This article introduces that based on the integration of Taobao business data, we reach users in a timely manner through manufacturer channels, attract users to download/use Taobao, and improve Taobao DAU and user stickiness.
foreword
▐Industry background
When the size of the user group is no longer growing, it is particularly important to increase the frequency and duration of user use. In the past, Taobao generally used a large number of external media advertisements to achieve external user drainage, which required a lot of capital costs, and with the fierce competition in e-commerce, it became more and more difficult to improve ROI.
The external environment is also quietly changing. Due to the overall decline in domestic mobile phone shipments and the longer user replacement cycle, domestic manufacturers have begun to seek diversified commercialization, hardware media, and service layout around content ecology and APP growth. On the one hand, they hope Open up APP services to improve the ease of use/user dependence of the mobile phone ecosystem. On the other hand, we hope to create a second pillar of hardware revenue through the content advertising ecosystem; various manufacturers gradually launch a large number of free/paid desktop products, such as widget components, Negative one-screen cards, system search, system suggestions, desktop widgets, shortcuts, etc., gradually formed a touch ecology around manufacturer channels.
With the help of the vendor channel reach ecology, we began to create a brand-new, systematic vendor desktop reach method, based on the integration of business data within Taobao, and timely reach users through vendor channels to attract users to download/use Taobao. In addition to external media advertisements and PUSH/SMS methods, find new sources of drainage and improve Taobao's DAU and user stickiness.
▐Channel analysis
Based on the channel's own display form and functional characteristics, we classify the channels as follows, and score the channels on the four important dimensions we focus on:
Content expressiveness: the richness of the content of the channel, which plays a big role in subsequent business operations, user experience and conversion effects;
Timeliness of content: Timeliness of channel content data updates, some businesses have strong demands on timeliness, such as logistics, seckill, etc.
Guidance cost: the cost of guidance and installation required before the channel reaches users. Some channels require users to activate permissions or actively add them to the desktop before they can be used. Higher guidance costs are an important factor hindering the volume of channels
Conversion effect: comprehensively evaluate the expressiveness, timeliness, and operable space of the content, and roughly evaluate the exposure conversion rate of each channel based on the experience of Mobile Taobao.
【Desktop Widget】Typical effect
[Search recommendation] typical effect
Typical effects of [other channels]
▐Platform positioning
Based on the above industry background, channels and competing product analysis, we decided to build our own vendor desktop access system.
Core goal: to join hands with the vendor ecosystem to open up new frontiers for Taobao’s extension, and build a device-cloud-integrated manufacturer’s touch operation system for experience and efficiency, which will increase Taobao’s DAU and visit frequency.
▐ Achievement display
Before starting to talk about design and thinking, let's throw away our achievements. After nearly a year of construction, we have achieved high-speed growth in end-of-line UV, first-line UV, and DAU exclusives by fitting in with manufacturers to tap channels, linking businesses to reveal content, and accumulating infrastructure to improve efficiency.
[Business side], we have achieved a more than 2-fold increase in call-end UV compared to the beginning of the fiscal year, of which the first call accounted for a very high proportion; according to the commercial purchase price, it can save a lot of money for the company in one year; Strict AB caliber comparison, the manufacturer ecology is already the largest source of Taobao DAU increment (analysis in October and November).
[Technical side], we have accumulated a manufacturer's ecological experience platform from 0 to 1. As the infrastructure base linking manufacturers and Taobao, there are already 6 operable channels, 2 non-operable channels, and 30+ downstream links. Business, with channels/ Quick service access, general operation, and experience management and control capabilities have significantly improved the efficiency of business outreach, channel expansion, and business operations.
