Product Experience Report： The Elf on the Wrist-mi band 4

This article is mi band’s product experience report, which mainly focuses on the following aspects: product analysis, functional experience, operation strategy and competing product analysis, etc. It is a product experience report with clear and complete ideas to share with you.

This experience report mainly includes two purposes: first, deeply experience mi band and Xiaomi Sports APP, and systematically understand the functions of mainstream bracelets; Secondly, by thinking about the existing function of the bracelet, we explore the needs and significance behind the function and improve our product perception.

According to IDC monitoring data, from 2012 to 2018, global wearable device shipments showed a rapid growth trend. In the fourth quarter of 2018, global wearable device shipments were 59.3 million units, a year-on-year increase of 31.4%. In 2018, global wearable device shipments reached 172.2 million units, a year-on-year increase of 27.5%.

According to IDC’s forecast, the shipment of smart bracelets in 2019 is expected to be 54.2 million, accounting for 24.3% of the annual market. In the next five years, this market will maintain a state of no increase or decrease. By 2023, there will be 55 million smart bracelets in the world, accounting for 18.2% of the overall market, with a compound growth rate of about 0.3% in five years.

Although the growth rate of smart bracelets has slowed down, we can see that many bracelet manufacturers are taking advantage of low price and portability to make this product shine in specific industry applications.

A smart wearable device with outstanding endurance, which provides users with services such as sports record, health data management and mobile phone message synchronization, not only meets the needs of mass users for health data management and mobile phone message synchronization, but also meets the needs of users who love sports to record and share sports conditions.

According to the crowd portrait of Baidu Index, among the users in mi band,There are more male users, accounting for 69.11% of the total users, which is caused by the obvious difference in the cognition of cost performance between male users and female users. Xiaomi’s high cost performance comes from more competitive parameters at the same price, while the audience of equipment parameters is mainly male users.

Judging from the age distribution of users,The age group of users is mainly between 17 and 35 years old., including young students and office workers. This group of people has the characteristics of great economic pressure, long-term sedentary and love of sports.

According to the regional popularity of users, users in mi band are mainly distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities, followed by Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu. In generalUsers are mainly concentrated in first-tier cities and new first-tier cities.Users in these cities have a high degree of acceptance of science and technology products and are willing to pay for improving their quality of life.

Imagine the following typical user scenarios according to the target users:

Scene 1:

• Target user: male, post-90 s, office worker, coordinates of Beishangguang. The source of income is salary, which is mainly used for rent, daily expenses and friends’ entertainment expenses. Busy with work on weekdays, commuting to home and company at two o’clock and one line, without too much spare time.
• Typical usage scenario: NFC and Alipay payment functions were opened at the first time after getting the bracelet. Every morning and evening, you don’t have to take out your mobile phone and badge when you rush to the subway, punch in at work and buy food at noon. You can just use your bracelet to swipe your card and pay, which improves the convenience of life.

Scene 2:

• Target users: male, born in 1990s, college students, in first-and second-tier cities. The monthly living source is mainly the living expenses given by parents, pursuing cost performance, loving electronic products and sports, and relaxing by running and swimming when there is no class.
• Typical usage scenario: The mobile phone is not easy to carry when exercising, and it often interferes with one’s own exercise. Therefore, mi band, who has a relatively high price, is bought to record one’s exercise data, so as to understand the details of one’s exercise and conduct more targeted training.

Scene 3:

• Target users: male, born after 1985, rice noodles, first-tier cities. The source of income is the salary at work, and both husband and wife share the mortgage and family daily expenses. At the same time of careful calculation, we pursue the quality of life. There are many Mijia smart homes such as humidifiers, sweeping robots and chandeliers at home.
• Typical usage scenario: Before going to bed at night, I found that the room was very dry and forgot to turn on the humidifier in the bedroom. At the same time, the chandelier in the bedroom was not turned on. At this time, I was sleepy and didn’t want to get out of bed, so I woke up Xiaoai, a classmate with a bracelet, to turn on the humidifier remotely and turn off the chandelier to create a comfortable sleeping environment.

