this approach would definitely lose money. Therefore, it is necessary to use communities to achieve one-to-many batch conversion and service with as little manpower as possible. As far as I know, a certain brand that is widely recognized in the industry for excellent private domain operations has only a dozen team members but serves millions of users. If all these users required 1-on-1 private chats, the cost would be unimaginable. There are four types of communities, spanning the entire user life cycle: Fan groups aimed at promoting purchases and cultivating high-value users; VIP groups aimed at maintaining emotional connections with high-value users and developing them into core loyal KOCs; Flash groups aimed at promotions, discounts, and benefits, centered around specific events or activities; and Theme groups aimed at enhancing brand-user stickiness and developing relationships. Not every brand needs all types of communities; they should be combined based on brand positioning, category characteristics, and operational level. In addition, it is important to clarify in advance that promotional benefits in private domains should not be too frequent or too different from public domain platforms, otherwise consumers will think your products are inherently low-priced and that you are usually fooling them with high prices to harvest them, which is detrimental to brand building.
I. Fan Groups
Fan groups focus on product recommendations, using scenario-based product recommendations, limited-time discounts, seeding, user feedback, and themed activities to guide users to place orders and cultivate them into high-value users of the brand. The target user groups are two types:
- Users who have just entered the private domain but have not yet made a purchase, guiding them to complete their first purchase in the private domain.
- Users who purchase infrequently or in small amounts and have not yet reached the brand's high-value standard, guiding them to make multiple purchases through community operations. The value of this type of group is measured by conversion, not by how active the group is. Brands build these groups for conversion, and users join to enjoy related benefits. Forcing engagement activities is meaningless. For example, if no one speaks in the group, but as long as someone places an order, the group is still successful. Typically, brands suitable for fan groups have one of the following characteristics:
- The product category is relatively standardized. Customized products require high upfront communication costs and are more suitable for 1-on-1 private chats.
- The product price is low, so the user's decision-making trial-and-error cost is low; seeing benefits increases the probability of conversion.
- The product matrix has many SKUs, giving users choices. If there are few categories, pushing the same few items repeatedly is meaningless. Users in fan groups should have some awareness of the brand and have been exposed to it, whether through online public domain consumption or offline store contact. At least they should know what the brand sells and does. Otherwise, if you randomly pull users into the group, the group may look large, and you might think they will place orders when they see discounts. But from the user's perspective, they don't know the brand, and after joining, they see daily advertisements for XXX brand, they will think the group is a spam ad group, mute it, not place orders, and even do things that hinder transactions. For example, they might ask what the group is for or mock it. At this point, operators need to communicate 1-on-1 to resolve issues, increasing operational costs; other group users may also be affected. Based on this, there are three ways for users to enter fan groups: users introduced to the private domain after placing orders in the online public domain; users introduced after offline store contact; and users referred by friends (with social relationships as endorsement, solving the brand trust awareness issue). Let's take the online public domain as an example to explain the operational methodology for fan groups in detail. When users enter the private domain from public platforms, the brand should quickly get them to complete their first purchase in the private domain, experience the Aha Moment, feel the value of the private domain (lower prices, better service, etc.), and develop the habit of placing orders in the private domain. To this end, after users add the enterprise WeChat, the brand can send 1-on-1 private messages with exclusive large coupons for new users, free product samples for first orders, discounts on first orders, and membership trial qualifications, using limited time and quantity as urgency tactics to prompt quick decisions. At the same time, push the fan group link and clearly inform new users of the benefits they will get by joining, guiding them to join.
