You are a PM at Flipkart. The company has decided to increase the userbase of age >60 years on the platform. What will you do?

Clarifying Questions:

1. Why do we want to do this -> expand our active user base

2. Why now -> this particular age bracket contributes little to our existing monthly active user base 

3. Any timeline/target on mind -> consider inc contribution from current 5% to 15% by next 3 months

4. Have we also figured out the addressable market size -> you can do in your analysis

5. Is the target for Flipkart marketplace in general or any particular category -> consider flipkart marketplace

Lay out approach: User persona -> Pain Points -> Recommendation -> Tradeoff -> Metrics -> GTM

User Persona for age > 60 years

1. Tech literacy

   1. Low

   2. Medium -> M market size but considering that they have some level of tech literacy, we can target this user base for mx impact

   3. High -> L market base and thus the impact that can be made

Pain Points:

1. Before browsing

   1. Not sure what to buy

   2. Not sure whether things that I need at this old age is available on Flipkart -> H unmet need, H impact

2. During browsing

   1. Overwhelmed with the UI: Font, too many products, language of interaction -> H unmet need, M-H impact

   2. Searching is not very easy

3. During checkout

   1. Trust issue around product quality 

   2. Doesn’t feel safe while making online transactions -> H unmet need, H impact

4. Post checkout

   1. Help & support should be a step away

   2. Easy returns

Problems we are solving

1. Not sure whether things that I need at this old age is available on Flipkart

2. Overwhelmed with the UI: Font, too many products, language of interaction

3. Doesn’t feel safe while making online transactions

Recommendations

1. Problem 1: Not sure whether things that I need at this old age is available on Flipkart

   1. Solutions:

      1. Create a dedicated section on Flipkart homepage for elders needs with the required product catalogue -> H impact, M-H effort

      2. Show nudges to user in case we get to know the age of the user via digital footprints -> M-H impact, H effort

2. Problem 2: Overwhelmed with the UI: Font, too many products, language of interaction

   1. Solutions:

      1. UI of the dedicated section ‘Flipkart elders’ should be in-line to the age category. Mix of audio/videos to be used -> M-H impact, M effort

      2. Voice based search with multi-language support -> L-M impact, H effort

      3. Assisted bot for shopping -> M impact, +H effort

3. Problem 3: Doesn’t feel safe while making online transactions

   1. Solutions:

      1. Social proofing to be done

      2. Recommend cash based checkout and nudge for digital transaction as per digital footprint/user shopping history which will get enriched over time -> M-H impact, M effort

      3. Allow to share link with family who can on the user’s behalf -> M impact, M-H effort

Final Solutions:

1. Create a dedicated section on Flipkart homepage for elders needs with the required product catalogue

2. UI of the dedicated section ‘Flipkart elders’ should be in-line to the age category. Mix of audio/videos to be used

3. Recommend cash based checkout and nudge for digital transaction as per digital footprint/user shopping history which will get enriched over time

Tradeoffs:

1. Inc in cash txn -> use data science to recommend cash txn only where no digital footprint is available. ML based logic to be used for this decisioning with factors being PIN code (urban vs rural), previous txns made, frequency of txns, volume/amount of txns etc.

Metrics:

1. Acquisition: 

   1. Increase in sign up of new users

   2. Per day clicks on Flipkart elders

2. Engagement:

   1. GMV contribution 

   2. Active user base as a % of overall base

3. Retention:

   1. 30 day churn rate for the base

   2. Repeat txns/30 day

Flipkart product improvement interview question: You are a PM at Flipkart. The company has decided to increase the userbase of age >60 years on the platform. What will you do?

Clarification 

- Im assuming this is for India considering Flipkart only operates in India 

- When you say increase the user base - does it mean we are not getting enough users from that cohort to install the app or does it mean we are not able to convert/retain them or both (assuming its both)

- Whats the goal here? Increase repeat customer base(transacting since installs are an input metric if you're an ecommerce platform) esp from this cohort 

- Is this meant for App or web? Im assuming the prioirity is app since majority of users in India are mobile first internet users ESP users who belong to this cohort 

Customer groups?

- 60+ users with smartphones

- Relies on younger ones in the family to coach them using new apps

- Usually the other family members already have an account they are using so frequently they can loginto the same account 

- A large % stay together so children and parents have the same address 

- Only installs apps if they are actually of extreme value to them(apps like uber or whatsapp)

- Finds out about features/apps from their friends 

- Asks grand children or children to make them coach it 

- Struggle with complexity/cognitive overload is a risk 

What does the typical journey look like for majority of users(tehc savvy)?

• Users finds the app 
  • on app store/play store (by searching)
    • A major % of users will end up asking family to help install
    • Via site (flipkart in this case)
• logs in or signs up 
  • Straight forward:Relatively straight forward single process extremely linear with no forks in the journey
  • FK already support top vernac languages so even if they dont understand english it should work fine
• finds what they are looking 
  • Too many choices: Again the user may request families help in searching or browsing due to app complexity/cognitive overload
• Places an order using COD or digital payment method 
  • Likely prefers COD since there's an inherent suspicion for this cohort WRT product quality when shopping online for the first time 
  • COD makes the delivery a bit more complex logistically also increases risk due to covid
• Orders ships
  • User uses the app to track the package/helpline for concerns 
  • Delivered (successfully)

Customer Pain points

- Installing the app is complex - creates a funnel 

- Browsing/searching/researching a particular product (to decide whether to buy it or not) - creates a funnel

- Covid Risk in delivery - creates a funnel(lower conversion)

- COD orders - creates a risk since elderly folks are not very busy during the day so return rate should actually be lower than the average COD return rate 

- Distrust - again creates a funnel 

Prioritisation

 - family login: I want to make it easier for members to share their account with their other family members, users can share a link with a family member and family member can easily login
this makes the current process frictionless (currently user will have share phone number and guide the user, this make it all a single click process)

Reach: High 

Impact: high 

Effort: Medium

Confidence: high

- Family account creation: I want to make it easier for members to create a new account for my parents using existing data , users can add new address and phone number in the flow (email is shared - this adds another layer of complexity but keeping it outside the scope of this solution)

Reach: High 

Impact: high 

Effort: Medium

Confidence: high

- Simple mode: A Simple mode of the app that is as the name suggest dead simple which allows the user to focus on his needs, user can search or explore categories in a strucutured easy to read fashion (large text) with voice integration.

User can either use screen or voice to navigate. 

It'll also allow them to ask question on the product page (it already has an FAQ section) or share it with family to ask more questions 

Reach: High 

Impact: high 

Effort:  High

Confidence: medium

- Better post order experience - demos at door step: Delivery personnel can be trained to do small demos at the time of delivery for simple mode users ( or if they match the agre criteria or both)

however this has element of risk .

Reach: Medium(users may not have time)

Impact: Low (users may not remember by the time they use the app next)

Effort:  Medium

Confidence:  low

-  Open box deliveries(users are made to open the box and check the items): by default for users matching the above criteria to build trust and help with expectation setting/also makes the returns process hassel free 

Reach: high

Impact: high(users may not have time)

Effort:  Medium

Confidence: high

For prioritisation I'll pick Family login, family account creation, simple mode and open box deliveries.

I'll not pick demos at door step since 1) users may not be available 2) this has a risk in term of personal data being shared 3) users may not retain 4) hence low impact and it comes at a high cost ( delivery personnel spends more time in delivery)