In the current fierce competition of social applications, how to retain users has become one of the core challenges of major platforms. This article provides an in-depth analysis of Soul Entertainment App’s user retention strategy and reveals its secrets to achieving efficient user retention through scenario-based interactive design.
In the world of Soul, every conversation is not just a cold number match, but more like a heart-to-heart meeting full of temperature and ritual. For many users, the moment they open Soul, it’s like entering a unique space: where one’s true self is accurately presented, and every interaction can lead to unknown and beautiful encounters. For Soul’s operations team, they are not just providing a social tool, but building an emotional stage, so that each user can naturally integrate into different scenes, feel the satisfaction of being understood and noticed, and finally choose to stay, becoming an integral part of this anonymous community.
1. How scenario-based interaction becomes a retention engine
One-on-one matching: from soul testing to multimodal connections
When users first sign up for Soul, they don’t go directly to the chat interface, but instead answer a series of seemingly easy but meaningful questions. Perhaps the next question will be “What is the song that makes you feel most at ease?” Or “If you only had three hours to use freely today, what would you choose to do?” On the surface, these questions may look like psychological tests, but in reality, Soul is using this information to draw a multi-dimensional map of interests and personalities: are you an “independent thinker” or a “romantic visionary”; Do you prefer rock or classical music? Your emotions tend to be enthusiastic and outgoing, or deep and introverted. The platform fuses these label information into the algorithm model to generate a high-dimensional vector model for subsequent matching and recommendation.
With the accumulation of user behavior in daily operations, Soul continues to optimize this “soul portrait”. You like to listen to music late at night, and it will record the time when you are often online; You tend to be melancholic on the mood test, and it will prioritize recommending people who can understand your feelings or give encouragement. In this way, when a potential match also matches the multi-dimensional label you set, the possibility of “soul resonance” arises between the two: the algorithm will push the TA to the most prominent position the moment you open the app.
When you see the person you are excited about, maybe TA has just sent you a “sweet word”, but Soul does not simply display the “New News” red dot, but chooses to play a short animation in the center of the interface – the “Love Bell” prompt aroma comes to your face: the animation is accompanied by a slightly beating heart-shaped icon, and the sound quietly sounds, instantly capturing your curiosity and emotional anticipation. At this point, you can’t help but open the conversation window, and the first sentence is often given more emotional color, because you know that the other person is also one of the people who is most likely to be compatible with you after being screened by algorithms. This is the charm of “ritual”: it allows users to invest emotional costs before socializing, increases open and response rates, and makes both parties cherish this interaction opportunity more.
To achieve these three challenges, product managers will only continue to appreciate
Good product managers are very scarce, and product managers who understand users, business, and data are still in demand when they go out of the Internet. On the contrary, if you only do simple communication, inefficient execution, and shallow thinking, I am afraid that you will not be able to go through the torrent of the next 3-5 years.
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When the initial text conversation is almost over, Soul quietly inserts a “voice match” button in the chat interface: a gentle prompt tells you that text is convenient, but sound is better at conveying emotions. After clicking the button, you and the other person can randomly connect the microphone and enter the real voice communication in one second. The voice call has no picture baggage, which makes people let go of their guard, and the voice unconsciously reveals a smile, chuckle or an interested tone, which quickly heats up between the two.
If the microphone still makes you feel a little nervous, Soul also offers a “cute video” filter. This design not only guarantees anonymity, but also adds a touch of interest. You wear a cute cat ear mask or cartoon mask and speak casually from the heart, which not only reduces the pressure of showing your face directly, but also retains the rich information brought by expressions and accents – this is a delicacy that words cannot convey. Under the cute mask, you will be more daring to share your true emotions, and the other person can judge your attitude by your tone and expression. Such multi-modal switching (text→ voice→ video) always maintains freshness, injects flowing surprises and fun into the chat process, and also extends the duration of each interaction, so that strangers continue to shorten the distance in real and relaxed communication again and again.
