On the Functional Boundary of Products

In my work some time ago, I encountered such a discussion. The problem is that we need to develop an activity and show it. After clicking on the coupon, we will receive the coupon. After successful reception, we will send a short message to the user. The discussion point is about texting. Activities and coupons are two different product functions. SMS must be sent by calling message notification. So who triggered this short message, that is, should the short message be sent on the activity side or the coupon side?

Some colleagues think it was sent by the coupon terminal. The idea is this: whether the coupon is successfully collected and the relevant information of the coupon, such as the amount and limit, are all on the coupon terminal, and it is also smooth to call the message notification after the coupon is successfully collected. Other product colleagues also recognize this method. The flow chart is as follows:

In my opinion, texting should be called by the activist, not the coupon party. The flow chart is as follows:

Let me explain my point of view below. In fact, as far as this issue is concerned, a very core point is the correspondence between coupons and activities. In my opinion, there should be a many-to-one relationship between coupons and activities, that is, multiple coupons will be issued in one activity.

For example, during the Didi event, users will be given a bunch of coupons, covering taxi, car, carpooling and other businesses. And various prices are typical forms of multiple coupons corresponding to one event.

If you send a short message to the coupon terminal, you will send a short message after the coupon is successfully received. If you can receive more than one coupon at a time, the user will receive multiple short messages, which is inappropriate from the perspective of the whole user experience and the cost of short messages.

This problem will be well avoided when sending short messages to the activity end. When the coupon is successfully received, a short message will be sent to the user. The content of the short message can be customized according to the activity, which is the most suitable choice from the perspective of user experience and the cost of the short message.

As far as the above example is concerned, for coupons, their own attributes are the limit and preferential amount. This restriction is a restriction on use. For example, the special ticket issued by Didi can only be used when booking a special car service and making payment. According to different businesses and scenarios, there are many restrictions, such as platform restrictions, business restrictions, time restrictions, and amount restrictions. Preferential amount refers to the amount that can be deducted or preferential when used. Generally, there are fixed and variable amounts. The fixed amount is the amount set when the coupon is created. For example, if the coupon is fully reduced, it is 65,438+0,000 yuan less than 65,438+0,000 yuan, which means the coupon amount is 65,438+0,000 yuan. There is also a fixed amount, such as a 30% discount coupon. The specific preferential amount is uncertain, but it is determined according to the restrictions and specific uses.

As far as activities are concerned, their own attributes are display and promotion. Exhibition is mainly the exhibition form of activities, including products and other information. Promotion is mainly about collecting coupons and sharing.

In other words, from the perspective of SMS, it should belong to the promotion part of the activity, so it should be sent from the activity end.

So, what are the advantages of designing products according to their functional boundaries?

From the product point of view, the function should be independent and modular. Products are only based on business and user experience, splicing different functional modules on different pages, maximizing product experience and making products flexible and extensible.

I often have such examples. The function of the product is like the independent building blocks of Lego. The product is a model composed of different building blocks according to the business needs and the whimsy of the product manager. Building blocks and building blocks are just simple buckles. Once a building block has problems or needs to be adjusted, just move to the building block and the building block connected with it.

With the help of product functional boundaries, functional design is carried out, from tiny functional points at the lowest end of the product pyramid to functional blocks, functions, pages and even the whole product. It seems to be a complete whole, but there are actually large and small independent individuals. It is undoubtedly the most perfect situation to realize the overall cooperation through independent and close cooperation between individuals.

If you divide and integrate the functions according to the idea of functional boundaries, you will find that when you make another product, you may only need to rearrange the functional modules. If a requirement comes here, you will also be able to accurately analyze the function points and influence scope involved, so as to respond to the requirement more easily and realize better product iteration.