In-depth Insight | The Dilemma of Private Domain Traffic

This article will deeply analyze the root causes and difficulties of private domain traffic and propose solutions. If you want to know how to break through the dilemma of private domain traffic, establish stable customer relationships and realize long-term value, then this article is worth reading.

Today, I want to talk to you about the dilemma of private domain traffic. This issue is rarely discussed publicly, but it cannot be ignored, and it is happening and spreading. What is the root cause behind these dilemmas, and is there a way to solve them? Let's first talk about the dilemmas and root causes of brand companies. It's a bit long, please read it patiently!

Let me first talk about two things that happened to me.

1. A friend who is in charge of private domain of a big brand talked to me. They paid much attention to it last year, but after a year, the private domain project was not profitable and the effect was slow. The headquarters stopped it and he was transferred to another position. Now the headquarters does not have a unified requirement to do it. Each region decides whether to do it according to its own situation. The headquarters has focused on digitalization and the construction and layout of the membership system.

2. I talked to the person in charge of the private domain of a popular online brand. They have a sales volume of more than 100 million yuan a year, which is not small. Last year, the company was very active in the private domain, buying software and recruiting teams. This year, it is not taken seriously because the input-output ratio is low and the monetization efficiency is not high. The company is also in a period of rapid development, and still wants to put manpower in more productive places.

The above example is not an isolated phenomenon. When it comes to private domain traffic today, many people are beginning to fall into the dilemma of " it's tasteless to eat, but it's a pity to throw it away" .

It looks lively on the surface, but it is not profitable in private, the effect is slow, and it consumes manpower. This kind of helplessness has long been tacitly understood. Why is private domain traffic, which is a good thing, a bad project?

I have seen various private domain cases around me, some successful, some failed, and some still struggling. The more I see and the more I see, the different perspectives and thoughts I have on these things become.

First of all, no matter what, I still agree with a point of view that if you can't make money in the private domain, don't do it. However, this "money" can be direct sales, or other measurable values, it can be one or two months, or one or two years, it depends on the person.

Secondly, see if the input and output are cost-effective ? Spending the same amount of manpower, material resources and energy, is the output large enough? For example, if you invest 100 yuan in selling goods, the private domain will produce 150 yuan; if you change to Douyin advertising, you can produce 300 yuan, then of course you will choose Douyin. Doing private domain is first based on commercial purposes.

Finally, we need to see whether it can be scaled and have economies of scale . For example, if I have 20 million users, I can operate 20,000 users in the pilot, and 2 people can handle it, making 100,000 yuan per month; but if it is expanded to 200,000 users, it will take 10 people to make 500,000 yuan per month; then if I serve 2 million users, do I need 100 people?

Can those operational details still be guaranteed? This is where the scale effect comes into consideration. Many companies often fail to break through the scale effect.

If you can think clearly and find the answers to the above three questions, your company will not get into trouble when doing private domain traffic. When I provide consulting services to companies, I will make these three points clear to them. If you do it, you will get twice the result with half the effort.

I said, not all companies are suitable for private domain traffic; it is even more impossible for all companies to use the same model.

Do you think Xibei's purpose and approach to private domain traffic are the same as the Shaxian snacks downstairs from your home?

Will Perfect Diary’s private domain model and approach be the same as Baiguoyuan’s?

Do you think the same way as I do when you are doing private domain traffic? It is definitely different.

Size, resource advantages, depth of knowledge, and industry differences will all affect whether you can do and succeed in your private domain business.

This is why even if you understand all the principles, you still can’t live a good life. The key is the ability to combine the principles with your own reality.

Ultimately, what puts companies into trouble is the boundaries of their understanding of the private domain and their ability to understand themselves.

Regarding the cognitive boundaries of private domain, there may be the following:

• What is the essence of private domain operations?
• Is private domain monetization a slow business or a fast business?
• Is WeChat the only form of private domain traffic?
• Brand is the largest private domain traffic
• Is private domain a perfect or flawed growth solution?
• What’s the next step for enterprises to enter the private domain?

Regarding corporate self-awareness, there may be some:

• Am I suitable for this?
• Is it suitable for me at this stage?
• Do I have the ability to do it?
• How do I build this capability in my team?
• Where should I place the private domain?

We don’t have to wait until all these issues are clear before we start. We can unlock them while we are doing them. However, if you cannot unlock them while doing them, you will be in trouble. If you don’t have a clear understanding, you will not be able to achieve unity of knowledge and action, and your execution will be greatly reduced.

Let’s first talk about the cognitive boundaries of private domains.

1. What is the essence of private domain operations?

The essence of private domain operation is customer relationship management, so I say that private domain is the only way for enterprises. You can see which enterprise does not need to maintain good relationships with customers, and even individuals need to maintain good social relationships.

But, can building relationships be accomplished in a day or two? Can you sit back and relax after building them? Obviously not. Relationships need to be nurtured, and nurturing them takes time.

In the past, we asked people to do things for us, and maybe we gave them gifts every year during festivals, just to ask them for help a few years later. In the past, giving gifts was like supporting them. When you encounter something, you ask someone to do it for you, which is a transaction. But many of our companies don’t want to spend time building relationships, and they just want to sell things and reap the benefits, which is naturally ineffective. Users are not fools.

Behind relationships is trust, and behind trust is brand. That’s why the bigger the brand, the more it values ​​customer relationships and its own brand.

