Aniket Nitin Kulkarni

my case studies

Here is my take on the problem statements which were of particular interest to me. For ease of scanning, these have been structured as follows:

Metrics

Approach

Recommendations

Artefacts

How Can Zomato Improve User Retention?

Metrics

Increase the number of orders per user, who is not using Zomato Pro
Decrease the churn

Approach

Given that current mechanisms of user retention, i.e. discount offers and Zomato Pro, do not succeed completely in user retention, I have proposed a different approach that can help Zomato retain users using gamification.

Discount offers have played a key role in the growth of Zomato's food delivery business.
Along with usual discount offers, Zomato has three months paid subscription model called Zomato Pro, which guarantees zero delivery charges and a fixed % of discount on every order.
As Zomato is reaching the stage of IPO and is focusing on profitability, it has strategically lowered the frequency and size of the discount offers.
On the other hand, competitors such as Swiggy has been aggressive on the discount offers.
So, as soon as a non - Zomato Pro user stops getting attractive discounts from Zomato, the switch to competitors like Swiggy happens within no time.
Zomato has a user base of 200M+ out of which only 1.5M+ user are using Zomato Pro. Hence, retaining the remaining users is still a bigger problem and needs to be addressed with a tactical mechanism.

Recommendations

Building Streak feature that will gamify frequency of orders per user.

Zomato Streak will be a feature, a visual timeline where a user is given a goal to achieve a certain number of orders in a month.
Each order in this goal will have guaranteed discount offers and will keep on getting higher for every next order.
Once the user completes the streak goal in a given time frame, Zomato will reward the user with a free meal.

Recommendations

Building Streak feature that will gamify frequency of orders per user.

Zomato will also have a leaderboard in this feature that will showcase how many free meals have been distributed for a particular region that the user belongs to.
This whole gamification of setting a goal that guarantees the discounts followed by a free meal reward will help retain the users.
The mere feeling of getting a guaranteed discount is far more tempting than the discounts' size, which will help more users to use this feature.

Interested to know more?

Detailed
Document

How Can ReNEWate Increase Its Revenue?

ReNEWate is a platform that operates in property renovation space by enabling digitization for contractors, designers and architects with the help of its vernacular mobile app.

Metrics

Increase the number of renovation projects received by contractors
Increase in ARPU

Approach

Increasing revenue by leveraging existing data of thousands of renovation contractors.

Three user groups that can use Renewate are contractors, architects and property owners.
Using Renewate's deep tech tools, contractors and architects can create a project, take measurements of property space, draft an estimation proposal, exchange invoices with customers within a few clicks.
So, as of now, the contractors or architects find the clients on their own and then send proposals.

Approach

Increasing revenue by leveraging existing data of thousands of renovation contractors.

On the other hand, property owners can only create a project on the Renewate app using its AI chatbot REVA, which suggests a decent number of recommendations for renovation as per the user's requirements.
The revenue for Renewate is dependent on the commission amount charged per traction that is happening between contractors and property owners on the app.
Currently, the revenue growth is dependent on the number of clients brought on the app by contractors.
So, I have tried to explore an option for revenue growth where existing data of contractors can be leveraged from property owner's perspective.

Recommendations

Marketplace listing to search and book renovation contractors by property owners.

Renewate can utilize the existing data of thousands of contractors' data to build a marketplace listing for property owners, who can search, discover, and book a renovation contractor as per the requirements.
This feature will have a set of filters that will help property owners to streamline their search for best-fit contractors.
Once they find a suitable contractor, they can request a call with them, communicate using the message option, and finalize the contractor on the app itself after multiple discussions regarding the requirements and proposals.

Recommendations

Marketplace listing to search and book renovation contractors by property owners.

The payment process can be done by using Renewate's existing tools and features, including the options such as EMI.
This feature will boost the number of renovation projects received by the contractors, and hence it will help in average revenue per contractor.
It will also reduce the effort of contractors to search and get a client on board.

Interested to know more?

Detailed
Document

Improving the pricing page of 'Build A Bazaar'.

Build A Bazaar' helps in building offline brand's online store in minutes with its powerful ecommerce software.

