6 Product Lessons From TikTok
TikTok is the new, shiny kid in the social media block. All of you probably have heard or seen some of their videos if not directly on TikTok maybe on another your favorite social app.
In case you haven’t, TikTok is basically a mobile app used to create short dance, lip-sync, comedy and talent videos. Think of it like instagram or pinterest for short videos. Founded in 2012, TikTok was an instant hit. They reached 1 Billion users quicker than anyone else in the history of social media
And so the obvious billion-dollar question is: What makes TikTok so addictive? In this post, I have tried to call out some of the smartest #product wins that are behind the unprecedented rise of TikTok.
Product as the growth driver
While it takes more than a village to launch a great product, the biggest secret of TikTok’s phenomenal growth is their product itself, which has out-done giants like Instagram and Facebook even in terms of user engagement.
Here are 6 of their smartest product innovations that have made TikTok go viral:
- Immersive on-boarding: No signups! TikTok creates a shadow profile based on your device id. In fact, most active users on TikTok don’t have accounts. One might think an email is something everyone has access to, but sub-urban and rural population in countries like India do not have emails. So, a no-signup on-boarding allowed all these users to get started with TikTok without any friction.
- Easy video creation with cool effects: All you need is your smartphone. The app has all the tools to edit and magically ‘transform’ your video to professional quality. Compare this to YouTube where you need expensive video editing tools, studio, or even a team of video experts.
- Bite-sized content: Over the last decade, we have seen a monumental behavioral shift among mobile users towards low “attention span”. Users want to feel good (about themselves if possible) and do so as quickly as possible. Short-form videos are the perfect solution for this new ever-busy, ego-centric consumer world.
- NO searchability: While all those product 101 courses will unanimously preach that we need to segment our customers and give them what they exactly are looking for. TikTok decided that it won’t allow its customers to search for what they exactly want. Instead, they designed a product where user doesn’t have to think about what to watch next. Subtracting the search feature is actually a big plus for users who just want to sit back and enjoy. (P.S. Amazon maybe you should consider removing the search functionality too if you cannot render better search results)
- AI at the core: Removing the search functionality meant a higher onus on the product to recommend videos that the user is more likely to enjoy. And that’s where TikTok’s exceeds all expectations. TikTok’s feed is algorithmically generated, that adapts to your preferences as you scroll, giving you an instant dopamine rush (the feel-good hormone). This makes the app highly engaging and keeps users coming back to it.
- Growth hacks: One-click video sharing to any platform made word of mouth all the more easy. Shared videos have TikTok logo watermark, which reinforces brand awareness. Sometimes, the shared video has a play button, clicking which will take the user to App Store which influences new downloads. An excellent example of product-led growth.
There are some great product lessons in there. Can these learnings be applied to other industries as well? Anything I missed? Please let me know in the comments.
