7 product lessons from grofers rebranding

Product Teardown Case Study #6

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This is Tear Them Down - Product Teardown case study #6.

This is the last Product Teardown of 2021. Thank you all for giving me a little bit of your time, attention, and insights throughout the year. I know you have a million things to do every day and there are infinite exciting things for you to explore. It means a lot that you take the time to read, share, and engage with Tear Them Down. I will continue to keep up the quality of the content even in 2022.

2021 has been a phenomenal year for startups. An unprecedented amount of funding, interesting acquisitions, new emerging themes (crypto, web3, metaverse, etc.), etc. To keep up with their new focus, some companies have rebranded:

• Facebook to Meta - aligning with Metaverse dreams

• Square is now Block - aligning with Blockchain dreams

& closer home (in India), we have:

• Grofers became blinkit - aligning with quick commerce proposition

While rebranding could be majorly driven by PR, advertising, etc, driving it via the product is also very important to keep the users updated. Grofers did a really good job here. Looking at it through the lens of a PM, there are 7 interesting lessons on communicating your new brand and proposition through the app. I am keeping this a really quick (3 min) read as everyone is in the holiday mood.

Just one quick piece before we end the year… 

PS: This is not a promotional post.

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I typically use Grofers to order groceries monthly. So I have the app installed on my mobile. I saw the rebranding news and received a push notification from Grofers app that they have rebranded to blinkit.

1. Nudges & Homepage (before the app update)

I clicked on the push notification and it brought me to the homepage. The homepage had a main banner stating the rebranding, as shown in the left side screenshot. When I clicked on the banner, it opened the message from the founders with an “update app” CTA.

😊What is good here?

I wouldn’t have opened the app as it is not the time for my monthly order yet. But the nudge i.e. push notification made me open the app. This type of contextual nudges helps reactivate inactive users.

Lesson 1.1: Make use of contextual nudges (such as push notifications, SMS, emails, etc.) to reactivate inactive users.

As soon as I landed on the homepage through the notification, I could see a homepage banner relevant to the notification content. A lot of apps just make users launch the app with interesting notifications but then immediately there would be nothing different in the app. Such practices make users disable your app notifications or lose interest in your nudges over time. In grofers app, this homepage banner took me to the content I wanted with the relevant next steps i.e. updating the app to see the rebranded version.

Lesson 1.2: After push notification or independently, use in-app nudges (such as homepage banners, popups, etc.). Make sure these nudges have relevant CTAs so that the users are fully aware of what to do next.

That page through the homepage banner (i.e. right side screen) had an “update app” CTA. Such practices where you gently push the users to update the app (without fully blocking the app) are typically called Soft update practices. Another way is to fully block the app for the user until the user updates - this is called a Force update. This type of “push to make users update” is typically seen when there are important product launches (updates in financials/charges, rebranding, etc. ) that should apply to all users.

Force updates usually obstruct users’ app usage and cause a bad experience. If the internet connectivity is bad or if the users’ phone memory is low, they might drop off too. So it is always better to have Soft update practices for some time before enforcing a Force update.

Lesson 1.3: When all the users should be updated to the latest version, use soft update nudges (such as update app in the background, update CTA on important pages, etc.) before enforcing a force update that obstructs users’ app usage.

2. App Launch/Loading (after the app update)

When I launched the app after updating it, I see this animation before landing on the homepage.

😊What is good here?

Instead of a typical spinner or loading screen, we can see grofers using the space to convey their rebranding message to the users. It is very nice and simple! Also, all the active users will start registering the rebranding in their minds.

Lesson 2.1: Instead of using a spinner during load times, use animations that convey important messages or add value to the users.

We covered this same lesson in our earlier product teardown on Clubhouse.

3. Nudges & Homepage (after the app update)

The left side screen is before the app update and the right side screen is after the app is updated.

😊What is good here?

Clearly, on the right side screen, the new brand name is occupying a significant position. As this is a rebranding exercise, it is important to convey the name change prominently until your users register it in their minds.

Lesson 3.1: When rebranding, make sure you clearly highlight the changes and new propositions so that users get accustomed to your new features or updates.

On the left side screen, you see the homepage banner saying “grofers is now blinkit” but on the right side screen, i.e. after updating, that banner is not there anymore. Here the banners are made contextual - after updating the app and already knowing that grofers is now blinkit (through app loading video), as a user, I should not be seeing the same banner again. Instead, that space could be used to convey something else attractive to me. Having the same banner would’ve been a waste of space.

Lesson 3.2: When using nudges and promos, make sure they are contextual and targeted to the relevant customer segments. Not every nudge or promo is relevant to every user.

😟What is not good here?

On the updated home page, there are 2 separate lines:
1. delivery in 15 mins
2. free delivery on all orders 🎉

Essentially, these 2 statements would be used together by a user i.e. from a user’s jobs to be done (JTBD) perspective, when ordering, a user would check the delivery charge and delivery time before ordering. So having them together would make it easier for a user to read and understand than having them as 2 separate statements at 2 different positions. Also, at first, I did not notice the free delivery statement and was checking my cart to see the delivery charge. So having them at 2 different places did not help a user.

Lesson 3.3: Research what your users would like to see on a screen or users’ “Jobs To Be Done” and design the screen for those needs.

Jobs To Be Done is a great framework to figure out customer needs. We covered this same lesson in our earlier product teardown on GoTrade.

🤔How it could’ve been:

Having a simple “Free delivery in 15 mins 🎉” at the top would’ve been more catchy and conveyed the proposition easily in one statement.

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Lessons from the blinkit (formerly Grofers) rebranding:

1. Lesson 1.1: Make use of contextual nudges (such as push notifications, SMS, emails, etc.) to reactivate inactive users.

2. Lesson 1.2: After push notification or independently, use in-app nudges (such as homepage banners, popups, etc.). Make sure these nudges have relevant CTAs so that the users are fully aware of what to do next.

3. Lesson 1.3: When all the users should be updated to the latest version, use soft update nudges (such as update app in the background, update CTA on important pages, etc.) before enforcing a force update that obstructs users’ app usage.

4. Lesson 2.1: Instead of using a spinner during load times, use animations that convey important messages or add value to the users.

5. Lesson 3.1: When rebranding, make sure you clearly highlight the changes and new propositions so that users get accustomed to your new features or updates.

6. Lesson 3.2: When using nudges and promos, make sure they are contextual and targeted to the relevant customer segments. Not every nudge or promo is relevant to every user.

7. Lesson 3.3: Research what your users would like to see on a screen or users’ “Jobs To Be Done” and design the screen for those needs.

If you have some time, feel free to read through other top product teardowns this year:

1. Duolingo: Gamification for Retention

2. Notion: Website & Onboarding lessons

3. Gotrade aced search & other tabs: 7 Lessons

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Will come back with another interesting case study. Till then… Happy New Year! 🎉