1) Product Recommendations
Product matrix recommendations in the community are often accompanied by benefits in the name of fan appreciation, such as: spend-based discounts, gifts with purchase, buy X get Y, buy N get N, discounts, exclusive prices, fixed prices, add-on purchases, etc. If gifts are included, slow-moving or clearance items can be chosen to reduce inventory pressure while giving users discounts. Different category characteristics lead to different decision paths and thus different product recommendation methods, which can be divided into two types: 1 Low-awareness products: Focus on seeding For categories where users have low awareness, continuous seeding is needed to make users feel the value and thus generate purchase behavior. Examples include beauty, mother and baby, pets, and clothing. Take Perfect Diary as an example. Beauty products have non-standard attributes. Recommending products in the community is not simply throwing links; instead, it uses a seeding + flash sale model, with 1-2 days of content seeding and shills to cultivate user mindset, then limited-time flash sales to drive orders. Before officially promoting the product, do warm-up in the group, telling users the product type, value, price, limited quantity, and purchase time. The copy should be colloquial, like a friend communicating with you; selling points should be clear and easy to understand. During the warm-up, real user experience notes and before-and-after comparison images are paired to paint a beautiful scenario, making users feel they will look good after buying. At the same time, shills will occasionally appear to ask typical questions users care about or share usage experiences. Before the flash sale officially starts, post a purchase guide in the group, recommending combined purchases to increase average order value, and use copy like "XXX people have added to cart, limited quantity, miss it and wait long" to create a hot-selling, tense atmosphere. At the flash sale time, shills appear again, posting messages like "got it" or "missed it" to leverage the herd effect and attract potential users to order. They also do inventory updates for products not yet sold out, doing a second round of seeding. 2 High-awareness products: Focus on benefits For categories where users have high awareness, there is no need to explain category features too much, typical like retail and FMCG; or some brands have very strong brand equity and are household names. In this case, the seeding step can be skipped, and benefits and discounts can be sent directly. The timing of sending benefits should be based on user activity peaks and consumption peaks. For example, McDonald's, which we serve, has user consumption peaks at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When users are deciding what to eat and happen to see McDonald's community recommendations with discounts, they will be reminded and triggered, increasing the probability of consumption. Therefore, McDonald's recommends products and sends benefits in the community before office workers' meal times—8:00, 11:00, 17:00—to attract orders. Similarly, Luckin Coffee does the same, recommending products at daily consumption peaks of 8:00, 12:00, and 16:30. The copy is scenario-based, like "Feeling sleepy in the morning? Have a coffee" or "About to go on holiday? Celebrate with a coffee"... Sometimes they also pair it with user reviews from Xiaohongshu for light seeding.
2) Limited-time Fan Appreciation Activities
In addition to regular product recommendations, fan groups can also hold periodic activities to amplify value and increase user stickiness. Activities are divided into fixed activities and themed activities.
1 Fixed Activities Fixed activities can cultivate user expectations and develop habits of regular participation and consumption. For example, McDonald's community has a free snack grab every Friday at 17:00; Miniso has a Monday community day with big coupon grabs. 2 Themed Activities Themed activities are held based on holidays, brand marketing, and operational data. For example, during the Spring Festival, push exclusive activities with category recommendations and copy centered around the Spring Festival theme. For example, when new products launch, coordinate with video account live streaming for new product warm-up and flash sales. For example, when consumption is weak or user activity declines, do group buying or strong discounts to stimulate purchases.
II. VIP Groups
Fan groups lean towards product recommendation conversion, while VIP groups lean more towards emotional maintenance. Sell less, maintain more. When users reach a certain amount/frequency of consumption in the private domain and become high-value users, the brand can invite them into VIP groups. They are served by dedicated staff, chatting and interacting in the group, resolving issues promptly, and using regular game interactions, social topics, knowledge sharing, and exclusive privileges to bring them closer to the brand and increase stickiness. Ultimately, this develops them into core loyal KOCs who produce UGC content and bring referrals. The following activities can also be played in fan groups, but they require dedicated staff to operate, and considering labor costs versus output, it is not recommended.
1) Game Interactions
Community game plays are divided into two categories: purely for activation, and for activation + conversion. 1 Activation-focused plays Around guessing pictures/emojis: guess idioms, celebrities, fruits... Around red packets: compare sizes, guess rankings, grab the Nth amount, grab the Nth speed... Around dice: compare sizes, guess points, guess odd/even... Also lucky draws, quizzes, check-ins, song recognition, idiom solitaire... Winners can get free benefits (preferably brand IP merchandise or other uniquely valuable items) or community points. 2 Activation + conversion plays Activities to promote store visits: For example, during the Year of the Tiger, a giant tiger-themed doll is placed at the store entrance, and an activity is initiated in the group for users to upload photos with the doll to get a doll, promoting offline visits. Activities to promote live stream attendance: For example, when a live stream starts, ask the community to guess the price of the live stream product or the discounted product, reminding them to find the answer in the live stream, driving traffic to the live stream, and those who guess correctly get extra rewards after ordering. Quiz + conversion activity: Before the activity, share dry goods about the products and categories being sold in the community, extract knowledge points from the content as multiple-choice questions, and do a knowledge review in the group for users to answer. When users have answered, push the product naturally. Those who answer correctly get exclusive flash sale prices and extra gifts with orders. Plays should be as simple and easy to understand as possible. The purpose of activities is to convert users, not to stump them. Theoretically, activation plays can be followed by conversion content, but the chain needs to be designed well and not too abrupt. However, I personally don't recommend this; users will eventually see through the games as tricks for conversion and become reluctant to participate.
