Demand analysis is an important part of the product manager's work. For B-side product managers, because of the particularity of the business, demand analysis tests the product manager's basic abilities, such as the ability to restore business research in scenarios, and the ability to conduct business research in demand value analysis. Definition of value, etc.
Most of the product demands of B-side manufacturers come from real scenarios on the business side. Customers are God and there are no false demands. Most product managers complain that they are just porters of demands. Dealing with requirements is relatively passive. In most cases, after receiving the requirements, we directly do it in order to catch up with the progress of the project. The pace seems tight, but in fact it often backfires. A feature is patched over and over again. Finding the source is often due to requirement analysis. Deviations occur, and the following problems exist in the B-end product demand analysis:
1. No need analysis
B-end products cannot create demand. Most of the demand comes from business problems generated by customers' actual work. Product managers lack the ability to understand the corresponding industry background and business links. After receiving the demand, they have no idea what to do and have so many ideas that they don’t know where to start thinking;
2. Accept all without analysis
It is difficult for product managers to put themselves in the shoes of users and understand the real needs of users. They cannot judge whether the needs are in line with real business scenarios. They fully accept the needs arranged by the leadership and directly copy the functions of competing products. The functions are not in line with the business scenarios and the use of the functions is tasteless. ;
3. Don’t know how to prioritize requirements
There are too many personalized demands from different customers, and I rush to do it as soon as the demands come. I don’t know how to judge the priority of demands, and the development plan is delayed every day;
The B-end product business chain is long, and the closed loop cannot be completed without any necessary scenario. If the product manager does not have the ability to fully understand the business chain and understand the value of demand, it will be difficult to conduct accurate demand analysis. If we don’t have a deep business background and the ability to think across all closed loops, don’t worry. We can start from several aspects at work, whether it is analysis of new business requirements or analysis of requirements for small patches:
l The first stage: return to the business scenario and sort out the scenario requirements list;
l The second stage: learn to use competing products and improve demand analysis;
l The third stage: clarify the value of needs and determine the priority of needs;
Return to the business scenario and sort out the scenario requirements list
1. Return to business scenario
B-side products face enterprise-level users, and to some extent they solve their work problems. B-side products cannot create scenarios, but can only restore them. We need a lot of research and analysis to find out the real problems in the other party's business scenarios. . If the collected information is incomplete and the online function cannot be delivered for use, it will be reworked, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Example: Demand-Add stored-value card to payment method
Customer research needs: What are the special requirements for stored-value cards as a payment method? The business side will say: I think xx can be paid with a stored-value card. You can choose which one to pay. Or if there is money in the stored-value card, it is convenient for users to pay. If it is convenient for users, the repurchase rate will be high.
It was reasonable and the needs were clear. After such research, the product manager started to draw prototypes. The function of adding stored-value cards for payment was launched and received a lot of negative feedback. It turns out that many users will buy multiple discounted stored-value cards. They cannot use multiple cards when paying and can only choose one. Single use, ignoring usage rules.
In real scenarios, many users purchase multiple stored-value cards in order to enjoy more discounts when paying. However, only one stored-value card can be used for an order during payment. Users are very confused and disgusted with this approach. The business side receives many customers. After complaining, the business side realized the problem and required that the multi-card payment function must be launched online urgently. At this time, the product manager was also very aggrieved. It was clearly based on demand, but why the online effect was so poor.
Why does such a problem occur?
The product manager is divorced from the actual scenario during demand research. Before drawing prototypes and writing documents, the product manager does not return to the scenario, carefully observe, and think about what the actual situation faced by users is like. In the research, it is necessary to clarify which users in the business scenario are in what motivation in what environment, what actions are taken to achieve what purpose, and the five elements restore the scenario.
For example: Xiao Li (user) bought a stored-value card (environment) during a store celebration. A single card with a face value of 500 yuan only cost 400 yuan after a discount. So it cost 800 yuan to buy two stored-value cards with a face value of 500 yuan (timing). Xiao Li went The total amount of goods purchased in the store is 1,000 yuan. He happened to have 2 stored-value cards with a face value of 500 to pay for the order. He actually paid 800 yuan to purchase a total of 1,000 yuan of goods (using action). Xiao Li calculated the following and used 2 stored-value cards in total. The discount of 200 yuan is very cost-effective (purpose).
