Xiaohongshu anchor business tips: Sell emotions and sell goods at the same time

Everyone is promoting products, so instead of watching those live broadcasts that constantly generate anxiety, I might as well come here to listen to talk shows and watch storytelling sessions.

When Zhao Yue opened Li Dan's live broadcast room for the first time, he was lying on a mattress with a smile on his face. The notice in the upper right corner read "Fully Automatic Convenience Store" and "Old Customers, Please Help Sell". He didn't say things like "Please go to the link" or "You won't get such good benefits after the broadcast ends". Instead, he kept reading letters from fans like an emotional mentor.

My husband started eating pig feed after marriage and fell in love with a married woman? After joining the company, I visited customers with my boss, but the person in charge of the marketing department opposite me was my first love? Zhao Yue saw the push on the homepage and clicked on the live broadcast room. She wanted to see how Li Dan promoted the products, but she unknowingly followed him to eat melons for an hour and even placed an order for 69 yuan of dried beef crisps.

"I escaped Li Jiaqi, I escaped Dong Yuhui, but I couldn't escape Li Dan this time..." After "chasing" for half a month, she reviewed the reasons why she was addicted to Li Dan's live broadcast room. Li Jiaqi is very purposeful. You know he is chasing you to sell cosmetics, and his introduction content is mostly centered around product selling points. If there is no demand, you can completely avoid him; Dong Yuhui sells goods with knowledge and touches people with emotions. This is a more advanced form of bringing goods, but it may not be able to take away the wallets of working people.

But Li Dan is different. The talk show host has transformed himself into an electronic male best friend. People from all over the world tell all kinds of dramatic stories. Divorced man Li Dan sits in front of the camera relaxed and casually, and then gives just the right emotional feedback to the fans' submissions. They chat and gossip, and selling goods becomes a non-essential option.

Zhao Yue knew that Li Dan was only promoting products in a covert way, but she still couldn't resist the high-density emotional value of the golden sentences and memes after get off work. She would scold her sisters' scumbag ex-boyfriends while sending crazy "hahahaha" in the barrage. Later, she even took the initiative to join Li Dan's fan group just to continue listening to everyone's secret emotional stories after the live broadcast.

"We need to eat snacks anyway, and we can buy them anywhere. What if we can't make money and Dan stops broadcasting? Where can I go to listen to so many jokes about real life?" Zhao Yue liked this Weibo post about Li Dan's live broadcast room, and then commented again: "Everyone is promoting products. Instead of watching those live broadcasts that constantly generate anxiety, I might as well come here to listen to talk shows and watch storytelling sessions."

01 “Selling products with emotions”

After two years of silence, the leading Internet video platforms have picked up the big pie of talk show again. iQiyi's "The King of Comedy Stand-up Season" and Tencent Video's "Talk Show and His Friends" returned in August, but the former leader of talk show, Li Dan, was not there.

Where did Li Dan go? The answer lies in the Xiaohongshu live broadcast room. In early May this year, Li Dan started selling goods in the "Shop" in the Xiaohongshu live broadcast room, focusing on the emotional companionship style of selling goods. He did not repeatedly promote, did not passionately shout slogans, did not force the audience to consume, and did not even directly cue the goods. He focused on shopping at will.

The product selection is also very user-friendly - from beef crisps to sunshine prunes, most of them are snacks such as duck bone biscuits, or some coffee and alcoholic drinks. There is no deliberate implantation, you can just eat them casually while chatting, and the appeal is conveyed through the screen, intuitively presenting the happy life state after purchase.

But such a live broadcast room became popular.

On the evening of August 22, talk show stars Xu Zhisheng and Hu Lan appeared in Li Dan's live broadcast room as mysterious guests, attracting a total of more than 900,000 viewers, with a peak number of online viewers reaching 37,600. This figure surpassed the number of online viewers during Dong Jie's live broadcast, whose peak number of online viewers in the previous live broadcast was about 19,300.

Xinhong data shows that in the first seven live broadcasts of Li Dan's live broadcasts in the past August, the average number of viewers per broadcast was nearly 600,000, and the average sales volume exceeded 500,000. On weekend evenings, there were often 6,000 to 7,000 people online at the same time, and the live broadcast room frequently ranked No. 1 on the buyer's list.

Another celebrity who has also joined the Xiaohongshu live streaming trend is Hong Huang. She is known as the "fashion godmother of Chinese designers" and has published and edited the first book in China that focuses on original Chinese local designs, "World City iLOOK", which has become a fashion enlightenment for many people.

