Is the private domain outbound calling traffic generation method “dead”?

Private domain outbound calling is a means for merchants to obtain customer information and increase sales. Recently, it has been strictly controlled on many e-commerce platforms. Through the case of Pinduoduo's punishment of merchants' outbound calling behavior, this article reveals the challenges faced by private domain traffic in the current e-commerce environment, explores the reasons behind this phenomenon, and how merchants should adjust their strategies and find new growth points in such a market environment.

It all started when a friend shared a "Notice of Inducing Third-Party Violations" sent by Pinduoduo to merchants in the Jianshi communication group.

According to him, his friend A's shop is engaged in the home decoration industry. One day, a user was unable to install a table and could not understand the installation guidance video provided by the store's customer service, so friend A initiated a virtual outbound call.

The moment he hung up the phone after solving the problem, the platform's violation notifications came one after another. Friend A wanted to file a complaint, but the official customer service directly provided a recording of the call and a queue of 240,000 people to sue, which directly cut off his idea of ​​refutation.

Faced with the choice of paying a fine of up to 50,000 yuan or giving up a deposit of several thousand yuan and closing the store, friend A chose the latter.

The store that had been run for several years was destroyed because of a phone call. Although the content of the call did not mention the content related to the private domain, it was still defined by the platform as inducing a third party. After withdrawing the balance and clearing the store. Friend A knew that the way of outbound call diversion was "dead".

This is not an isolated case. Many merchants have shared similar experiences in multiple industry exchange groups.

For example, a pharmaceutical company’s store with daily sales of 500,000 was also banned.

After analyzing the recent actions of various platforms, we have a very obvious feeling - now, the private domain may be in an unprecedented predicament.

Why and how?

This may require raising the perspective to several major mainstream e-commerce platforms.

1. How much the platform “dislikes” merchants from attracting traffic

Is Pinduoduo so cruel?

The public's views on this incident are almost unanimous, and it is generally believed that Pinduoduo is more strict than other platforms in dealing with third-party traffic issues.

Although Pinduoduo is not as fast and frequent as other platforms in updating rules, based on the feedback from many merchants, its punishment mechanism and intensity are the most stringent. The rules describe outbound calls and the platform's active intervention as follows:

...trying or actually exchanging mobile phone numbers, landline numbers or other contact information with users online or offline for purposes other than completing Pinduoduo transactions...

——Pinduoduo's "Rules on Inducing Third-Party Processing"

Using the platform's business information or other people's information on third-party websites or stores that are necessary for non-normal transactions or services... Pinduoduo platform has the right to review and monitor the merchant's registration information and data acquisition/usage behavior at any time, and has the right to unilaterally determine whether a merchant has improperly acquired/used information or has committed other breaches of contract or violations based on user feedback data, external feedback data, logistics data, massive merchant data usage habits, common sense and other factors.

If any abnormality is found in the merchant, Pinduoduo platform has the right to question and require the merchant to provide a reasonable explanation, and the merchant is obliged to explain the abnormal phenomenon within the period specified by the platform...

——Pinduoduo's "Rules for Handling Improper Acquisition/Use of Information"

It is worth noting that it is not only Pinduoduo that prohibits merchants from making outbound calls to attract traffic.

Not long ago, Jianshi observed that platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, Douyin, and JD.com have also adopted strict regulations on merchant traffic diversion, and have even adopted relevant strategies to actively intervene in merchants' private domain traffic diversion behaviors.

For example, Taobao mentioned that the platform will proactively intervene depending on the circumstances and will execute the above-mentioned measures if it determines that the seller has engaged in the above-mentioned behavior.

The platform also describes the details of active intervention:

"Taobao will make a comprehensive assessment based on its own big data technology and in combination with various indirect evidence (including but not limited to the member's account characteristics, motivation factors, historical records, comments, statements of other related consumers, etc.), and determine that the member has reached a high probability of engaging in harassment behavior, that is, the maximum extent is close to objective truth. Taobao will further determine that the fact of harassment by the member is established based on this probability."