Metrics

Increasing the conversion rate of potential customers visiting the website

Approach

Identifying the pain points with respect to choosing the most suitable pricing plan.

Build A Bazaar focuses on building any offline brand's online store; these offline brands can vary from small businesses to large traditional enterprises that want to create their online presence.
So, a variety of user personas of brands which have various requirements, visit the website. They primarily visit the pricing page to check the product offerings for the pricing plans.
Hence, for any B2B product, the pricing page plays a vital role in the final conversion of customers.
In 'Build a Bazaar', the pricing page is highly cluttered and has dozens of features listed under plans that increase the scrolling behavior. Unfortunately, it also misses representing the top features for the plans.

Approach

Identifying the pain points with respect to choosing the most suitable pricing plan.

The presentation of different plans misses the differentiating factors and increases users' efforts to figure out on their own.
A potential customer would also want to know how to build a bazaar's pricing is in context with the competitors, so the absence of such a comparison factor also makes it less attractive.If a potential customer cannot clearly understand the difference between various pricing plans and choose the most suitable plan, they will likely move to a competitor's offerings.
I have tried to list down the existing pain points of the pricing page and have tried to propose a set of solutions along with a prioritization plan

Recommendations

Redesigning the plans with respect to user personas.

Renaming the plans based on personas
Dedicating different colors for different plans
Highlighting the top features of each plan
Adding a comparison table with competitor's pricings

Making the content crisp and clear

Using micro copies wherever possible
Highlighting top features
Packaging the remaining list of features under the 'drop down' or 'view more' buttons.

Recommendations

Building support ecosystem to simplify the purchase

Building CTA for requesting a call from support team
Building AI chatbot that will help in the purchasing journey

Making the plans look more attractive

Introducing the charm pricing
Extending the trial period
Introducing yearly plans with benefits
Toggle buttons to switch between monthly/yearly plans

Recommendations

Highlighting the impact created

Adding short video testimonials of happy customers that purchased different plans.

Interested to know more?

Detailed
Document

Analyzing the journey of a user purchasing digital gold for the first time on India Gold app

Metrics

Improving the user activation on the app.

Approach

Analysis From User's lens

Users can use India Gold app in various Indian languages, this will enable non-English speaking people to use this platform.
Free digital gold reward on first three digital gold purchases is an exciting offer.
Dedicated section to learn about digital gold is helpful for first time users to understand the space.
'Made In India', 'Startup India', 'BSI Hallmark' logos give user a good authentication about the product.

Approach

Analysis From User's lens

Sign up process is smooth, OTP was quickly received.
While making the digital gold purchase live gold price is also displayed which helps in decision making.
The purchase digital gold can be checked by clicking on 'Go To Locker' option, go to locker gives a familiarity of storing gold in a locker.
Instant notifications via text message and app about the purchase.

Approach

Analysis From Product Manager's lens

Positioning logos such as Startup India on the app's landing page is a strategic decision that will help capture the user's trust.
Keeping the platform accessible in multiple Indian languages will help the product get rapid scalability across various states in India.
Running a referral program that guarantees a digital gold reward is a good move for acquisition.
On the home page, options such as free gold offers and a live gold price tracker are very well positioned to trigger users to take action.
The 'Learn About Gold' section will help first-time users discover more facts about this category.

Approach

Analysis From Product Manager's lens

Partner association such as NABL, BSI Hallmark is highlighted on the home page that again elevates the product's authenticity.
Keeping the sign-up process dependent only on the mobile-otp helps lower the chances of security breaches of customer's data.
Adding a count down timer while making a purchase creates urgency and helps in increasing the conversion of the purchases.
A detailed downloadable receipt with the split amount that shows details such as GST gives a sense of transparency to the user.

Recommendations

Building Trust Before Selling

On the home page, the logos of the trusted partners such as BSI Hallmark shall be positioned at the top

Asking users to take an action before product discovery can be avoided.

While it is absolutely okay to position a CTA for referral program, it should be positioned well after the product discovery by user.

Recommendations

Language changes shall happen for all the fields.

While the language changes applies to most of the important CTAs and the content in the app, the referral screen well before the home page should be also changed from English to the selected language.

