How would you improve Grammarly and what will be your key metrics to measure its improvement?

How would you improve Grammarly?

 

1. Describe Grammarly: Before I dive in, let me tell you my understanding of Grammarly as a product. Grammarly is a cloud-based application that helps in correcting a user's spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Its vision is to “improve lives by improving communication”. It can be used via a web application, or desktop application, where you can simply upload/type your document, and the grammar corrections can be found. It can also be used via a browser extension or MS word plugin or keyboard. It follows a freemium business model. The paid premium subscribers can also get access to other features like better sentence structuring and a plagiarism checker. 
    
2. Ask Clarifying Questions from the Interviewer: 
   1. Is the improvement channel-specific - Web or Mobile?
   2. What's the objective of improvement? - engagement, increase in revenue, acquisition. etc. 
3. Assume the interviewer says engagement and both channels. I'd start by a) identifying the user personas b) picking a persona, and c) identifying their pain points, d) Come up with a solution to the 
4. User personas
   1. Students who use it for their assignments/reports, etc
   2. Professors who want to grade their student's papers and check the plagiarism  
   3. Working professionals that use it for writing emails, articles, documents, etc
   4. Enterprises that use it write reports or memos for their internal communication  
5. Looking at the size of the group, and given that when these students eventually would become paying customers if and when they join an organization, I'm going to pick students. 
6. Pain points
   1. As a student, I don't know what mistakes I'm making frequently, and how can I correct them
   2. As a student, I cannot use it in other languages
   3. Currently, Grammarly shows highlights the errors in each word, and the user has to check every word. There is no option to correct all mistakes in a single go. As a student, this is tedious and time-consuming, especially for lengthy reports
   4. As a student, it is tough to find the right template for writing an email like a cover letter/resume, etc.
       
7. Solutions to:
   Problem 1: Create a learning module for students - They can learn typing and Grammarly can set give them tests of different levels. As a student progresses, the vocabulary, typing speed, and punctuation complexity also increase. The student can track what mistakes they are doing from day to day or week to week. If kids can use this module earlier it'll help to cope with their learning challenges. It can also potentially identify certain learning disabilities early. This can lead to early intervention, and help the child's life immensely. 
   
   Problem 2: Grammarly can extend its functionality to other languages like Spanish, French, Hindi, etc. There is no other competitor that does this. 
   
   Problem 3: In the current option where we show the user the individual mistakes, give the option to correct all the mistakes
   
   Problem 4: Create a database of templates for standard documents that students require like a cover letter, resume, mail template, etc. Users can upload their versions and others can use them.
    
8. Prioritization: I'd prioritize the above solutions based on the RICE framework from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest)

Looking at the overall score, Solution 1 needs to be prioritized. Although solution 3 is also low-hanging fruit.

    9.   Metrics-

• Learn with Grammarly - # of lessons viewed on a daily and weekly basis
• # of tests attempted week on week & month on month basis  
• # of corrections suggested on a daily and weekly basis
• % Improvement in students' test scores
• Churn rate
• DAU/MAU of Grammarly 
• Avg. session time per user