novelslam Chapter 46 Crowd Management
Chapter 46 Crowd Management
Lin Mu explained in detail: "This is the connection between mindset and people. I think that people who are willing to buy vacuum sealing machines are a very small group. They have certain requirements for their quality of life and have spare money. These people pursue a certain style in life, so high-priced imported coffee beans must suit their taste. Judging from the actual data, my guess was correct."
After Lin Mu finished sharing, on the other side of the computer screen, many insightful colleagues seemed to have grasped something, while those with less insight still didn't understand.
In fact, Lin Mu's logic of association utilizes a concept that became very popular in later generations—audience management. However, delving into this would require a lengthy discussion, so let's leave it at that.
In the department group chat, Fugui asked, "Dayan, these are the products I submitted. Could you take a look and give me some suggestions on how to style them?"
Lin Mu glanced at it casually and said, "Try pairing the yoga mat with this high-priced niche aromatherapy product. Also, I noticed you have a civil service exam practice question category in your product line. That category is fantastic; there are many versatile ways to use it. Have you considered pairing it with niche aromatherapy products, medicated oil, or kneading toys?"
Wang Zaixing is a very perceptive person. As soon as Lin Mu made the suggestion, he understood the underlying logic: people taking the civil service exam are under a lot of pressure, and using medicated oil can help them stay alert. They may not be aware of this need themselves, but after the pop-up notification, they may be able to uncover this need; niche aromatherapy is for calming the nerves, and the massage stick is for relieving stress.
Wang Zaixing even went so far as to ask in the group, "Dayan, I'm thinking, what if we linked civil service exam questions with coffee beans? My logic is that coffee beans can be energizing. The reason I chose coffee beans, not liquid coffee, is because people who can afford to buy civil service exam questions to practice must be relatively well-off, and they have a certain pursuit of quality of life. Promoting liquid coffee wouldn't be a bad idea, but it wouldn't tap into the deeper emotional needs and value behind it. If we promote coffee beans, they'll buy coffee grinders and nice coffee cups on Taobao, which will boost sales."
Lin Mu thought to himself, "This child is teachable."
Fu Gui asked in the group, puzzled, "Da Yan, what's the connection between this yoga mat and niche aromatherapy? I don't understand."
Lin Mu replied in the group: "Think about it from the perspective of user psychology and user group operations. A user buys a yoga mat because they want to calm down and relax, and the vast majority of yoga mat buyers are women. Women are more willing to pay for emotional value. Recommending a niche aromatherapy product to her can provide emotional value, and it will also make her feel more personalized. To put it simply, we are not recommending a simple product combination, but a short break from the high-pressure life of the city."
Wang Zaixing frowned and pondered. The words "user mindset" and "audience operations" flashed through his mind, and a lot of ideas popped up.
"Wonderful, wonderful! No wonder he's a wild goose!" Wang Zaixing exclaimed. "Is this an absolute genius? He can think so deeply on just the first day of the grayscale test, 'Just buying one item on the spur of the moment'."
At this point, the group admin, who is also a colleague from the technical department, said, "Everyone's comments were excellent, especially Comrade Dayan's explanation, which was truly amazing. I'll do some data tracking to capture the purchase rate of various product combinations, so that you can have a reference."
Over the next few days, many colleagues followed Lin Mu's pairing logic and created numerous seemingly unrelated product combinations. Meanwhile, the technical department's data monitoring function was launched to test the effectiveness of Lin Mu's user behavior logic, pain point analysis, and audience management strategy.
At the same time, Lin Mu gave Boss Hu a new suggestion.
He was put in charge of running the Taobao Food Forum, which was at its peak in 2008, with millions of users and over 20 daily active users.
Countless food enthusiasts used to share food pairings and cooking tips on the platform, such as microwaving marshmallows for 15 seconds or how a particular cookie pairs especially well with a certain type of milk. Many businesses also used the food forum for subtle advertising, with considerable success. Later, the Taobao food forum was merged into the overseas shopping section, and its popularity gradually declined.
Getting back to the main point, here's Lin Mu's plan for Boss Gu.
He launched a free order campaign. Every day, as long as users share content related to his bread on food forums—whether it's how to eat the bread, their feelings about eating it, or what kind of milk to pair it with—he selects posts with good data and many comments from the forums and gives the corresponding users a free order.
There are also extra bonus rewards if the user reviews are particularly good.
Boss Gu agreed and would carry out the proposal properly. Lin Mu estimated that, driven by the "buy one on the go" promotion, the daily sales of old-fashioned bread had reached 80 orders; if the food forum was managed well, the daily sales should be able to reach 100 orders.
……
A few days later, a young female office worker named Xiaomei was browsing Taobao. Her needs were clear—her yoga mat was lost, and she needed to buy a new one. Soon, Xiaomei found a pretty pink yoga mat, added it to her shopping cart, and paid for it.
At this point, a small pop-up window appears at the bottom of the payment page, asking: Would you like to purchase a Starry Night Aromatherapy diffuser as well?
Xiao Mei's eyes lit up. This aromatherapy diffuser was exquisitely made; the bottle looked like a starry sky fallen to earth, and its color was a beautiful ruby red. Xiao Mei had never used aromatherapy before. She thought about it and realized that lighting such a diffuser next to her while doing yoga every day would definitely make her feel more cheerful.
She glanced at the price again; 68 yuan a bottle, a bit pricey. But a woman should treat herself well. Xiaomei gritted her teeth, snapped a picture of the aromatherapy diffuser, and waited for it to arrive in a few days.
……
Xiao Guo is a civil service exam candidate. After graduation, he didn't want to go to work because he felt that working outside was too hard. So, he listened to his parents' advice and prepared to take the exam to enter the system.
Today marks the second month of his formal preparation for the civil service exam. Having already finished all the exam questions he could find, Xiao Guo thought of the all-powerful Taobao.
Driven by curiosity, he searched for civil service exam past papers on Taobao, and what he found was truly amazing. Taobao had a vast collection of past exam papers, categorized by province and city. Xiao Guo located his own mountain city and discovered a considerable number of local past exam papers.
Xiao Guo, not short of money, casually clicked into his shopping cart and spent 100 yuan to buy all the past exam papers in that field. Just then, a payment pop-up appeared with an option to "buy one more item." He glanced at it briefly; it displayed: "Would you like to buy a case of imported Kopi Luwak coffee beans?"
Kopi Luwak beans? Xiao Guo's eyelids twitched. Coffee beans? How did Taobao know him so well? He drank a cup of Nescafé every day while studying for his exams, but lately he was getting tired of it and complained that Nescafé was of poor quality and tasteless. Imported coffee beans should taste better, right?
Xiao Guo fantasized about leisurely brewing a cup of coffee with a hand grinder while he did his homework each day, sipping his coffee as he worked on his problems—this perfectly fulfilled his fantasy of being an urban elite. He took a picture of the coffee beans, then thought: Now that I've bought the coffee beans, I should probably get a hand grinder too, right? And if I have a coffee machine, I can't just use any old bowl from home for the coffee cup, can I?
So, he bought all of these things on a whim. After Xiao Guo finished buying them, he realized he had spent more than 400 yuan. He exclaimed in surprise: "Wow, Taobao really knows what people want!"