2) Social Topics
Brands initiate topic discussions to create connections between users and the brand, and between users, enhancing emotions. Forms include roundtables, user story sharing, and rewards for sharing orders. 1 Roundtable Post a topic in the community, based on products, brand, or hot news, and invite users to share their thoughts and opinions via text or video account live streaming. 1-2 days before the discussion, warm up the topic and invite interested users to prepare material. Arrange some shills to interact during the discussion to avoid awkward silences. 2 User Story Sharing The purpose is to cultivate KOCs in the group, create connections between members, and turn official one-way output into two-way interaction between users. Therefore, invite members with stories, content, and brand recognition to share their stories, experiences, and expertise in the group via text or video account live streaming, not limited to brand products. The official controls the overall content direction and tone, helping with output if necessary. Before sharing, do warm-up and promotion to increase the sharer's sense of honor. The shared content can also be used as UGC for secondary dissemination in other communities, Moments, official accounts, and mini-programs. 3 Rewards for Sharing Orders Invite users who have placed orders to share their stories with the brand and products in the community or mini-program community: purchase reasons, usage experiences, etc. Sharing earns gifts, and high-quality content earns extra XXX. Similarly, the scope of social topics should be as broad as possible, content as simple as possible, and every member should be able to discuss and express opinions.
3) Knowledge Sharing
Invite industry and category experts to share dry goods via video account or community text live streaming. Build an expert IP persona to make users trust the brand professionally. For users, it's also a chance to learn new knowledge and gain value. Additionally, knowledge sharing can also be done in the group via text + posters with practical tips. If the content is too difficult, users won't understand; too simple, no value. The best state is when it's slightly beyond users' cognition—they half-understand.
4) Exclusive Privileges
VIP group users are high-value users, so enhance their sense of honor and exclusivity. Therefore, emphasize the exclusivity of the above activities, making users feel these activities only exist in this group and only they can enjoy them. The essence of a community is a social group; WeChat is just the online carrier. Therefore, offline salons and gatherings can also be held regularly to greatly enhance relationships through face-to-face communication. Activities in VIP communities should have weak marketing nature, with as few conversion activities as possible, leaning more towards emotional maintenance and relationship building. Activity frequency should not be too high; 1-2 times a week is enough. Too frequent will tire users, and for the brand, labor costs are high, and high-frequency activities can lead to creative exhaustion, making activities dull. Activities should have a schedule, planned monthly and given half a month in advance. What activities this week/month, what themes, to prepare materials in advance.
III. Flash Groups
Groups built around specific events, disbanded after the event ends. Suitable for promotional activities and live streaming.
1) Promotional Activities
Regular benefits in Moments and communities have light external stimulation on user purchase behavior, often a steady stream: seeing a discount, wanting to buy; having a need, also buying, but not urgent. Therefore, operational means are needed to intervene, stimulating a large number of users to place orders quickly in a short time, boosting GMV in the short term. For example, common group buying flash sale groups. On an hourly basis, through short-term discount stimulation, using herd mentality, scarcity effect, and urgency to achieve quick orders and batch transactions. Before the flash sale, recruit interested users into the group via Moments scripts, do group buying flash sale chains in the group, with shills creating atmosphere, and disband the group immediately after the flash sale ends. I've written an article on specific plays; see this 5,500-word methodology: 3 minutes 700 orders, "Flash Group" private domain batch conversion guide. The difference from fan groups is that fan groups are essential for regular operations, with low daily benefits, batch operations, and low labor costs. Group buying flash sale groups are essentially an event with strong benefits, amplifying the event's value through community operations, but the downside is high labor costs; one operator can serve at most 2-3 groups per event, not suitable for brands with large user bases. Frequency is generally once a month, not too high, after all, it's a promotional event; high frequency will tire users and disrupt the product price system.
