Case Study: How would you improve WhatsApp
By: Kaushiki Bhattacharya
Tags: Product Improvements, User Experience, Metrics, Product Management, WhatsApp

Introduction:

You might have come across multiple news about the bevy of new features that WhatsApp has recently introduced onto its platform. Some of the newly launched features are- View Once functionality, Joinable Calls feature, Multiple device support etc., while many more are in the beta phase. All of these features are aimed at improving the overall customer experience on the app. Ever since the pandemic has hit the world, all digital platforms and websites have seen an exponential rise in their number of users, with baby boomers- who were initially sceptical about using these platforms- entering into the online space to perform day-to-day activities. This increased adoption and a higher level of willingness to use online platforms have unearthed new opportunities for online companies to take advantage of, and WhatsApp is no different. Through continuous innovations and product enhancing feature deployments, the app is ensuring that it is able to engage this new set of customers while retaining the already existing ones (mostly comprising of millennials and gen-z). However, I have identified a few more areas of improvement that the messaging giant can focus on, assuming they are not already under development. I have approached the case study following the below order:

1. A brief understanding of WhatsApp, how it functions and its business objectives or goals

2. Overview of the customer segments that WhatsApp currently targets, followed by prioritizing one particular user group that the company should focus on in order to achieve its business goals

3. Identification of the pain-points of these prioritized user segments, and understanding how and why WhatsApp fails to address them

4. The pain points are then prioritized based on how frustrating they are for the target users

5. Ideation of a few solutions that can address each of the above-identified pain-points

6. The solutions are again prioritized based on a framework (I have used an ease of implementation vs value created framework)

7. Finally, each of the proposed solutions are evaluated, by determining the corresponding trade-offs (if any)

What is WhatsApp and its business goals:

WhatsApp needs no introduction. It is a free, instant messaging service that allows users to send texts, place calls both through audio and video, share Instagram-like stories with friends and families, send and receive money, buy products from local businesses etc. Calling WhatsApp a messaging service is rather an understatement, because of the plethora of activities that one can perform on its platform. With a huge customer base of around 2 billion globally (India being the biggest market, having around 390 million WhatsApp users), the company has established itself as the market leader in the messenger space. Given the high market share and the large number of users that the company already enjoys, the following should be the business goals that WhatsApp should currently focus on:

i) Increase the engagement rate of its currently existing customers by introducing new and innovative features,

ii) Improve the satisfaction levels of daily users on the app by providing a seamless product experience

iii) Retain the newer set of less tech-savvy customers (the baby boomer population- who have only recently started using WhatsApp and might not be as dependent on the app on a day-to-day basis as the millennials and gen-z). These people tend to get bored/ annoyed and leave the platform completely if they do not have an enjoyable time while using the app

iv) Finally, increasing its revenue must be another top goal for the company

User segments of WhatsApp:

There are primarily three main customer segments that WhatsApp targets-

i) Casual Users:

a) Millennials and Gen-Z: This forms the majority of WhatsApp’s user base. About 71% of the platform’s users fall in the age bracket of 18–44.

b) Boomers: Following the pandemic, the older generation- who were previously happy with using SMS or Facebook chats or simple calls to reach out to people- have adopted WhatsApp for their social needs. Most of them are still learning how to use the app and need a lot of hand-holding and guidance.

ii) Small and Medium-size Businesses: WhatsApp business has become a popular social commerce platform, which allows small and medium-sized companies to set up online shops and sell and connect with their customers at a more personal level.

Use cases of each user segment:

i) Casual users (Comprising of gen-z, millennials and boomer population):

- Send and receive texts

- Set up voice or video calls

- Send and receive voice messages

- Send and Receive images or videos or documents etc.

- Make payments via WhatsApp pay

- Create groups and chat/ talk with multiple people at the same time

- Create and share stories in the form of status updates

ii) SMEs and Entrepreneurs:

- Set up business profiles and include helpful information for customers, about who they are and what they do

- Display their product catalogues to interested buyers

- Enjoy two-way communication with customers on a more personal level

- Provide buyers with easy and convenient payment options through WhatsApp Pay

- Access and analyze business-specific metrics, based on which they can take strategic decisions

Which of these segments should WhatsApp prioritize based on its business goals?

