Why Is WeChat Hongbao So Hot?

Technological Bases: Going Dutch and Random Algorithm

WeChat Hongbao has a similar logic of the paying mode with going Dutch, which is a service released by Tenpay in December of 2013. Both of them are dealing with the one-to-many relation — going Dutch is one getting money from many and WeChat Pay is many getting money from one.

In fact, the designing team has ever thought about “asking for hongbao” at the beginning, but it may bring about a feeling of resistance to the person who is asked to give hongbao, so it turns to scrambling, which adapts to human mental activities better.

And the different rewards are produced by random algorithm, which is also very familiar to the team. There has been two little interaction games in the early product of WeChat. One is paper-scissors-stone and the other is rolling a dice, which is used to make decisions between friends. This is now applied to WeChat Hongbao so users may get hongbaos with any amount of money even only RMB 0.01 yuan.

More Important: Easy Operation

The biggest difference between WeChat Pay and Alipay is that the former makes everything easy and simple, which is actually decided by the positioning of the product. Alipay is a payment app with various paying functions, while WeChat is at first a social app, and then some simple extended paying services.

The process is quite simple. Hongbao senders just open “New Year Hongbao”, choose the number of hongbaos and the amount of money, enter some wishes, and can send them to friends after paying through WeChat Pay. The receivers open it and get the money, and can withdraw in one day as long as they have a debit card connected with WeChat.

Besides, what users can do about the earnings from WeChat Hongbao is only to withdraw it. In the short term it loses the opportunities to let users get in touch with other service, but it lessens their burdens as a product still in its early period.

The Trump Card: Private Social Network

WeChat Hongbao advantages other hongbao apps mainly because of its enormous private social network. Alipay users usually will not add a friend on their own initiative except for fund transfer while WeChat itself is a communication tool that people use every day, so there is no doubt that WeChat Hongbao will spread faster and further.

In addition, the “scrambling” activity makes WeChat Hongbao more like a game, which is more entertaining and user-friendly than the simple “requiring” activity of Alipay. Limited number of hongbaos stimulates users’ competitiveness, and when they give out hongbaos to others after that they also obtain a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

And Sina Weibo is a public square where everyone can speak, while WeChat is more a salon – you can enter only when you are invited, which explained the difference between their hongbao apps. Weibo Hongbao is like a marketing activity, which propels the users to interact, but the users are reluctant to participate in because their relationships are not private. In WeChat, however, users are more willing to share because it is based on their trust between each other.

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Hongbao, a Chinese traditional custom during the Lunar New Year, is a “red pocket” filled with paper money given by the elders to children and young people, or by employers to employees. Recently Tencent’s WeChat, Sina Weibo and Alibaba’s Alipay all launched their hongbao apps, but only WeChat Hongbao achieved great success and meanwhile has contributed significantly to a sharp increase in WeChat Pay users, who not only enjoy the interaction with friends very much but also gain real financial rewards through the process of giving out and getting virtual tiny red pockets.

But how could it be so hot?

Technological Bases: Going Dutch and Random Algorithm

WeChat Hongbao has a similar logic of the paying mode with going Dutch, which is a service released by Tenpay in December of 2013. Both of them are dealing with the one-to-many relation — going Dutch is one getting money from many and WeChat Pay is many getting money from one.

In fact, the designing team has ever thought about “asking for hongbao” at the beginning, but it may bring about a feeling of resistance to the person who is asked to give hongbao, so it turns to scrambling, which adapts to human mental activities better.

And the different rewards are produced by random algorithm, which is also very familiar to the team. There has been two little interaction games in the early product of WeChat. One is paper-scissors-stone and the other is rolling a dice, which is used to make decisions between friends. This is now applied to WeChat Hongbao so users may get hongbaos with any amount of money even only RMB 0.01 yuan.

More Important: Easy Operation

The biggest difference between WeChat Pay and Alipay is that the former makes everything easy and simple, which is actually decided by the positioning of the product. Alipay is a payment app with various paying functions, while WeChat is at first a social app, and then some simple extended paying services.

The process is quite simple. Hongbao senders just open “New Year Hongbao”, choose the number of hongbaos and the amount of money, enter some wishes, and can send them to friends after paying through WeChat Pay. The receivers open it and get the money, and can withdraw in one day as long as they have a debit card connected with WeChat.

Besides, what users can do about the earnings from WeChat Hongbao is only to withdraw it. In the short term it loses the opportunities to let users get in touch with other service, but it lessens their burdens as a product still in its early period.

The Trump Card: Private Social Network

WeChat Hongbao advantages other hongbao apps mainly because of its enormous private social network. Alipay users usually will not add a friend on their own initiative except for fund transfer while WeChat itself is a communication tool that people use every day, so there is no doubt that WeChat Hongbao will spread faster and further.

In addition, the “scrambling” activity makes WeChat Hongbao more like a game, which is more entertaining and user-friendly than the simple “requiring” activity of Alipay. Limited number of hongbaos stimulates users’ competitiveness, and when they give out hongbaos to others after that they also obtain a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

And Sina Weibo is a public square where everyone can speak, while WeChat is more a salon – you can enter only when you are invited, which explained the difference between their hongbao apps. Weibo Hongbao is like a marketing activity, which propels the users to interact, but the users are reluctant to participate in because their relationships are not private. In WeChat, however, users are more willing to share because it is based on their trust between each other.