Splitwise PRD

Discovering Growth Opportunities for Splitwise

Overview

Splitwise is the easiest way to share expenses with friends and family and stop stressing about “who owes who”. Millions of roommates, travelers, couples, and coworkers around the world use Splitwise to organize group bills for households, meals, and trips and keep everyone on the same page. Splitwise’s mission is to reduce the stress and awkwardness that money places on our most important relationships.

Problem Statement

Increase the Revenue for Splitwise -

Increase the number of paying users

Increase app engagement

Current Scenario

Splitwise has not released any official numbers for the company. Because Splitwise, Inc. is a privately held company, it is not required to make its annual reporting such as Form 10-K’s, public. But, here the assumption is that currently, approximately 5% of users are paying users.

Why is the problem worth solving?

Splitwise was founded in 2011 and has more than 10 million App downloads. Since, Splitwise has been in the market for a long time with a large number of users, but a less percentage of paying users, it is imperative to think about getting more users to pay and solve this problem.

What can happen if it isn’t solved?

If the revenue potential of Splitwise is not increased, it would become unattractive for VCs and Private Equity firms. Thus, It would be difficult for the company to survive and sustain in the long run.

Hypothesis Formation

Uber Hypothesis: Why does Splitwise have less paying users?

Sub Hypothesis:

The existing features within the free version of Splitwise suffice the users’ need.

Users are not aware of the premium offering (Splitwise Pro).

The additional features within the premium offering (Splitwise Pro) don’t appeal to the users.

Some other apps are fulfilling their needs (e.g. payments).

User Research

Goal of Interview Research: Validate Sub Hypothesis and get more insights

Focus Group: Regular users (within India)

User Interviews: 5 users were interviewed and their responses are recorded below.

Following are some sets of questions that were asked during user interviews.

Questions	User 1: Pranjal, SDE	User 2: Muskan, UI Developer	User 3: Rohan, Data Science Consultant	User 4: Shubham, UI/UX Designer	User 5: Mitul, SDE 2
How long have you been using Splitwise?	4 yrs	1 year	7 years	4 years	6 years
Why do you use Splitwise?	Easy to divide money, save awkward conversations among friends	Easier to track expenses - owed/owe, popular, asked by friends	Hassle free, track and record multiple expenses	Made Life easier	Easier - simplify debts, Trust among friends (transparency)
When do you use Splitwise - (time of the day)?	For trips, expenses - large expenses, sometimes for daily expense	As soon as she makes a payment	Trips, outing with friends, end of the day	Whenever remembers or whenever makes a purchase (within 1 day)	Trips, went out, groceries (update mostly as soon as expense made)
Who do you Split with?	Friends	Friends & Family	Friends	Friends/Flatmates	Friends
How were you doing this before you found out about Splitwise?	Notepad, whatsapp groups - i) further splits by item (if a part of people in a group have consumed that particular item)	Divide on the spot - settle within 2 days via cash, google pay	Calculator, whatsapp groups	Google Keep - memo (calculate and divide)	Whatsapp Groups
How frequently do you use Splitwise - times/week?	once/twice a week - night end of the day	Twice a week - increases towards the month end when payments are made for electricity, groceries	Weekends - 2-3 times	2-3 times (when goes out), grocery purchase - 15 times	Almost daily
What all features have you discovered within Splitwise?	Payment gateways, add expense/split feature, classification w.r.t categories	Not many - add expenses, modes to split, settle expenses using splitwise	Basic - add expense, add on someone else’s behalf, info sent to mail, simplify debts, paytm integration, net owe/owed, Split in diff proportions	Add expense, settle	Simplify debts, view history of expense, total expense per person within a group.
Name 3 features that you like about Splitwise.	Automatic split, group/non-group expenses, classification	UI - split up, reminders, automatic image selection w.r.t description of expense	Split in diff proportions, on someone else’s behalf, info sent to mail, paytm integration	Settle, split feature	Simplify debts, transparency, history of expense, total expense per person within group, monthly owed/owe details
What are some functionalities that you wish were present within Splitwise?	Automatic reminders to you (for payments) probably on salary day	Add expense via voice - time issues, adding detail to split is painful, charts of spending patterns (dutch app), Save Default Splits	Receipt scanning	Payment Insights & trends by category	UPI
What are some features within Splitwise that you dislike?	Doesn’t know what paid feature is for	Adding detail to split is painful - time consuming	Hassle While adding new people to the expense (asks for details - phone no)	May be invite flow is broken	Nothing
Have you used Splitwise Pro?	No	No	No	No	No
What are the next steps you do after adding an expense?	Tally whether all expense is correct, Settle on salary day - Payment thru other apps - Records a cash payment	Close the app - month end settle - Google Pay	Tally expense, close the app	Close the app, settle by 1st-2nd of the month	Check total amount owed/owe, then close the app
Have you used Splitwise’s Paytm integration to settle expenses? Why?	No, wants to avoid otp hassle of linking apps. Since some users have registered only via mail - phone not mandatory (so, he doesn’t want to give contact permissions to select phone number while paying via Paytm integration)	Doesn’t know much about integrations	UPI preferred - paytm integration not used much - not used to. Directly thru paytm (Usage Behaviour)	Settle by upi, reason of not using - not aware.	GPay, PayTM - not aware

