Designing a High‑Converting Paid Membership System: A Full‑Stack UX Case Study

Introduction

Since the launch of iQIYI VIP in 2011 and Taobao 88VIP in 2018, paid memberships have become a common user‑engagement and monetization tool on the internet. Over the past year, the author, a UX designer, systematically reviews the core business of Kujiale’s paid membership to guide future projects.

Strategic Layer – Nature & Purpose of Paid Membership

Paid membership is a value‑exchange mechanism where enterprises provide products or services and users pay with money, time, or content. It serves as a differentiated user‑operation method to target high‑value users, aiming to maximize overall profit. For example, Amazon Prime focuses on increasing user spend and loyalty, while Costco’s membership targets revenue generation.

Kujiale Membership

Kujiale’s revenue model consists of three independent yet interrelated parts: rendering coupons, Kujiale membership, and a merchant version. Each serves a distinct user group.

Rendering coupons: usable for rendering services, covering all users.

Kujiale membership: paid benefits for advanced users.

Merchant version: premium paid benefits for high‑level users.

Scope Layer – Selecting Membership Benefits

To ensure a fair value exchange, benefits must be evaluated on three criteria:

Match: Do the features, content, or services align with user needs?

User benefit: Does the user receive the expected return for their investment?

Company benefit: Does the company’s profit exceed its cost?

The author proposes a “tool + model” approach.

1. Tool: User‑Demand & Product‑Feature Matrix

The matrix categorizes interior designers’ needs into work, growth, and social, with work being the core demand on Kujiale.

2. Model: Kano Model

The Kano model classifies features into attractive, expected, basic, and indifferent, helping to prioritize membership benefits. Kujiale’s strengths lie in marketing, material, and design functions, which are mostly attractive or expected.

Structure Layer – Designing the Membership Flow

Membership is a value‑exchange; communicating that value effectively drives conversion. The flow is divided into three stages based on the consumer decision model: contact, information evaluation, and purchase. Each stage maps to specific nodes in the membership journey.

Value Transmission Carrier – Membership Flow Nodes

Using the three user phases (prospective, active, churned), the flow identifies corresponding touchpoints.

Value Transmission Content – Membership Value System

The system comprises two dimensions: completeness and authenticity, further broken down into three content blocks:

Feature definition: what it is and what it does.

Intrinsic value: the need it satisfies.

Advanced value: extra benefits over regular users, following the mantra “what I have, what I excel at, what I am cheaper at.”

Framework Layer – Node Design

The membership flow is split into four stages, each with a key node. The evaluation stage, where users gather information, requires clear, hierarchical presentation of overall membership value, benefit categories, and individual benefits.

Information Node – Membership Page Redesign

Analysis of the original page revealed two main problems:

Value level: incomplete expression of membership hierarchy and advanced value.

Transmission level: low efficiency and lack of progressive structure.