2) Coordinating with Live Streaming
When a brand plans a live stream, it can invite interested users into a live-stream-exclusive flash group via Moments and regular communities in advance. During the warm-up phase, hold guessing activities in the group, like guessing the price of the live stream hit product, with extra gifts for those who guess correctly and order. Also, reveal live stream products and prices in the group, using reviews, authority endorsements, supply chain backing, etc., to warm up and amplify the value of live stream products, increasing attractiveness. Before the live stream starts, use red packet countdowns and @everyone to get users to the live stream on time. During the live stream, coordinate with the live stream rhythm, inventory countdowns, and push for orders in the group. After the live stream, announce the GMV results in the group, and do a second encore of live stream discounted products, giving hesitant or busy users a final chance to order.
IV. Theme Groups
Groups built around specific themes. Flash groups lean towards promotion, while theme groups lean more towards content, with the main purpose of enhancing brand-user stickiness and developing relationships. Generally long-term operations. Common theme groups include content sharing groups and experience officer groups.
1) Content Sharing Groups
Based on category characteristics and user needs, discuss and share around specific content themes. For example: For maternal and infant milk powder products, most users are mothers. Their common psychology is to give their children the best within their means, including food, drink, clothing, housing, learning... But because they lack experience, they don't know how to do it well, have few friends to consult or communicate with, let alone learn from parenting experts. Therefore, from users' shallow needs for the category to deep needs, they are: how to choose milk powder, how to buy maternal and infant products, how to parent. To this end, brands can build mother-themed groups, inviting interested mothers to join, giving them a space to exchange parenting experiences and discuss, regularly initiating roundtables and user story sharing activities to connect mothers; also invite professional parenting experts to share parenting knowledge in the group, including daily tips, weekly/monthly video account live streams... For example, there are many pitfalls in renovation; users may only renovate 2-3 times in their lifetime and generally worry about being cheated. Therefore, brands can build renovation-themed groups, inviting experts to regularly share dry goods tips, excellent renovation cases, key points, pitfall avoidance guides, renovation tools...
2) Experience Officer Groups
Brands recruit experience officers, letting registered users try products for free. There are three application scenarios: 1 New Product Validation Before a new product officially launches, real user experiences are needed to verify if the product meets needs, avoiding waste from large-scale promotion if users don't buy. Therefore, build a group with the theme of experience officers, invite interested users to join as experience officers, try the product for free, and produce experience reports. If feedback is good, give users incentives to post content on Xiaohongshu and Weibo for secondary dissemination. 2 User UGC Collection Anyone who has done content knows that evaluations and feedback produced by brands pretending to be "users" are far less natural than those from real users. Therefore, when lacking UGC material, use free product experiences to let users produce it. 3 Batch Conversion Give users products with quick, visible results as experience officers to experience value for free, and through group atmosphere, discounts, and limited-time high-priced profit products, achieve batch conversion. This play tests operational ability and labor investment. To prevent being taken advantage of, users must pay for the product first! After they experience the product and complete corresponding tasks, staff will arrange refunds uniformly. The above are the four common types of groups in the low-unit-price, high-repurchase private domain system: fan groups, VIP groups, flash groups, and theme groups. There are also distribution groups to empower and incentivize users, after-sales groups with multi-to-1 service... They need to be combined based on specific purposes. Methods to promote community activity, besides the activities mentioned above, can also be linked to a community points system. Each user's speech, check-in, activity participation, and consumption can earn corresponding points, which can be exchanged for coupons, physical items, etc., when reaching a certain threshold. In the entire community operation system, I think the most important point is decentralization. Many communities have brands doing centralized one-way single-point output, with users only receiving and following instructions. This kind of community is unhealthy, with high labor costs, users easily tire, and the community quickly dies. The ideal state is for community members to build a community relationship network, with the brand as just one node, allowing users to connect with each other and output content, achieving self-operation.