Enlarging important CTAs.

Sign-up/login buttons on the home page shall be enlarged as few users might not be able to easily spot them.

Interested to know more?

Detailed
Document

My Product Observations

How Zomato uses notifications for user retention

Reverse psychology - This technique is used pretty well to create a trigger in the consumer's mind about a particular dish, restaurant or cuisine, by using push notifications.
Quick CTA - At the bottom of the push notifications for offers, Zomato adds quick CTAs such as 'Biryani', 'Pizza', which directs users to restaurants serving the same dishes.
Use of local languages - Many times, Zomato addresses the user in regional languages from notifications; this helps improve the app's stickiness.

How Pocket's Chrome extension (webclipper) helps in increasing the number of content pieces saved by a user

Effortless single click on the save button of the Pocket web clipper
Whenever a user saves an article/video on the web using Pocket's web clipper, it suggests more articles related to the same subject that the user might be interested in. This helps save more articles on Pocket, which will increase the average time spent on the Pocket app.
Blends perfectly in websites such as Twitter, where the 'save button' of the Pocket appears right next to the like button of every tweet, which makes it more clickable than a user clicking on 'share' CTA of the tweet, followed up by 'Add to bookmarks'. User will end up saving more tweets in Pocket.

How Book My Show reinvented the revenue model during Covid-19 pandemic

Started streaming service on the web and app platform to watch the movies by paying one time fees.
Renting - One can rent a movie for 30 days but will have two days to watch it once one starts playback, and it is also available for download.
Buying - One can buy a movie for Rs.689 and download it for a lifetime.

How MX player increases average time spent on the app

MX player integrated their short video format app 'MX Taka Tak' as a feature inside the MX player app. This is helping them to increase the young audience who is habituated to this short video format and ultimately makes them use the app for more time.
MX player has also integrated music feature inside the app, powered by the music streaming service 'Gaana'. Both integrations will also trigger the users to discover the main content on the app, which is web series and movies.

How 'Active Health', an Aditya Birla Insurance health app, use gamification to increase the stickiness of the product

Active Health app has introduced a leaderboard that tracks user's daily physical activity in terms of # of steps, calories burned by integrating the app with user's fitness tracker devices/apps such as Google Fit.
Whenever a user completes a minimum of 10000 steps/day, that day qualifies to be an 'Active Day', and consolidation of such active days can be converted to get up to a 30% discount on the premium.
So, the core motivation of earning benefits pushes users in becoming regular in doing physical activities.

How productivity app 'Forest' helps the user create a real-time impact

Forest is an app that users typically use for reducing the phone - screen time by using the 'plant virtual trees' feature for a specific duration.
Forest Pro plan lets users earn coins by staying more focused by planting more virtual trees.
These coins can be used to donate money via the Forest app to plant real trees in Africa, giving great user satisfaction of environmental contribution.

How LinkedIn helps in increasing the profile strength of the users using skill assessments

LinkedIn Skills Assessment - Users can take quick online skill assessments from the wide range of available skills assessments on LinkedIn.
After completing the assessment, LinkedIn gives a %ile score for the users and also gives 'Badge' that indicates that the user is skilled enough in a particular skill.
This also helps to hire managers to check the authentication of a candidate based on skills.

How Instagram helps in maintaining the authentication of the information being shared in Covid-19 times

Before re-sharing a post related to Covid-19, Instagram asks users to check if the information users are sharing is reliable or not.
And it also gives an option to discover information related to the vaccine.

How Urban Company retains users and builds trust

Retention -
- Dedicated feature to take and save a snapshot of the haircut, post-service to help users convey the requirements for the next appointment to the serviceman. (Gives disclaimer of personal data being safe)
Trust - (for better service in covid-19)
- Displays % of service professionals that are vaccinated.
- A vaccination certificate of the service professionals is also provided for user's access to verify the authenticity.
- Latest body temperature of the professional.

How Swiggy reduces customer efforts and brings delight

Now Swiggy suggests food items if user searches them by relevant emojis.
e.g. Typing a pizza emoji in the search bar would give all pizza delivery options in one's are.
This clearly is an example of reducing the customer efforts of typing and bringing a delight to the process.

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