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Design a loyalty program for a search engine that's competing with Google & Bing.

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Lets ask clarifying questions
 
  1. Is the functionality of the new search engine similar to Google & Bing ? Yes
  2. Is there any difference in terms of users we are targeting ? No
  3. I am assuming that the purpose of the loyalty program is to make sure users stick to new search engine ? Yes
  4. Does the loyalty program need to be completely online ? It can be offline as well, need not be online only
  5. Is it okay to assume that we will start the loyalty program in US first ? Yes
  6. Is cost of loyalty program a concern at this point of time ? Initially it is not a big concern but cost can’t be too huge without appreciable benefits
  7. Also I am assuming we are talking about Loyalty program for end users &  not for the business side(advertisers for eg) ? Yes
 
State the assumptions & understanding of the problem
 
We need to design a loyalty program for a search engine competing with Google & Bing. There is no key difference between functionalities and features of the search engine with respect to Google & Bing. The purpose of loyalty program is to attract more consumers and once they come, they use it more often and stick to it.
 
Let’s first identify the user Journey
 
Make people aware about this Search Engine -> Wow users with the experience of the product -> Make them aware about the loyalty program -> Incite & convince people to use the search engine more often -> Reward loyal users 
 
Now, let’s Figure out what we can do for each step
 
 
User FlowFeatureCommentsPriority
Make people aware about this Search EnginePhysical/ATL Advertising with focus on benefits like Loyalty programCostlyLater
Make people aware about this Search EngineOnline advertising especially across other search enginesEasy to do & budget can be controlledMVP
Make people aware about this Search EngineTie-up with browser providers to make this default search engineDifficult & we might have to gibe huge sums of moneyLater
Wow users with the experience of the productAppropriate Search Results MVP
Wow users with the experience of the productBetter & different looking UI explaining benefits MVP
Wow users with the experience of the productManage privacy concerns of the users more explicitlyEasy and can attract lot of users with privacy being a huge concern1
Wow users with the experience of the productAbility to add this search engine to browserEasy to implement 
Make them aware about the loyalty programDevelop a UI which explains benefits of the loyalty program & how user can enrol MVP
Incite & convince people to use the search engine more oftenProvide user with Badges. Badges & the name of the badges should be attractive.Can be done later. Medium complexity 
Incite & convince people to use the search engine more often
Give user reward points & design gamification program. Reward user with points for activities like
  1. Visiting first time
  2. Doing first search
  3. Doing subsequent searches
  4. Coming back more often
  5. Referring friends
  6. Downloading app on different devices
Complex but neededMVP (can start with limited activities)
Reward loyal users 
Design a points redemption program for loyal users. For eg
  1. Tie up with key online retailers like Amazon
  2. Discount coupon against points 
  3. Use points as credits to do ads on the search engine
 MVP (need to have atleast one partner)
Reward loyal users Develop redemption portalNeededMVP
 
Providing points for doing searches can lead to user trying to hack the system so we would have to put appropriate measures in place like a user can’t earn more than 100 points in a day and credit points only if users click on a link
 
Summary
 
First we need to make sure that the search engine performs & provides functionality similar to Google & Bing which means that search results should be good. Once that is in place, we will advertise and reward users with points & badges as per how active they are on the product. Badges would satisfy users who draw more satisfaction from their virtual status on the product which they can share socially & feel great about it whereas point would have a monetary value & can be redeemed against physical goods.  We would try to wow users by offering a great first experience by offering a fresh/attractive UI and features around privacy.
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ASSUMPTIONS:

- We have a search engine which I will name "ABC" that is similar to google and bing search engine

- ABC do not have any geographical retriction, this means it is useable anywhere in the world

- ABC is owned by a start-up company trying to acquire and retain users/customers.

- ABC is only used on computers, PCs and mobile devices.

GOAL - Customer retention

Next, I will take a look at teh user group. These includes students, professionals, individuals, business enterprise. 

I will focus on the student user group. This choice is made because it covers a good percentage of total users, user group are the youngest user group (loyalty can remain for a longer period of time). Also, students are generally more on the lookout for deals, discounts or loyalty programs compared to other user groups.  

PAIN POINTS FOR SEARCH ENGINE USERS:

- Advertisement

- Unintelligent search

- too intelligent search

-payment/subscription

- search result taking long

- wrong catalog reporting

I will prioritize a solution for advertisement and payment/subscription in line with the loyalty program

 

LOYALTY PROGRAM

- discount on subscription

- reduce/eliminate advertized results

- discount on purchase made on the search engine

- bundle program with other Apps

 

Having in mind the user group which is students, the following will be my recommendation 

 

Solution – features

Effort

Impact

Ensure ABC is easy to download and free for students

Low (L)

Medium (M)

For every search, eliminate/reduce the number of advertised results

L

L

Provide coins/reward points for completed purchase made on the search engine

L

H

Partner with enterprises that provide services heavily used by students. Examples include: cinema theatres, gaming, bookshops to allow points are redeemable at these enterprises

M

H

Allow the option to convert points to visa giftcards

L

H

I will also give users who follow through a 1000 search in a month a specic amounf of reward points (say 1000). Follow-through a search is defined as opening at least one of the search results and spending at least 30 seconds on the page will be regarded as 1 count.  

 

I will prioritize the implementation of M and H impacts. 

EVALUATION

I will measure the success of the loyalty program by the no. of customers and amount of points being redeemed. 

 

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Things you did well

  • User group: I really like the reasoning behind choosing students as your user group
  • Pain points: Valid list of paint points.
  • Solutions: Good job listing the solutions to the painpoints and tying it with loyalty programs. I like your ideas.
Areas of improvement
  • Paint points: I was expecting some unique to the student group. I think this pain point can apply to all user groups.
  • Solutions: You did a good job evaluating it but based on your prioritization you are picking all but one. Maybe list some more and try to deprioritzie more than one solution.
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