Membership Cards to Lock Customers, Locking in Repurchases
High purchase frequency means high user demand frequency, but it doesn't mean users only buy one brand. For example, carbonated drinks are a high-frequency category with high demand, but users don't only buy Pepsi or Coca-Cola; they also buy Genki Forest... Therefore, you can screen users with high demand frequency, who have purchased the brand and recognize it, and recommend the membership system to them. Through continuous delivery of benefits and interaction, enhance their stickiness and recognition of the brand, ultimately achieving a virtuous cycle of brand and user value co-development. Building a membership system for low-unit-price, high-repurchase products has two major benefits: I. Lower Cost of Reaching Users In the private domain, there is an emotional account between brand and user. Every share and value given by the brand is depositing into this account; correspondingly, every marketing promotion and coupon distribution is withdrawing from the emotional account. Over-extraction will deplete the account, and users will delete you. Every deposit costs money, so many people say private domain can reach users at zero cost, which is incorrect. When users pay a cost to buy a membership, whether money or action, they develop loss aversion, feeling that if they don't use it, they lose out. Therefore, next time they have a need and want to buy similar products, they will definitely prioritize the brand where they have a membership. Because of this, brands can legitimately reach users continuously through various membership benefits, privileges, and personalized services, generating interaction. II. Locking Customers, Locking Long-term Value Membership is a zero-sum game. Every new member a brand gains means a competitor loses an old member. Think about your life: if you have Tencent Video membership, you won't open iQiyi membership; in offline consumption, if you get a gym card at Brand A, you definitely won't get one at Brand B. Therefore, through membership, you can bind users' long-term value for a long period in the future.
Types of Membership Models
Membership, in simple terms, means users pay a certain cost to obtain membership status from the brand and enjoy corresponding exclusive benefits according to the brand's plan. In the private domain, there are four common membership types:
1) Stored-value Membership
Stored-value membership is suitable for high-frequency, long-term consumption industries. It helps brands quickly recover cash flow, but the downside is fewer operational plays, mostly discounts and amount gifts, and users are scared by stories of businesses running away, making conversion difficult, unless it's a big brand with strong brand equity.
2) Subscription-based Membership
Users pay to become members and enjoy benefits and privileges given by the brand within a certain period, typical like "88 Membership" and "JD PLUS". Users need to consume within the platform to use benefits, thereby increasing repurchase and amplifying LTV.
3) Growth-based Membership
Based on user contribution, divide into different levels and give different benefits. Contribution can be defined by business goals. For example, to encourage more consumption, divide by cumulative consumption amount over a period. If you have development capabilities, you can also integrate community and mini-program activity data with business goals to create a growth system.
4) Product Subscription Membership
After becoming a member, users can use or receive products within a certain period. This type has high requirements for product selection and repurchase. For example, QQ Music members can listen to exclusive songs; ffit8 protein bars subscribers receive monthly product delivery...
Subscription-based Membership
Subscription-based membership has many plays, strong flexibility, and low conversion difficulty. I think it's most suitable for low-price, high-frequency, high-repurchase categories. Users buy membership because they think the benefits gained far outweigh the cost paid. Therefore, the design of membership value benefits is very important. Brands do membership to make users repurchase and buy more. Therefore, membership benefits should be designed around promoting repurchase, maximizing between user use value and brand revenue value. Subscription membership benefits are divided into 6 categories (also applicable to other membership systems):
1) Immediate Benefits upon Opening
Essential. Value users can get immediately after becoming members. Mainly brand hit products and large no-threshold coupons. The purpose is to lower decision barriers through benefit calculations and create immediate gratification. For example, Three Squirrels' 18 yuan/3-month benefit card gives a 12-yuan no-threshold coupon immediately upon opening. From the user's perspective, they were going to buy snacks anyway; after deducting the coupon, they only spend 6 yuan and also enjoy a bunch of membership benefits like 10% off everything, four 8-yuan free shipping coupons, double points, etc. What a deal! Another example: NetEase Yanxuan's 149 yuan annual card gives a 5-yuan no-threshold coupon, a choice of one of four video/audio memberships, and a choice of one brand hit product at 0 yuan or extremely low price.
