Product Observations
Objectives:
Building product sense & identifying strategies behind features to learn from them
PRODUCT
Flipkart
FEATURE
Open Box Delivery
OBSERVATIONS
Purpose: Allows customers to verify and inspect their shipments before accepting delivery.
Applicability: Available for high-value items like mobiles, laptops (specific brands), and large appliances, to select PIN codes in India on eKart deliveries.
Benefits:
Shields customers from fraudulent practices.
Enhances customer experience and trust, leading to increased loyalty.
Reduces operational costs for Flipkart by allowing delivery and return to happen simultaneously.
PRODUCT
Snapchat
FEATURE
Snapchat+ (Freemium)
OBSERVATIONS
Snapchat recently launched Snapchat+. A premium service that would allow users to experience some extra and experimental features along with the normal features of Snapchat.
Interesting to see them moving to this model, as most social media companies stick to ads as their main source of revenue.
In my opinion, it is not an enticing enough offering. Snapchat is quite feature-rich, and only offering things like a badge and some other experimental features to a market like India, which is very price-sensitive, will be a challenge.
PRODUCT
YouTube Mobile App
FEATURE
"Stop Ads" button.
OBSERVATIONS
YouTube has been pushing its premium subscriptions hard lately, and in that process, they have just sneaked in this little button smartly named "Stop Ads".
Being the undisputed champion of on-demand video, they have to maintain a balance between generating revenue from ads and diminishing user experience. The premium model removes this issue from the business perspective.
But not everyone is aware or gives enough thought to buying a premium subscription, as watching YouTube with ads has become the normal practice. They are solving this problem from the user's perspective.
PRODUCT
Lenskart Mobile App
FEATURE
View Similar Frames
OBSERVATIONS
Users who have previously purchased from Lenskart likely have preferred frame styles.
Instead of making users search for similar styles themselves (which could lead to frustration), Lenskart proactively suggests similar frames, improving user experience.
This approach is expected to increase repeat customers.
PRODUCT
Loom
FEATURE
Influencing Consumer Perception
OBSERVATIONS
Core Idea:
Creating value is different from perceived value.
Consumer perception is paramount to a product's success. What consumers think matters more than internal metrics.
How Loom Communicates Value:
Loom provides quantitative information in a relatable way.
As in this case:
Time savings: "You saved 80 hours of meetings." (Quantifies the benefit in a tangible, easily understood unit of time.)
A product this could make sense at:
Jio Cinema
Monthly subscription at Rs. 23
Cost comparison: "This costs lesser than your daily rickshaw ride." (Relates cost to a common, everyday expense.)
PRODUCT
Slice
FEATURE
Auto-fetch Pan from Phone
OBSERVATIONS
Creates a seamless and easier signup experience.
Allows users to verify their PAN even if they only remember part of it.
Provides a manual entry option if the automatically retrieved information is incorrect.