"Buy 1 get 18" "Interoperability of rights and interests", cross-platform and cross-field joint members bloom everywhere

　　Members "sell in a package", buying a lot cheaper is not easy to account for

　　Our reporter Wang Weiyan

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　　For a period of time, under the pressure of customer acquisition, the "package sale" model of Internet corporate members has gradually become popular, and the number of joint members has become larger and larger, but the shrinkage of some member rights has caused user dissatisfaction.

Experts believe that the platform wants to use the group strategy to retain users and continue to provide users with value is the key.

　　For a period of time, "joint members" with preferential prices and "buy one more" have blossomed all over the Internet, becoming a new method of "pull new" for Internet companies, and major platforms have joined the "team battle".

　　Different platform members are sold in a packaged form, which is a new attempt to open up the consumption scene between platforms and upgrade the user experience.

However, behind the enthusiasm for "marriage" of various platforms, there are also concerns about weak new user growth and increased customer acquisition costs.

After packaging, some platform members cannot use it, and some member rights "shrink", which has attracted many users' complaints.

Platform Baotuan low price "pull new"

　　"In the beginning, it was to unlock new dramas and skip advertisements." "Online shopping can be free shipping and discounts."

Tian Ge, who works for a media company in Beijing, is a veteran "paying party". She has long bought members of 4 video platforms, 3 shopping platforms, 2 audio platforms, and 1 food delivery platform.

But this year, because some members purchased through joint membership, Tian Ge is now a member of 17 platforms.

　　From single-handed fights to group "renewal", cross-platform and cross-ecological joint membership has become a common "play" for Internet platforms to dig into the value of paid members.

　　The reporter combed and found that in April 2018, the membership rights of JD and iQiyi were officially exchanged.

In July of the same year, the two parties launched a joint annual membership card as low as 89 yuan.

Subsequently, B-Station, Zhihu, Alibaba and other platforms have launched joint memberships, and the membership-bundling model has become popular, and low prices and "buy more" have become the main selling points of many companies.

　　In August of this year, an audio platform launched a packaged product "Buy 1 Get 13" for members at the "Members Love Day" event.

During the event, Android users only need to spend 218 yuan for the annual membership card price of the platform to receive 13 various platform membership services worth 1963 yuan, including VIP annual cards for 2 video platforms and monthly membership cards for 1 video platform. Cards, annual membership cards of 2 shopping platforms, etc.

　　Earlier, an e-commerce platform even launched a "buy 1 get 18" member super co-branded card, and even an e-commerce platform claimed that VIP cooperation brands had been upgraded to 400.

　　According to industry analysts, the frequent “offensive” of joint members is to cater to users’ pursuit of “cost-effectiveness”, allowing users to gain a psychological feeling of “no loss in blood”, and to complete the cultivation of consumers’ “paying habits”. to make.

Is it really "fragrance" to buy one?

　　Seemingly "blood earning" joint members are "scented or not", what is the gold content of member services?

The reporter combed and found that this kind of "buy one more" joint membership is usually launched at a specific promotion node. The joint membership rights require users to actively receive and activate, and there is a fixed time limit.

　　Take the member "Buy 1 Get 13" campaign launched by an audio platform as an example. It can be purchased only on August 18th. Users do not automatically become members of 13 platforms after paying a single payment, but need to receive the joint within 15 days. Member rights, overdue, will be deemed to be automatically waived.

　　"Actually, there are only two or three I want to buy, but a dozen or so members are squeezed in at once, and there are even members who listen to stories for children. It is completely useless." Tian Ge said that the "basket" of joint members is getting bigger and bigger. "But the useful content has not changed.

　　In addition to circling more platforms, there are also some Internet companies who have thought about "time".

Not long ago, a video platform launched the "Ten Year Membership" with a time limit of 1398 yuan.

　　Chen Shuai, who has bought members of the platform for a long time, calculated an account for reporters: 1398 yuan for 10 years, less than 140 yuan per year, and less than 12 yuan per month.

It looks cheap, but it's not very attractive compared to the platform's continuous monthly subscription of 15 yuan.

"More importantly, in 10 years, will this platform still exist?" Chen Shuai worried that it would become "leeks" after purchase.

　　During the interview, many consumers complained to reporters: members are selling more and more happily, but the rights of members are getting worse.

　　“Members can skip the introductory advertisement, but they didn’t expect that there will be a'member-only advertisement' in the movie. Anyway, they can’t avoid the advertisement.” Dong Qian, a veteran VIP user of a video website, told reporters, “After becoming an ordinary member, there will be Silver members and Star Diamond members must continue to spend money if they want to upgrade their membership rights. The threshold for enjoying membership rights is getting higher and higher."

Exploit the long-term value of member "marriage"

　　"Behind the enthusiasm for'marriage' is the platform's anxiety about the lack of new user growth and the rising cost of new users." Lai Yang, executive vice president of the Beijing Business Economics Association, said that in this platform "traffic team battle", new users increased Staying with old users is the focus of the competition.

　　According to his analysis, different types of platforms have jointly opened up the consumption scene, especially some non-head platforms. With the help of the power of the head platform, it is possible to quickly "acquire customers" at low cost.

　　But the membership business is not a "one-shot deal."

Lai Yang said that whether the joint membership can form long-term value basically depends on whether the platform can continue to provide users with value, otherwise it may only attract "zombie" users and will not continue to renew.

　　Regarding some video sites setting up "member-only advertisements" and other issues that have led to the shrinking of membership rights, Ma Jingjing, a lawyer at Beijing Daocheng Law Firm, believes that this violates the legitimate rights and interests of consumers to a certain extent.

　　Reporters logged on to a number of video platforms and found that some platforms used the icon of "no ads" or the expression "high-definition pure movie viewing experience" in the promotion of member privileges.

However, in the terms of the membership service agreement, the "advertising privilege" is limited to only reducing the duration of the patch advertisement.

　　Ma Jingjing explained that the membership service agreements of video platforms are mostly format contracts.

According to the "Contract Law", if there is a clause in the standard contract that obviously aggravates the other party's liability, reduces and exempts one's own liability, then the clause should be deemed invalid and has no legal effect.

Video websites should fully protect consumers' right to know, independent choice and fair transaction rights when setting up advertisements.

However, in reality, due to the cost of rights protection, most users can only be at the mercy of the platform.