Clarifying Questions

Are these customers making payments of large amounts and converted them to EMIs? Yes

Are these customers new users or existing users? Lets assume existing users 

Goal 

Increase the number of customers paying their monthly payments.

High Level Reasons

A high number of customers are not making their monthly payments. I will have to look at certain points to list out high level reasons.

1) How much are these people spending per month?

2) Are these people spending on expensive items and converting those expenses to EMIs? Not aware that those charges are getting added up in monthly balance + Interest charges are also piling up and adding to monthly balance.

3) Are these people able to figure out what is the balance they need to pay ?

4) Users are not able to see a detailed view of all expenses which add up to monthly balance to be paid. 

5) Are these people able to figure out what amount they need to pay to avoid interest charges?

6 ) Do they how to make these payments?

7) Is paying manually a problem?

8) Users are not finding it easy to make payments?

Based on the calls, we can figure out what problems need to be looked at.

Lets assume 2, 4, 7 and 8 are major painpoints that users are having when it comes to making payments. 

Solutions

1) Push notifications to update the user about EMIs being charged on the card.

2) Push notifications to update the user about interest charges being charged on the card if they dont pay before 12 am.

3) Push notifications to update the user about interest charges being charged on the card post charging with detailed breakup and monthly balance update. 

4) Page to show monthly balance to paid with detailed breakup (not just to avoid interest) but also to show what is the breakup of expenses + interest charges 

5)  Auto-Pay option – Users can opt in for Auto-Pay where monthly balance gets paid automatically before the due date. 

Prioritizing based on impact to goal vs effort

2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 1

Metrics 

• % Notifications leading to payments (Conversion)
• % of users paying monthly balance on time
• number of customer complaint calls per month
• Number of customers opting for auto-pay
• User growth on auto-pay
• Deliquencies post auto-pay (Amount going Overdue)

1. CLARIFY:
   1. Is this issue a recent development or ongoing? Assume more evident lately but customer complaints have always existed.
   2. Is it isolated to a specific region in the US? No.
   3. Is it isolated to desktop or mobile? No.
   4. Do you have any insight into what the complaints are about: specifically not being able to make the payment physically v. interest? Both.
2. BACKGROUND: Apple Card is the credit card created by Apple in partnership with Goldman and Mastercard. It offers no fees and unlimited cash back. It helps users pay less internet by showing them how much interest they pay if they revolve their line. It offers 2% daily cash back and 3% cash back for Apple purchases and purchases from special merchants (like Uber Eats or Panera).
3. PROBLEM: Customers are unable to make payments for their Apple Card and now are being charged interest for the revolving balance. They are calling Apple complaining about the inability to make payment and subsequent interest fees.
4. ROOT CAUSES: There are two types of root causes: internal and external causes.
   1. EXTERNAL:
      1. External Event: Was there a network or power outage or natural disaster that would cause a spike in inability to make payment / customer complaints?
      2. Bank Issues: Did a major bank have some sort of outage that prevented it from settling payments?
      3. Bank API Integration: Is the bank integration between Apple and the bank working? Assume its an API connection. Potentially did that API break?
   2. INTERNAL:
      1. Customer Awareness: Are customers just not aware about when the bill is due / the interest structure?
      2. Software Update: Was there an iOS or OS update release recently that may interfere with payment software?
      3. Apple Card Website: Did the Apple Card website glitch / shut down? Potentially were there server issues that may have prevented payments from registering or even being started at all?
5. HYPOTHESIS: Let’s assume the interviewer tells me the issue is customer awareness and no outages / updates have happened. My hypothesis is customers are not aware of when their monthly payment deadline is and are forgetting this payment, causing interest fees.
6. SUGGESTED ACTIONS / SOLUTIONS: There are a few potential solutions we could pursue for this issue.
   1. Push / Email Notifications: Ensure there are proper email / push notifications for users. Allow for user to customize when they receive these notifications (ex. 5 days before payment is due.)
   2. Wallet Notifications: Pop up notification that happens every time you open the Wallet within 3 days of when your card payment is due.
   3. Lost Phone: If a user reports phone as lost, Apple automatically emails to ask if they should freeze their card to avoid any fraudulent spend and pushes out the deadline for their monthly payment by 5 days as courtesy? (User would still be able to pay online on web just not mobile if they lost their phone if they didn’t freeze.)
   4. UI Changes: Conduct customer testing to see if the UI on the Apple Card website and Wallet needs to be changed to make it easier for users to A) understand when to make a payment and B) how to make a payment.
   5. AutoPay: Enable button on Wallet that allows for quick opt in to autopay card. Could also send emails to ask if Apple should turn on autopay.
7. PRIORITIZE ACTIONS: Based on the prioritization, I’d focus on push / email notifications

   1. Action	Impact to User	Cost to Apple
      Push / Email Notifications	High	Low
      Wallet Notifications	Medium	Low
      Lost Phone	Low	Low
      UI Changes	Medium	Medium
      Autopay	Medium	Medium

8. BUILD SEQUENCE:
   1. In regards to build sequence, I’d first do customer testing to see if the majority of Apple Card users interact with their phone v. email more and if they prefer card notifications in a certain space.
   2. If I find out for example that users prefer mobile notifications, I’d focus first on mobile notifications and build the simple notification feature out first.
   3. I’d do prioritization analysis to determine if I should then work on email notification v. customization of notifications. Make whatever build based on prioritization (impact to user, cost to Apple) accordingly.
9. METRICS: In regards to success, I’d evaluate how the build impacted the following metrics comparing before the build to potentially 6 months after (to ensure there’s enough data re. monthly payments)
   1. # of customer complaints re. inability to make payment
   2. # of complaints / customer re. inability to make payment
   3. % of customers who paid monthly bill on time
10. SUMMARY: I hypothesize we are getting customer complaints re. Apple Card payments because customers are not aware of when their monthly payments are due. We can fix this issue with better mobile / email notifications.