Design an app for pet owner/lover –

Clarifying questions:

1. Pet lovers’ segment is one of the users of the app, does it mean that people having no pets can also use the app? – Yes

2. Could the app be used by pet breeders? – Yes

3. Could the app be used by members of pet shelters/ NGOs? – Yes

4. Could the app be used by members of pet foster care? – Yes

5. Can we assume that all sorts of animals are included in pet animals? – Yes

The goal of the product:

1. Primary goal is to understand if the product fits the market as this a new platform to explore

2. Secondary goal is to spread awareness, get users onboarded and building connection among users

Types of users:

1. Pet owner

2. Pet breeders

3. Members of shelter homes/ NGOs

4. Members of foster care

5. Pet lovers (Assuming they do not have pets)

To summarize, we are creating an app, which is more or less like Facebook for pets in which users can share memories of their pets, they can ask for adoption, they can ask to foster a pet, they can meet other pet owners and they can make their pets available for breeding. The goal of the product is first to understand if it fits the market and second to build connections among the users.

User needs and their solutions:

1. As a user, I would like to share the experiences of my pet through a video or a picture

– A platform to be made available to the users in order to upload short video or image to share memories with their pets

–         A feature to ask the users if they want to highlight any of the memories that have been shared. Highlighted memories to be shown in the pet’s profile (which will be maintained by the owner itself).

– A feature to write textual content expressing their emotions on the uploaded video/image

– A filter feature to check out the profiles of other pets by their names or breed type

– Direct chat feature to let the pet owners talk

– Feature to let people using the app hit like or drop a comment on the memories shared

2. As a user, I would like to know if any pet is available for adoption

– A separate segment in the app to check out the pets, which are available for adoption or foster

– Feature to upload image or short video of the pets, which are available for adoption or foster

– Feature to DM the owner whose pet is available for adoption or foster

– Mandatory details like name, breed, gender, age, adoption/foster and location of the pet to be shown to the users

– Feature to hit ‘love’ and put a comment on the uploaded image/short video of the pet

– Share feature to be made available to share the uploaded content with others via whatsapp, facebook or other social media platform

3. As a user, I would like to know if anyone would like to foster my pet for a few days

– The solution has been covered in the second user need

4. As a user, I would like to know what is up with other pet owners

– A direct message feature to be made available on every pet’s profile

– Chat environment to let users use emoticons and other gifhys

– Predefined texts to be made available to the users such as ‘What’s up?’, ‘How are you feeling’, etc

– Feature to share photos/ videos on the chat itself

– Feature to let the user bookmark and archive a particular chat

5. As a user, I would like to know where the nearby pet clinics or parks are

– A segment in the app called ‘What’s nearby?’ to be made available to show the pet clinics and parks nearby

– The pet clinics and parks to be shown on the google map view considering a configurable radius from the user’s location

– Name of the clinic/park, driving distance to the clinic/park and overall review on the clinic/park to be shown to the users upfront

– On click of any pet clinic/ park, the user should be redirected to the google maps showing the path to the clinic

Feature prioritization:

Feature List	Reach	Impact	Effort	Priority
1. As a user, I would like to share the experiences of my pet through a video or a picture	High	High	High	1
2. As a user, I would like to know if any pet is available for adoption	Medium	Medium	High	4
3. As a user, I would like to know if anyone would like to foster my pet for a few days	Medium	Medium	High	5
4. As a user, I would like to know what is up with other pet owners	High	High	High	2
5. As a user, I would like to know where the nearby pet clinics or parks are	Medium	High	Medium	3

 

Now, considering the prioritized items, I would go for building the line items with priority 1, 2, and 3 as an MVP. And once the metrics are measured properly, I can plan for the items with priority 4 and 5.

Metrics to be measured:

1. DAU, MAU, WAU

2. Average session time per user

3. # of comments and # of likes

4. # of memories shared

5. # of chat exchanged among the users

Okay, so i have to design a pet owners’ App.

Do we have any particular animal in mind or is it more generic?

It is a generic App.

Okay.

So, when it comes to pet owners App, following users come to mind:

1. Pet owners for whom pets are like a family.
2. Pet owners who own pets for leisure
3. Pet sellers

I would like to focus on User Group No. 1. An owner who treats his pet like a family is much more likely to post pictures or experiences of his pets than an owner who owns pets for leisure.

