Design a product for pet lovers.

Clarifying questions

What is the motivation behind this? - To help users get a pet.

Goal: Help get the user a pet.

Before I get into that, I have some more clarifying questions.

Typically, I would do a competitive analysis of whether there are similar products out there and what people problem they have set out to solve. 

Do you have any specific audience you want to target? 

Interviewer: No.

Is this product an application geared to any particular channel?

Interviewer: No

Will this product be for a specific type of pet? Like dogs or fishes or cats etc?

Interviewer: No

Are there any specific constraints around this? Like local pets alone etc?

Interviewer: No

Will this be a standalone app?

Alright, before I dive into the details, I will tell you how I might approach this and you can tell me if it makes sense ok? So I am going to understand what the audience might be first, look at their needs, list out possible solutions, prioritize them and recommend one after outlining any possible risks or uncertainties that i can foresee. Sounds good?

Okay lets look at what our audience might be.

1) Someone who wants to put up a pet for sale or adoption - that could be a local business or a pet owner

2) New pet owners who want to own a pet

3) Existing pet owners who want to own another pet

What might be the needs for these users

If you look at the audience who want to put up their pet for adoption or a business that wants to advertise a pet they will want to

1)  Publish a post with details of their pet with their contact information

2) Ensure the pet owner is a good one or the pet will go in good hands

3) Have an interface to communicate with the prospective buyer through the application

If you look at the audience who want to adopt a pet, or buy a pet

1) Search for a pet by a particular type of pet or whether it is rescued, bred, adopted etc, by location

2) View details of the pet and owner

3) Make sure the owner and the pet is authentic

4) Have an interface to communicate with the prospective buyer through the application

I would like to prioritize the existing pet owners putting up their pets or rescued ones for adoption because there are many apps out there used by businesses to put up their pets for sale, and in-store shops as well. The broader goal of FB is to have a platform for people to create connections and be a community. So building a product will make this whole process a healthy one and not purely transactional. 

Let me list out possible solutions.

1. Solution 1: Integration with Facebook Watch where pets can be watched live to generate more interest around adoption.
2. Solution 2: Integration with Facebook groups - The product can be integrated into Facebook Groups where pets can be put up for adoption with a lot of social activity around who might be interested
3. Solution 3: Separate standalone Facebook app - Where sellers and buyers can exclusively use it only for pet adoption or buying.

I like the first solution better better because it speaks more to the goals of the company and still meets the needs of the users. The experience altogether will be more of a social one where they feel more involved. Also speaking towards the reach and from an implementation perspective, it might be easier to vet the MVP solution by integrating with an existing product and then branch out if required.

Solution 1:

1. The product  can allow for a live cam that can show what the pets put up for adoption are doing right now. Prospective owners can view the channel anytime to see the pet and might help with the adoption process quicker. It can be integrated with Facebook watch with comments enabled. Other FB users can endorse the seller.
2. Initial meetings can be setup through Facebook meet and then in-person meetings can happen to strengthen the bond.
3. There can be recommendations and personalized notifications built in for the buyer and seller based on criteria set up by both and a matching algorithm can be built to show each other options to review everyday.
4. Integration or tie-in with the concerned authorities to do the paperwork through the product itself and make the whole process seamless.
5. Integration with pet stores to buy required accessories for the pet that can come as an incentive package when a purchase is made through the app

Possible uncertainties and risks:

1) Authenticity of the seller or buyer - Have to make sure the pet is not stolen - being a registered FB user can probably be a good way to have an overall assessment of how the seller or buyer is. 

2) Working with the authorities for the paperwork can be a bit of a stretch in terms of the agreements involved. It can possibly dilute the experience as well.

Metrics

1. Number of users who have put a pet for sale per month (30/90)
2. Number of adoptions that have been successful (30/90)
3. Number of watches per pet post and comments
4. Conversion rates for personalized recommendations

Design a product for pet lovers

Clarifying Questions I would like to ask:

1. Who are we building this app for? - (Pet Lovers!!! Given in the question itself)

2. Why are we building this app? (Is it for tracking their movements like GPS or a pet monitoring system that does surveillance of their pets at home?)

3. Are we building this for mobile or web or tablet?(Mobile seems to be a great opportunity since I have my smartphone handy most of the time)

User Groups:

1. Pet Lovers (Individual)

2. Pet Clinics or Pet Nannies 

3. Pet-loving NGOs (PETA or any non-profits that rescues and provide shelter to domestic pets)

I’m selecting Pet Lovers as my focus user group here.

Now let me list down some of the pain points of this user group:

1. As a pet mother/father, I will always be worried about my pet’s condition during office or when I’m out of town ( Whether it had food on time? Drank enough water? Is it creating any mess inside the home?) Sometimes my pet messes with items that are valuable to me and I won’t have a heads up alert on the movement of my pet within home.

2. As a pet mother, I feel the lack of one-stop-shop for information about my pets and relevant stuff to buy/order according to my pet’s needs

3. It is really frustrating to ask my friends or neighbors to pet my dog while I’m at the office or out of town for some important work.

4. As a pet mother, I sometimes miss out on booking appointments for vaccinations and it’s really painful to keep a track of a pet's vaccinations or medical history.

5. Adopting pets in my nearby areas is really tough as they often miss out on the listings or don’t know the exact place to look for adoption.

