How would you improve Google Pay?

​​​​​​My approach to this Google product improvement PM interview question would be:

1. CLARIFY:
   1. By improvement, do you have a specific goal in mind? You choose. 
   2. Is there a specific user you have in mind? You choose. 
2. GOOGLE PAY BACKGROUND: Google Pay is Google's digital wallet and payment platform. It offers mobile and watch contactless payment via NFC on Android devices. The app is available for download on iOS and Android. It also allows for faster payment on Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Authentication occurs via pin. Google Pay recently updated their app in 2020 to get users to think of it as more than a payment vehicle for contactless payment. It offers transaction insights, links to "Discover" - order food, get gas, and insights into your spend. Google's mission is to allow users access to the world's information, and spend insights fit into that mission. 
3.  GOAL: In terms of a goal, I'd like to focus on increasing engagement of Google Pay. Google does not charge fees to merchants to use the app on top of the normal card fees, but Google does get data on their users.
4. USERS: There are 4 types of users on the Google Pay platform. For this improvement strategy, I'd like to focus on the buyers because Google Pay features most directly impact them. 
   1. Banks: Offer debit cards and checking / savings accounts for users to move money from. 
   2. Card Networks: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover that offer credit cards for users to use with Google Pay.
   3. Merchants: Accept card payment via Google Pay. Must accept card payment from the credit card to accept Google Pay.
   4. Buyers: Individual using Google Pay from their phone or desktop. 
5. SUB USERS:  Within the buyers segment, there are sub user groups. I'd like to focus on the rare user of Google Pay, as I think there is a big opportunity to increase their engagement with the platform to work towards our goal.
   1. Never Used: Never used Google Pay.
   2. Rare User: Rare user of Google Pay. May have 1-2 used it on a phone or desktop. 
   3. Medium User: Uses Google Pay 1-2x / week. 
   4. Power User: Uses Google Pay frequently at least 3-4x / week.
6. RARE USER PAIN POINTS:
   1. Not Set Up: has not set up Google Pay on either mobile or desktop. 
   2. Doesn't Know How to Set Up: Doesn't know how to set up Google Pay on either desktop or mobile device.
   3. No Value: Doesn't see value in Google Pay. Has not explored all uses / features.
   4. Unaware of Features: Only used Google Pay for specific use (ex. contactless payment). Does not know about additional features of Google Pay - ex. transactions insights, send money to individuals, etc.
   5. Data Security: Concerned about using Google Pay in terms of Google having access to data.
7. RANK PAIN POINTS:

   1. Pain Point	Impact to User
      Not Set Up	Medium
      Doesn't Know How to Set Up	Medium
      No Value	High
      Unaware of Features	High
      Data Security	Low

8. SOLUTIONS: The solutions I've come up with focus on show casing the value of Google Pay and expanding the value of Google Pay to the rare user based on ranked pain points.   
   1. Email / Push Notification Marketing Campaign: Google emails rare users of Google Pay (i.e. have used less than 10x in month) with overview of features they may not know about.  
   2. Receipt Reconciliation: Google Pay allows users to take photos of receipts or pull electronic receipts and reconcile them with expenses. Allows users to see if they are being overcharged by merchants (tip, etc.).
   3. Tailored Rewards: Google Pay reads card spend of card linked to Google Pay and notifies user if there are rewards associated with merchants they spend frequently with. Incentivizes user to spend on Google Pay. 
   4. Expanded Rewards: Google Pay partners with merchants to offer more than cash back. For example, they offer discounts or a free item - ex. spend $10 and get a free coffee. 
   5. Increased Savings: Google Pay expands Insights offerings to showcase how users can save more money. For example, "We've noticed you've spent $X at Starbucks. Have you thought about purchasing a coffee machine for your home." Other examples could be "We noticed you bought X items. Did you know these items are on sale at this merchant.:
9. PRIORITIZED SOLUTIONS: Based on the prioritization, I'd focus on a marketing campaign to remind rare users of the value of Google Pay. In the app, I'd focus on tailoring rewards to these users. The marketing campaign could focus on the new tailored rewards to the Google Pay users. 

   1. Solution	Impact to User	Cost to Google
      Email / Push Notification Marketing Campaign	High	Low
      Receipt Reconciliation	Medium	Low
      Tailored Rewards	High	Low
      Expanded Rewards	High	Medium
      Increased Savings	High	Medium

10. METRICS:
    1. Marketing Campaign:
       1. # of users emails or push notifications are sent to
       2. # of users who open Google Pay from notification sent
    2. Tailored Rewards: 
       1. # of users who activate rewards
       2. # of users who use reward
       3. Average spend on Google Pay of user before tailored reward v. after tailored rewards 
11. SUMMARY: In order to improve engagement of Google Pay, I'd focus on building tailored rewards based on user's card spend. I'd run a marketing campaign that notifies these users of the value of Google Pay with a focus on these tailored rewards to incentivize rare users of Google Pay to increaese engagement on the platform. 

Q: How would you improve Google Pay?

A: Using CIRCLES Method

C - Comprehend the situation (What, Who, Why?)

Google Pay is used to pay for:

1. Tickets- all types

2. Pay at Grocery Other Stores

3. Pay online for e-commerce

4. Pay for movies - in Google Play and other places

5. Send and Receive money

6. Pay utility bills (not available in every country)

Key value proposition is paying with security anywhere so you don't have to take your wallet- big relief from worry of losing credit card or someone forging your identity and use card.

What is the objective?

1- Increase engagement

2- Increase revenue

3- Increase awareness

I - Identify Users

1- Shoppers (use for shopping only)

2- Money Sender/Receiver (Local and International)

3-Power Users (Shopping and sending/receiving)

4-Business users (trade at local and international level)

My objective is monetization or increase revenue so I am going to focus on business users:

R - Reporting customer needs

1. Legitimacy - sender and receiver are legitimate

2. Timing - money sending/receiving should be immediate

3. Security - transaction needs to be fully secured

4. Outreach - sender/receiver should be available globally

C- cut through prioritization, L - List solutions , E - evaluate tradeoffs

Google Pay enters in a somewhat crowded space with other players already enjoy a market share and market share penetration.

So I would go with option of Outreach. However, I would implement this in this order:

1- Consumers ability to send/receive money to friends and relatives

2-Consumers ability to pay for goods to/from the U.S

And then eventually, extend to businesses.

So, what is the ROI based on option 1?

There are approximately 50millions Expats live in the U.S. Say, 10% will switch to Google Pay to send money and each user pays $5 flat fee irrespective of the amount will result in (5 million users x $5) $25M a year.

Clarifying questions:

Goal :- Acquisition, engagement, or monetization?

Use cases:-

1. Transfer money amongst peers

2. Pay utility bills 

Types of users:

1. Power users, casual users

Engagement:

1. Splitwise - this feature allows the users to equally divide the bills and automatically send the request money notifications and reminders

2. Spend patterns - This feature would allow users to analyze the spend pattern generated through all the debits expenses in different categories - Travel, entertainment, shopping etc.

3. Account analysis - monthly average balance, Quarterly balance etc.

4. Automatic bill payments - for the utility bills credit card bills, Rent. Rewards based on the bill payments

Monetization:

1. Overdraft facility - Google has all the information about the spends and closing balance, it could offer the overdraft facility to a limit based on the health of account

2. EMI facility - For a large scale purchase on e-commerce it can allow the users to avail the EMI facility