It is not enough for product managers to have the ability to return to scenarios. The business chain of B-end products is long, and the loop cannot be closed without any necessary scenario. B-end product managers also need to have the ability to sort out all scenarios in the chain. How to sort out all scenarios? The scenario requirements list is a collection of requirements after splitting scenarios under the business chain, helping us break down business barriers and sort out the business requirements of all scenarios.
2. Sort out the scenario requirements list
Based on extensive research, analysis, and verification of the business, we find relevant steps/processes, restore the representative scenarios of each process based on the process, and dismantle the requirements. Sorting out the scenario requirement list helps us sort out the relationship between all scenarios in the business chain and avoid omitting closed-loop scenarios that affect the business. Simply put, it can be implemented in the following three steps:
1. Sort out the complete business process
2. Classify individual business scenarios into processes
3. Dismantle requirements based on scenarios
(1) Sort out the complete business process
Sort out the flow chart that is consistent with the actual business. A complete and clear flow chart can help us fully understand the business links, clarify which roles solve what problems at different stages, and what branch processes are generated to support the business system. In product design Keep the business loop as close as possible.
Example: Overview of the core business processes of stored-value cards
Adding a stored-value card to the payment method is only a core part of the stored-value card business. The core process of a stored-value card is: create a stored-value card - activate the stored-value card - use the stored-value card, such as:
(2) Classify individual business scenarios into processes
B-side demand scenarios come from the business side, and the business side's needs vary widely. If they are not classified, the more scattered scenarios there are, the more functions that meet the needs will continue to be superimposed, and the functions will become more complex. Restore the scenarios and collect them into processes. The complete business process is like a skeleton that can connect multiple scenarios to form structured information.
For example, scenario 1 of activating a stored-value card in the stored-value card business: Xiao Li purchases a stored-value card online and gives it to a friend as a birthday gift. After receiving it, the friend purchases 2 items in an offline store;
Scenario 2: Xiaoli’s company issues 2 stored-value cards for year-end benefits, and after activation, orders are placed in the online mall;
The seemingly different scenarios can be classified into two processes: purchasing a card and using the card. (Scenario 2: Activating the card will generate a purchase card order with an order amount of 0)
(3) Dismantle user needs based on scenarios
Each step in the business process can represent a branch scenario. Each scenario contains different users, environment, timing, actions, and purposes. When each element changes, the business requirements will also be different. Based on the scenario, the user's needs are disassembled.
For example: in the card production stage of stored-value cards, users and purposes change and their needs are different.
Scenario 1: Anniversary store sales staff make a batch of stored-value cards with a face value of 100-1,000 yuan for sale at a 20% discount, and submit them for financial review before they can be put on the shelves for online membership purchases.
Scenario 2: Make physical stored-value cards with face values of 500 and 1,000 yuan at a 40% discount and issue them as employee benefits at the end of the year. Only after they are submitted for financial review can they be exported in batches and made into physical cards.
Disassembly requirements:
1) Business personnel
·Set the basic information of the stored-value card;
· Card printing management;
· Submit financial review;
· Encrypted batch export to create physical card numbers and card passwords.
2) Financial staff: review entity stored value card information
Taking this as an example, new businesses can sort out the scenario requirements list according to the above steps. When the product enters iteration, the business scenarios can also be restored first, the scenarios can be re-categorized, and the scenario requirement list can be sorted out according to the new classification logic. Obtain requirements through research, regression scenarios, and sorting out scenario lists. The requirements analysis process is a process of continuous research-analysis-verification. How do we judge that the results of research and verification are correct? Competitive product analysis can help us solve such problems.