2) Benefits and Discounts
Benefits and discounts, besides amplifying the value of benefits, mainly use 0-yuan claims, exclusive discount prices, coupons, multiple points, free shipping coupons, birthday benefits, etc., to drive repurchases. For example, NetEase Yanxuan's monthly 0-yuan claim of one item, but not for standalone purchase, must be paired with other products; extra 5% off; daily product specials and flash sales; daily free shipping; monthly exclusive 100-yuan discount quota, with users choosing from four coupon tiers—99-15, 200-20, 300-35, 400-50. Note: The threshold, amount, and frequency (weekly or monthly) of coupon distribution should be based on users' average repurchase cycle and average consumption amount.
3) Activity Benefits
Activity benefits, such as regular (weekly, monthly) exclusive online member days, offline member gatherings... These cultivate users' habit of consuming at fixed times, increase memory points, and through exclusive activities, stimulate ordinary users to become members and give members a sense of exclusivity and honor. For example, NetEase Yanxuan's Pro Member Day on the 1st of each month, and 20% off every Tuesday. For example, Three Squirrels' Super Member Day on the 25th of each month, selecting hit products and widely applicable products for special flash sales, and also drawing free order winners.
4) Privilege Benefits
Compared to benefits and discounts and activity benefits that directly generate repurchases, privilege benefits are more value-added, increasing members' exclusive sense of honor. For example, free return shipping, instant refunds, 24-hour VIP exclusive customer service, SF Express free shipping, member-exclusive products (only members can buy), etc.
5) Referral Benefits
Referral benefits, besides letting users enjoy benefit value, also bring new users to the brand. They are divided into two types: One is user referral, using free membership trial cards to acquire new users. After becoming members, users get N friend trial cards for N days, which can be freely gifted to friends, and both parties get incentives. For example, after becoming a Three Squirrels member, you get a friend trial card; after gifting it, not only does the friend enjoy the opening gift package, but the user also gets points incentives. The other is business referral, driving traffic to other businesses under the brand or third-party cooperative businesses. For example, after becoming a NetEase Yanxuan Pro member, you get gift packs for NetEase Group's Harry Potter game and Youdao Kada monthly card; also benefits from other companies like Xiangdao Travel and Wanda Cinema, amplifying membership value while increasing brand revenue (usually CPS cooperation, e.g., users claim Xiangdao Travel discount coupons, register on the platform, and if new users, Xiangdao pays NetEase a referral fee).
6) Experience Benefits
Becoming a member makes you an experience officer, regularly trying products for free. Besides letting users enjoy benefit value, it also provides value for new product validation and UGC material collection. The above are common benefit types. Generally, to make membership seem worthwhile, at least 9 benefits should be included. Among them, immediate benefits upon opening, benefits and discounts, and activity benefits are mandatory.
Key Points for Selling Memberships
The purpose of subscription membership is to lock customers, so the price threshold should not be too high. Generally, annual membership is within 200 yuan, and monthly is in the 10-30 yuan range. Why do users buy membership? Because they think it's worth it. Why do users continue to buy membership? Because they use it and enjoy it. "Enjoy it" means users feel the membership benefits exceed expectations; how to design that has been covered earlier. How to make users feel it's worth it? Before becoming members, users evaluate the benefit value; if they think the value far exceeds the resistance they face, they will join. What resistance do users face? First is the monetary cost. Therefore, some brands lower the first month's membership fee, like 1 yuan or 50% off, to reduce decision costs; others use slogans like "If you don't recoup, we'll refund the difference" to dispel concerns; in copy, they use "benefit addition calculations" and "average" descriptions to show low thresholds. Second is trust cost, especially for brands with weak brand equity or higher membership card prices. Users worry about whether benefits will be honored, whether you'll cheat them, whether it's useful, etc. To address this, either sales take on targets and follow up closely, using 1-on-1 chats with user stories and authoritative endorsements to dispel concerns; or give 3-7 day membership trial cards for users to experience value first. Membership systems are generally recommended to users with high demand frequency, who have purchased the brand, and recognize the brand. There are three recommendation scenarios: 1) Before Payment When users have selected products and are about to pay, recommend membership on the payment page, informing them that opening it will give a discount on this order. 2) Repurchase Users who have repurchased multiple times (above average) are loyal users; reach out via 1-on-1 chats or mini-program/message templates to recommend opening membership. 3) New Users Brands with strong equity can give a 3-7 day free membership trial card at the first touchpoint when users enter the private domain, using membership benefits to stimulate first orders.