In addition, Soul intelligently provides you with further social suggestions based on the interactions between the two matches. For example, if the continuous interaction time after your voice is connected to the microphone exceeds a certain threshold, the app will appear a “topic card” at the bottom of the chat interface, randomly selecting a few questions related to your common topics, such as “Have you watched any good dramas recently?” “Where do you most want to travel to?” These topics can not only reduce the chance of the conversation entering an awkward period, but also make both parties more comfortable when “breaking the ice” for the second time. This design of timely guidance for users at key nodes not only reflects Soul’s intention to pay attention to user experience, but also helps novices quickly integrate into the social rhythm.
Group Party: A tavern for the soul online
At Soul, group parties are not just places to “chat with people” but are a well-planned social action. For example, every Friday midnight, Soul will launch a series of themed parties, such as “Midnight Confession Night”, “Late Night Worry Relief Radio”, “Listening to Songs and Talking About Mood”, etc. When you open the homepage, you will see a carousel poster in the recommendation module: the background is a soft starry sky and the night view of the city, and the copy reads “At 11 o’clock tonight, more than ten heartbeat homeowners will see you and not leave”, and subtitles and animation effects alternate, pushing users’ curiosity to a climax step by step.
As soon as you click to enter the party room, you will immediately feel a dual sense of visual and auditory ritual: soft piano music or electronic music plays in the background of the room, and the top of the interface is a moving starlight animation, as if transporting you into an independent time and space. When you interact with other users in the room, barrages, like effects, and prompts to enter the room will keep appearing, just like being in an offline tavern of the mind, and the interface border is almost invisible. Everyone has the expectation of resonating with others – some people say “I like your story” in the barrage, some share their playlists in the chat area, and some people like their favorite topics through the voting function.
When you decide to leave the room and click the “Exit” button in the upper right corner of the interface, the system will not let you leave immediately. A translucent prompt box will appear in the center of the screen: “Are you really leaving?” Let’s talk about it again? ”。 At the moment of hesitation, you may hear the homeowner invite you to participate in a roulette game, or see someone in the barrage initiating a Q&A, “Who do you want to talk to most tonight?” This is the essence of the “exit intervention” design: it gives the user the opportunity to stay a little longer before leaving, and perhaps meet a like-minded stranger.
Behind each party room is a team of professional homeowners and KOLs. They may be emotional mentors who share emotional counseling topics; It may also be a music expert, ordering and tuning songs online at midnight, guiding users to sing or chat together. The platform has set growth tasks for these homeowners, such as organizing live sharing at least twice a week, driving 50 discussions, or hosting two heart-to-heart conversations and writing a sharing summary. After completing the mission, they will receive the “Party Star” badge, limited-time exclusive gifts, and platform promotion resources. Thus, activists feel recognized in form and form a solid social backbone. At the same time, ordinary users will also have the idea of “coming next time” because they see these active elements, forming a virtuous circle.
Group parties and one-on-one use cases do not exist in isolation. On a technical level, Soul will score you based on how active you are in your party, the number of likes, the number of threads you initiate, and more. If you’re active in a themed room on a regular basis, you’ll be referred to a more accurate group the next time you open the app. For example, if you often share your musical insights with others on “late-night radio”, you may be invited to join the “Independent Musicians Mutual Aid Association” or “Midnight Playlist Sharing Party” next time to further satisfy your interests and preferences, so that you no longer feel lost or lonely.
Lightweight mini-game: An icebreaker between strangers
In the silent hours of the night, you may find the entrance to a “mini-game” on the homepage – the most popular of which is “Werewolf Killing”. Unlike traditional board games, Soul’s “Werewolf” is designed to be a lightweight social game: you don’t need to download additional plugins, just click on the game icon and select “Quick Join”. After a few seconds, you’re in a small room of about 8 people, all with anonymous IDs and avatars just random cute illustrations. The system automatically distributes characters: villagers, prophets, witches, werewolves and everyone else is kept secret.