Learn to use competing products and improve demand analysis
The prerequisite for sorting out business processes and restoring business scenarios is to do a lot of user research. During the user research process, competitive product analysis is always carried out. Competitive product analysis not only helps us verify the authenticity of the demand, but also helps us sort out the entire scenario. First, clarify the competitive analysis. the goal of;
1. The purpose of competitive product analysis
The purpose of competitive product analysis is not to copy the functions of competing products once and for all, but through competitive product analysis it can help us break the restrictions of business barriers and obtain more reasonable analysis results, verify the market value of demand, and more completely supplement the restoration scenarios. The needs derived from the analysis are more reasonable in terms of conversion function and better user experience.
for example:
Business needs increase the payment method of stored-value cards. During the demand survey, it was found that there are many forms of selling stored-value cards to store value, including recharging with member accounts and purchasing stored-value cards and binding membership numbers. The two most common forms are to store value in two ways. Competitive product analysis concluded that the purchased stored-value card can be tied to a membership number for personal use or as a gift to a friend, or it can be made into a physical card for offline gifting. The product form is more flexible, and users of this type of stored-value card are more popular in the market. . Members can purchase a variety of stored-value cards at one time to better meet business needs and the product value is higher.
2. Choose competing products
When choosing competitive product analysis, you can choose to analyze direct competitive products that are highly similar to the core user group. You should also choose product analysis that has similar product functional modules and service processes. By studying the functions of different competing products, you can restore the scene with a finer granularity. This will help sort out the entire scenario in the chain; for example, if you purchase a stored-value card in the stored-value card business, there will be an advance payment (actually a liability), and the use of the stored-value card will generate opening and closing amounts, which belong to FMS financial management knowledge. You need to choose financial competing products to supplement your stored-value card summary reporting needs.
Clarify the value of needs and learn to determine the priority of needs
1. Clarify the demand value
B-end product value is divided into two categories: the product commercial value generated by the cost that customers pay for the product or service, and the user value brought by the product/service meeting the user's needs. Products/services that meet user needs bring user value, and user value further contributes to business value.
product commercial value
Bringing revenue, whether it can promote customer signing, influence customer renewal, collect more data, etc. are the commercial value of the product, such as:
· Long-term value: social value, cost value
· Benefit value: sales cost, R&D cost
· Business value: acquiring customers, increasing activity, and retaining customers
user value
Providing a business closed loop is consistent with the usage logic; bringing user experience values such as pleasure, happiness, and privacy to users; utility values such as convenience, security, and economy are the user values of the product, such as:
· User growth: such as customer operations, sales channels, marketing activities, data reports
· Experience value: merchant needs, customer service consultation, certification process
· Operation and management efficiency: employee management, product management, financial statements
Example :
Customers purchase the stored-value card function, that is, the stored-value card generates commercial value. Why do users purchase the stored-value card function? The stored-value card function meets the needs of users to collect funds and brings value to users. Different needs in the entire business chain bring value that satisfies different users; satisfying user value also promotes the commercial value of the product.
For example: the value corresponding to the needs of stored-value card users. Meeting the needs brings user value and thereby promotes product value.
B-end product demand judgment: must be done to meet the commercial value of the product and meet the user value. If there is no user value, no matter how big the commercial value is, it cannot be done. If there is user value but the commercial value is very low, the demand needs to be carefully considered and it can be left alone for the time being.
2. Determine the priority of multiple requirements
The Kano model determines the priority of requirements and simply divides the Kano model into three categories: basic type, expectation type, and excitement type;
Basic type: Indispensable in business processes, the basic function that closes the business loop.
For example: using discounted stored-value card deduction rules, the stored-value card can be used as a method of combined payment.
Expectation type:
On top of meeting user needs, we can further improve user efficiency or help contribute to revenue.
For example: giving coupons when purchasing stored-value cards helps users acquire customers, and adding stored-value card sales data analysis on the backend helps users improve management efficiency.
Exciting type: Focus on user experience needs.
For example: SMS reminder requirements for stored-value card deductions.
3. Principles for prioritizing different types of requirements
· Basic type: There is no priority for basic class requirements
· Expectation type: Priority is given to business value, and other needs are evaluated for the impact of user utility value;
· Exciting type: Priority is given to those with commercial value, and other needs are evaluated for the impact of user experience value;
Determine the value of requirements and learn the Kano model to determine the priority of requirements. This helps us analyze requirements with ease, sort out the requirements with clear goals, help us reasonably coordinate development resources, and ensure the orderly progress of the project.
Summarize
From restoring business scenarios, sorting out the list of business scenarios to determining demand priorities, after completing the steps of demand analysis, I suddenly discovered that the B-side business is special. The demand analysis still tests the basic capabilities of the product manager, such as the ability to conduct business research and demand value in the restore scenario. Definition of value in analysis, etc.