Dianping (大众点评) is famous in China for providing info and customer reviews of local restaurants that have made eating out so much easier. With its innovative use of customer reviews and wide coverage, Dianping makes finding somewhere good to eat out a doddle, wherever you are in China.

There's a saying that "once a Dianping user, always a Dianping user." Yet, as developer Zhang Tao (張濤) recalls, the story of the app's development is one of chance and good fortune. Zhang liked to read the magazine ZAGAT SURVEY as a college student in America. He would have thought nothing more of it, had he not subsequently returned to Shanghai and seen a magazine of the same name available there, providing information and reviews of good restaurants. Aware of the power of Internet, he opened a site called Zsurvey.com and asked his friends to post reviews and information about restaurants they had visited. That's how Dianping began. Since its humble foundation in April 2003, it has grown into an e-commerce giant, valued at over USD 18 billion and with huge influence.

In this article, I'd like to share the story of Dianping's beginnings because I think it sheds light on the importance of the customer experience. The Internet is all about sharing information and Dianping caught that wave perfectly, making it easy for people to share their own experiences of eating out. Though there have been many imitations and rivals, Dianping has thrived amid the competition thanks to its relentless focus on facilitating reliable and accurate reviews as the top O2O (online to offline) platform in China.
Now, let me give you some tips for getting the most out of Dianping.

Dianping began as an app providing restaurant information, but it now covers over 20 categories of leisure based activities, including movie going, leisure pursuits, hotels, esthetic salons, gyms, karaoke salons, tourist attractions, kids cafés, wedding venues, shopping outlets, pet shops, life services, education establishments, car rentals, medical services, interior design shops and banquet halls. As it touches almost every part of our life, you can always use Dianping to get reliable information on what to do or see, or where to go.

Dianping has several main interface icons – and one of them is called Dianping Expert (点评行家).

Dianping Expert has two key features. The first feature helps with finding an expert and asking for advice, while the second feature allows you to be the expert. It is similar to the online shopping mall Taobao (淘宝), but they are different in a sense that Taobao sells products, whereas Dianping sells services. The one thing lacking, however, is that Dianping does not validate the qualifications of so-called experts.

Last May, Dianping introduced a new feature called Shanhui (闪惠) which was designed to eliminate the troublesome group purchase procedure. Everyone that's ever tried to make a group purchase in China knows how inconvenient it is to buy an item online and send an enigmatic number to a seller for the authentication process. Not only that, but shopping online with cash can sometimes be so difficult that I just want to give up shopping altogether. But, Shanhui is a whole new payment system that makes it so easy to shop, while also providing you with some great benefits. Here is one big secret that I'd like to tell you. Dianping right now holds an event for randomly handing out discounts valued at between CNY 5 to 50 if you make a payment using Alipay (支付寶)! Simply get information from Dianping to grab a golden chance to win a discount in the event.

A few days ago I got together with friends and heard some unbelievable news. One of my friends said with a big smile that she'd been dining out with friends for free. I couldn't believe what she said because, so they say, "there's nothing free in this world." But, once she explained how she got a free lunch, I was convinced. You see, she had used Dianping Bawangcan (霸王餐). Bawangcan gives you chances to win big and, within two weeks, I had my own free lunch. First, let's take a look at what Bawangcan is, how you can use it and some tips for winning at it.

Simply click "Find (发现)" at the lower right corner of the homepage and Bawangcan will appear. Here you can find a number of options including restaurants, entertainments, decorations, kids and pictures. For our example, I will demonstrate how to use Bawangcan with the restaurant option. 1) Choose the restaurant that you like (make sure that you check how close it is from your home or office). 2) Click Grab (抢) and Apply. 3) Enter your mobile number and click OK.

And that's it – simple, right? Here are some tips to improve your chances of winning at Bawangcan.

Follow the above five steps and you, too, will be able to win at Bawangcan, just like I did. Make sure that you log into the app and check whether you've won.

Those were the three most useful features of Dianping that I'd like to introduce. I will now conclude this column by looking at the award that Dianping has won. Last year, Dianping was named one of the top 10 lifestyle apps of 2015 at the Leciyuan Awards (乐次元盛典), which was held at the Beijing Water Cube. This is a prestigious award given based on actual app usage, as well as taking into consideration the growth of the market involved. In this regard, the award has once again proved the reputation and presence of Dianping.

I have no doubt that Dianping will continue to evolve in 2016. Since Dianping relies on customer participation, I expect that it will become everyone's favorite app by introducing more useful features that better meet customer needs, rather than seeking out its own exclusive interest.