At the beginning of the game, you can express your doubts through the text chat area or make inferences through real-time voice. Once in the voting session, a barrage of information will pour in instantly: someone questions a name “Which room were you in last night?” Someone quickly threw “Don’t talk yet, I want to observe your expression”. Although everyone doesn’t know each other, they can feel each other’s reasoning rhythm through subtle changes in language and voice. After a few minutes, when the game ends, the winner receives a victory badge and the system automatically generates a “Heart Value Report” based on each person’s performance: for example, “You have the highest interaction score with ID: B123 in this game, so it is recommended to prioritize each other in your next one-on-one match”. This mechanic closes the loop between the game and matchmaking: you get a deeper impression of someone because of the game, and the next time you notice them in the stranger matching list.
In addition to “Werewolf Killing”, Soul also regularly launches more relaxed “three-question speed dating” mini-games. The preset is as follows: The system generates three short questions based on your tags, such as “What is your favorite place to travel?” Is this how you always eat breakfast? Do you prefer cats or dogs? ”。 You and another stranger designated by the system need to answer within a time limit – the shorter the time, the more intense the conversation will be; The more consistent the answers, the higher your matchmaking priority. After the game, you’ll get a “fun matchmaking report” – maybe you like Nordic cabins and your partner loves tropical islands, but you are both passionate about coffee culture, and this common ground is the perfect opportunity for a follow-up conversation.
Behind the scenes, Soul continuously monitors engagement, interaction quality, and user retention for these mini-games. If the participation rate of a certain type of mini-game is not high, or if users report that the rules are complex and time-consuming, the product team will iterate and optimize it as soon as possible, such as simplifying the rules, adjusting the game time limit, or changing the style of the topic, always maintaining the design concept of “easy and interesting without taking up too much time”.
2. The driving logic behind it: Why are these designs irresistible?
The wonderful use of psychological effects
Novelty and curiosity: The never-ending scene switching can constantly satisfy the curiosity of users. From the initial text dialogue, to voice microphones, to cute videos, and even participating in werewolf killing, users are constantly exposed to new forms of interaction, just like in a stage play that continues to unfold, every scene is full of unknowns, and people can’t help but wonder what will happen next.
Ritual and commitment effect: When the “love bell” rings, when you click to enter an online party, when you join a mini-game, there is a hidden promise behind these small actions. Once users have invested time and engagement, they are more likely to stay because they have invested their emotions and energy and are not willing to give up easily. This commitment is not only reflected in the technical prompts, but also in the visual and auditory design and the control of the interaction rhythm, so that users have a sense of ritual that “this moment is very important”.
Social Proof and Herd Effect: In group parties, the number of barrage likes, attention, and homeowner activity all invisibly establish social proof. When you see the prompts “50 people are currently online” or “300 barrage interactions”, you will feel that “there is excitement and value here” and will be more willing to join in the fun than feel isolated.
Anti-loss design
Withdrawal Intervention: Design is not simply a blocker, but gives the user a chance to “think again” when he wants to leave. Studies have shown that people tend to have a sense of dependence on the end point when they act continuously, and when the operation is inconsistent with expectations, it triggers psychological “loss aversion”, so that they choose to stay for a period of time. Soul takes advantage of this by first saying “Let’s talk for a while” when users click exit, making them emotionally driven to give up the urge to quit.
Dynamically pushed temperature: The cold push is often off-putting, but Soul emphasizes “precision and emotion”. When you chat with someone for more than a certain amount of time, the system will remind you a few hours or the next day, “He talked about a very interesting topic last night, do you want to continue it?” This is not a meaningless notification, but a targeted adaptation to the context, so that users feel that “this is a message I need to see”, so that they are more willing to return to the app.
Targeted operation and user stratification: Soul divides users into different tiers, such as novices, active users, and dormant users, and provides differentiated operation strategies for each level. For example, for novices, emphasize one-on-one honeymoon interaction; For active users, push more premium party invitations; For dormant users, small gifts, limited-time return coupons and other means are used to give them warm recall reminders.
Closed-loop linkage from single point to ecology
Game → match→ community: After a mini-game, the “heart rate report” will not disappear, but will continue to take effect the next time you open the one-on-one matching list, so that the system will give priority to recommending objects that you like each other and interact with frequently in the game. At the same time, if you are a showstopper at a party, the system will push you to a more advanced “KOL room” as a guest based on your performance in a small group, allowing you to gain more exposure and attention.