SOP Product Portfolio Recommendations within Repurchase Cycles
Increasing user repurchase frequency is an effective operational means to boost overall brand GMV. Repurchase is different from first-order conversion. First orders target new users; repurchase targets those with needs, who have bought products, and recognize value. The frequency increase should be based on the product's consumption repurchase cycle. Recommending when users are about to run out of the product yields the highest repurchase probability. First, you need to know the entire cycle from order placement, usage experience, to consumption completion. After calculating the repurchase cycle, recommend the product 1 week before consumption is complete (considering delivery time and stocking habits), using repurchase coupons, promotional activities, and points expiration reminders to drive orders. Actions to increase repurchase can be paired with service to appear more natural, less utilitarian, and improve user experience. For example, the "1, 3, 7, n" SOP rule for users' first product purchase. On the 1st day after ordering, ask if the shipping address is correct and remind them to check the package. On the 3rd day, users usually have received the package. Ask if there is any damage or issues with the delivery or product; if so, handle it immediately, and inform users of usage methods and precautions, showing brand warmth. On the 7th day, users have used the product for a while. Ask if they encountered any difficulties or have questions. If no issues, ask for feedback; if they like it, invite them to share usage experiences to produce UGC, and give corresponding sharing incentives. These materials can be used in communities and Moments for real experience seeding. Of course, if the product's effects are slow, extend the cycle, e.g., ask about difficulties on day 7 and feedback on day 14. On the nth day, which is 1 week before the consumption repurchase cycle, users have almost used up the product. Ask about the product's effectiveness, and use repurchase coupons, promotional activities, and points expiration reminders to drive repurchase and stocking. If users have purchased a product more than twice, they are familiar with usage and precautions, so to avoid over-disturbing, just remind before the repurchase cycle. If users have purchased Product A multiple times but buy Product B for the first time, re-enter the "1, 3, 7, n" rule, but can skip the day 1 delivery confirmation. The above are standardized, replicable steps that can be automated via SOP tools based on preset conditions to reduce manual work. Repurchase cycle-based recommendations can increase repurchase frequency. To increase average order value, start with product portfolio combinations: selling bundles, selling higher-priced items, and selling expansions. Selling bundles: Package products that users need and have purchased multiple times, using discounts to encourage one-time bulk purchases. For example, 10% off for one item, 20% off for three, 30% off for five. This approach is suitable for big promotions and performance pushes, quickly boosting GMV in the short term, but because user needs are limited and consumption cycles are constant, long-term GMV improvement is limited. The downside is it can disrupt the price system, harm the brand, and even be seen as harvesting users. Selling higher-priced items: As the name suggests, beyond recommending regular products, recommend higher-priced items to users with needs. Selling expansions: Beyond the original product system, expand categories based on user needs and market conditions. This way, you're not limited to a single category's repurchase cycle, and it has less impact on the original price system. For example, if the brand previously sold coffee liquid, after expansion, it can sell drip bags, coffee powder, and even further, coffee beans, coffee candy, and coffee cups.
Small B Recruitment for Referral Distribution
Different brand tones, equity, and channel control levels lead to different referral distribution strategies.
I. Referrals
Like high-unit-price, low-repurchase categories, through key operations on converted users, develop them into KOCs and super users, letting them spontaneously speak for the brand and bring referrals. Suitable for brands with strong equity, high awareness, high price transparency, and strict channel price system control. To do referrals well, word-of-mouth is the result, and incentives are the accelerator. The core of marketing is the product, and the core of word-of-mouth is also the product. Word-of-mouth naturally forms when users use the product and experience service well. Most referral scenarios involve users recommending to friends or in forums/communities, where they act as endorsers and guarantors for the brand. Especially in real-life networks, if the recommended product is bad, friends may criticize behind their backs, straining relationships. Therefore, if the product itself is bad and word-of-mouth is poor, users won't dare to recommend. Besides the product itself, exceeding expectations in service can also generate good word-of-mouth. For example, buying a NIO car is like getting a ticket to weekly free online/offline events at local stores; free flights and accommodation for annual events; surprise care on birthdays, holidays, anniversaries... On the basis of good word-of-mouth, incentives can accelerate user referrals. Incentives are divided into material and honor incentives, usually used in combination.