Scene 4:

• Target users: female, post-90s, college students, first-tier cities. I like shopping and taking photos at ordinary times, and I am keen on some cute little things with a sense of technology. I am used to watching the time with my watch.
• Typical usage scenario: I am used to watching time with a watch, and I know that Xiaomi 4 bracelet has not only the function of watching time, but also the function of message synchronization and NFC, so I successfully pulled out the Xiaomi 4 bracelet with colorful wristbands. After purchase, I am very interested in the cartoon theme of the dial in addition to the daily time watching and message synchronization functions, and will change the theme of the dial from time to time.

According to KANO Kano model, the functions that meet the basic needs of users are listed as basic functions, and the functions that meet the expected and exciting needs of users are listed as characteristic functions.

Mi band’s sports data records cover outdoor running, indoor running, cycling, walking, exercise, swimming and other sports modes. This experience analysis takes the most common outdoor running as the main experience scene, and describes the functional details of different stages according to the processes before, during and after running.

(1) Before running

1) Start running records in two ways to meet the needs of differentiated users.

Users can enter the running record function through mi band and Xiaomi Sports APP, which adapts to the running habits of different users.

When the user operates through the bracelet, because the information carried by the bracelet screen is limited, the user needs to slide the menu several times to search step by step. After entering the page, the bracelet will detect the connection and positioning with the mobile phone. After the positioning is successful, the user can confirm and start running.

In contrast, it will be much simpler to operate through Xiaomi Sports APP. Users can directly call up mi band’s running record page by clicking the running page BTN "Go", and can realize multi-terminal recording of bracelets and mobile phones.

2) The running interface has single function.

Xiaomi Sports APP calls the running record path of the bracelet, although it is simple, but the interface function is slightly simple. You can consider adding functions such as warm-up guidance before running, one-click listening to songs, and popular routes.

The warm-up guidance function can help users to complete the pre-run preparation work more professionally and avoid strain; For users who use the running recording function, most of them are long-distance running users, that is, more than 3km. The accompaniment of music can cultivate the rhythm of running, adjust the breathing rhythm, and make the running process no longer lonely; For some users who don’t like simplification and are willing to constantly explore new venues, they can recommend popular routes with their accessories to increase the motivation and interest of running.

(2) Running

1) Automatic pause to optimize the running experience.

When the user starts the running recording function through Xiaomi Sports APP, the user’s current state can be judged according to the user’s pace data. If the user pauses during running, the bracelet will automatically pause the recording. The intelligent pause function helps users to save the operation process of manual pause, so that users can switch between running and midway rest, and at the same time improve the authenticity of bracelet data records.

At present, the automatic pause function is only supported when the running record mode is started by the millet movement on the mobile phone. It may be considered that mi band has no built-in GPS module, and the coverage scenes and terminals of this function can be increased after the follow-up technology is feasible.

2) Pace metronome makes running more professional.

Pace metronome is mainly to meet the needs of professional runners to improve their pace and control their running frequency. This function is mainly transmitted to users through Xiaomi Sports APP. Users need to wear headphones. Users can customize the number of steps and adjust their running speed according to the frequency of beats in headphones.

3) You can’t control the music playing during running.

Most users have the habit of listening to songs while running. When they need to cut songs when they hear songs they don’t like, taking out their mobile phones will interfere with their running process, so it is much more convenient to cut songs with bracelets. However, at present, the running recording function and the music playing control function can not be parallel at the same time, which can not meet the needs of users to cut songs with bracelets when running.

4) The dynamic running information at both ends is not synchronized.

At present, Xiaomi Sports APP can synchronize the static data information of the bracelet users after the end of sports, but the synchronization of dynamic information in sports needs to be strengthened.

When the running record function is turned on in mi band, the running record function of Xiaomi Sports APP will be turned on during running. At this time, the running information of the currently connected bracelet will not be synchronized in Xiaomi Sports APP, but a new running information will be recorded based on the opening time.

(3) After running

1) Provide multiple data analysis dimensions.

Data statistics include the overall statistics according to the time dimension and the detailed statistics of each running record, which are presented in a combination of graphics and words, so that users can understand the detailed information of a certain cycle and a certain exercise at a glance and provide effective information for users to manage their own health. At present, monthly statistics does not support users to find the data statistics of the specified month, and this detailed function needs to be improved.

