How Do Consumers Use WeChat?

In the western world, there are numerous social media apps and platforms for us to use, and the functions and consumers are spread out across numerous apps. You will find a different audience on Facebook (75.6% of millennials), Instagram (43.1% of millennials), Snapchat (32.9% of millennials), Pinterest (81% of users are female). Each platform also offers slightly different functions, and the Chinese have managed to consolidate, social, business services, and e-commerce into one with the popular WeChat social media platform. 

Looking at the diagram above, you can see how a consumer uses WeChat in their day to day. An average active user checks WeChat 10 times per day, and the in-app activities range from checking messages from friends, group chat, sharing work documents, to purchasing food, groceries, hailing a taxi, and even splitting dinner expenses amongst friends. The app's functions are seamlessly integrated into the consumer's daily lives, making them heavily reliant on the app. For WeChat users, it's worse to forget your phone than to forget your wallet!

While in North America you can find one users on several different social apps throughout the day, you will find Chinese consumers to be heavily skewed towards using WeChat; this is the reason why businesses see WeChat as a fundamental component of their marketing strategy. With Subscription and Service type accounts available for business use on the WeChat platform, brands can connect readily with consumers in-app, making it more likely the consumer would visit their WeChat branded accounts and read their news. 

The last thing to note is that users add each other, and follow company brand accounts by scanning a QR code. What you say? QR codes are still in use? Yes! In fact, WeChat is heavily reliant on their in-app QR code scanner. If you have yet to download WeChat to test out its functions, you should do it now so you stop losing out on potential revenue. 

We hope this gives you a basic understanding of how users interact with the WeChat app. Now if you want to find out more about how businesses use WeChat, visit our blog posts on this topic.