170 million people use WeChat’s mini program every day, and WeChat is pushing efforts to upgrade mini program and mini game features to help businesses utilizing mini program actually monetize.
As users pull down their chat list, they can see recently used mini program and mini games. Recently, WeChat was found to be experimenting a new function, IThome is reporting.
A new feature on WeChat called “Nonstop Features (功能直达, our translation) ” is going through a beta test. When a user starts WeChat’s search function, if the keyword is related to a certain mini program, then the function will be displayed directly in the search.
“The WeChat ‘Nonstop Feature’ is going through experimentation. We have invited some developers who configure the relevant capabilities based on our guidelines. After the configuration is complete, when users search keywords in the ‘Discover Mini Program,’ they can directly reach the corresponding function. The capacity is currently not officially released,” WeChat told TechNode.
This is important for mini program developers and business owners who use mini program, because this creates a new search engine market for WeChat, and add importance to following WeChat’s mini program guidelines. Just like how keyword search on Baidu made the company a search engine giant, with WeChat’s “Nonstop Feature (功能直达)”, WeChat will possess strong search results offering the mini program that specifically solves users’ problems.
In other words, WeChat can give you a direct recommendation inside the relevant mini program so that you can use it directly.
For example, if users search kuaidi (courier, 快递), they will get a list of functions like Track Packages, Call a courier, My past packages, and Address management which link to related WeChat mini programs.
Also, at the bottom of the search page, the mini programs that the users have used in the past as well as recommended ones are shown. If users search delicious food, a list of highly reputed restaurants is shown with their price range and rankings.