A tea brand "Yinian Caomuzhong" private domain growth case analysis, worth learning for everyone

At present, the development of the tea industry is still relatively backward, with low concentration and insufficient penetration, which makes it difficult for many merchants who want to enter the tea brand to start. This article disassembles the case of Yi Nian Cao Mu and takes a look at how it achieves private domain growth.

A few years ago, several tea brands came to me and wanted to consult me ​​on how to grow tea in the private domain. From my personal perspective, I think the best tea brand on the market is Xiaoguancha, followed by Yi Nian Cao Mu Zhong.

The small pot of tea is hard to imitate, but Yi Nian Cao Mu Zhong can!

So I reorganized the cases in One Thought of Grass and Trees that I disassembled last year and now share them with you. They mainly include the following parts:

1. The background of the tea industry
2. Yi Nian Brand Background
3. Traffic growth and activation strategies
4. Retention and conversion strategies
5. Common cognition and strategy replication

1. Background of the tea industry

The tea industry is a relatively backward industry. It is said that the entire tea industry has a market value of 300 billion yuan, of which 100 billion yuan is raw material tea, 100 billion yuan is self-operated and low-end tea, and 100 billion yuan is high-end and gift-oriented tea. However, the leading enterprises have a market value of just over 1 billion yuan.

The tea category has always been in the white-label stage, and tens of millions of tea farmers are particularly prone to low-level, high-intensity competition. Tea has its agricultural attributes, and when you can't clearly explain the difference between your tea and others, you will fall into this low-level, high-intensity competition.

For example, what is the difference between Longjing tea that costs 100 yuan per pound and Longjing tea that costs 1,000 yuan per pound? If users watch a 30-second video or detailed introduction page in an online decision-making environment, it is difficult for them to quickly understand the difference. This makes it a forced choice for most people to buy tea offline, because they simply cannot buy good tea online.

The tea industry is also an industry with a long user life cycle and a long product life cycle. Users start drinking tea at around 25 years old, and they drink tea heavily and frequently for 30 years. At the same time, as they age, the frequency of tea drinking increases. This is an industry where consumption and the price of tea increase together during the user life cycle.

China is the native country of tea, which means that the Chinese people have higher requirements for the quality of tea.

All of the above have resulted in a very low level of concentration in the entire tea industry and a particularly low online penetration rate.

2. Brand Background of Yi Nian

Yi Nian Cao Mu Zhong was founded in 2021, and its core users are young people aged 25 to 35. The brand's products include single-cup tea combination packs "Shen You Ba Ji" and tea bags, as well as original leaf loose tea covering different stages of entry, advanced and high-end.

The company focuses on creating a tea drinking scene where young people can "drink a cup of good tea every day". The product form, quantity and packaging design are close to the living habits and aesthetics of young people. It has sold more than 2,000,000 bags of Kung Fu tea bags, making it a leading brand in the same price range. Starting with the launch of the new product "Shenyou Eighth Level" in July 2021, it launched 30-40 SKUs in just three months, with monthly sales reaching 4 million yuan.

Shenyou Baji has won a series of awards including "Inspur High-Quality Domestic Products", "Creator Beverage Gold Award", and "International Top Delicious Medal".

At present, Yinian Caomu has completed its A round of financing, with the amount of financing reaching tens of millions, which can be regarded as the second generation of Xiaoguan Tea.

3. Traffic Growth and Activation Strategy

1. The product and packaging

Many people overlook the fact that the product packaging itself can also bring in traffic.

Returning to the consumption scene of drinking tea, it is nothing more than socializing and life. Therefore, in terms of the main product selection, Yi Nian’s "Shenyou Eighth Level" product is very typical. The category selection involves eight famous Chinese teas, and comes with aroma, taste descriptions and brewing guides to meet the experience needs of new consumers who want to get started with tea, and the gift-giving needs of senior consumers.

In terms of design, Yinian chose a design style that fits the aesthetic tastes of young people and balances traditional culture with modern aesthetics. From brand promotion to product packaging, people can feel "beauty" and "comfort".

Such appearance and content are hard to ignore. When placed in a white-collar office scene, they can quickly create fission and attract traffic.

2. Moments Ads

Analysis of the WeChat Moments ads from my friend Huanzong:

From the content bait of "try the new tea for 29.9 yuan and get a free cup", to the overall page image, to the "get a tea brewing guide" after successful payment, and "free tea sets worth 160 yuan", it is all done in one go. I believe that not many people can refuse such a new experience, and it is worth learning for all brands.

3. Package Card

Yi Nian’s package card is definitely a benchmark. Whether the tea is good or not depends very much on the real experience of the consumer. Since it is aimed at young people, they may not know how to taste tea. So after purchasing Yi Nian’s products, you can get 3 exquisite package cards in the package in addition to the product: a letter from the manager, a brewing guide, and a member invitation card. Each card is attached with Yi Nian’s corporate WeChat code.

