The Next Billion User, in the age of information

The Next Billion Users or NXM, is the Hot-rod and Easter Egg of internet companies, to be front and center of the global market race.
But, do we need these users, or….

With the onset of digital age, and plummeting cost of devices and data,
we are witnessing an uproar in the internet users in India.
Getting the users online isn’t the challenge anymore, but understanding the behaviors and needs is what we all are racing for.

For internet companies, this boom has opened the floor for discussion whether to solely rely on data points to represent the masses or integrate the nuances of user behavior and expectations in their design to maintain the retention and cater deeply to the users.

Major companies are taking into consideration the environment and the context in which Indian users interact with their product. From lite versions of applications to offline feature being integrated to tackle slower internet speeds and patchy networks. Google had to do some fundamental changes to their product, such as Google maps, to address the offline issue and map use behaviour in Indian context.

In the last two years, almost all the major players have come up with their version of next billion users, their strategies and blueprints for their product/s to attract the major portion from this pool of users.

This somehow leads to this personal ethical conflict: are we looking at this ‘next-billion-users’ as a nameless-collection of data sets to target and add to our customers base? Or are we genuinely concerned about solving the problem?

To make them see that there could be a better, easier way of doing things with little bit of learnability on their part . The motive here is not just reliant on the revenue, but equally solving for others.

The next billion users or NXM, the terminology that goes around in my team (and teams all over the country and beyond), is the Hot-rod and Easter egg of internet companies to be in the front of the global market race.
A lot of us are asking this question right now, or get to hear the same in the board meetings: Do we need these users?

All our data points, strategies and planning are to muster an answer, to execute decisions after decisions until the customer pool looks large enough.

Why not begin with asking this: Do these users need us?

And if the answer is yes, we could start catering to understanding the needs of the user first. What it is that we are trying to solve for them? We would be more empathetic to the problem first, rather than force-fit the solution.

Once we have the clarity of what the user needs, our approach to solving for them would be less like a revenue-model and more like a solution-model.

If you are a Designer, a Product guy, or even a Senior VP of your firm reading this, you must be wondering: What could we do?

Being a researcher at MakeMyTrip, with abundance of exposure to our user base, conducting numerous user interviews and field research, I have come to the realisation that the answers lies in where and how we are looking at these users.

Here are the 3 answers I have uncovered working closely with our Next billion users.

1. Make users your first love, data second
With companies looking at data relentlessly, to strategise and execute the next big move or launch the ‘next big’ thing, the difference will be made by those who have realized that the balance is needed between reading the data and understanding the users.

While data is easy to come by, emotions are bit tricky to monitor and record in our excel sheets and databases.

And unless we are willing to discard our traditional approach of validating a product’s success by reading chunks of data, the user pool will never become an ocean to dive into.

2. Expand your user horizon
Brainstorm your way to every possible user your product could cater to,
and try to figure out their need and challenges so as to build your product around, rather than imposing a solution on them. Before rolling out a product/feature, make sure you have the fair idea of the user base it would impact.

3. Be where the users are

Unless you are willing to step into user’s shoes, you will never understand the possibility of what your product is capable of. Step into their environment, learn the challenges & behaviour. Doing so will help you understand human behaviour and, in result, expand your product to a larger mass.

I believe, it is our innate nature to help others when we have the right tools and capabilities. But question is, are we honestly willing to?