Learning Hub Product Management Week 2
Week 2 of 7 Completed

Increasing Repeat Orders

In this assignment, you will develop a focused user research strategy to understand user behaviour and use those insights to create various user segments to target.

Week 1 Week 3
Day 1 — Monday

Company Background and Scenario

Done

Read the full assignment today. Understand the company, the problem being asked, and the specific question you need to answer before starting any research or writing.

Assignment Overview

From the Notes — Verbatim
Status
Completed
Week
Week 2
Description

In this assignment, you will develop a focused user research strategy to understand user behaviour and use those insights to create various user segments to target.

Company Background

From the Notes — Verbatim

Zomato is a popular food delivery service that partners with local restaurants and offers online ordering and delivery services to customers. While Zomato has been successful in urban areas, they have recently noticed a decline in customer retention and repeat orders, particularly among their suburban and rural customer base.

Scenario

From the Notes — Verbatim

Zomato recognizes the importance of retaining existing customers and encouraging repeat orders, as it is more cost-effective than acquiring new customers.

You are a Product Manager at Zomato and you have been asked this question — "How might we enhance the customer experience and loyalty program to improve customer retention and encourage repeat orders from Zomato's suburban and rural customers?"

What You Need to Produce

1
User Research Plan

Design a user research plan to gather insights from Zomato's existing suburban and rural customers. What user research methods would you choose and why?

2
User Segments

Assume you have conducted the user research and have collected the necessary data. Based on the user research findings, identify and define at least two distinct user segments within Zomato's suburban and rural customer demographic.

3
Customer Journey Map

Analyse the user flow and create a customer journey map for a user ordering food on the platform.

Day 2 — Tuesday

Study: JTBD Framework

Done
Resource Listed in Notes

1. JTBD Framework

What is Jobs to Be Done?

Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a framework developed by Clayton Christensen. The core idea: customers do not buy products — they hire products to do a job in their lives.

For Zomato's suburban and rural customers, the question is not "why aren't they ordering?" — it is "what job were they trying to get done, and is Zomato helping them do that job better than their alternatives?"

The JTBD Statement Formula

When I [situation], I want to [motivation / action], so I can [expected outcome].

Practice with Zomato

Suburban Customer — Job 1

When I am too tired after a long commute to cook dinner, I want to order food quickly without spending too much, so I can feed my family without effort.

Rural Customer — Job 1

When there is a special occasion at home and I want to serve something different from what I can cook, I want to order restaurant food, so I can make the event feel special without travelling to the city.

Suburban Customer — Job 2

When I am working from home and skipping lunch, I want a fast food option nearby, so I can eat without losing working time.

Three Types of Jobs

Functional Job

The practical task — "get food delivered to my home."

Emotional Job

How they want to feel — "feel like I took care of my family."

Social Job

How they want to be seen — "appear modern and up-to-date."

Why JTBD Matters for This Assignment

Understanding what job suburban and rural customers are hiring Zomato to do tells you why they are not returning. If the job they need is "reliable and affordable food for daily meals," but Zomato's pricing or restaurant availability does not support that job — they will stop ordering.

Your user research plan (Task 1) should be designed to uncover the specific jobs your target customers are trying to get done.

Today: Study the JTBD resource. Write 3-5 JTBD statements for Zomato's suburban and rural customers from your own perspective. These will shape your research plan on Day 5.

Day 3 — Wednesday

Study: User Research and User Segmentation

Done
Resources Listed in Notes

2. User Research

3. User Segmentation

User Research Methods

A user research plan defines who you will talk to, what you want to learn, and how you will gather the data. Different methods answer different questions.

1-on-1 Interviews

Best for: understanding motivations, emotions, and reasoning behind behaviour. Ask open-ended questions. Never lead the user towards an answer. Goal: understand the "why" behind what they do.

Surveys

Best for: validating hypotheses at scale. Run after interviews when you have a hypothesis to test. Closed questions with rating scales. Goal: see if patterns from interviews hold up across a larger group.

Usability Testing

Best for: seeing where users struggle in the product. Ask users to complete a task on the Zomato app while you watch. Goal: identify friction points in the ordering flow that cause abandonment.