Not only did it attract private users, it also avoided as much as possible the poor experience caused by many new tea lovers who did not know how to taste tea. At the same time, with the letter from the manager, the feelings, concepts, and brand values ​​were conveyed. Young people nowadays really like this.

4. AI Phone Notification

In order to ensure that all traffic can enter the private domain system without any mistakes, Yi Nian Cao Mu also uses AI telephones to make outbound calls at various stages, such as after the user's first purchase, during major promotions, and when the user is about to churn. And they contact the user with very clever reasons. Even if the user knows it is marketing, he will not be disgusted. Everything is done for the user's good.

Some words for reference:

"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. Your celadon quick cup is on its way and will be delivered in the next two days. To express our apology, we have prepared an extra gift for you."

"The gift for you is the large-sized original leaf tea of ​​Zizaicha Muyue, which is a large-leaf variety from Yunnan. It has just passed the European standard test. You can experience it after receiving it. At the same time, you will also receive a 100-yuan exclusive gift certificate. It is in the apology letter mailed to you. I hope you like it and continue to trust Yi Nianha."

"It's like this. Our shop is now randomly selecting some old customers for a reward event. A total of 8 bags of tea will be sent to you and your family to try. At the same time, you can scan the code and add the store WeChat placed in the tea bag to immediately participate in our tasting event. After the event, you can also return another 40 yuan to your shop account balance~"

5. High-quality content on official accounts

There are not many posts on Yi Nian’s official account, but the content of each post is extremely exquisite, whether in terms of layout or copywriting, they are all carefully polished. Therefore, the number of readers has been very high since the beginning of the post. It can be seen that people will share and spread the content because of the content, even if there is content about selling goods, it will not affect it.

6. Packaging Activation

It is worth noting that after opening the package, the brewing instructions inside provide detailed information on aroma type, suitable water temperature, suitable water volume, soaking time and other key information, guiding consumers to the greatest extent possible to taste the ultimate aroma of a bag of tea through self-operation. These thoughtful guidance designs complete the offline interaction between online brands and consumers and enhance consumer experience.

7. Community Activation

Generally speaking, I don’t recommend that a new brand start building a community right away, because new brands may have many shortcomings. But if you can do what Yi Nian did, then I strongly recommend that you build a community. In the community, they reach consumers through new product tasting and evaluation activities, and then collect consumer feedback. These discussions based on tea flavors and seasonal seasons make the community active and warm.

The right operational design can strengthen consumers’ stickiness to the brand, and the gathering of like-minded people in the circle will strengthen the brand value of Yi Nian in the minds of consumers, creating more possibilities for word-of-mouth fission.

Moreover, tea itself has a lot of social content. As long as it is used properly like Yi Nian, the entire operation strategy will definitely be the icing on the cake.

In the early days, we also organized a tea tasting group, invited professional staff and national tea appraisers to teach everyone how to drink tea, taste tea, and answer various questions. After completing the task, the consumption money will be returned to the platform. Note that cash will not be returned to the user here, but consumption money will be returned so that users can use these consumption money to continue to repurchase.

4. Retention and conversion strategies

1. Send tea pets and cups

As mentioned earlier, after the user's first purchase, he or she will receive a text message + a short link + an AI phone message from Yinian. The tea sets that match the tea are used to attract users to use the Yinian mini program again to complete membership registration. The questionnaire is used to understand consumers' demand for tea, and the activity of giving away celadon cups with each order encourages consumers to place a second order, thereby guiding repeat purchases.

And every month, we will set up tea gift activities to guide repeat purchases, and then use corporate WeChat to notify you. If there is a new tea online, this will also be a very accurate promotion channel.

2. New Year gift box

In order to promote greater consumption, New Year gift-giving must be a very good consumption scenario. Exquisite gift boxes and beautiful tea sets can boost sales during the New Year Festival.

5. Common cognition and strategy replication

The younger generation of consumers will have higher and higher requirements for appearance, experience, and service. Only by making the design eye-catching can we truly capture the hearts of young people, even if they don’t actually know tea!

From product design, packaging, service, experience, marketing and repurchase, Yi Nian has established a deep relationship with consumers through private domain scenarios, where they can learn and grow together through tea tasting. Such social links can gradually increase user stickiness and form secondary communication fission. It has set a very good example for all tea brands. All the above strategies are worth learning for brand people.

Most brands on the market use coupons to frantically disturb users in the private domain. The more operations they take, the faster the user loss. As a result, many consumers are no longer willing to scan the code and add merchants on WeChat. I hope all entrepreneurs can reflect on this!

Is the relationship between brands and consumers data-oriented or emotion-oriented?

Perhaps it is easier to gain resonance from consumers if you create sincere content and sincerely make friends with them. Consumers will also sincerely help you!

Finally, I would like to share a passage from Yi Nian, which I like very much:

We search, discover and trace the origin of local good tea, and let Chinese consumers drink tea easily without losing the taste at a reasonable price. Our goal is to set off a new wave of tea drinking culture in China!

Author: swimming, WeChat public account: Growth Leader (ID: swimming54)