2) automatically trigger the share button after the screenshot of Xiaomi mobile phone.

When users use the screenshot function of Xiaomi’s mobile phone system, they will generate shared pictures and automatically jump to the sharing page, which is easier for users to share and also improves the exposure of mi band.

3) Post-run stretching course has not been provided yet.

Users will basically stretch after running, but the running page in Xiaomi app does not provide stretching courses. The course of Xiaomi sports is placed in the "course" tab independently, lacking close integration with user behavior.

The bracelet mainly analyzes the sleep state through the body motion recorder, that is, through gravity sensors and sensors to conduct the wearer’s body motion frequency to analyze the sleep state.

(1) Function description

Users can experience the sleep monitoring function when they wear a bracelet to sleep. On the sleep record page of Xiaomi Sports APP, information such as the user’s sleep duration, sleep score, deep sleep and shallow sleep duration, sleep analysis, sleep regularity and sleep analogy of similar users will be provided.

The statistics function at the bottom of the page can show the user’s sleep duration in the form of histogram according to different time periods, so that users can intuitively understand the recent sleep rules.

(2) Functional thinking

Thinking 1: Due to the technical limitations of the bracelet and different personal constitutions, the absolute value data of the best sleep structure is not directly given, but the comparative data of sleep among users is given, so that users can have a clearer positioning of their sleep status;

Thinking 2: Adding today’s feedback function at the bottom of the page is a bright spot. Through the daily feedback of users, the calculation rules of sleep score can be positively corrected, making sleep score more accurate;

Thinking 3: The content of sleep quality analysis is general and lacks pertinence. Considering that it may be limited by existing technology, data and other aspects, with the improvement of hardware equipment, the module will be more intelligent;

Thinking 4: At present, mi band only supports sleep recording at night, but does not support sleep monitoring function during the day. On the one hand, it is speculated that the nap time during the day is short, there are fewer users who fall asleep during the day, and the demand is small; On the other hand, the black-and-white upside-down routine is contrary to the theme of Xiaomi’s healthy life.

(1) Function description

The message synchronization function of mi band allows users to start the message synchronization service of incoming calls, SMS and APP according to their own needs. When the message is received on the message screen of the mobile phone, the bracelet will vibrate to remind users.

This function provides great convenience for users who are inconvenient to check messages when their mobile phones are in their pockets, and users who are used to mute their mobile phones but don’t want to miss important calls.

(2) Functional thinking

Thinking 1: The message synchronization function is comprehensive in details. In the setting options of incoming call reminder function, users can set functions such as delayed reminder and not reminding strange numbers; For the APP notification reminder, the user can choose to remind only when the mobile phone turns off the screen;

Thinking 2: The message synchronization function cooperates with do not disturb mode to improve the intelligence of the bracelet. Do not disturb mode will automatically help the user turn on the do not disturb mode when the user goes to sleep, so as not to synchronize the mobile phone messages and avoid disturbing the user’s sleep;

Thinking 3: For the setting of APP reminder function, it will be more troublesome to slide up and down to find the specified application because there are many mobile phone applications. It is suggested to add a search box or arrange the application order according to the user’s usage time.

(1) Function description

On the premise of keeping the bracelet connected to the APP, you can call out Xiao Ai by swiping the screen right. Limited by the speaker, Xiaoai students will not respond to the instructions by voice, but by text on the screen. Users can command Xiaoai students to inquire about the weather, record sports data, measure heart rate, etc. by voice, and Xiaoai students can also link with Mijia’s smart home to intelligently control the smart home switch.

(2) Functional thinking

Thinking 1: The screen of the bracelet is small, and the user’s operating space is limited. Xiaoai students provide users with a more convenient way to use by voice interaction. At the same time, the smart home is controlled by the bracelet, which not only builds the integrity of Xiaomi’s ecological closed loop, but also builds a core barrier for mi band.