Contextual Inquiry

Best for: understanding context and environment. Visit users at home or in their location and observe how they decide on food ordering in real life. Goal: see the full context around when and why they order (or don't).

How to Write a Research Plan

  1. Research Objective: What question are you trying to answer? (e.g. Why are suburban customers not re-ordering on Zomato?)
  2. Methodology: Which methods will you use and why?
  3. Sample: Who will you recruit? How many? What criteria?
  4. Discussion Guide / Survey Questions: What specific questions will you ask?
  5. Timeline: When will you run the research?
  6. Expected Outputs: What will you deliver after research is done?

User Segmentation

Segmentation means dividing users into distinct groups based on shared characteristics. Good segments are:

  • Distinct — each segment is meaningfully different from the others
  • Actionable — you can build or change something specific for each segment
  • Accessible — you can reach and identify people in each segment

For this assignment, you need at least two distinct segments within Zomato's suburban and rural demographic. Go beyond demographics (age, gender). Segment by behaviour and motivation.

Today: Study the User Research and User Segmentation resources. Tomorrow you study Customer Journey Maps — then Day 5 is the full assignment work.

Day 4 — Thursday

Study: Customer Journey Maps

Done
Resource Listed in Notes

4. Customer Journey Maps

What is a Customer Journey Map?

A Customer Journey Map visualises the end-to-end experience of a user as they interact with your product — from the moment they first think about ordering to the moment they finish and rate the experience.

It captures not just what users do at each stage, but also how they feel and where they experience friction.

Structure of a Customer Journey Map

Stage Trigger Browse Order Wait Post-delivery
User Action Feels hungry, opens Zomato Searches restaurants, filters Adds to cart, pays Tracks order status Eats, rates order
Emotion Hopeful Frustrated (few options) Anxious (will it work?) Impatient Satisfied or disappointed
Pain Point Few restaurants near them No filter for suburban areas Delivery fees too high Inaccurate ETA Wrong order delivered
Opportunity Add more local restaurants Localised recommendations Subscription to reduce fees Better tracking updates Proactive reorder offer

Tips for Your Journey Map Submission

  • Choose ONE user segment to build the map for — do not try to cover all users in one map
  • The map should cover the full journey from trigger to post-delivery
  • Be specific about the pain points — generic pain points are not useful
  • Opportunities should flow directly from pain points — not invented ideas
  • You can create this as a table (Google Docs, Notion) or a visual diagram (Figma, Canva)

Today: Study the Customer Journey Maps resource. Draft the stages for the Zomato journey map in rough form. Day 5 is when you write up the full assignment including the research plan, segments, and journey map together.

Day 5 — Friday

Full Assignment Tasks and Submission

Submitted

Your Tasks — From the Notes

From the Notes — Verbatim

Your Tasks:

  • Design a user research plan to gather insights from Zomato's existing suburban and rural customers. What user research methods would you choose and why?
  • Assume you have conducted the user research and have collected the necessary data. Based on the user research findings, identify and define at least two distinct user segments within Zomato's suburban and rural customer demographic.
  • Analyse the user flow and create a customer journey map for a user ordering food on the platform.

Submission Guidelines — From the Notes

From the Notes — Verbatim

You can submit the assignment as a link to a 1-2 page deck or document.

If you want any help, checkout the resources —

  1. JTBD Framework
  2. User Research
  3. User Segmentation
  4. Customer Journey Maps

Feel free to choose any platform like Notion, Google Doc, Canva, Figma or Google Slides to make the document/ deck. You need to share the public link to the doc as your submission.

If you choose any data from any source, please mention the source in the assignment only.

Please remember that its more important to attempt than to strive for perfection. So, submitting the assignment and getting feedback is most important.

Final Checklist

User research plan — objective, methodology (at least 2 methods), sample criteria, and key questions
At least 2 distinct user segments defined with segment profile, key needs, and differentiating behaviour
Customer journey map covering stages from trigger to post-delivery — including emotions and pain points at each stage
All data sources cited if any external data is used
Public link shared for submission (Notion / Google Doc / Canva / Figma / Google Slides)
Next: Week 3