Aligning with its business objectives, WhatsApp should primarily focus on the segment of casual users, comprising of the younger population, who are responsible for the majority of WhatsApp’s business, and the first-time users- who constitute an underserved population and have a huge potential in becoming another source of revenue for the messaging giant.

Pain points of each of the prioritized user segments:

i) Younger population, who are the tech-savvy users using WhatsApp actively for their daily chores:

1. One of the biggest pain points of this customer segment is their inability to hide their online status or display a do-not-disturb symbol when one does not want any type of distraction. (An “Away” option is currently available for business profiles, however not for casual users)

2. When a user is on a WhatsApp call, he or she can still receive text messages and there is no indicator available that can inform other users that this person is currently on a call and might not be able to text back immediately. This can sometimes be an issue because the sender of the text can see the other person active and not responding to his/her text, which can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

In continuation to the above point, there is also no way by which users can realize that they have received a text when on a WhatsApp call if their phone is on silent or in no vibration mode. And if in case they do discover the message, either they have to put the call on speaker/ on hold/ drop the call altogether in order to read and text back (which disrupts the flow of the conversation), or they have to text back after the call ends

3. Another pain point often faced by this user segment is keeping track of conversations in group chats. Often, if someone logs in to WhatsApp after a prolonged period of time, he/she may be welcome by hundreds of unread messages in group chats. There is no option available other than to scroll up and go through each conversation one by one, which is a very gruelling and time-consuming task

4. Finally, keeping track of the payments made and received via WhatsApp pay is another challenge faced by normal users. While WhatsApp business has a feature called “Label Contacts” which allows the firms to monitor which customers’ payment is pending and who all have paid, no such feature is currently available for the normal users

ii) Coming to the older population, they have much simpler pain-points as compared to the other segment, since they mostly use the basic functionalities of the app like chat or voice calls:

1. One of the biggest challenges faced by the older population on WhatsApp (or any other modern messaging platform for that matter) is their inability to interpret emojis and abbreviations, and consequently not knowing how to respond to a text

2. Typing on the keyboard is another pain-point, not only because of the small-sized keys but also because users of this age group are not conversant with the key placements and take a lot of time searching for individual letters and typing out words

3. Due to their shaky hands, it often becomes difficult for them to take good pictures and videos

Based on the business goals that WhatsApp should currently target, the following problems need to be prioritized in the short run: For the younger population- problems (2) and (4) and for the older user segment- problem (1). The remaining problems can be taken up in long run because of lower priority or due to the availability of alternative options (For example, older people can use WhatsApp voice notes to send messages instead of typing out texts).

Below are the solutions that I believe WhatsApp can implement to troubleshoot each of the prioritized pain points. I have also scored each of the solutions (out of 5) based on ease of implementation vs value created for customers, and the final score will help us prioritize which solution to execute first.

Solutions to the prioritized pain-points of the Younger, Tech-savvy user segment:

Problem 1: Inability to reply to a text while being on a WhatsApp call

Solution 1: When a user is on a WhatsApp call, there can be an indicator (Maybe a red phone icon like the one displayed on Truecaller) beside the person’s name. This will help others realize that the user- though he/she is being displayed as “Online” on WhatsApp- is busy and will not be able to reply immediately. (Ease of Implementation = 4 (quite easy to implement), Value created= 4, total score= 8)

Solution 2: Microsoft Outlook allows users to set up automated response emails when they are out of office. On similar lines, WhatsApp can build an Automated Response feature, wherein if a user is on a call, and someone texts him/ her, an automated text will be sent immediately to the sender, which can be something like- “<User Name> is currently on a call. Please expect a delayed response”. This will free the users from having to themselves type out a text while on a call, and also will get rid of any potential misunderstanding that could have crept up otherwise. (Ease of Implementation= 4, Value created= 5, total score= 9)

Solution 3: WhatsApp can give us an option to place a call through normal calls, without having to leave the platform to do so. Currently after adding a contact, if we want to call the person from our mobile carrier network, we have to close WhatsApp, open Truecaller or the in-built phone app, and finally make the call. Having the normal call option within WhatsApp will eliminate the extra steps that users have to go through. (Ease of Implementation= 3, Value Created= 4, total score= 7)