Observations/Insights

Many people are using Splitwise for quite a long time now ~ (4-5 years)

Usage drivers -

a) Easier to track/record expenses

b) Transparency of expenses

c) Saves awkward conversations among friends

People use Splitwise for all kinds of expenses - daily expenses, trips, parties etc. Expenses are split mostly among friends.

Most people update their expenses on Splitwise on the same day of purchase/spend.

Before Splitwise, people used to calculate their share and keep a memo within apps such as Notepad, and Google Keep and update the entire split on their WhatsApp groups.

Usage of the app depends upon the frequency of the expenses made. Average ~ 3 times/week, Night time is preferred for usage.

Most discovered/liked features - Add expense, Split modes, Settle expense, Simplify Debts, Details of total expense per person within a group.

Feature Request - UPI Integration, Insights of spending patterns by category, month etc., Receipt Scanning, Add expense via voice, Automatic reminders to you on salary day.

Splitwise Pro users are very less within India.

After adding the expense, Most people tally the expense, see the total amount they owe/owed, and close the app.

Settlement - Most people settle through UPI during month end (salary time). They aren’t aware of Splitwise’s Paytm Integration.

Hypothesis Validation

The existing features within the free version of Splitwise suffice the users’ need.

Based on the usage drivers, it was found that most users require basic features and they seem to be content with them.

Users are not aware of the premium offering (Splitwise Pro).

This is true. Even if they are aware, they don’t know what Splitwise Pro helps with.

The additional features within the premium offering (Splitwise Pro) don’t appeal to the users.

Some features within Pro such as Receipt Scanning, Charts of spending patterns, Save default splits, No Ads etc. do appeal to the users, but these are not must haves rather nice-to-have features.

Some other apps are fulfilling their needs (e.g. payments).

Yes, People are using UPI apps such as Google Pay for payments.

User Pain Points

Unable to track personal expenses

Expenses remain unsettled for long

Need to come back to Splitwise for recording the payment after settling up via other UPI apps

Emerging Solutions and Challenges

Sr. No.	Emerging Solutions	Challenges	Problem Redirection
1.	Increase Splitwise Pro Usage - This can lead to a higher number of paying users, and thus, result in an increased revenue.	As found within the Hypothesis validation, users are not aware of Splitwise Pro, and even if they are aware, they don’t know what Splitwise Pro helps with.	Hence, this becomes an awareness/discovery problem which can be further solved by increasing engagement within Splitwise.
2.	Freemium model - Splitwise can adopt a freemium model where it generates revenue from the non-paying users by showing them ads.	Since the average session duration for Splitwise is low, advertisers might not see an opportunity to get a significant chunk of users to purchase their product or service.	This points into the direction to increase app engagement, which could entice advertisers to list their ads.
3.	Add new features to Splitwise Pro - This can entice users to purchase Pro subscription.	Even after discovering a few must-have features and adding them to Splitwise Pro, the challenge of awareness remains.	This again boils down to improving discovery by increasing app engagement.
4.	Venturing into B2B space - Splitwise can double down on its Receipt Scanning feature (offered as part of Pro) and launch a new product - “Splitwise for Business”	It’s a moonshot idea and Splitwise will need to build a highly accurate OCR capability, which is able to get data from skewed and poor quality receipts.	N/A

Immediate Goal

Based on the above exercise and the current stage of the app, the immediate goal was set to Increase App Engagement.