Party → Square → Content Ecology: The high-quality content that stands out at the party – whether it is high-quality story sharing or unique music creation – will be selected into the “Recommended” module of the square, so that more users can see and like and comment. Once this content ferments in the square, it will further stimulate a new wave of discussion, and users may even have new social needs as a result, returning to parties or one-on-one chats, forming a closed-loop ecosystem.
Fission spread → KOLs → user-generated content (UGC): Soul will support a group of KOLs with high energy and provide them with practical help such as exchanging props and promotion slots. The views or creations shared by KOLs inside and outside the party often become popular trends in the square. After seeing excellent content, a large number of users will imitate, recreate, and even initiate niche topic rooms by themselves, forming a benign fission of user-generated content, so that the platform can maintain a steady stream of innovation and vitality.
3. The implementation of scenario-based interaction in the overall retention strategy
In fact, scenario-based interactions are just a key cog in Soul’s retention strategy. In this large system, each element is interlocking and complementary:
Algorithm and matching: In the soul test stage, the user’s interest and personality map are implanted to ensure that when any scene is opened, the system can immediately match the target object that best suits you.
Community and Content: Square always has topics of interest to you: it may be the latest user stories, in-depth sentiment analysis by KOLs, or a heartwarming short drama test, allowing you to feel the emotional resonance with others when browsing. The richness and quality of content directly affect the time users stay on the platform.
Motivation and care: Users receive clear feedback on accomplishment every step of the way, from earning rewards for completing their first novice mission, to receiving their first growth badge, to becoming a paid VIP member. During festivals, the platform will push limited-time emoticons, exclusive greeting cards, offline event invitations, etc., so that users can feel that “this is not only an app, but also a warm community”.
Precise push: Based on user behavior data across multiple scenarios, intelligent recommendations are made for activities that are most likely to pique their interest. If you talk about liking a song on “Late Night Radio”, the system will push a party with a similar music theme the next day; If you perform positively in the “Little Theatre Test”, the system will recommend relevant psychological or emotional discussion rooms for you to keep you engaged.
In this sophisticated operation machine, scenario-based interaction is like a “gameplay engine”: it is responsible for attracting users to enter and plays an important role in subsequent retention. The multi-dimensional social experience allows users to not only feel the exclusive warmth of one-on-one, but also experience the excitement of group interaction, and gain another sense of accomplishment in participating in mini-games. The algorithm only calmly analyzes the data, but with every microphone, every party, and every game, there is real emotion flowing behind it, making the algorithm and user experience perfectly integrated.
Ultimately, Soul treats every user as a “collector of the mind,” and every scene-based interaction is a reminder: “There are people here who crave to be understood as much as you do.” It is this “story-style” experience that allows users to constantly trigger new emotional surprises in Soul, and also makes them return to the platform again and again, forming a high degree of user stickiness and activity.
Overall, Soul has built a social ecosystem that is both emotional and novel through multi-dimensional scenario-based interaction – from one-on-one soul matching to group parties to lightweight mini-games – and achieves efficient user retention. Compared with Tinder and Bumble, which focus on quick matching, Soul focuses more on soul-level fit and long-term interaction; Compared to HelloTalk and Tandem, which emphasize language learning, Soul emphasizes authentic emotional connections in an anonymous atmosphere; Compared with Clubhouse, which relies on pure voice rooms, Soul’s multi-modal switching of text, voice and cute video provides users with more diverse expressions. In the future, Soul can create a new virtual gathering experience by introducing immersive technologies such as AR/VR; Entering overseas markets and combining different cultures to customize characteristic theme rooms; Continuously enhance AI algorithms to recommend interest and emotional content more accurately; At the same time, it encourages more high-quality content and the co-construction of the creator ecosystem, so that the community continues to rejuvenate. With the support of these scalable directions, Soul is expected to further consolidate its leading position in the field of anonymous emotional social networking.