Problems and Challenges
▐Challenge the status quo
Traffic problem: The high cost of connecting new channels and the lack of sustainable operation of old channels lead to difficulties in traffic growth
Comparison: Alipay’s various channels, in-depth operation & combination of positioning characteristics (tool attributes account for 70%+); Taobao’s advantage lies in the richness of business content, and there is a chance to surpass Alipay in specific channels;
Efficiency issues: complex channels, different characteristics of manufacturers, repeated docking of businesses in various fields, resulting in low efficiency of business extension
Comparison: Alipay has a unified vendor access platform, provides a complete infrastructure, and simplifies the cost of business docking
Experience problem: Channels are independent and difficult to perceive each other, and low-quality content attracts traffic frequently, leading to a deterioration in user experience
Example: There are many user complaints and feedbacks, and some manufacturers’ paid resources are forced to appear on the desktop and cannot be closed, and the main body of user complaints is Taobao
For example: users in the external environment have a stronger awareness of privacy protection, and the background environment of the system is more complex, so it is necessary to strike a balance between user experience (disturbance, timeliness), business demands, and device-side performance (power consumption, lag)
▐Coping strategies
Solve [traffic growth difficulties]:
[Incremental Expansion] Mining the incremental matrix, using desktop widgets as the main channel, enriching the reachable product matrix, multi-channel capability mining and construction go hand in hand (search, floating window, calendar, voice assistant, Hongmeng FA native card, negative one screen wait).
[Inventory quality improvement] Able to launch & operate well, build a visual operation delivery platform, realize [operation configuration -> material delivery -> data return] closed-loop SOP, improve business operation efficiency, and provide operation intervention capabilities such as crowds, experiments, strategies, algorithms, etc. , improve traffic conversion efficiency through continuous iteration.
Solve [low efficiency of business extension]:
[Server] Unified data channels, the platform side converges the complexity of each product's access links, smoothes out the differences between various manufacturers (desktop customization, desktop version fragmentation, and different permissions), and simplifies the downstream business scene connection internally. Realize time-effective, scalable, and easy-to-access vendor access channels;
[Client] The content is dynamic, and the terminal side breaks through the release restrictions through remote configuration, dynamic layout, and template investment, and improves the efficiency of existing channel business implementation.
Guarantee [User Product Experience]:
[Client] Guaranteed user experience through low power consumption technology, interactive experience innovation, and real-time performance.
[Server] Guaranteed user experience through homogeneous content frequency reduction, refresh interval control, and low-quality content filtering.
platform design
▐Overall structure
Combining the above coping strategies, we first define the following models for business entities and development functions:
【Business Model】Definition:
Application: Client APP, supports horizontal output in middle platform
Channel: A system feature/capability of a manufacturer, a single application can support access to multiple channels
Business: the business identity created under the same application
Activities: under specific applications + specific channels, trigger user configurations created by specific businesses, mainly including timing, scenarios, content, crowds, etc.
Material: Mainly refers to the reachable content in the activity, the optimization, precipitation and interactive innovation of the content will help us improve the traffic quality and user experience
【Development Model】Definition:
Strategy library: refers to the launch strategy adopted based on business demands in the event configuration, mainly the combination of timing, scene, content, and crowd
Experiment library: Ability to conduct AB experiments and effect recovery comparisons in different campaign strategies
Material library: measurement, precipitation, comparison of high-quality material content, and material recommendation for similar activities
On this basis, the operation SOP of business supply -> operation delivery -> effect recovery -> strategy adjustment is realized. The platform focuses on [channel & business fast access], [general operation capability], [experience unified management and control], 【Stability Guarantee】Five points for construction, which will be explained below.
▐ Channel & business quick access
[External]: Classify according to the [data request mode] of the channel, provide [unified data channel], and realize the shielding of the complexity and difference of the user terminal operating system type, system version, model, authority and other environments on the terminal side;
Manufacturer's direct request type: The manufacturer's system side directly initiates the request, and after the data is directly returned to the manufacturer, the manufacturer's system is responsible for displaying it. Typical examples include smart screen recognition, Xiaomi Tusou, etc.
APP data pull type: The APP side directly initiates the request, and after the data is directly returned to the APP, the APP/manufacturer system is responsible for displaying it. Typical examples include Widget, lock screen components, iOS search, etc.
APP data push type: The cloud recognizes the timing of the touch, and actively pushes the data to the client, and the APP/manufacturer system is responsible for displaying, typical examples include floating windows, live activity updates, etc.