Taking a moment in prioritizing user needs based on the impact on the user, revenue, and level of effort:

Pet monitoring will have a high impact on users, but It’s really tough to implement a feature that involves multiple layers of complexity though it seems a good revenue driver for the company.

One-Stop-petshop /info booth will have a medium impact on pet lovers since they might already be aware of their pets and their essentials before adopting the pet, The level of effort required for this problem is medium and it’ll drive some revenue opportunities for the company.

Pet Nanny Finder is of high impact for users and the level of effort involved is very less and it can drive some revenue for the company.

Tracking pet’s health and vaccination records have a greater impact on users and the level of effort is low and it can drive a little amount of revenue to the company.

Finding a pet for adopting in nearby areas have an impact on users and the level of effort is low and It doesn’t add any significance to revenue

Prioritization order 5>3>4>2>1

5,3,4 are my prioritized pain points for now.

 

Solutions:

1. Pet Adoption Page: Designing a page in the app for Pet lovers to find pets for adoption in their neighborhood or nearby cities. The listings can be added via anyone (Pet Owners, Pet NGOs like PETA) and we can connect the potential pet father/mothers for many abandoned pets.

2. Pet Nanny Finder: Designing a page in the app for Pet Owners to post their requirements i.e, When he/she needs someone to look after their pets and we can connect with pet nannies(Should post their availability as a pet nanny) who are looking for some work in the neighboring area (say within x miles) We can match them with pet owners (and charge them a cut in their transaction if needed) Pet owners will have to take that call, we try to provide ratings and reviews of the nannies so that they’ll be more careful while selecting them.

3. Pet’s Health / Vaccination Records : Designing a page where pet owner/ pet lover can log the medical history or remarks/upload doctor reports for future reference. We can add listing of all vaccinations and the allowed gaps/time periods to alert pet owners about upcoming vaccination dates and (Can give an option to book an appointment with nearby vet)

Evaluation:

All the above solutions involve less level of effort and I’ll prioritize the solutions based on the cost, customer experience and frequency of usage

Prioritizing which solution to be built first : 

Pet Nanny Finder > Pet health / Vaccination > Pet Adoption

Summarizing:

We started off with a problem statement to build an app for pet lovers, we listed out the user groups for this app and picked individual pet lovers as the primary user group. Then we tried to list their pain points and picked top 3 pain points to build solutions, evaluated these solutions to highlight the order of developing these solutions.(Pet Nanny Finder > Pet health / Vaccination > Pet Adoption)

Clarifying questions:

1) Is there an existing platform which needs to be improved or are we building one from scratch? - One from scratch

2) Is this going to be a web platform or a mobile app? - Web

Let's begin answering.

1) Potential users

Potential users would be people who own pets and people who love animals. This means that we are looking at all age groups and genders and nationalities. The paltform could also have random people visiting it by chance.

2) What are our goals?

• To connect pet owners and pet lovers so that they could share their pet photos, stories, grooming tips, fun facts etc
• To provide a platform for users to chat with each other about their common interests ( about pets) and build lasting relationships
•  To provide information about pets for sale or adoption of street dogs that need a home

3) Use cases/features

• Main page:

           The main page should direct the user to create an account or use the platform as a guest. Guest users would possess read only rights whereas registered users would have read and write access. The main page would display selected blogs/stories with a snapshop of the profile photo of the person who posted it.The displayed blogs could be sorted with the latest ones on top. It could also include blog posts based on the location from where it was posted. The blog posts in the same vicinity as that of the user could be shown at the top and the others at the bottom.

• Second page on clicking any blog snapshot

           The landing page on clicking any blog snapshot should lead to the d bletailed blog/post. There should be options to comment on the blog, like a blog or initiate a private chat with the blog owner. There could also be options of sharing the link on watsapp or other social media.

• Profile page

If the user created an account, the user should have a profile page where they have the option to upload a picture of themselves or their pet, include any information about their pet such as breed, origin or other interesting facts.

• Page for advertisements or notifications about pets for sale or pets for adoption

This page would contain information about pets for sale, pets for adoption etc.

• Security

Any comment posted, any blog posted should be screened before it is made public. This is to ensure that no inappropriate content is posted on the platform. There should be an option to 'report' for all comments and posts.

4) Prioritization and release of the product

I would prioritize in the order listed:

• Ability to create accounts/use as guest
• Abilty to view/create/edit/comment on posts 
• Ability to share the blog on other social media
• Ability to chat with the other users
• Ability to put up ads and respond to ads regarding sale of pet/adoption information etc

I would plan the release in multiple phases. I would include the first three features in my first release and the platform would be released only to a limited number of people. I would gather feedback and reviews from these users by emailing them and providing them with simple questionnaires and surveys. Once I get sufficient feedback on how and what to improve, I will work on those and release it to broader segments.

5) Revenue model

This product would have a freemium model. That is, most of the functions could be carried out by having an account and being an unpaid member. For example, a free account holder could view stories, comment publicly, create blogs etc. To be able to access the advanced features such as chat, posting ads they should be a paid member. The user can be educated about this upon account creation.

I could also make money by showing relevant ads. Examples would be pet apparel, pet leash, leash holder, books and movies about pets etc.

6) Success criteria

I would measure the success of my platform with the following metrics:

1. User engagement
2. DAU/MAU
3. User retention (will be measured after the first month or so)
4. Feedback received on survey