JD.com and Douyin also have relevant rules in place:

This means that even if the user does not file a complaint against the merchant on their own initiative, the merchant will be punished by the platform if it contacts the user through outbound calls.

At the same time, major platforms have recently adjusted relevant regulations more frequently.

For example, Douyin has updated two rules in the past month to control third-party traffic.

Not only has the standard for "illegal inducement of third parties" been redefined, but the penalties have also been increased. Severe violators may face the penalty of store closure.

Screenshot from TikTok official

The overall feeling is that there are two common features, namely, stricter control and heavier punishment.

All signs indicate that after package cards were banned by the platform, the outbound call-based traffic generation method seems to have come to an end.

Other methods of attracting traffic, especially those from public e-commerce, also show signs of being severely cracked down.

2. Why does the platform do this?

As for the reason, some people believe that this kind of collective action by platforms may be the implementation of the Personal Information Protection Law, which aims to protect the personal information security of consumers.

At the same time, this is also the platform reaffirming the user's right to ownership, and in a period of difficult incremental growth, the platform begins to try to seize any possible incremental opportunities.

However, some people have put forward the opposite view. A considerable number of people believe that the platform is not intended to capture users, but to hold accountable the violating merchants.

Due to limitations in technology and authority, the platform is unable to supervise the private domain of merchants. This also means that if users encounter problems in the merchant’s private domain, the users will only hold the platform accountable, and the platform will bear all consequences such as compensation and fines.

Illegal diversion of private domains not only increases the risk of damage to user experience for the platform, but also increases the platform's operating and maintenance costs, and its reputation may also be damaged.

Therefore, whether from the user's perspective or the platform's perspective, it is better to directly block the links that divert private domains, so as to protect the interests of users and platforms. As long as merchants abide by the platform rules, they can still make money.

However, as the industry is now in a state of deepening internal competition, businesses have no choice but to "take risks" in order to seek growth.

In their view, some GMV-oriented private domain operations are problematic in themselves. Over-emphasizing GMV will lead to the misunderstanding of "stealing" traffic from the platform.

Within this misunderstanding, illegally obtaining user information is the biggest problem.

Such behavior that threatens the platform's compliance operations and healthy development is naturally hated by the platform.

In addition, the fine-tuning of the platform may cause a great shock to the related industries. Some people believe that this move by the platform may trigger a huge change in some industries and promote the birth of new service platforms.

3. What will be done in the private domain in the future?

After the platform banned package cards and outbound calls, the industry has been discussing how to break the impasse.

On the one hand, merchants need to abide by the platform rules, use the platform's existing tools and windows to solve problems faced by users, and avoid involving other areas that are strictly regulated by the platform.

On the other hand, merchants need to think about optimizing user experience, reducing user complaints, and avoiding platform intervention.

In addition, merchants should also consider new traffic channels other than e-commerce platforms.

For example, by directing traffic from self-media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Zhihu, and continuously outputting valuable content to reach users, you can not only deepen users' brand awareness and sense of identity, but also acquire more accurate users.

In addition, it has been suggested that store traffic can bring significant incremental growth.

Publishing traffic-generating information through Tencent’s semi-private scenarios such as official accounts, video accounts, and mini-programs is also a feasible option.

These strategies help merchants continue to attract and maintain customers while complying with platform rules.

It is foreseeable that it will be more difficult for merchants to conduct public-to-private traffic diversion in the future. In addition, in the competition for users with the platform, the ultimate winner can only be the rule maker, that is, the platform.

Besides attracting new customers?

This requires us to analyze the key actions of private domain user operations, and perhaps we can see some solutions, namely: attracting new customers, guiding traffic, extracting leads, taking over conversions, reaching repeat purchases, referrals, and fission.

In other words, if businesses want to better utilize private domains to grow their performance, in addition to attracting new customers, how to maintain existing users, improve conversion rates through reasonable operations, enhance the value of private domain users, and how to leverage public domain traffic through fission, referrals and other methods that are separate from the public domain, so that the growth flywheel of the private domain can accelerate will become the top priority for the company in the next stage.