They advertise and promote sales directly, and only those who are willing to take the bait are offered products first and relationships later. Therefore, their conversion rate is low, or they sacrifice product profits or even make losses, and use profits to exchange for trust.

Private domain operations start with a trust relationship, without the need to lower prices, which increases loyalty and promotes the brand.

2. Private domain operation is a slow business rather than a fast business

From the above point of view, private domain operation is slow, and its effect is not as fast as advertising, which can get effect feedback in 10 minutes. Therefore, many e-commerce companies cannot persist. In the past, they all relied on hot products, through trains, and fake orders, which are all quick-acting methods.

It is hard to accept that the effect of slow cultivation will only appear slightly. But the opposite of slow is long-lasting effect, just like the tortoise is slow and has a long lifespan; the rabbit runs fast and has a short lifespan. This is also the law of nature. What is easy to get is also easy to lose. What is hard to build is bound to be difficult to lose.

I have a student case, who spent 5 years operating private domain traffic, with less than 20,000 users, and revenue increased from several million to nearly 300 million. The growth was very slow at the beginning, and the user scale did not change much before and after 5 years. Many people find this unacceptable. Private domain operation is a delicate job, a slow business, not a fast business.

3. Private domain is not limited to the carrier itself

Private traffic cannot be limited to WeChat groups, corporate WeChat, and personal accounts, but should be expanded to the entire traffic pool of the enterprise, such as public accounts, WeChat groups, corporate WeChat, offline stores, apps, mini-program malls, and even Taobao Weitao, Taobao groups, brand accounts, etc.

As long as users can only contact the enterprise in these places, it is a private traffic pool. Finally, use the enterprise's CRM system to connect these local users and combine operations. This is the real enterprise "private traffic" operation!

Operators of big brands must think big and not limit themselves to thinking like small and medium-sized enterprises that private domain is WeChat. This will trap themselves.

If you only consider private domain as WeChat groups and corporate WeChat, you will find that the sales generated by it may not be worth mentioning, and the input-output ratio is not cost-effective. If you want to expand the scale, use some group control tools and software, and there are risks. After thinking about it, you may give up in the end.

When we connect the official account + corporate WeChat + community + mini program mall + APP + offline stores into a closed loop, the private domain pool will become larger and can be expanded on a large scale.

I think Baiguoyuan's private domain does this, and it's doing a good job. After you buy fruit in the store, the clerk will invite you to join the group and enjoy preferential benefits. If you like it, you can also join their VIP membership to enjoy privileges and buy on the mini program or APP without leaving home. This is a private domain traffic pool that meets different user scenarios.

Now it has more than 5,000 stores across the country, all of which have communities, which are then linked to mini-programs, members, public accounts, and apps, and then connected to corporate CRM. This private domain becomes very valuable.

What is important in the private domain is better management and user relationships, not limited to the carriers themselves .

Once it has such a large amount of private domain traffic, it can promote a new fruit or hold a national event anytime and anywhere, and immediately reach millions of its own users. These are all free, real-time, accurate and effective traffic. It can immediately generate huge sales.

I once conducted a survey for Baiguoyuan stores, and many store managers said that they could increase sales by 15,000 to 20,000 yuan per month using WeChat groups. For 4,000 stores, that means 60-80 million yuan per month, and nearly 1 billion yuan per year. This is a lot of money. So this is the value of countless private domain pools connected together.

Recently, Luckin Coffee's private domain traffic case has been widely studied. In fact, after reading it, you will find that it does not just regard the private domain as a group. They also manage user relationships behind the scenes, combining their stores and apps to form their own private domain pool matrix, and also connect with their own CRM system, so that the entire user data flow is connected.

In the future, the value created by this data in product selection, precision marketing, AI interaction, and brand care will be far greater than the current sales volume.

Private domain currently exists primarily in WeChat, but it is not equal to WeChat.

4. The brand itself is a private traffic pool

A real brand may not need to do " private domain traffic".

We rarely see brands like Starbucks, NIKE, Pizza Hut, and Uniqlo setting up large-scale WeChat groups and allowing employees to add users on WeChat.

I think, on the one hand, it has something to do with the product industry and user scale, but I think more importantly, their brand is strong enough. The brand is the largest private traffic pool, and the brand is also exclusive and aggressive.

When a corporate brand can firmly occupy the user's mind, it is difficult for the user to accept other brands. In this way, it is no longer important whether the user is in the WeChat group or adds the corporate WeChat. The user is with the brand anytime and anywhere.

A true brand may not need to pursue the so-called private traffic pool and deliberately connect users, because the most reliable thing is the brand connection .

Once, I was chatting with a business manager of Starbucks, and he asked me whether Starbucks should build a private traffic pool. My view is that Starbucks has too many users, the brand has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it also has a complete membership system, store system, and online purchase system. It does not need to do it like Xibei and Perfect Diary.

But we can establish a circle of high-end members, for example, for users who spend 20,000 yuan a year and drink two cups of coffee a day. This can be done in WeChat groups or offline salons. The important thing is to keep in touch with these super users and get feedback on products, operations, and brands.

When a company already has enough of its own traffic pool contacts and is not lacking in exposure, WeChat groups and corporate WeChat accounts are actually not so necessary.

Of course, for companies that have not yet become industry super brands, on the one hand, we must strengthen brand building, and on the other hand, it is necessary to manage users through private domain traffic and do a good job of customer relationship management.

Therefore, we must clearly recognize our position and stage. Different levels naturally require different operating methods.

Author: Yan Tao San Shou WeChat public account: Yan Tao San Shou