The thing she has in common with Li Dan is that she is also a "Queen of Golden Sentences". She became popular more than a decade ago with her sharp remarks. Her sentence "Being faithful is not nobler than sleeping with five men" is regarded as the bible of independent women. Her fashionable, lifelike and humorous temperament is quite consistent with the tone of the platform.

Recently, she revived the original designer brand collection store "Mint Glutinous Rice and Onion" that she opened 15 years ago on Xiaohongshu. Her goal is the same as Li Dan's, which is not just to simply sell products, but also to talk about design and outfit, brand culture, lifestyle, etc., to capture all the stories behind fashion trends.

"Choosing clothes is the same as an artist choosing his or her own style. The best way to wear clothes is to wear them until you feel they are your own." Hong Huang defines her live broadcast as a chat-style live broadcast, just like the video presentation of a podcast program, which outputs interesting fashion views.

Hong Huang used editorial curatorial thinking to connect clothing, books and other selections to form a complete theme. In the live broadcast on the 3rd, 4 groups of brand managers appeared in the live broadcast room. For example, the manager of the emerging jewelry brand Yin Yin talked about the design and matching of her own gold jewelry; the Azure Pepper manager couple talked about the origin of a ceramic button on the shirt...

From emotional troubles to practical knowledge, the new hosts of Xiaohongshu have made live streaming a great experience.

Of course, there are also many complaints. "Sister Huang's fashion views are very good, but her sense of camera is not as good as that of professional anchors, and she doesn't know how to sell products." Some netizens bluntly pointed out that Hong Huang is more suitable for podcasts and it is difficult for her to show her skills in live broadcasts. Just like some netizens think that Li Dan "is a waste of talent for talking about family matters instead of doing a special show", but overall, Xiaohongshu viewers are still relatively receptive to Hong Huang's live broadcasts, especially like to listen to her speak the truth.

In addition to these two "new top stars", many celebrities have "entered the sea of ​​​​Xiaohongshu" by playing the sentimental card and the sharp-tongued "Cyberman Girlfriend" Jiang Sida, the sharp-tongued "U Can U Bibi" debater, Li Fei'er who converted the live broadcast room into a buyer's store, and Zhang Xiaohui who talked heart to heart with the audience, all broke the traditional live broadcast logic of "ingredients party and cost-effective party", "selling not goods, but chat coupons and handshake coupons".

Live streaming e-commerce is entering its second half, and inflammatory live streaming may no longer be applicable. Paying for emotions is better than paying for goods. Can the commonality of Xiaohongshu's live streaming rooms become a future upgrade trend?

02 Reconstructing the e-commerce people-goods-place

In the past two years, the tide of live streaming e-commerce has slowly receded. In the past, a group of people rushed in, but after the great waves, only the top anchors really got a taste of the crab. "Even your mother knows that live streaming can make money, which means that this industry can no longer make much money."

The most obvious is the collective "retirement" of the top anchors. Li Jiaqi, Simba, and Xiao Yangge have gradually reduced the number of live broadcasts and faded out of the live broadcast room. Not to mention that the three anchors mentioned above have all been caught in a public opinion crisis because of price issues. Li Jiaqi spent 79 yuan on Xizi eyebrow pencils, while Simba and Xiao Yangge fought fiercely for the low price of hairy crabs, involving a series of "behind-the-scenes stories".

A very important reason for this is that the top anchors have lost their most powerful weapon, “low price”.

Li Jiaqi admitted early on that the reason he could get the "lowest price on the entire network" was because merchants wanted to quickly increase sales and gain platform promotion, so they chose to use advertising fees to subsidize prices. However, such a sales promotion method is doomed to be unsustainable.

Moreover, as all major e-commerce platforms have been offering low prices in the past two years, price has become a core element in platform traffic distribution, and the lowest price has gradually returned to the platforms.

Not to mention the "store broadcasts" opened by brands to seize the market, own their own supply, dominate pricing, and ensure first-hand channels, taking away the cake of Dabo (live broadcasts of Internet celebrities, stars, KOLs, etc.). According to iResearch's "2023 China Live E-commerce Industry Research Report", the store broadcast market will account for more than 50% in 2023.

A staff member of a head anchor team revealed, "Previously, live broadcasts were just like big supermarkets. Audiences might have found it new at first, but after a few years, they have become accustomed to it. They no longer feel that the anchors are really sharing good products with you. They all know that they are earning your commission. My biggest feeling during this period is that the audience has returned to their rationality. Nothing can impress them anymore."