Problem 2: Difficulty in tracking payments within the app itself:

Solution 1: To solve this problem and encourage more users to use WhatsApp Pay, a Splitwise like functionality can be integrated within WhatsApp group chats. This feature will help users split expenses with their friends and keep track of who is to pay how much, without having to leave the app and go to some other app like Splitwise to do the same. A “Settle” button can also be provided, using which users can settle dues once they have made the payment. (Ease of Implementation= 4, Value created= 5, Total Score= 9)

Solution 2: A similar payment tracking feature should be made available for individual contacts. For example, if we open a contact’s chat window and click on the 3 vertical dots available on the right-hand side, we should get a dropdown with an option like “View payment history with this person”. With the help of this function, a user can check how much he owes this person and vice-versa, on an individual level. Again, this will eliminate the need to go to another application, thereby streamlining the user journey on WhatsApp. (Ease of Implementation= 4, Value created= 5, Total Score= 9)

Solution 3: WhatsApp can also set up automated reminders which will be sent to users for pending payments, either to other people or for utility services like bill payments, mobile recharges, insurance premium payments and so on (similar to the ones we get from Paytm and GPay). This feature will again increase the engagement rate and the duration of time that users spend on the platform. (Ease of Implementation= 3, Value created= 3, Total Score= 6)

Solutions to the prioritized pain-points of the Older population who are mostly first-time users:

Problem 1: Not being able to understand emojis and abbreviations:

Solution 1: An emoji/ abbreviation translator can be integrated into the chat interface, which can help the tech-novices understand the current social media lingo (Ease of Implementation= 4, Value created= 5, Total Score= 9)

Solution 2: The WhatsApp chat interface can be made more conversational and intuitive by adding an emoji-suggestion option into the chat window. WhatsApp does suggest replies to generic questions, wherein users only have to click on one of the suggestions without having to type out the text. In addition to this, an emoji-suggestion can also be integrated within the platform, which will not only reduce the hassles that older users (who are usually not familiar with the social media lingo) have to go through while replying to smileys, but it can also help them learn about this way of chatting and get comfortable on the platform. (Ease of Implementation= 4, Value created= 5, Total Score= 9)

Prioritization of Suggested Solutions:

As per the scores, the following are the problem-solution sets:

Problem 1: Inability to reply to a text while being on a WhatsApp call

Solution: Automated Response feature which will get triggered each time someone texts the user while he/she is on a call

Problem 2: Difficulty in tracking payments within the app itself

Solution: A Splitwise like functionality that will allow users to keep track of payments both at an individual level and at a group level

Problem 3: Not being able to understand emojis and abbreviations

Solution: An emoji-translator as well as an emoji- suggestion feature can be built within WhatsApp. This feature will help the less tech-savvy users understand and reply to texts that are laden with emoticons.

Evaluation of the solutions:

The prioritized solutions make sense since they are relatively easier to implement, and they can create high value for the users by solving annoying problems which they have to face while using WhatsApp.

One trade-off to bear in mind when implementing the Automated Response feature is that the incoming text might have been urgent as compared to the call that the user is on. In such scenarios, instead of sending an automatic “I’m busy” text, the user would have preferred manually replying to the text by either dropping the call or putting it on hold.

And for the solution that involves an Emoji translator and suggestion feature, one important tradeoff that I can think of is the accuracy of the interpretation. Semi-Supervised ML algorithms (Which will be driving this functionality) can only be reliable if enough data is fed into them. If not, there is a probability that this solution might backfire by wrongly interpreting the meanings of the abbreviations/ emojis and subsequently suggesting incorrect replies for the users. This might create embarrassing situations for them, and they might end up permanently leaving the platform with a bad taste in their mouth, and discouraging their peers from using the app.

Summary:

There is absolutely no doubt that WhatsApp has proved itself to be one of the most innovative companies to be existing on earth in recent times. Its sheer popularity across all age groups is proof of this. However, there are some pain points (some of which I discussed above) that the go-to-messaging app is yet to address, which I am sure the firm is already working on. Once WhatsApp solves all the existing issues and figures out a way to successfully provide a holistic, end-to-end experience to its users, it won’t be long before the company poses a serious threat in other industries as well.