Now, lets look at User Needs for out TG. We will also look at the impact and the engineering effort required and arrive at a priority for the same.

User Need	Feature	Impact	Effort	Priority
Find Pets	Contact other users who have pups or kittens or registered sellers	High	Easy	2nd
Create Pet Profile	Create Pet’s Profile in the User’s Profile section. This will have attributes like pet’s name, age, color, hobbies, food it likes etc.	Very High	Medium	3rd
Add Pets to the user profile	Add pets as members of your family to your PetBook profile	Very High	Easy	1st
Share Pet Pics	Share pictures/memories of pets on your PetBook	Very High	Medium	4th
Share Pet Videos	Share Videos/memories of pets on your PetBook	Very High	Medium	5th
Share Pet Live feed	Share Live Feed of your pet in its most animated moment	High	Medium	6th
Consult a Vet	Consult a Vet for any concerns/ schedule regular visits	Medium	Medium	10th
Buy Pet food	Buy Pet foods from local sellers and get them home delivered	Medium	Difficult	11th
Enroll for the Cutest Pup in India contest	Run contests to keep User Engagement high	Medium	Easy	7th
Forum to ask common Pet queries, to be answered by other users or Vets	Have a forum to answer common queries and clarifications	High	Medium	8th
Add friends from other social networks or email list	Show targeted Ads to new users and suggestions to current users	High	Difficult	9th

So, to summarise i will go with features 1 to 6 priority in the MVP, priority 7-9 in next release and 10- 11 in third release.

I will track Acquisition and Engagement metrics to start with and monetisation metrics once my product achieves some steady user base.

Assumptions:

1. Mobile based app.

2. Goal – To increase customer engagements on the app.

3. Open source platform – contents can be uploaded by anyone who is registered on this app.

Personas:

1. Professionals – who buy and sell pets will use this platform as a medium to reach out to more customers.

2. Non-professionals – Bachelors, Married couples – Age range from 20 to 45 years

Going to design product for non-professionals. 

Behaviour of this persona – Tech savvy, working professionals, rich, pet lovers

Needs:

1. Can share their experiences

2. Information about pets – type, breed, etc

3. Can locate pet shops, doctors, clinics

4. Pet day care and training information

5. Information about any pet events

6. Pet location finder

Solutions:

1. Share experiences –

– Share photos/videos of their pets, write blogs

– See others’ pet videos/photos on their feed and able to like and comments on it

– Update status/stories of recent events

– Search for pet owners based on name, locality, pets (dogs, cats, etc) and send request to add them in friend list.

– Can send private messages to contacts in heir friend list.

– Different groups for different pet lovers

2.  Information about pets

– Separate page which provide history, details, originating location according to type, breed, etc – linked with wikipedia

3. Locate pet shops, doctors, clinics, parks

– Google map can be linked to show nearest parks, pet shop, clinics, veterinary doctors – their availability, rating, etc

4. Upcoming events

– Upcoming events for pets can be provided in the feed with location and indications about no. of people going to attend it. Photos of the event can be automatically uploaded in real time. But it should ask for permission before uploading it.

5. Pet day care and training information – For working owners who has to go to office during day time

– Professionals contact and other details can be shared on the app

6. Pet location finder

– Sometimes pet owner need to know the location of their pet. A device can be fit in the chian collar which should be linked with google map which can share the live location of thier pets

 

Prioritising the solutions:

SolutionsReach(R)Impact(I)Confidence(C)Effort(E)Score = R*I*C/E

1. Share experiences	5	5	100%	4	6.25
2. Information about pets	3	3	80%	2	3.6
3. Locate pet shops, doctors, clinics, parks	4	4	100%	3	5.33
4. Upcoming events	3	2	80%	2	2.4
5. Pet day care and training information	3	3	80%	2	3.6
6. Pet location finder	4	3	90%	4	2.7

 

Based on the above score, the top 3 solutions will be there in MVP i.e. 1,3,5 & 2

Metrics:

North Star metric: Daily/ weekly/ Monthly active users

Secondary Metrics: Average session time, Frequency of sessions per user per day

Engagement metrics: # of comments, # of posts, # of users searched for parks/shops/doctors, # of messages