In the past, the conventional live streaming sales model was based on low prices and promotions. The result of impulse buying by consumers was a high return rate, low repurchase rate and low average order value. Consumers could not understand "why buying your clothes would be better than buying clothes from other stores", so it was difficult for them to stay for a long time. Once they saw a price and style that suited their taste, they would immediately "turn to fans" and "leave the pit", making it difficult for them to repurchase.

However, products with low average order values ​​are often all the same in style, which can only lead to low prices, and ultimately lead to an inescapable cycle.

Last year, there was a widely circulated judgment in the e-commerce circle: "The two e-commerce platforms most worth investing in in 2024 are Video Account and Xiaohongshu."

In late August last year, Xiaohongshu proposed the concept of "buyer e-commerce" at its first e-commerce partner conference, giving the e-commerce industry a new way to take the next step.

What is a buyer? Xiaohongshu gives an official definition: a person who connects "goods" and "users" on Xiaohongshu and creates a purchasing scenario. They select and organize goods based on their taste and aesthetics and share them with their fans.

In other words, whether or not there is a low price or whether or not you can get the supply is not the main factor. The logic is essentially the same as that of the KOLs who promote products. Because of the identification of views, lifestyles and attitudes, it arouses the desire to buy the products they use. "Buy what you want" rather than "asking you to buy", trust is cultivated and grown.

The closed loop of the exchange link is the process of products from "planting grass to pulling grass". A large number of pictures, texts and video notes on Xiaohongshu are actually focused on planting grass, sharing real feelings and telling stories after purchase. However, after the grass is planted, the traffic in the pulling grass link is divided away by other platforms.

Therefore, starting buyer live streaming can complete the entire chain from simple product promotion to "planting and pulling in one", and can also help brands with unstable customer base to accurately locate consumers in the field. A series of operations can be completed within the platform.

Xiaohongshu is looking for differences in live streaming, which is actually working hard on the traditional e-commerce logic of "people-goods-place". People are consumers and buyers, and they emphasize high quality, personalized tone, and rely on trust to connect. The content generated from the interaction can not only allow the account to accumulate fans, but also further consolidate the creator's personal IP.

"Goods" are products that suit the buyer's lifestyle and temperament, focusing on value and design.

The "field" refers to the platform itself, which both plants and pulls out weeds, with resource elements flowing rationally, so that all three parties can find a sense of "presence".

03 The business closed loop is still to be explored

It has been a year since Xiaohongshu proposed the concept of buyer e-commerce. The idea is very solid and some new results have been achieved. However, there is still a long way to go to convert the huge traffic into real consumer power.

At present, there are not many anchors on Xiaohongshu who can bring more than 10 million yuan in a single show. They are still the well-known Dong Jie, Zhang Xiaohui, Yi Nengjing, etc. The only new buyer on the list with more than 10 million yuan is fashion blogger Doudou Bendou. The newly popular Li Dan ranked first in the food vertical category of Xiaohongshu's August "Buyer Commercial Value List".

In addition, Xiaohongshu's small size has become a natural limiting factor. China's e-commerce market already has five platforms with GMV exceeding one trillion yuan, including Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Kuaishou. Among them, Kuaishou and Douyin have greater content traffic and usage stickiness, and a smoother path for e-commerce conversion. As an emerging platform, Xiaohongshu is still a bit niche and lightweight.

For individuals, live streaming on Xiaohongshu can help you create high-quality products in the vertical track, but you will inevitably encounter a scale ceiling. If you go vertical, you can "start" quickly in the early stage, just like the "10,000-hour rule", if you are willing to spend time and effort, you can get a certain amount of benefits in a field.

Maybe it is just "certain". There are always people who are better than you, and there are always three or two "top streamers" and the only "survivor" in each vertical track who survive in a field. And the number of people who pay attention to this field is always limited, and the traffic ceiling hangs over your head like a sword of Damocles.

For Xiaohongshu, there are relatively few top influencers nowadays. If it wants to continue to expand its scale, it needs more mid-level and even top buyers.

However, if we want each buyer and product selection to be unique, we need to continue to enrich the product selection pool to avoid the problem of "product homogeneity" that even Dong Jie will encounter. Whether it is Li Dan or Xiaohongshu's business closed loop, they need to continue to explore in the future, so that Xiaohongshu can produce more Li Dan, and more and more Li Dan can break through the ceiling and get out of the professional "mid-life crisis".

Author丨Muge Editor丨Jiangsu This article is written by the operation author [Spiral Laboratory], WeChat public account: [Spiral Laboratory], original/authorized to be published in the operation party, and reproduction is prohibited without permission.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.