WeChat Mini Programs - What are they and do you need one?

Just because a platform is popular, doesn’t mean it makes sense for your company or brand. Along a similar vein, not all the tools and functions on a platform would be applicable for your brand. Today we explore whether you should be considering adding a WeChat Mini Program to your arsenal of WeChat marketing tools. Below are some of the frequently asked questions we get from our clients regarding WeChat Mini Programs.

WeChat Mini Programs - What are they?

Think of WeChat Mini Programs as websites and customer engagement experiences within the WeChat ecosystem. Once your company has developed a WeChat Mini Program, WeChat users can access them by scanning a QR code (off any surface digital or print).

You can also tie your WeChat Mini Program to your WeChat official account, so when users search for your brand on WeChat, they will see the Mini Programs associated with your WeChat account. Notice that we used a plural noun here, and that’s because you are able to tie more than one WeChat Mini Program to your official account, as many as up to 10 different WeChat Mini Programs can be tied to your official account.

WeChat Mini Programs are custom-coded in a specific coding language, a javaSCript framework developed by Tencent. The coding language for WeChat Mini Programs is wxml and wuss instead of traditional html and css.

Mini Programs needed to be approved by Tencent before going live on the WeChat platform.

How Many WeChat Mini Programs are there?

As of November 2018, it was reported that there are over 1 million WeChat Mini Programs. There are 230 million daily active users and 600 million monthly active users using WeChat mini programs. WeChat has been pushing for the adoption of their mini programs for Ecommerce purposes, which leads to more time being spent within the WeChat ecosystem shopping online, and also more money being transacted using WeChat Pay. While this is a good move to encourage user adoption, usage, and spend, WeChat mini program development still has a high threshold to adoption at the moment because of the custom coding and development time required.

What Types of Mini Programs are There?

Companies develop mini programs for various purposes. For example, Harper’s Bazaar Magazine China has a WeChat mini program to house their digital magazines. Nike has a mini program where users can customize a running / training program. Louis Vuitton has a stoppable mini program for the launch of their neon sneakers. Restaurants have mini programs that lets you order and pay or even reserve a spot in the table lineup. Depending on what your company’s needs are, mini programs can be educational, engagement-focused or sales-oriented.

How Can We Use WeChat Mini Programs For Business Transactions?

If you have a WeChat Pay account set up for your company, then you can associate it with your WeChat Mini Programs to take payment. Let’s go through a simple user flow. If the user goes through your catalogue, puts three items into the cart, and then clicks on check-out within the mini program, the user will be prompted to pay using WeChat Pay, which they can activate and confirm with a payment password or a Face ID (on Apple devices). Payments using WeChat Pay in mini programs are seamless and quick. The purchase order information and the payment details can be linked to your point of sales system so your central system receives the information required to process the order.

How Long Does it Take to Develop a WeChat Mini Program?

This is the same as asking how long it takes to develop a website. It depends on what you want the website to do(!) if you are looking for a simple informational website, then it will be much quicker than a website with Ecommerce functionalities. The development cycle also depends on how fast your internal team can provide feedback on the UI design, functionality testing and debugging process. A ballpark amount of time it takes to develop a mini program would be 4-6 months.

Is There Maintenance and Upkeep Required for WeChat Mini Programs?

Yes…and no. If you want your mini program to keep up with the times, you will want to incorporate new functions as they are made available, or even to update the look and feel as design standards change over time. Otherwise, your maintenance cost may be to fix bugs that arise.

So should you explore building a WeChat mini program for your brand? The answer lies in, do you have a sizeable and profitable customer segment on WeChat? WeChat users are often not active on English social platforms, or they may only have WeChat Pay as a key payment method (if they are new immigrants that have yet to build up enough credit to get a credit card). In this case, yes it will make sense for you to reach this new customer segment for your business by building an Ecommerce solution using WeChat mini programs.

WeChat mini programs are a more flexible and creative way for you to reach users on WeChat, versus simply publishing organic articles on your WeChat official account. However, developing an Ecommerce solution on WeChat is just the first step, figuring out how to market your WeChat Mini Program so that people are aware of it and make purchases on it is the key next step.

Our team is able to assist you from start to finish, so contact us today if you think WeChat mini programs have great potential for your business but you would rather outsource the task to a team of specialists. We are here to help! Contact us at info@catalystagents.com today for a free consultation.

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