The Art of asking just one Question
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I recently completed one month of joining Flipkart. I am assigned to the Payments pod, I guess due to my past experience of working in the payments space with G Pay (/Google Tez). As a user researcher, there were a few things I wanted to do as soon as I joined:
First, I wanted to understand the business from stakeholders because they are the ones who have a stake in research and will use the insights to create better products. I wanted to know the answer to the most important question: What is the biggest challenge Flipkart is facing today? Knowing this was important so I can align my research to solve the challenge. I not only needed to understand what PMs and designers know but also what they want to know going forward.
Second, I wanted to earn the trust of the stakeholders. As a UX researcher, I’ve seen there is still a little understanding among designer community about how exactly research can contribute to the betterment of their products. I’ve seen many PMs wondering how a researcher can make users talk and get the answers to business questions. The insights generated by research will be used by them, so it was important for me that they understand how we find answers by research.
Three, to do my job well, I not only needed to understand what PMs want from research, but to strike a chord with them, it was equally important to get into their head and see the world how they see it. How they view the emerging trends in ecosystem, and how the compete brands relate to their own business? What strengths do they see in the compete products, and what do they consider their weaknesses? I wanted to understand the implications of the payments world for Flipkart.
I found a way to fulfil all these three objectives with a hands-on activity. And this is what I want to talk about in this post.
I invited all the stakeholders in a room and set the tone. It was important to set the tone as stakeholders mustn’t feel that they are scraping an hour in teaching a newcomer about their business unit. They must also not feel that they are sitting amongst the same, known people and saying the same things they’ve been saying for long. So I highlighted the fact that their opinions are rarely heard to make the products better, as they are not the ‘average user.’ However, given the experience and strong business context, they harness some strong opinions about what may work in the future and what may not. Yet they are rarely given a chance to voice out their deep emotional conflicts. I wanted to give them a chance. I wanted to hear their strong opinions about what do they think will work in the future and what will not. I wanted them to unpack what people will use in the future.
I gave them an artefact to play with. These artefacts were cutouts of mobiles with wings attached. Each artefact had a payment type on it.
- COD (Cash on Delivery)
- Debit card
- Credit card
- Net-banking
- UPI
- Equated Monthly Instalments (EMI)
I kept a few with brand names also as it may be easier for people to talk about their frequently used apps, instead of a method.
- Tez
- Paytm
- BHIM
- PhonePe
Then I laid them out in front of the participants and asked just one question.
“Which payment mode do you think will fly in the future?” 💸
And this one question gave me the exact answers I was looking to get. There emerged the larger trends in the ecosystem. Also emerged the strengths and weaknesses of the compete products/payment modes, subjective to individual opinions. The insights from this one question protocol were as detailed as from a conventional study. Lastly, there are some implications that these trends hold for e-commerce sites. Here’s summing a few emerging trends:
1. The Indian payments ecosystem seems to be moving towards UPI.
UPI brings in itself a huge trust factor, as it comes from a RBI regulated entity, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, from where the majority of new customers are coming. Other factors which make UPI agreeable are its simplicity and instant gratification in money coming or going directly from the bank account. Nothing intermediate in between. It’s also easy to pay by UPI as compared to the cards. Adding card takes a lot of steps, and it’s tough for people to understand it all- 16 digits, CVV, OTP. “Majority of them don’t even understand captcha at the COD checkout page.” UPI asks only for the security code.
“It’s going to be big especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities where people place trust in government.”
2. The biggest challenge of e-comm sites, COD, is here to stay.
COD accounts for more than 65% of orders in the e-commerce space. With the world moving towards digitisation, it is a concern for e-commerce companies. It resonated among all that COD is here to stay unless another major sweeping change happens, like demonetisation which led to the adoption of UPI.
“Some people just like to pay by cash.”
3. Social entities allowing peer-to-peer money transfer are to watch out for.
Social messaging and networking platforms offering one click, simple transactions, requiring just the phone number. They make a payment seem as simple as sending a chat. The social platforms offering International payments may score a goal.
“One touch does it.”
4. Money back is still a big win for customers.
Money back comes in forms of cashback, scratch cards. Technically, money backs make the price go down. Though the momentum of cashback has died down off late, a few companies still do it to a maximum value of Rs. 50.
“I love scratch cards. I may win.”
5. There can only be two QR codes at a shop.
Increasing number of apps offering payment acceptance by QR codes such as PayTM, Niyo, Google Pay and the like, propounds a unique problem. There is room only to display a maximum of two QR codes on the cash counter of a medium shop, or on the sideways of a small shop.
“Every shop you go to has one or two QR codes. There is no room for more.”
Implications
Trust is a big name in the payments game.
And that’s the topmost reason why COD is here to stay or why UPI may catch up. When I say ‘trust,’ I mean that, as a customer, I feel secure that my money is in safe hands and I can hold it in my own hands anytime. The real question is to be asking ourselves is, can we get this level of trust for something to stick for a long time? How might we build customer trust on our platform? How might we make customers feel comfortable about paying with prepaid means?
Another big thing is social proof.
Mothers who never used smart features of smart phone started using Whatsapp because their relatives were all on it. They also want to share latest pics of Mata Vaishnodevi with their sisters. People discover new apps when people in their circle tell them about it. No one downloads an app because Google said so. Things which are seen as cool by majority become popular with more majority. Everybody uses Whatsapp because everyone is on it. Everybody is on Facebook because everyone is on it. Every merchant uses Paytm because every customer uses it. The question to ask ourselves is: How might we make the comfort levels so high that everyone jumps on to the bandwagon? People are comfortable paying for their groceries at their local shop through non-cash modes, why not for online shopping?
Conclusion
To conclude, I think besides the understanding of payments space, I was aiming to try out a creative way to earn the trust of the stakeholders at the start of my new job and to get into their head to see the world as they see it. This hands-on activity worked neatly. The invite got them excited and a full-house turned up, even the people I added as a buffer :) I didn’t have anymore questions or probe points written on the discussion guide. And I didn’t need any. Participants kept discussing amongst themselves. I only listened.
As the great psychologist Timothy Leary said,
“To describe externals, you become a scientist. To describe experience, you become an artist.”
