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EDITORIAL
Previous How to measure the effectiveness of the value of the tool platform? Deduced a measurement model to measure the effectiveness value through specific data indicators, so that the value of internal tools/platforms can be seen and explained clearly
So, for the tool platform that is being or will be done, how to further enhance its performance value?
1. What are the influencing factors of effectiveness value?
First of all, the key goal of the tool is to solve practical problems:
Tools are always born to solve problems
After selecting the target problem, then try to solve it through automatic/semi-automatic means such as toolization and platformization, and reflect the effectiveness of the solution through the improvement of efficiency and experience:
效能价值 = 效率价值 * 体验因子
Further refine:
工具效率 = 问题规模 / 操作时间
工具效率 = （不用该工具解决所需的）时间成本 / （用该工具解决所需的）时间成本
工具体验 = 易用程度 * 稳定程度
Therefore, the effectiveness value of a tool depends on 4 factors:
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Problem scale
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Operating time
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Ease of use
- stability
To improve tool performance is to find ways to increase the numerator and reduce the denominator, that is, to increase the problem scale, ease of use, stability, and reduce operation time
2. How to increase the scale of the problem?
For the selected target problem, its scale is usually fixed, so the key is how to choose the problem with the highest target value:
问题的目标价值 = 目标用户量 * 需求频率 * 单次的价值
In most cases, we tend to choose a problem with a larger target audience, because solving a common problem is more meaningful than solving a special problem that only a small number of users will encounter
However, the impact of demand frequency and unit price on the target value is not so obvious:
High frequency low price and low frequency high price
among them:
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High frequency and high price preferred: very rare demand, if there is one, first meet
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Don't make low frequency and low price: such demand is not worth doing
- High frequency and low price, low frequency and high price are equally important: most of the needs are in these two categories, and the choices are also concentrated here
Between high-frequency low prices and low-frequency high prices, the general strategy of product managers is:
高频抓用户，低频做利润
That is to say, in the early stage, a large number of users were acquired by meeting the needs of high frequency and low prices, and the needs of low frequency and high prices were considered in the middle and later stages:
First, use high-frequency and low-cost demand to capture users, because high-frequency scenes and user interaction opportunities are many, and low-cost light-decision scenes can lower the barriers to entry for users, and it is easy to attract new users and attract traffic; then use low-frequency and high-cost demand to make profits. Because the unit price is high, the cake that can be sliced is big. The reason for adopting such a sequence is that there must be a large number of users as the basis for the total amount of low-frequency demand to be large enough.
3. How to reduce operating time?
Of course, if there are obvious items to be optimized, you should do it as soon as possible. First, improve the efficiency of the tool itself to a very high level, and reduce the time for users to wait for the tool to complete.
However, if the tool itself does not have much room for optimization in terms of time-consuming, then you need to look away from the local tools and consider the overall optimization from a global perspective:
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Process-oriented perspective: In the process, can we reduce some intermediate links and simplify the workflow?
- Object-oriented perspective: In terms of mode, can we reduce the relevant roles involved, reduce the interaction between people and tools, tools and tools, tools and people, and reduce some intermediate products?
Changes in processes and even collaboration models usually have the opportunity to subvert the previous critical path to solve the problem, bypass the efficiency bottleneck of existing tools, and greatly reduce operation time
4. How to improve ease of use?
The first essence of a tool-based product is that users can use it, so that users can at least use it in order to reflect the value of the product
Ease of use requires that product functions conform to the user's mind as much as possible (at least ensure the ease of use of core functions), simplify interaction, and reduce the learning cost of users to get started:
从用户心智向产品功能做映射，极致的易用是符合直觉，上手即用So, we must first clarify the user's mind, the method is very simple:
告诉用户，这个工具能给你解决什么具体问题。Then (in the stage when the product function is not so intuitive) first teach users how to use it. Function guides, novice tutorials/videos, help documents, etc. are all good methods to improve ease of use and let users use it first. At the same time, the user experience is continuously optimized according to the real user feedback, and the gap between the product function and the user's mind is narrowed, so that it is ultimately intuition:
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Small mental burden (low learning cost)
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Interaction friendly
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UI beauty
- Smooth core function flow
In addition to bringing product functions closer to the user’s mind, there is also an unconventional idea of cultivating the user’s mind (that is, changing the user’s intuition to make it conform to the product function). It often appears in subversive innovation scenarios. It is necessary to change the user’s deep-rooted intuition to truly Improve efficiency
5. How to improve stability?
Mapping from the user’s mind to the product’s performance, the ultimate stability is complete trust, and never doubt that the tool will go wrong
Compared with ease of use, stability is objective and clear, and stability can be ensured to a large extent from a technical point of view, for example:
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Reduce the crash rate: continue to pay attention to top crashes, and timely repair the larger ones
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Reduce the number of bugs: continue to observe the growth trend of bugs, fast iterative fixes, and converge functional problems
- Reduce the number of operation failures: record failed operations, analyze and improve common misoperations, and enrich functions in reverse
Among them, it is worth noting to record failed operations. Taking the search function as an example, the failed operations include:
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Search service error
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No search results
- Search results are not as expected (the results are not helpful)
From a technical point of view, the latter two categories do not belong to operation failures, but they are also worthy of attention, because unsuccessful search usually means that the semantic/fuzzy search function is not perfect, or related content is missing. This information is very useful for enriching product functions. help. Similarly, search results that do not meet user expectations are also valuable negative feedback, which helps to find problems and improve user experience
6. How to increase the number of users?
When the efficiency and experience of the tool are up to the standard, the most critical question is how to increase the number of users and enlarge the value of the tool
Compared with other products, the difficulties of tool-based products are:
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Strong replaceability
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The user does not know (there are tools available)
- User stickiness is poor and easy to lose
Strong irreplaceability is the decisive factor. As the only option, there is no need to consider the number of users, such as small program developer tools
If there is no strong irreplaceability, other means must be used to increase the replacement cost of users. Common strategies include scene operation, community operation, content operation, etc.
Scene operation
Closely link tools and usage scenarios to cultivate user habits:
To make a tool-based product, you must always ask the user under what kind of scenario they will want to open your product. This specific scenario is the basis of all operations.
Focusing on a core scenario, fully satisfying the key requirements, and becoming the optimal solution in this scenario, thus solving problems that users don’t know
On the other hand, the scene-oriented warm reminder helps to increase the temperature of the product, allowing users to feel human care, not just a cold tool
Community operation
strengthens the connection between products and users, as well as users and users. Establishing a community is an effective means to increase user stickiness, such as:
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Operate a group: make cold tools into "living people" who can communicate, and close the distance between products and users
- Increase social functions: users subscribe to product updates, follow, comment, and like among users, increasing users' sense of participation and belonging
Inform users of product changes through groups. This continuous and frequent positive feedback can stimulate users’ enthusiasm for feedback and enhance the connection between products and users.
Socialization sounds a bit distant from the tool platform for internal use, but it is not far away. Taking front-end engineering as an example, simple social functions (likes, comments) such as public components/code snippets, Code Review, novice tutorials/API documents, etc. can all have simple social functions (likes, comments), which may seem small, but help to increase user engagement
The content operation
is the same as the community, the content is also an extension of the scene, and the content produced by the tool is also used as a part of the tool, for example:
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WPS and rice husk template
- Git and Gist
Tools guide users to output added value, thereby enhancing the overall value of the tool (tool + shared content). On the other hand, users sharing the generated content with other users will also help increase their own influence and promote each other