Thinking 2: At present, when Xiao Ai encounters an unrecognized instruction, the user needs to manually return to the main page. It is suggested that when Xiao Ai meets an unrecognized instruction, he should inform it in words on the screen and then return to the main page automatically. Because of the limited recognition accuracy of the bracelet, users often lose patience when they give instructions for many times and fail to get a correct reply. Manual operation by themselves and automatic exit from the main page can simplify the user’s operation path.

(1) Function description

There are two ways for users to set the dial background, which can be set directly on the bracelet or through Xiaomi Sports APP. When setting the dial background on the mi band, users need to slide up and down to view different themes. Touching the dial can complete the setting of favorite themes, and then automatically return to the home page after the theme setting is completed.

The number of dial backgrounds provided on the bracelet is small, in contrast, the dial background in Xiaomi Sports APP is richer and more personalized. When users set the dial background through Xiaomi Sports APP, they can choose an online dial or a custom dial, in which the online dial contains many popular images such as Watch Pioneer, Qin Shimingyue, and My Emperor Wan Shui. The custom dial allows users to upload photo album pictures and set the background.

(2) Functional thinking

Thinking 1: Because dial wearers have different ages, genders and preferences, the function of supporting users to customize the dial background is convenient for users to set their favorite dial themes, which improves the fun and user experience of wearing bracelets. At present, the background of online dial is obtained free of charge. In the future, it may be considered to increase the theme background form and acquisition threshold. For example, 10,000+steps per day can unlock the new dynamic background and integrate different functions more naturally.

Thinking 2: Set the dial background on the bracelet to guide the user to browse the theme up and down. The "↑↓" arrow is a two-dimensional plane static, which is easy to give the user the illusion that he can click, and there is a mistake when browsing the theme. It is suggested to change the arrow to a dynamic or more three-dimensional effect to guide the user’s operation more clearly.

This part will analyze the operation strategy of Xiaomi Sports APP from two aspects: promoting retention and realizing. Because the number of new users of Xiaomi Sports APP strongly depends on the number of users in mi band, we will not analyze the strategy of pulling new users.

(1) launch the community plate.

Xiaomi Sports APP provides a community module to carry its content and social functions. Its core functions include community popular content recommendation, content display of people concerned, recommendation of hot topics, recommendation and release of hot people.

For Xiaomi Sports APP, the community section allows users to interact and communicate, meet users’ sense of belonging and social needs, and promote users to use products in more fragmented scenes.

At present, the community sector is still in the early stage of functional construction, and there is no clear and mature strategy for content integration, recommendation mechanism and content distribution.

(2) material incentives for popular activities

According to the season and current hot spots, popular activities with different themes are launched. Most of the activities are to encourage users to wear mi band+use Xiaomi Sports APP, and they can obtain shopping vouchers and electronic product lottery qualifications by continuously completing the specified goals in one cycle.

From the user’s point of view, this activity promotes the user’s enthusiasm for sports, helps users build goals and develop good sports habits; From the product point of view, the continuous activity form of punching cards has a significant effect on periodically improving user activity and retention, and it can also be used as an experiment before some functions go online to assist decision-making.

(3) medal building growth system

Xiaomi Sports encourages users to participate in activities and exercise more actively by setting different kinds and levels of medals, thereby enhancing user activity, increasing the cost of leaving and keeping it. As shown in the figure, there are a large number of medals, and each medal has a different pattern and name, which maximizes the collection desire and sense of accomplishment brought by the visual differences of medals to users.

For users, medals can’t be exchanged for material rewards like points, so consider giving medals exposure in more scenes to satisfy users’ show-off psychology.

At present, the main exposure exit of medals is personal homepage. It is suggested to add the medal wall function after the user’s nickname in the "community" function module, so that users can choose the medals they want others to see. This can keep users fresh about medals and increase the motivation to collect medals.

(1) Course payment

Under the "Courses" tab, there are many kinds of sports-related courses such as fitness, running, aerobics and yoga, including paid and free courses.

Course navigation at the top of the first screen of the page can help users find the target course faster, and courses with different themes are also launched at the bottom of the first screen. For users who have fragmented time to exercise, users who are unwilling to pay high fees for fitness instructors, and users who love sports but lack professional knowledge, the course area can guide them to exercise anytime and anywhere at a lower price.