[Internal]: abstract [content delivery mode], providing multiple business access modes, supporting fast and on-demand downstream business connection
Resource delivery type: content updates are realized based on pure operational configuration. Typical examples include the 4 operational pits in the ICON quick list, which are manually configured and adjusted by the operator
Business docking type: Realize content update based on downstream business supply, typically such as the data of the gold coin widget
Hybrid type: a mixture of the above two modes, part of which comes from manual configuration of operations, and part of which comes from downstream business supply, a typical example is iOS system search, 2000+ search phrases are the product of multi-party data mixing
unified data channel
There are various access points outside the manufacturer's terminal, including system widgets, widgets of various manufacturers, floating windows, calendars, searches, etc.; different access methods may reveal different business data to users, and have their own data refresh links and refresh frequencies , and there are differences in content, manufacturers, systems, and devices, and the cost of solving these fragmented compatibility problems on the business side is huge; therefore, we have implemented [Unified Data Protocol], [Refresh Interval Control] and [Aggregation Request mode] converges all channels together, smooths out all channel differences, and aligns them to a certain time for unified scheduling, which can not only keep the request volume orderly and controllable, but also reduce business access costs.
Downstream efficient docking
Provides a pluggable docking mode to meet the service delivery demands of different types of content such as [resource delivery type], [business docking type], and [hybrid type]. Reduce the repeated implementation cost of downstream business.
The self-delivery platform can meet the needs of various flexible configurations of operations. The unified delivery engine provides a variety of business strategy scheduling. For businesses with self-built configuration capabilities, you can choose to connect to the delivery engine layer and use it with your own business operation system. For businesses that do not want to build their own operating systems, they can complete the operating configuration on the manufacturer's platform after providing downstream business data connection.
▐General operating capability
Put SOP Abstraction
Because the data content required by each channel is very different, for example, a widget is a UI display with an interface and the interface is customized by the business, while the ICON quick list is a standard data list format, only need to give the title, icon and call terminal link. Can. Therefore, it is necessary to abstract a set of general operation capabilities, and lower the general delivery capabilities, operation strategies, and data metrics to one layer, and the different content of each channel is used as the content configuration field, which is configured by each channel itself, so as to realize the channel integration. Scale fast and operate fast.
Material represents the UI display and interaction of the event, which is analogous to HTML and CSS. For channels with dynamic rendering capabilities such as lock screen components, widgets, and LIVE ACTIVITY, we can achieve rich expressiveness through material construction.
The business supply represents the downstream data supply, such as gold coins to be collected data, shopping cart price reduction information, logistics status update, etc. These business data need to be bound with the material, and finally presented as a dynamic interface seen by the user.
Material + business supply forms the final content that reaches users, and the dimension of fixed investment means that we can target multiple copies of content to more matching users. At present, we have the dimensions of crowd, manufacturer brand, system type, APP version, machine type, effective time, exposure fatigue, priority, etc.
Based on the general state-driven process + data recovery process, each activity is standardized to achieve a closed-loop process of configuration delivery, data recovery, and policy optimization.
material construction
The interface of some channels has a large room for adjustment, so we use the dynamic solution of the client to meet the different interface display demands of each business, which greatly improves our R&D efficiency and channel operation capabilities. For example, the following WIDGET is an interface produced by dynamic construction:
▐Experience unified management and control
End-side power consumption optimization
The timeliness of the content will greatly affect the user's physical experience. For example, if the launch information of popular live broadcasts is not updated in time, users may miss the live broadcast, resulting in greater public opinion; and frequent updates will cause the mobile Taobao to frequently pull up in the background. The main process frequently requests data, which brings background power consumption and networking problems. It is very easy to be perceived by the manufacturer's security software and cause user complaints, and the water level pressure on the server also increases significantly.
Therefore, with the help of the construction of [Unified Data Channel], we add a layer of refresh interval control, through two layers of refresh interval control at the channel level and interface level, to realize the interval control of the cloud pipe end; Process] to implement data update through a lightweight process.
The combination of the two can minimize the power consumption problem caused by data update on the user's mobile phone.
Negative feedback monitoring
Last year was the start-up stage of our manufacturer's desktop channel. The content conflicts, repetitions, and interruptions to users between multiple channels were not high, but we also started to pay attention to this aspect in advance. Mainly through two aspects of data observation:
General public opinion: Observing public opinion data related to desktop channels
Channel indicators: We are gradually defining their related negative indicators for each channel to observe user retention and dislike.
For example, in the WIDGET channel, we define user retention observations with Zeng products and Zeng BI to measure the quality of channel content;
For negative feedback monitoring, we are also gradually improving. Compared with internal channels, the difficulty of external channels is that many channels cannot get the client’s buried point, and the behavior is controlled on the system side, which can only be requested by the server. The effect can be measured indirectly by means of end-to-end tracking.
