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
Techniques to Reduce customer churn for PhonePe
Targeting users who do not have a linked bank account or just uninstalled the app
Metrics
Increase the number of users who have a bank account linked to their PhonePe account
Decrease the number of users who are uninstalling the app
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Approach
Understanding the problem
Since PhonePe is a growing UPI transactions platform, increasing the customer base is one of the main goals. As such, retaining existing users is important for PhonePe. The market of digital payments services is growing with some recognizable competitors which makes it important for PhonePe that the users do not jump to a competing platform. The users who are not using the app can be of two categories - First, who have uninstalled the app or Second, who do not have a bank account linked to the app which would help in tracking the improvements after employing the proposed solutions.
Approach
Breaking and solving the problem
I look at five cases of a user leaving the platform due to different reasons and then propose a solutions for those pain points. Then, moving to a impact-effort analysis to prioritize those solutions and finally recommending the best possible solution that I can think of. The pain points are as follows:
User preferences not satisfied
Migrating to a competitor
Losing trust in online payments
Hard to manage expenses
Using cash being easier and faster in some situations
Recommendations
Get feedback (Highly recommended)
Taking feedback from users that are leaving the app to better understand user problems like understand what user preference is not satisfied.
Taking a short feedback with just one question to increase the number of users who actually give the feedback.
Give an option to fill a a more detailed feedback form to users who have filled in the short feedback.
Would have a medium impact but requires very less effort from technical side.
Recommendations
Assure user of the security (Highly recommended)
Use short microcopies at applicable places like login, payment receiving window etc.
Show pop-ups and notifications depending on the activity of the user.
Introducing marketing campaigns aimed at digital payments security to give customer a satisfaction of safety.
Would have a very high impact but would require much effort from technical as well as marketing teams.
Recommendations
Expenditure managing (Recommended in future releases)
Replace the current history window, for an expenditure manager that helps users in managing their expenses.
Include all statistics related to expenditure and have a comparative study with past spending. Also, include all features of the history window.
Certain small suggestions for better management of future expenses.
Would help users that are new to digital payments. Would have medium-high impact but also requires high effort.
Recommendations
Faster transactions (Recommended in future releases)
Make personal transactions faster to reduce number of users who leave the app because cash is faster.
Using Audio QR technology, similar to normal QR but using ultrasounds instead of patterns for faster transactions.
Using NFC technology, which can connect to nearby device without audio.
Would have a low-medium impact and a high effort from the technical team.
The huge network of external developers is one of the main strengths of Google.
Google releases several versions of its apps on play store to take full advantage of all levels of developers (amateur to experts) in improving their products.
Take Chrome for example, it has 4 different versions on play store. Chrome browser, Chrome Beta, Chrome Dev and Chrome Canary, all of them in different stages of development.
With this developers can test whichever version they want according to their expertise and help google improve Chrome.
How search engines personalize content for their users
Search engines are a means to find stuff on internet and there is not too much scope for personalization of such large user base.
Some engines like Bing and Google take user birthday as a chance and personalize their homepage for the user.
Bing even sends an email to the user about their personalized page, also including the fact that the information was obtained for account information (clearing any such user suspicions).
Search engines also change their pages based on any famous event or festival which is another form of personalization for the targeting community of users.
How Supreme became famous
Supreme is a fashion brand that initially targeted skateboarders but evolved into a luxury brand in 20 years.
Supreme targeted certain audiences and created a culture surrounding the brand
Did not interact with mainstream media which helped maintain the cult image
Limited supply with high demand. Manufacture in limited numbers that fly of the shelf
A large secondary market where retailers sell at very high prices (because of rarity) which makes the brand more sought after
Collaboration with large luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and eventually with celebrities.
Recent changes by social media corporations to keep users engaged
Facebook introduced "Finish watching", new section in user feed which shows videos which the user didn't complete watching in the last session
YouTube made major changes to their UI, moving the comment section below the playing video which makes it easy to access comment but also allows infinite recommendations
Instagram has talked about introducing a feature to recommend reels on Facebook which would affect engagement for both platforms
Social media for businesses
Social media have not only changed how businesses interact with customers, it has introduced new business ideas like influencing
Facebook introduced the Facebook Business suite for businesses to manage their accounts across multiple platforms
A number of small features like product and branded tags, making tags available for ads have been introduced on Instagram for small businesses and influencers
Instagram is testing different home screens that include shops and similar features for businesses.
How are banking apps like SBI Yono surviving after payments app like Paytm are dominating the market
Apps like SBI Yono are mainly targeted as banking apps while Paytm is a digital payments app. There are a lot of similarities between the two though.
Both apps provide a lot of similar features like money transfers, UPI payments, etc. Paytm provides the Paytm mall for shopping but SBI Yono also provides a similar service through popular online marketplaces. Features like ticket bookings are also available on both.
SBI Yono also provides other banking features like personal loans, drafting Fixed deposit account, applying for check book, block cards, investing etc.
These banking services, in addition to the payment services, gives these banking apps an edge over famous digital payment services like Paytm.
A major disadvantage is the poor user interface and user experience when it comes to these banking apps.
How TripAdvisor built a community of travelers to increase engagement
TripAdvisor is an online travel company with user-generated content and shopping website
To increase engagement and content on the platform, TripAdvisor has a forum section where a user can join a community of travelers.
These communities are based on destinations, or certain themes like travel with pet, travel for world cup, etc.
This makes it easy for users to search other users with similar interests or situations and ask them for reviews
This was also a way to change TripAdvisor into a social network of travelers.
Launching apps and games across platforms makes a difference
Lets take an example of the popular gaming titles of 2020 -
The Last of Us 2 sold around 4 million copies, Ghost of Tsushima sold around 5 million. Both of these titles were only available for one platform.
Cyberpunk 2077 was launched for multiple platforms and despite many problems, bugs, user disappointments and returns, it still managed to sell around 13 million (returned copies have been deducted here).
Being available on multiple platforms increased the sales of the product here despite all the backlash and problems faced.
Achievements & Extra Curriculars
Vice‐Captain, Fine arts Certified - managed Rs.2,00,000 budget and managed idle funds with other societies for other student‐body activities.
Representing the institute in Inter IIT and other institute level competitions.
Assistant Head, Creativity Team, Ignus (Cultural fest IIT Jodhpur) - lead a team of 30 members and managed designing and decor for all events.
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