Lets ask clarifying questions Is the functionality of the new search engine similar to Google & Bing ? YesIs there any difference in terms of users we are targeting ? NoI am assuming that the purpose …See more
Lets ask clarifying questions
- Is the functionality of the new search engine similar to Google & Bing ? Yes
- Is there any difference in terms of users we are targeting ? No
- I am assuming that the purpose of the loyalty program is to make sure users stick to new search engine ? Yes
- Does the loyalty program need to be completely online ? It can be offline as well, need not be online only
- Is it okay to assume that we will start the loyalty program in US first ? Yes
- 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
- 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 Flow | Feature | Comments | Priority |
| Make people aware about this Search Engine | Physical/ATL Advertising with focus on benefits like Loyalty program | Costly | Later |
| Make people aware about this Search Engine | Online advertising especially across other search engines | Easy to do & budget can be controlled | MVP |
| Make people aware about this Search Engine | Tie-up with browser providers to make this default search engine | Difficult & we might have to gibe huge sums of money | Later |
| Wow users with the experience of the product | Appropriate Search Results | | MVP |
| Wow users with the experience of the product | Better & different looking UI explaining benefits | | MVP |
| Wow users with the experience of the product | Manage privacy concerns of the users more explicitly | Easy and can attract lot of users with privacy being a huge concern | 1 |
| Wow users with the experience of the product | Ability to add this search engine to browser | Easy to implement | |
| Make them aware about the loyalty program | Develop a UI which explains benefits of the loyalty program & how user can enrol | | MVP |
| Incite & convince people to use the search engine more often | Provide 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 - Visiting first time
- Doing first search
- Doing subsequent searches
- Coming back more often
- Referring friends
- Downloading app on different devices
| Complex but needed | MVP (can start with limited activities) |
| Reward loyal users | Design a points redemption program for loyal users. For eg - Tie up with key online retailers like Amazon
- Discount coupon against points
- Use points as credits to do ads on the search engine
| | MVP (need to have atleast one partner) |
| Reward loyal users | Develop redemption portal | Needed | MVP |
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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