Dvara Research empowers a billion UPI users by redesigning its digital grievance redressal system

Effective customer support is crucial for user-centricity, Deepti George, Deputy Executive Director and Head of Strategy at Dvara Research said at TechSparks 2024.

While it is often viewed as a cost centre and not typically prioritised in strategic planning, it plays a vital role in building and maintaining trust, she believes.

Talking about the in-app help support mechanisms inside the UPI app she added that Dvara Research developed an internal tool to analyse social media posts. Their findings revealed that transaction failures and inadequate addresses are common challenges, alongside a growing incidence of fraud.

Dvara Research, a policy research institution based in India, tried to decode how the in-app grievance redressal mechanism (GRM) in UPI apps be enhanced to better support users facing these constraints.

While NPCI already has a unified issue and dispute resolution mechanism that focuses on quicker settlements and debit reversals, Dvara Research focused on improving the accessibility and seamlessness of the user experience within the grievance redressal mechanism (GRM).

“We broadly went through typical phases: first, understanding user problems through research, then moving to phase two, where we came up with solutions. After that, we built prototypes and tested them, developed a publicly accessible toolkit, and finally engaged stakeholders with the solutions we developed,” Achyutha Sharma, Design & User Research Expert, Dvara Research said at TechSparks 2024.

They conducted detailed UX audits across various apps and banks, then went into the field to understand user challenges. To gain insights, they focused on three states with diverse income demographics.

“One key behaviour that stands out is that many of our billion users seek solutions outside the app, not just for UPI, but for any digital product, especially when they lack confidence in using it. This leads to issues like situational vulnerability, complex processes they can’t navigate, and a trust deficit with platforms. If they have a poor experience with one UPI player, they often stop using UPI altogether,” he added.

The team prioritised accessibility by restructuring the GRM flow for clarity and simplifying the process to ensure user protection. Prototypes were created in both English and Hindi and then tested in the field to access user reactions. They further incorporated the feedback and inputs into the prototypes and designed the toolkit.

George highlighted the need for a common decision-making framework that works for all UPI stakeholders—regulators, NPCI, banks, Third Party Application Providers (TPAPs), tech companies, and e-commerce. This framework was designed based on user insights, incorporating consumer values into product principles. These principles were applied in prototypes and tested to ensure workable solutions.

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Adopting an innovative design approach

George further shared three innovative design approaches–the health navigation tree, self-resolution as an approach, and also guardrails that the GRM provides.

“One key finding from our UX audit was the significant diversity in problem categorisation across apps. When users try to identify their issues, the processes they’ve learned in one app are not replicated in another. Since most people use multiple apps, the wide navigation trees often overwhelm users, causing them to drop off because they can’t figure out what their problem is,” she said.

To address this, she proposed standardising and simplifying the process, making it easier for users to navigate the GRM and reducing the burden of figuring out how to get help.

Sharma highlighted the self-resolution mechanism which is an automated resolution format.

“If you have not received the payment and there's a technical failure. You're immediately taken through a resolution process; you don't have to wait for three, or five days, and then get a response that you have received the money. The ticket gets automatically closed, and if you have not received the money, the ticket automatically gets raised also on the back end. That's where the user doesn't have to go through a process of actually raising a ticket,” he explained.

George emphasised the importance of addressing the UPI auto-pay situation, noting that many constrained users don't understand how auto-pay works. They often feel powerless when they see automatic transactions without knowing why they're happening. By allowing users to manage their auto-pay mandates within the GRM, she believes that users can be empowered.

Additionally, when users experience fraud, the process for reporting it can be simplified, so that the GRM can significantly reduce their anxiety about what to do next.

Sharma said that there are currently no clear metrics to measure the impact of user experience improvements.

“We have broken down each area of how we improve the experience for our users, allowing us to connect the dots and link it to specific metrics. Importantly, this also reduces costs, creating a win-win situation for both business service providers and users,” he explained.

Sharma further emphasised the importance of building a better user experience.

“The more you work on building a better user experience for the users, the better it will be for your business. It is easier said than done, but building that consistency across your product development life cycle is critical,” he said.