Course payment, as the main service of the realization function of Xiaomi Sports APP, is slightly rough in many functional details. The details are as follows:

1) The screening conditions of sports course navigation lack "free" and "paid" conditions. Many users just came to the course area, preferring free courses and having lower willingness to pay. At this time, if users can quickly find high-quality free courses, they can improve their goodwill and promote the payment behavior;

2) The labels of physical education courses are not updated in time. It is known in the shivering late autumn that the course label still has a label that is out of season, such as "Summer Slimming Raiders".

3) Try to see that there is no pause button on the course playing page. If users want to pause, they can only exit and re-enter. Considering that this function aims to encourage users to do it in one go during the exercise, don’t give up halfway, but it will greatly reduce the experience of users watching the course.

(2) Health services

At present, the realization mode of health service is still in the initial stage, including improving insomnia, reducing fat and genetic testing services. Users can enjoy online or online+offline services after paying.

The types and quantity of services are limited, but in recent years, Huami has accumulated a large number of users’ life and health data, which provides a barrier for its follow-up health services. At the same time, with the arrival of 5G and the maturity of AI technology, health service will become the main force point of its realization mode.

The release date of Glory Bracelet 5 is only one month away from that of mi band 4, and their prices and user portraits are similar, so we choose Glory Bracelet 5 as a competing product for analysis. The functional pairs of the two are shown in the following table:

Compared with Glory Bracelet 5, mi band 4 has the following advantages:

1. The battery life can reach 20 days, which enriches functions and continues mi band’s excellent battery life;
2. Built-in voice assistant of Xiaoai classmate makes voice control more convenient;
3. Control the smart home. After the bracelet is connected to the IoT device, the smart home can be remotely controlled by voice.

At the same time, mi band 4 also has some problems to be improved:

1. Detachable charging brings great inconvenience, which will lead to problems such as loose wrist strap and ash entry for a long time;
2. The related health management functions are not perfect, lacking the functions of blood oxygen monitoring and sleep eye movement monitoring.

(1) Advantages

1. Long endurance and high cost performance have accumulated a large number of users for mi band.
2. The new entrance of smart home has richer application scenarios to help users connect multiple services in the Xiaomi ecosystem in series.

(2) disadvantages

In order to maintain high cost performance, there is often a shortage problem, and there is a potential risk of losing users.

(3) Opportunities

1. China government’s concern for health has injected impetus into the smart wear industry.
2. The arrival of 5G provides technical support for the development of smart bracelets in sports, medical care, health and other industries.
3. People’s consumption level is constantly improving, consumers’ health awareness is also constantly improving, and there are still a large number of users in the market who have potential demand for mobile phones.

(4) threats

1. In the next five years, faced with the competition of smart wearable devices such as smart watches and smart headphones, the growth rate of the smart bracelet market will slow down;
2. The homogenization of bracelets is serious and the data measurement is not accurate enough. How to improve data accuracy while maintaining cost performance and launch a bracelet with subversive and innovative functions is an urgent problem to be solved at present.

1. You can’t control the music during running.Most users have the habit of listening to songs while running. However, at present, the functions of running record and controlling music playback cannot be parallel, which affects the song-cutting behavior of users during running. Consider adding the background running function of sports record.
2. There is no pause button on the sports course playing page., if the user wants to pause, smart exit and re-enter. Course is one of the ways to realize Xiaomi’s movement. The lack of "pause" button has seriously affected the enthusiasm of users to learn the course. It is suggested to increase the pause function as soon as possible.
3. The functional modules are fragmented and lack of integration.For example, there is no stretching course guidance before and after running, there is a lack of display of user medals in community UGC content, and there are no thresholds such as payment and sports standards for dial theme acquisition. It is suggested that sports records, courses, growth system, community, dial setting and other functions should be infiltrated with each other to form a mutually reinforcing effect.
4. Sleep monitoring only supports at night., unable to detect the user’s nap data, the lack of this function will lead to imperfect data records, which may have a certain impact on the subsequent in-depth health field.

This article was originally published by @ Summer. Everyone is a product manager. It is forbidden to reprint without the permission of the author.

The title map comes from Unsplash and is based on CC0 protocol.