Success Surge: Payments Platform Slashes Churn by 23%, Achieves 80M USD GMV in 2020
November 10, 2023
In 2018, MobiKwik emerged as a rising star in the Indian fintech arena, with a vision to extend its offerings to an astounding 250 million users. The company aimed to offer a diverse array of financial and credit products that cater to the ever-evolving needs of its customers.
Within this wide product space, MobiKwik excelled in facilitating seamless bill payments and digital transactions with both online and offline merchants, amounting to an impressive 400 million USD. Furthermore, the company ventured into Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options, peer-to-peer transfers, lending solutions, and wealth management services. By encompassing such a wide range of offerings, MobiKwik aims to become a one-stop solution for all financial needs.
The rise of UPI and the need to navigate decreasing profit margins had driven MobiKwik to adopt a strategic approach. The company recognized the importance of adaptability and innovation to maintain its foothold in the competitive landscape dominated by industry giants such as Paytm, Paypal, Razorpay, and other payment gateways.
Operating within a Supply-Demand system, MobiKwik collaborated extensively with external parties to ensure the availability and accessibility of its services. This collaborative approach allowed the company to capitalize on the immense potential of the Indian market while simultaneously contending with established players.
One of MobiKwik's strategic moves in the highly competitive realm of online merchant transactions was to utilize these transactions as a customer acquisition tool. By securing partnerships with major eCommerce merchants, the company wanted to tap into substantial buyer power, even if it meant operating on lower margins, approximately 1%. This approach not only introduces new customers to MobiKwik but also positions the company to thrive in the burgeoning Indian market.
Understanding the Online Merchant User Landscape
For Online Merchant business, the ecosystem caters to a diverse spectrum. On the supply side, large enterprises like Uber, PVR, Groffers, BookMyShow, and Amazon coexist with startups and small businesses, including subscription platforms such as Disney Hotstar and Airtel. On the buyer's side, the user base spans students, early-career professionals (21-26), and mid-career professionals (27-35), fostering inclusivity across varied demographics.
Metrics Snapshot
North Star Metric: "Number of First Transactions" - with a strategic focus on leveraging the Online Merchants platform to usher in new customers, this metric prioritized user expansion over immediate profits
Secondary Metric- Success Rate for Transactions: A significant decline from 56% (Jan 2018) to 44% (Sept 2018) in success rates unveils complex internal challenges. This dip in success rates prompted a closer examination of workflow.
Notably, metrics were segmented into Supply and Demand metrics, as illustrated in the accompanying picture, providing a comprehensive view of the platform's multifaceted performance dynamics.
Online Payments Platform New Workflow
Diving deeper and finding the root cause of the decline in the success rate
The Merchant Online Payments platform was a typical funnel by design, where a few users would be churned out at every step of the payment processing. The funnel as seen in 2018 was as follows:
High Churn Rates during Signup: The initial stages of user signing witnessed heightened churn rates. Analyzing this phase provided valuable insights into user preferences, pain points, and potential areas for optimization.
High Churn Rate During Payment Method Selection: Another critical juncture in the user journey highlighted elevated churn rates during the payment method selection process. This phase served as a focal point for understanding user hesitations and optimizing the payment experience.
Tracking Mechanism: MYSQL Data and Clevertap were leveraged as tracking mechanisms.
The Opportunity Hypothesis: Enhance merchant transaction success rate by optimizing user experience: enable seamless sign-ins via OTP, ensure persistent sessions, automate transactions with sufficient wallet funds, and auto-select users' preferred payment options.
Customer Development to validate Hypothesis, PRD, Workflow, Wireframes and JIRA
To validate our hypothesis and ensure user-centric development, we engaged in thorough customer development. This involved posing key questions such as their preference for MobiKwik, success and retry experiences, password knowledge, and account multiplicity. Customer responses, especially around XPS, were pivotal in shaping our strategy.
The Product Requirements Document (PRD) served as a dynamic and live document where collaboration between engineers, designers, and business stakeholders was fostered. It encapsulated design, technical requirements, and business goals while aligning with metric objectives.
The workflow was meticulously crafted, visually depicted below, to outline the seamless execution of our solution. Additionally, detailed wireframes, provided in the images, were instrumental in shaping the user experience. Subsequently, JIRA played a pivotal role in transforming these insights into actionable stories, facilitating an agile development process.
Online Payments Platform Wireframes
Key Results
Success Rate Surge:
The success Rate for Transactions witnessed a remarkable increase to 57%, effectively reducing the customer churn rate by 23% within just four months post-product delivery.
User login churn rate experienced a substantial decline from 34% to 21%, indicating enhanced user engagement.
Merchant Net Promoter Score (NPS) exhibited significant improvement, rising from -4 to a commendable 20, based on a sample set of merchants.
Revenue Generation: The product achieved an impressive Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of 80 million USD in 2020, underlining its substantial impact on the financial landscape.
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