1) Material Incentives
1 Cash back For each successful referral order, get XXX amount. (If the customer acquisition cost per order is 2000 yuan, then any referral fee below 2000 yuan is profitable for the brand.) 2 Gifts For each successful referral order, reward XXX item; for three, reward XXX; for ten, reward XXX. I personally don't recommend the above two incentives because they make referrals purely material, causing psychological burden on the referrer and making the referred think the friend only recommended for money. Using points instead makes the operation and referral actions softer and more flexible. 3 Points Brands build a points mall where users can redeem physical items, virtual items, and benefits. Each successful referral order earns XXX points. (Besides referrals, points can be tied to community behavior data; point value is based on customer acquisition cost and product profit.) Note: Incentives have costs, so rewards should only be given after successful orders. To avoid losses from refunds, clearly state that rewards are given after 30 working days (after the refund period) of successful orders.
2) Honor Incentives
1 Identity Symbol Referring X people makes you a brand referral expert, receiving a handwritten thank-you letter or certificate from the CEO/executives, and being invited to an exclusive referral expert community with privileges. 2 Exclusive Privileges Privileges only referral experts enjoy, usually the biggest because they directly bring users to the brand. For example, exclusive discount prices far below regular users; lifetime after-sales; holiday custom gifts; offline salon events; factory tours...
II. Agent Distribution
Develop users into brand agents, with the brand giving corresponding incentive policies and empowerment support, letting users sell for the brand. The essence is selling a money-making concept, making users think they can earn the most with minimal effort. Suitable for brands with large product profit margins and low price perception. (The following is a brief overview of the agent distribution system; actual operations are complex, testing operational and human insight abilities, and need to avoid risks; generally not recommended.) The core of the entire agent system lies in:
1) Making Money
What's the purpose of being an agent? No profit, no early rising; the most direct is making money. Therefore, brands need to set up corresponding commission and hierarchy systems. 1 Direct Sales The price difference for each product sold directly. The purpose is to get users to sell. 2 Referral Bonus For each subordinate developed, the brand gives a referral reward. The purpose is to get users to develop subordinates and grow the distribution group. 3 Differential Bonus Differential is divided into two types. One is product price difference. For example, Level A gets products at 10% of the original price, Level B at 15%. Each time B restocks, Level A gets a 5% price difference. Another is reward differential. Reaching specific sales amounts within a year earns additional dividends. (For ease of calculation and understanding, simplified and rounded below.) For example, if the team reaches 25 million within a year, get 10% dividend. At 15 million, get 8%. At 10 million, get 5%. Suppose C and his subordinate team total exactly 25 million, earning 2.5 million dividend. Suppose C doesn't sell but develops two subordinates who exactly reach 15 million and 10 million, earning 1.2 million and 500,000 respectively. Then C's differential reward from these two subordinates alone is 2.5 million - 1.2 million - 500,000 = 800,000. Additionally, if there's a promotion system, set up a peer bonus. When A's subordinate B is promoted to the same level as A, the brand gives a peer bonus to compensate A.
2) Easy Earning
With the commission system, users know they can earn, but whether they actually act depends on how easy the money is to earn. Therefore, brands should establish a business school, providing as much empowerment as possible to make earning easy or seem easy. 1 Training Empowerment Through online courses, training camps, live lectures, and offline closed-door meetings, make users feel that becoming part of the organization makes earning money easy. Including but not limited to: For newcomers: product project introduction, market dividends, system explanation, success case sharing, joining policies... For improvement: product project packaging, traffic methods, conversion methods, subordinate development methods, deal-closing methods, team management methods... 2 Material Empowerment Brands create materials and distribute to users, reducing users' operational and creative costs; they can promote immediately upon receipt. Including but not limited to: At the equity level: celebrity endorsements, honor awards, authoritative certificates, review reports, news media, online/offline activities... At the promotion level: product soft articles, selling point sorting, efficacy value, user stories, agent recruitment, success cases... The above is the private domain playbook for low-unit-price, high-repurchase categories—based on tiered community batch conversion, with membership cards to lock customers, SOP product portfolio recommendations within repurchase cycles, and referral distribution as the core. Article source: Tomato Operations (ID: fanqieyuny) Author: Thirty Are you "watching" me?