For channels with low-quality content and highly disturbing users, we will continue to improve traffic control and early warning strategies, so as to ensure the overall experience of users outside the terminal and avoid being regarded as rogue software by users.
▐ Stability Guarantee
Our cloud traffic distribution mechanism is the distribution process from interface->channel->business->configuration->downstream supply. In the aggregation request mode, the effect of layer-by-layer distribution will be formed. We have corresponding current limiting protection at each layer, and try to control large abnormal traffic fluctuations in the front link processing, without affecting the time-consuming downstream. It is required that the business under all channels must be released when the activity configuration is released. Configure bottom-up configuration to ensure end-side user experience and content correctness.
business monitoring
Inside the service, we format the requested processing data and save them all in the SLS log, and then based on the real-time processing link, generate channel-level, business-level, and activity-level request success rates, failure rates, request volumes, and some technical dimensions The data is configured as sunfire monitoring, and deposited into the ODPS table for downstream use.
current limiting protection
In terms of current limiting, we use a multi-layer current limiting mechanism. The ingress link current limit is as large as possible, and the business current limit is as accurate as possible. During the current limit, the degraded disaster recovery link is used to show the basic configuration content:
Ingress current limit: Aserver current limit, Sentinel ingress current limit, Noah current limit
Business current limiting: channel-level current limiting, business-level current limiting, downstream service current limiting
In addition, the service flow limit can accept the dynamic configuration of the switch, because the business is still iterating efficiently, and the traffic changes very fast (compared with the beginning of the fiscal year, our traffic has increased by more than 20 times), so the dynamic configuration of the service flow limit through the switch, in the occurrence During real-time early warning, the current limit allocation can be adjusted conveniently to ensure the dynamic allocation of machine resources and capacity.
Downgrade disaster recovery
For businesses under all channels, when configuring online activities, you must configure a bottom line activity; the content of this activity will be enabled when some online traffic limit scenarios, downstream service exceptions, and hit activity configuration exceptions are activated, and the basic available data for users can be returned efficiently and quickly. Guarantee user experience in abnormal scenarios.
future outlook
[Business Dimension], moving towards business solutions for complex scenarios, by opening up resources inside and outside the terminal, providing a global access solution for the business, improving the effect of business transformation, and reducing the cost of business connection;
End-out -> End-in: The main focus is the integration of tension and support, out-of-end access (manufacturer channels, PUSH), and end-in acceptance (POP, fixed pit positions)
Example: iOS search puts keywords, and after users search on the system and click on the input terminal, specific channel benefits can be issued
Intra-device -> Out-device: Mainly focus on business extension, based on the behavior and operation of the user terminal, add the ability to reach outside the terminal
For example: the user enters the gold panning coin in the terminal, pops up the POP guide to add the gold panning coin widget;
For example: In the search and browsing behavior of users in the terminal, the product information of interest can be directly written into the system search, bringing new traffic increments;
[Technical Dimension] We will continue to expand new channels and dig deep into existing channels around the manufacturer's ecology and user experience, build content acceptance strategies and experience management and control solutions, and create a multi-channel/experience-guaranteed/high-conversion device-cloud integrated vendor touch up to the engine.
Client: Explore more features of manufacturers/systems, cooperate with manufacturers in depth, combine core technologies such as low power consumption and keep alive, and bring more touch increments
Platform side: Enrich content supply, improve acceptance strategy, experience management and control, improve traffic conversion efficiency and guarantee user experience, and achieve sustainable development.
team introduction
We are the Taobao terminal platform experience technology team. We support Taobao, Tmall core e-commerce, Xianyu, Diantao and other innovative businesses, serving 900 million users, and as the core technology team, we support the Double Eleven shopping carnival every year. Provide basic technical support. We have profound Android and iOS system technology accumulation, have the world's largest e-commerce scene and first-class mobile technology platform, and create industry-leading technology products, covering dual-end architecture, performance optimization, APP framework, observable technology, high performance Work in key areas such as middleware, user growth & platform access, privacy compliance, etc., and is committed to exploring cutting-edge technologies in mobile terminal systems and vendor ecosystems, and continues to accumulate leading and general-purpose technology products in the mobile field.
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