Case Study 5 - Root Cause Analysis - Google Pay 10% Increase in Payments

Problem: Google Pay has observed a gradual 10% drop in payments over a few months. Initial Exploration: The candidate begins by clarifying the nature of the decline — gradual and sustained — and proposes analyzing both external and internal factors. Scoping the Issue: • Demographics & Geography: The decline is uniform across all user segments and locations. • Device Type: No specific drop-off among Android or iOS users. • Campaigns or Marketing: No recent campaign from Google Pay that could be linked to the drop. A PhonePe campaign did coincide with a slight dip but doesn’t account for the full 10%. • Seasonality: No recurring seasonal trends to explain the decrease. • Competition: No significant competitive threat identified. Deep Dive – Internal Product Analysis: • Data Accuracy: Event tracking and analytics systems are confirmed to be unchanged and accurate. • User Journey Mapping: The candidate outlines the key user payment flows: 1. QR code payments in person (e.g., stores or transport). 2. Merchant app redirection to Google Pay (e.g., Swiggy). 3. Manual initiation via the Google Pay app (especially with Apple devices). Segmentation & Funnel Breakdown: • The candidate distinguishes between merchant transactions and peer-to-peer/bank transfers. • The drop is isolated to merchant transactions. • Peer-to-peer and QR code scans for non-merchant payments are stable. Root Cause Hypothesis: • The candidate suspects the issue lies within the merchant transaction flow, particularly in the pop-up (widget) experience that prompts users for payment after redirection. • They point out from personal experience that sometimes: • The pop-up doesn’t appear. • Merchants are not listed under “recent merchants”. • The payment widget is missing on the merchant detail page. Discovery: • The interviewer confirms a recent release replaced SMS-based prompts with in-app pop-up widgets for merchant transactions. • Post-release data shows a significant drop in user clicks on the pop-up — suggesting users aren’t seeing the prompt, hence not completing payments. Conclusion: • The drop in merchant payments is attributed to a failed adoption of the new pop-up widget system. • The candidate recommends focusing on fixing this visibility issue first. If the drop continues, deeper investigation into technical failures (e.g., server issues) would be needed. #ProductManagement #UXDesign #Fintech #Payments #GooglePay #ProductInterview #RootCauseAnalysis #UserJourney #GrowthStrategy #MobileUX #UPI #CustomerExperience