Talking about how to retain users about the design of the Application Center website

　　

 

The Application Center, as its name implies, is a collection of applications and a platform that carries various applications. Its main features are strong entertainment and immersion. It is like a store with shelves for people to randomly select products. It is more like a playground with various dazzling and lingering products. Therefore, how to attract users to our products and how to make them stay more time on our products is a required research topic for designers. After a period of research and design accumulation on Application Center products, I have summarized some design ideas and shared them with you.

How to Design Application Center products?

First, tell the user that there is something they need.

What do users need? Some people say that this is not simple. Isn't it just fun? It makes users happy and naturally stays. The answer is yes. the user's demand is entertainment. Why doesn't he search for games, movies, and songs on a search website, but he wants to play in our application center? Because the Application Center gathers a large number of applications, users do not have to suffer from the difficulties of various websites. In addition, the application center can give professional classification and high-quality recommendations, and users do not have to suffer from the troubles of haystack. In this case, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion that what users need is full and professional.

Comprehensive: not only the index volume is full, but also the type is full. The more you choose, the more types you choose. The more types you choose, the more you can meet your entertainment needs at different latitudes. All are the strength of the application center, while the major is the soft power of the Application Center. Professionalism means gaining trust, making users feel that the most comprehensive and professional classification here, especially the most interesting recommended applications, and the most interesting collection, are far from success.

How can we create a complete and professional image? Three summary items are as follows:

1. Flat navigation

Because the number of products in the Application Center is large, if the homepage navigation design is too concise, there will inevitably be navigation on the second-level page, with more page switches, this causes operational troubles. Many foreign game centers use the dual-layer homepage navigation design to reduce page navigation, and users can view the content of this site at a Glance without having to click it one by one. Websites with double-layer navigation provide more details than single-layer navigation.

　　

 

2. Clear Layout

I used my colleagues to perform an eye test on the homepage of the Application Center. The app center in the user's mind is: there is an advertisement on the top, navigation on the left, ranking on the right, and a large application in the middle, i'm not very impressed with other regions.

Most of the application icons are fancy and eye-catching. Imagine that the application icons are tiled everywhere on the page, and there is no visual focus, resulting in visual fatigue. Because most users use scanning instead of reading browsing on pages, the webpage layout is very important. A clear layout can help users effectively summarize information, quickly locate the modules you are interested in.

3. Smooth path

The purpose of a user's access to the application center is to find a fun application. There are many complicated operations such as searching on the tab page-no-returning-re-selecting the tab. Professional websites allow users to smoothly complete this series of actions in this process, so that users are confident and confident in the return process of every page Jump.

　　Second, help users quickly find what they want.

Users will not waste too much time reading the webpage. They just want to quickly search for desired information and answers. If they still cannot find the desired information, they will only close the page decisively. For users with specific targets, they can search for them accurately or navigate to the target. However, most users are vague about the target. These users are happy to try a new application. Once the recommendation reason given by the platform meets a certain demand, they will randomly go in and look at it. Therefore, the recommendation is half done here.

Next we will discuss how to make good recommendations through three examples.

Example 1: they are also popular recommendations. Which of the following options is easier for you to choose?

　　

 

In terms of quantity, B recommends more applications for a wider range of users. If these applications are equally attractive to users, then from the perspective of the cost of selection, the cost of selecting one from 10 is much higher than that of selecting one from three. Most users are ignorant in the Application Center, and do not know the app's level of fun. They can only make a simple estimate using icons and names. Therefore, you can reduce the number of recommendations to reduce the user's hesitation and reduce the selection cost.

Example 2: Classification Application recommendation. Which of the following recommendation methods is better in your opinion?

　　

 

Although the application classification in A is organized, there is no emphasis in the visual view. There are too many choices without the desire to click. B transforms the four small icons into a large one, enhancing the classification effect, giving the page a sense of attention and visual clarity. Therefore, instead of saving the user from complicated information, it is necessary to give him a reason to make his choice easier.

Example 3: In the recommendation of the following two calculators, if you do not have the graffiti preferences, you only need to have the basic computing functions. Which of the following is easier for you to choose?

　　

 

When the two applications are of the same type, for example, the number of downloads in the card in Figure A affects your selection. Although there is a potential possibility of a graffiti calculator going online for a long time, you may think that the former is more popular than the latter. If the two adjacent applications are not of the same type, such as Figure B, the value of the downloaded data for selection will decrease.

To sum up, you can select different recommendation methods based on different recommendation purposes. When a user has a clear type requirement, it is easier to decide which one to choose by comparing some data. When comprehensive recommendations are made, the emergence of similar applications should be avoided, unless you want the data tragedy of one application.

　　Finally, provide what the user may need as appropriate.

Do you still remember that every time you wait for a payment at the supermarket, you will be attracted by small things such as gum and chocolate on nearby shelves? During the shopping process, things are really small and often forgotten or too lazy to find. During this boring period, they can easily hook up with potential user needs. When appropriate, recommending appropriate things to users is also a means to retain the user experience.

　　

 

Currently, there are three common methods:

1. Guess you like

When a user is playing a social game, he recommends the social games that friends are playing to. He is more likely to join this social game. Platforms often push apps that you like to guess based on the types of applications you often play. But it should be noted that when a user recommends farm games to him, he may find it interesting, but if he recommends a farm-like game, users may feel that there is no need to play a duplicate game. Therefore, different recommendation logic should be designed based on unused users to precisely recommend to users in order to effectively improve the conversion rate.

2. Operation means

There are some common operation methods to enhance the user viscosity of the website. For example, the honor growth system attracts users to stay longer by upgrading their sense of honor. Regular special activities, attract users through the operation themes, and boost user activity through application gift packs.

3. Cross-recommendation of multiple application types

The Application Center features an all-in-one entertainment experience. You can watch movies or listen to music when playing games. Multi-task parallel, entertainment latitude can be diversified.

Since it provides things that users may need, we can start with the differences and commonalities between individual users and explore potential needs of more users to increase user viscosity.

The above are my comments on how to retain the users of the Application Center products, which are summarized as follows:

1. Tell the user what they need here.

2. help users quickly find what they want.

3. Provide what users may need when appropriate.

The first step is at the target level, so that users are interested in our products. The second step is at the interaction level, so that users can have a smooth experience. The third step is at the emotional level, immerse users in the big playground of the Application Center. The first two steps are the basic requirements. If you do well, it is a good tool product. The third step is the most difficult, because to do well, we must better understand them than the users themselves. This part will be the main direction of our product discussion in the future.

(This article is from the Tencent CDC Blog. Please indicate the source when reprinting)