Furthermore, customer engagement is related with overall profitability, as engaged users are more likely to buy, become repeat customers, and share the product/service with other people.

Brainstorming Solutions

Sr. No.	Solution	Motivation	Challenges
1.	Launching Utilities/Bill payments feature	Average frequency of usage is 3 times/week, that too during night. Also, the app usage is directly proportional to the no. of times a group expense is made. Hence, this feature could lead to an increased frequency of spend through Splitwise and eventually lead to increased App usage.	Will require a change of behavior as users are already accustomed to paying bills using other apps such as Amazon Pay, Google Pay, PhonePe etc. and many users set up automatic bill payments/reminders there.
2.	Launching category based lending product	Since, Splitwise has a large amount of category wise expense details of users, it can extend category based loans to users - which would lead many users to engage with the App.	This involves a lot of effort, decisions & changes such as: Have to think of whether the loans will be provided by Splitwise or have to partner with an NBFC or a bank. Have to apply for a money lender license. Have to partner with KYC verification companies or build in-house capability. Have to partner with credit rating agencies or build an in-house risk assessment tool based on expenses data.
3.	Personal Expense Tracker - Budget Management	This is one of the most wanted features which came out from the user research. Users want to be able to track their personal expenses and get insights of spending patterns by category, month etc.	Will require a UI/UX change. Users need to be made aware of the solution.

4.	Introducing Splitwise Fairness Calculators within the App	Splitwise has US based fairness calculators for categories such as furniture depreciation, apartment’s rent, guest calculator etc. In line with Splitwise’s focus on fairness, these types of calculators could also be launched within the App.	These are based on crowdsourced data from US users. They would need to do it for each major region - which would require some amount of time before coming up with insights. This would probably not encourage repeat usage.
5.	UPI Payments Integration	This is another one of the most wanted features which came out from the user research. Currently, users usually pay via other UPI Apps such as Google Pay, and PhonePe, and come back to Splitwise to Record a payment. Enabling this would solve a major pain point of users and help increase customer satisfaction and engagement.	Would need to make the payments feature easily discoverable. Users would need to be encouraged to use the UPI payments integration.
6.	Introducing Rewards & Coupons	Rewards & Coupons are a great way to induce dopamine rush among users and encourage engagement.	Would need to come up with a good use-case for issuing rewards. Need to partner with companies who are willing to issue discount coupons. Rewards should be compelling enough to increase repeat usage.
7.	Automatic Recurring Reminders	Currently, users face a major pain-point where expenses remain unsettled for long. Using this feature, users can set up automatic reminders for different people based on different timelines. This would help the users to settle their expenses faster, leading to increased customer satisfaction and engagement.	Need to cancel the reminder once the expense is settled. Some people might not use recurring reminders thinking that it may appear offensive to others.
8.	General UI/UX Enhancements	General UI/UX enhancements for some in-app features to promote discoverability and engagement	N/A

Feasibility & Idea Selection

Personal Expense Tracker

Automatic Recurring Reminders

UPI Payments Integration + Rewards & Coupons

General UI/UX Enhancements

The above mentioned ideas were selected based on the following criteria:

They address the major pain-points faced by the users.

The challenges involved with these ideas were relatively less than the others.

Also, solving the customers’ major pain-points will lead to a positive user experience and an increased satisfaction, which in turn will encourage stickiness and engagement.

Feature Design & Wireframes

Personal Expense Tracker

Within Screen 1, Add expense screen is modified to include 2 tabs - Split and Personal.

