With over 100 million fans on the Internet, Three Squirrels, the "No. 1 National Snack Stock", has a complete analysis of its private domain operations

Private domain operation has gradually become a "must-have action" for brands or businesses. Effective private domain operation can increase user repurchase and provide more conversion possibilities for business. So, how should brands build a reasonable private domain operation system? In this article, the author disassembles the private domain operation strategy of Three Squirrels. Let's take a look.

The snack industry has always been a large-scale and potential industry. With the changes in consumption, leading snack companies have tried to transform and started the process of "private domain operation", "digitalization" and "smart retail".

Taking Three Squirrels, the "No. 1 national snack stock", as an example, it built its private domain operation matrix through the WeChat ecosystem in 2019, and formed a reusable private domain system that has been used to this day.

Today, Three Squirrels has over 100 million members on the entire network (ranked first in the e-commerce snack category). The huge number of members provides a continuous source of fresh water for its own private domain traffic pool. In 2021, online sales accounted for 66.31%.

So how did Three Squirrels develop its private domain? Let’s analyze it for you.

1. Case Background

1. Brand Introduction

Founded in 2012, Three Squirrels is China’s first pure Internet food brand that specializes in nuts. Its cute squirrel brand image fits its positioning very well, and it is not only highly recognizable, but also deeply loved by users.

In the past decade, Three Squirrels has firmly grasped the e-commerce platforms mainly including Taobao, Tmall and JD.com, and has been ranked first in the entire network of nut snacks for eight consecutive years.

2. Market size

There will never be a shortage of market for snacks. The market size will exceed 1.5 trillion yuan in 2022. As market penetration increases, the annual compound growth rate will remain above 11%.

3. User portrait

67.2% of Three Squirrels users are female, of which 43.8% are female users aged 31-40.

2. Traffic Channel Analysis

Three Squirrels adopts a private domain operation model of official account + mini program + corporate WeChat + community , as well as mutual traffic diversion between platforms.

1. Official Account

Enter from the official account "Three Squirrels Members", click "Liao Squirrel Sauce" in the first-level menu "My Squirrel" to add the employee's WeChat account, and then further guide them into the community.

2. Mini Programs

On the homepage of the mini program "Three Squirrels Member Mall", there is a "Free Meal Benefit" drainage window. Click it to jump to add the "Squirrel Sauce" WeChat account.

3. Video Account

An entrance for corporate WeChat traffic is set up on the homepage of the video account "Three Squirrels Members". Click "Add WeChat" to add employee WeChat.

4. TikTok

Three Squirrels has established an account matrix on Douyin, with the total number of fans of several major accounts exceeding 10 million.

The main video content includes brand promotion, squirrel diary, product recommendation, live broadcast highlights, etc. Most accounts will start daily live broadcasts, mainly for selling products.

5. Kuaishou

Compared to Douyin, Three Squirrels’ operations on Kuaishou are smaller, with its main account having more than 3.5 million followers.

The video content mainly consists of live broadcast clips, product recommendations, situational plots, etc. Except for the "Three Squirrels and Their Friends" account, the other three accounts start live broadcasts every day, mainly for selling goods.

6. Weibo

Three Squirrels has more than 1.23 million followers on Weibo, and the main content it publishes is brand promotion, event promotion, product promotion, etc. There is a fan group entry on the homepage, and you can join the community by clicking on it.

7. Xiaohongshu

There are more than 30,000 notes related to Three Squirrels on Xiaohongshu, and the two accounts currently have 103,000 followers. The content of the notes mainly includes product recommendations, squirrel diaries, and rewarded interactions.

3. IP Disassembly

1. Brand IP

The brand name of Three Squirrels showcases its unique IP image and creates a virtualized cartoon image. The three cute squirrels all have their own names: Shu Xiaojian, Shu Xiaoku and Shu Xiaomei.

At the same time, the company also gave "Three Little Squirrels" human characteristics and called consumers "masters."

Such a setting not only attracts users' attention, but also upgrades the relationship between the brand and consumers, forming a more intimate interaction and giving users a better experience.

