Of course, with Ye Zhi's involvement, the advertising and promotion were naturally extensive.
Across the internet, besides countless websites, advertisements for Taoxun were ubiquitous, prominently featuring a clean, ad-free experience, clearly aiming to capitalize on the situation.
This level of promotional effort attracted a large number of users who were fed up with the constant ads on other platforms.
Many downloaded Taoxun Chat out of curiosity, but to their surprise, they fell in love with it after just one try!
Taoxun Chat's PC version not only boasted a clean interface without ads but was also incredibly smooth and consumed less memory, making it a delight to use.
Additionally, to foster user engagement and provide entertainment, Taoxun had integrated a mini-game called Happy Farm.
The game was simple: players planted crops, harvested them, and occasionally stole from their friends' farms.
Ye Zhi was confident in Taoxun Chat and this mini-game, but she wasn't blindly self-assured and kept a close eye on online discussions.
"Taoxun Chat is really amazing! This is what a proper chat software should be like! Taoxun, a brand you can always choose without thinking!"
"And that stealing crops mini-game, it's just as simple as Taoxun Chat, but why is it so addictive!"
"Ahhh! Talking about stealing crops makes me so mad! My colleague keeps stealing my crops, I really want to delete him!"
"Sisters, that crop stealing is seriously addictive, it just interferes too much with sleep! I usually set several alarms for work, and I need them to ring multiple times before I wake up. But for the harvest alarm, even if it's set for four or five in the morning, I wake up after the first ring! And I'm always mentally clear enough to turn on the computer and harvest the crops before I can rest easy!"
...
Reading these comments, Ye Zhi's brow furrowed slightly.
The next moment, she went directly to the game department and found Yun Shi.
"What feedback has there been from users regarding Happy Farm?" she asked.
Yun Shi smiled and replied, "There have been some, but nothing too serious. Some users wish to have the crop stealing feature removed, and others have provided feedback that the game interferes too much with their sleep."
"I see," Ye Zhi mused for a moment. "Then, create a feature where there's a protection period from 12 AM to 8 AM, during which crop stealing is not allowed. Additionally, introduce an item similar to a protection card. This item will have a certain protection duration, during which crops can be shielded from being stolen. You can also design some other fun items."
"Will the item cards be charged?" Yun Shi inquired.
"It's a free mini-game designed to retain users; why would you charge for it!" Ye Zhi was somewhat exasperated. "All the items in the game should be obtainable through daily logins and farm upgrades; they cannot be purchased."
"Understood, Ms. Ye," Yun Shi agreed.
Soon, Happy Farm underwent an online update, with the update details clearly stated in the announcement.
This update was met with an immediate wave of enthusiastic positive feedback.
"Thank you, Taoxun, I can finally get a good night's sleep, sniffle~"
"Family, you can always trust Taoxun! Taoxun's customer service isn't a robot, they actually listen to your feedback! Taoxun, yyds!"
"Taoxun, Taoxun, what can I say about you? You're making me so angry! What kind of company are you that's so bad at making money? The new item cards can't be bought? Are you upset if I spend money? Just you wait, I'm going to go and spend money on your other games!"
...
These online comments weren't just being monitored by Ye Zhi; Ou Minghan was also keeping a very close watch.
Seeing Taoxun Chat snatching away a considerable number of his users, he was so enraged that he slammed his desk again.
After pounding the desk, Ou Minghan, having calmed down, picked up the phone on his desk and summoned Jia Cheng.
Since Feng Jie was unreachable, Ou Minghan had to select a new assistant, which was Jia Cheng.
He could actually tell that Jia Cheng was quite untrustworthy and had his own ulterior motives, but he didn't care because Jia Cheng had, to some extent, helped him alleviate his funding problems.
Although the idea of paid employment wasn't very effective, the advertising on Qianbai Chat had yielded good results, and Jia Cheng had also secured numerous advertisers, proving his capability.
Soon, Jia Cheng walked in.
Ou Minghan's expression darkened, and he asked displeasedly, "Jia Cheng, look at the mess you've made! It was your idea to add ads to Qianbai's chat software, and now users are hemorrhaging, flocking to use Taoxun's chat software. Haven't you just been benefiting Taoxun for free?!"
Jia Cheng was taken aback and inwardly sneered.
When he had made that suggestion, Ou Minghan had praised him profusely, saying his mind was even more agile than Feng Jie's! For Ou Minghan to change his tune so quickly clearly meant he was trying to shift the blame onto him.
If it had been Feng Jie, he would have readily taken the blame and appeased Ou Minghan directly. But he wasn't Feng Jie, and he wouldn't do that.
He immediately said, "President, you don't need to worry about this at all! Those users have been using Qianbai's chat software for so many years; they've formed habits! Their social connections, photos, diaries, everything is on Qianbai's chat software. They've invested so much emotional attachment; they'll return sooner or later!"
"What if those users don't return?" Ou Minghan frowned.
"Then we'll force them back!" Jia Cheng sneered. "We can issue an announcement that if they don't log in for three months, their accounts and everything on them will be deleted directly! They used our Qianbai software, and they dare to betray Qianbai and choose Taoxun? They must pay the price!"
These words were incredibly pleasing to Ou Minghan's ears!
Yes, these users choosing Taoxun was a betrayal of him, and they should pay the price!
However, Ou Minghan wasn't completely carried away. He asked sternly, "Wouldn't doing this completely push them towards Taoxun? With fewer users, how can Qianbai collect more money from advertising?"
A sinister glint flashed in Jia Cheng's eyes. "There's no use keeping users like them; they would eventually leave Qianbai due to the ads anyway. But President, don't worry, we can sell their data. We can still earn quite a bit of money! I've already inquired, and several companies are interested in this data!"
Ou Minghan frowned, his concern evident as he asked, "Your proposal is good, but won't this expose that we're selling user data?"
Jia Cheng said dismissively, "President, you're overthinking it! Information is being resold all over the internet; one more isn't much. As long as none of us say anything, who would suspect us?"
Ou Minghan was convinced. He nodded and said, "Fine! Let's do as you say!"
"Also, President, we can also leverage Qianbai Shopping," Jia Cheng's eyes glinted with greed. "I've recently contacted several merchants, and they are willing to pay substantial promotional fees to Qianbai, solely in exchange for sufficient promotion on the Qianbai Shopping website!"