Split tab is where users will add expenses to split among their friends/family. Personal tab will be used for adding personal expenses for their own tracking.

Screen 2 shows Personal tab, which includes Date (with a date picker) - with default value as today’s date, Category dropdown (optional), Item description, and Amount (same as Split screen). The bottom bar contains similar icons to the ones on split screen to attach a receipt/image, and add detailed notes related to the expense.

If the automatic category picker (icon next to description) is unable to detect a category based on description, the optional category field will come handy.

Screen 3 shows the “My Expenses” tab added at the bottom bar - where it provides easy discoverability. It has replaced the “Account” tab which is moved to the top-left side of the screen.

Screen 4 shows the “My Expenses” screen. It has the following features:

From and To Date pickers to select the duration for which the expense details are required.

Total categories across which the expense was made.

Total no. of expenses made within the selected duration.

A Pie-Chart denoting the percentage split across categories.

Category-wise expense details in terms of percentage and amount.

Right navigation arrow to denote more charts/screens.

Screen 5 shows another chart with similar details as of Screen 4. Additionally, it displays a bar graph denoting the amount split across categories.

On selecting the right navigation arrow within Screen 5, Screen 6 shows a CTA for Splitwise PRO, behind which another chart is hidden in locked state. This depicts that there are more insights and charts available within the PRO version which may attract the user’s interest and provoke him to click on the screen further and explore Splitwise’s PRO offering.

This shall also help in solving the problem of PRO discovery.

On Clicking Screen 6 CTA, the screen displaying Splitwise PRO plan details gets opened, which can be found here.

Automatic Recurring Reminders

Screen 7 shows the Reminder icons, which will appear only in front of those contacts who owe you money.

Screen 8 shows the modal which appears after clicking on the reminder icon. The screen has options to schedule reminders for various timelines.

Upon selecting an option from Screen 8, Screen 9 shows different options regarding sending reminders. It can be sent via Splitwise, and other options such as WhatsApp, Text, and other social media apps.

After selecting the reminder option within Screen 9, Screen 10 shows a reminder confirmation.

The red badge on the reminder icon within Screen 11 shows that the reminder for this contact is active.

Upon clicking the reminder badge, a modal shows up (Screen 12), which shows the details regarding the existing reminder. It further has options to edit and delete the reminder. Once the expense is cleared, the reminder will automatically get deleted.

UPI Payments Integration + Rewards & Coupons

Payments Flow

User clicks on Settle up or Pay buttons.

User selects the desired payment option between Wallet and UPI.

App shows the amount & mobile number for confirmation.

Upon confirmation, the desired app gets opened automatically.

User confirms the amount/edit to some other value.

User enters the UPI PIN if required.

User receives the payment confirmation.

Rewards Flow

After the payment confirmation, the user receives a reward, which he can scratch to get a coupon.

Then, the user is able to see a list of previous rewards/coupons received along with the current coupon.

Screen Mocks

Screen 13 shows the Pay icons, which will appear only in front of those contacts to whom you owe money.

Upon clicking the Pay icon, Screen 14 shows various UPI and Wallet payment options.

On selecting Google Pay option, Screen 15 shows the amount and the phone number of the user who needs to be paid.

Screen 16 Screen 17

Upon selecting the “Pay via Google Pay” button within Screen 15, Google Pay app opens up (Screen 16) and displays the payment details related to expenses on Splitwise. A user can verify the details and pay from here.

Upon payment completion, the user is redirected back to the Splitwise App, where Screen 17 shows that the user and his friend are settled up. Also, the user wins a reward for making the payment and it can be scratched to receive a coupon.

After clicking the coupon on Screen 17, the user gets redirected to Rewards screen - Screen 18, where the user can see a list of all previous and new coupons received. Also, there is a Featured section, which shows the most attractive coupons available, such as discounted Splitwise PRO subscription. These coupons will be locked and get unlocked based on completing certain tasks, such as completing 10 successful payments on Splitwise.

This can further help in increasing engagement and discovery of Splitwise PRO.