2. Employee IP

Three Squirrels uses WeChat for Business to establish a connection between users and private domains. Each employee’s WeChat becomes a window for external output. Take the employee I added as an example:

• Nickname: Squirrel Sauce
• Avatar: Squirrel wearing a mask
• Position: Welfare Officer
• Automatic welcome message: Introduces the positioning of the account (specifically stating that it is not a robot, to bring the account closer to the user).

And guiding users to reply with different numbers to receive different welfare activities can not only let the brand understand which type of activities users prefer, but also allow users to feel the value immediately.

Moments content: The release time is not fixed. It mainly includes welfare activities, snack recommendations, topic interactions, holiday greetings, and occasionally daily life content.

4. Analysis of Community Operation

At present, the cost of acquiring customers for brands is getting higher and higher, and traffic is difficult to retain. Social media has become the simplest, most effective and low-cost channel for brands. The following is an analysis of the social media operations of Three Squirrels.

1. Community Positioning

• Group nickname : Squirrel Sauce Snack In-App Purchase Group 31.
• Group positioning : snack in-app purchase, discount welfare group.

2. Community Group Announcement

The first part guides users to click on the link to enter the mini program to receive benefits, the second part introduces the group rules, and the third part introduces community benefits.

3. Community Content

The content sent in the community every day has a fixed arrangement, mainly focusing on product promotion. Take the community's weekly SOP as an example:

• Monday 17:00 Monday Big Satisfaction
• Tuesday 15:30 Tuesday Yuanqi Shopping
• Wednesday 18:00 Wednesday Energy Bomb
• Thursday 17:00 Crazy Thursday
• Friday 16:30 Flash Sale Friday

5. Membership System Analysis

Currently, Three Squirrels has established membership systems on both WeChat mini-programs and e-commerce platforms. The membership forms and rights of the two platforms are different.

1. Mini Program Membership System

Currently, members of the mini program are divided into four levels: general members (1 growth value), gold members (200 growth values), platinum members (500 growth values), and diamond members (3000 growth values) . Members can upgrade through consumption (1 yuan of consumption = 1 growth value).

The benefits that members can enjoy include: birthday privileges, exclusive membership days, holiday privileges, invitation privileges, gifts for evaluations, birthday surprises, new products, free shipping on purchases, holiday gift boxes, exclusive customer service, membership commemorations, monthly coupon packages, etc.

Paid members: Super Master Card (18 yuan, valid for 90 days), enjoy 8 major benefits, including 10% off on all items, 5 no-threshold coupons, 7-day friend experience membership card, 1.5 times the points, exclusive peripherals, 0 yuan for new products, birthday privileges, and lottery benefits.

Points system: Three Squirrels’ points are called “pine nut coins”. Users can obtain pine nut coins through sign-in, consumption, membership upgrades, etc. Pine nut coins can be used to redeem physical gifts, coupons and rights cards.

2. E-commerce platform membership system (taking Tmall as an example)

Three Squirrels has more than 43 million fans on Tmall, and its membership system is mainly based on a growth-oriented membership + points system.

Growth Membership: There are 4 levels in total, Nut Scholar (consumption of 1 yuan or more), Nut Master (consumption of 139 yuan or more), Nut Expert (consumption of 399 yuan or more), Nut Chief (consumption of 1299 yuan or more) . The higher the level, the more rights and benefits you can enjoy.

Member points: Members can earn points through shopping, signing in, and member upgrades. Points can be used to redeem cash or coupons.

VI. Summary

Finally, let’s summarize the highlights and shortcomings of Three Squirrels in private domain operations:

1. Perfect membership system: Mini Program membership levels are progressive and offer rich benefits, with the highest level offering 18 different benefits.
2. Insufficient community operation: No welcome message is configured for joining the group, and users cannot understand the value of the community in the first place.
3. Insufficient traffic channels: The automatic reply text of the Three Squirrels main account and the Three Squirrels member account on the official account does not guide users to add the company's WeChat account; the link to the company's WeChat account on the mini program is deep and has few touchpoints, only one.

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