Screen 19 shows the location of the Rewards feature.

General UI/UX Enhancements

Screen 20 shows the ‘Simplify Debts’ feature being moved from secondary screen to primary screen. It is now easily discoverable as users generally check the ‘Groups screen’ to view the split details within their groups.

Since the ‘Simplify Debts’ feature adds great value to the users by reducing net payment transactions, it should be easily discoverable. This should also help in increasing retention, and thus engagement, as users get a good experience.

Screen 21 shows a redesigned ‘Splitwise PRO’ screen.

Red CTAs are replaced with Purple as red is usually associated with danger, which might prevent users from taking the final action, whereas Purple is going along with the theme of Splitwise PRO.

Added a ‘Popular’ badge on the CTA, so that the users can associate with social proofing, and get tempted to purchase the plan for the entire year.

Screen 22 shows Splitwise PRO tab as highlighted within Purple to get extra attention on the PRO offering, as it was not visually distinguishable within the current screen.

Prioritization

Sr. No.	Solution	Reach (R) (%)	Impact (I)	Confidence (C) (%)	Effort (E)	Score *(RIC/E)*
1.	Personal Expense Tracker	90%	3	80%	2	1.08
2.	Automatic Recurring Reminders	90%	1	100%	1.5	0.60
3.	UPI Payments Integration + Rewards & Coupons	100%	2	100%	3	0.67
4.	General UI/UX Enhancements	70%	0.5	100%	0.7	0.5

Guidelines for calculation

Reach: Potential percentage of users this solution will have an impact on.

Impact as: 0.25 - Minimal ; 0.5 - Low ; 1 - Medium ; 2 - High ; 3 - Massive

Confidence on the solution: 50% - Low ; 80% - Medium ; 100% - High

Effort in man months: 1 for low effort items, 2 for medium effort items, 3 for high effort items and 4 for massive effort items

Success Metrics

Overall, the north star metric would be to measure average time spent per user session, i.e. the average session duration.

Other supporting metrics (L1) are as follows.

Sr. No.	Solution	Metric	Favorable Outcome
1.	Personal Expense Tracker	Total no. of users who have added personal expense. Average no. of personal expenses added per month per user. Average no. of clicks on My expenses tab per user per week. Avg. time spent on charts 1 and 2 (Screen 4 and 5) Bounce Rate of Screen 4 and 5 Conversion Rate - Avg. no. of clicks per user per week on Splitwise PRO icon - Screen 6.	a) %Increase • • b) %Increase c) %Increase d) Should be around a threshold value of 2-3 mins. Problem if the value is considerably less or more than the threshold. • e) %Decrease f) %Increase
2.	Automatic Recurring Reminders	Total no. of automatic reminders scheduled. Bounce Rate of Screen 8. Total no. of expenses settled within a day of sending the reminder.	Increase %Decrease %Increase
3.	UPI Payments Integration + Rewards & Coupons	Avg. no. of clicks per user per month on the pay icon. Bounce Rate of Screen 14 (User dropping off without selecting a payment option). Avg. no. of payment transactions made per user per month. Avg. no. of clicks per user per month on the received reward. Dwell time on Screen 18 (Rewards). Avg. no. of clicks per user per month on the Rewards tab (Screen 19).	%Increase %Decrease %Increase %Increase %Increase %Increase
4.	General UI/UX Enhancements	Total no. of groups using Simplify Debts feature. Total no. of Splitwise PRO subscriptions purchased. Total no. of yearly PRO subscription plans purchased. Total no. of clicks on Splitwise PRO tab within Screen 22	Increase Increase Increase Increase

Release Plan

Based on the prioritization exercise above, the solution - Personal Expense Tracker will be implemented first.

The suggested features will be A/B tested on a variation group and the success metrics need to be closely tracked for a period of 1-month post-implementation.

The 1st MVP version (v1.0) would include only the 1st chart (Screen 4).

Version v1.1 should include the iterations and changes based on the customer feedback as well as the metric performance.

Then, Screens 5 and 6 should be released within Version v1.2.