01 · Daily confidence
Today’s collection and settlement access form the operational core. The question is whether a merchant can understand their money before exploring another product.
Sheet A-02 · PhonePe · 2019–2025 · Case Study 02
PhonePe Business — product design across four sub-projects
End-to-end design ownership on India's largest merchant payment platform. This case study covers four sub-projects shipped under the PhonePe Business umbrella — each solving a distinct merchant problem, together forming a coherent product experience.
B2B Product
Product Design Manager
Android & iOS
4 Sub-Projects
Sub-Project 01
Merchant Home
Restructuring the home screen around the Conduct–Grow–Manage framework
Read the full story ↓
Sub-Project 02
Settlement Not Initiated
Fixing a silent failure that blocked settlements without explanation
View the screens ↓
Sub-Project 03
Lending Top of Funnel
Building the loan eligibility journey from first touch to application
View the screens ↓
Sub-Project 04
SmartSpeaker Ordering
Redesigning device checkout around a low-commitment AutoPay mandate
View the screens ↓
11.5M+
Monthly Active
Merchants
Merchants
8M
Daily Active
Users
Users
+15%
DAU
Post-Redesign
Post-Redesign
₹20Cr
Incremental
Monthly Revenue
Monthly Revenue
FIG 0.0 — PhonePe Business · Merchant Home
Leadership brief
One merchant experience, four connected product decisions.
- My remit
- Product Design Manager across Merchant Home, settlement recovery, lending discovery and SmartSpeaker ordering.
- Working team
- Designers Atharva Dahotre and Aditya Mukherjee; Product Manager Sumit Karnani. The work and reported outcomes were shared.
- Leadership contribution
- Connect the four journeys through a common hierarchy: validate today’s money, discover relevant services, then manage ongoing commitments.
The brief called for an app that helped merchants conduct, grow and manage their business. The design task was to turn that ambition into an order of attention: checking money should stay easy even as commercial services expand.
Decision in practice · Product experience
From the problem to the screen.
02 · Contextual growth
Devices, lending and insurance sit within the same home experience. Their visibility must not displace collection validation or settlement tasks.
03 · Ongoing control
Account, QR and service-management actions support life after purchase. Product growth creates management needs as well as acquisition opportunities.
Strategic decisions & trade-offs
What the direction needed to balance.
01Prioritise the merchant’s job
Use Conduct–Grow–Manage to organise competing services around merchant activities. The framework came from the product brief; research helped translate it into a usable structure.
02Make settlement status actionable
Replace an automatic-settlement promise when pending charges prevent it. Show the amount, explain why it is due and provide a path to clear it. Trust depends on an accurate next step.
03Explain the commitment before conversion
Lending milestones span six consecutive months; SmartSpeaker ordering begins with a ₹2 refundable AutoPay mandate. Both flows need to explain future conditions, not only make the first tap easier.
SEC — 01 · Overview
The most visited screen was failing its users.
PhonePe for Business is where merchants onboard, collect UPI payments, access settlements, manage devices, and apply for loans. The home screen is the face of all of this — the most used, most interacted, and most sought-after page. Yet it was chaotic: no hierarchy, buried features, no revenue channel, and no reason for a merchant to feel the app was built for them.
P/01
No feature discoverability
Settle Now, loan eligibility, device management — all buried. Merchants couldn't find critical functions without multiple taps.
P/02
Settlement anxiety
Auto-settlements weren't initiated in edge cases but merchants received no notification — leading to rising support tickets and merchant distrust.
P/03
Revenue left on the table
SmartSpeakers, POS devices, loans, and shop insurance had no proper discovery surface. The home page wasn't functioning as a revenue channel.
P/04
Pure utility, zero ownership
Merchants used the app because they had to — not because they wanted to. No sense of the app being a companion to their business.
SEC — 02 · Design Ideology
A companion to the merchant's business. Not a tool they're trapped in.
From the product brief: the app needed to help merchants conduct, manage, and grow their business — integrating different lines of business and generating revenue for both merchants and PhonePe. But critically, it had to do this without creating funnels that trap. Absolute clarity going in, and always a way out.
Core Design Belief
The merchant comes to the app because it's a NEED. Our job is to create the WANT. Good visuals, good experiences, good support — make them feel the app is for THEM, not US.
G/01
Critical functions upfront, always
Minimize clicks and rabbit holes. Every feature a merchant needs should be reachable from the home screen with the fewest possible taps.
G/02
Reimagine the entire IA
Don't patch the existing architecture. Rebuild it around the three things every merchant does: conduct their business, grow it, and manage it.
G/03
Make value-added services discoverable
Devices, loans, and insurance shown upfront with illustrations and clear benefit statements — informational, not pushy.
G/04
Powerful help, fast resolution
Merchants should be able to find solutions to all their problems in the shortest time — via a strong in-app support centre, not a call centre.
SEC — 03 · Research & Process
Merchants think in workflows, not features.
I ran heuristic audits on the existing home screen, analysed support ticket themes, reviewed analytics drop-off data, and conducted merchant interviews across business types and geographies. The clearest signal: merchants didn't think in terms of app features. They thought in terms of business activities — "did I get paid?", "is my money in my account?", "how do I get a loan?"
Research helped translate the product brief into a workflow-based structure: the framework of Conduct – Grow – Manage. Three verbs. Three zones. One clear mental model.
Key Research Finding
P2ML merchants visit at least once a month. P2P merchants get everything via notifications — they don't need to visit daily. The home screen had to earn engagement from users who didn't have a reason to open the app.
FIG 3.0 — Homepage Framework · Conduct · Grow · Manage
Zone 1 · BAU
Conduct
Any merchant who comes onto the app expects simplicity and ease of doing their business — timely validation of collections and payments made digitally.
Transactions
Validate payments and settlements seamlessly, with a detailed transaction and settlement history.
Settlements
Settle Now as a primary focus of the entire app — and auto-settlements shown in a clutter-free, easy-to-understand format.
Payment Analytics
Analyze sales performance and growth trends; generate reports for insights into expansion.
Zone 2 · Growth
Grow
Once merchants have validation of what's happening, they want to grow. Value-added services shown upfront in an informational, clear manner.
Devices & Services
Explore, purchase, or lease devices; track orders and manage owned devices.
Loans
A clean, easy discovery point for business loans — the merchant's route to expansion.
Incentives
Promotions and discounts that nudge merchants toward services — visibility keeps them hooked.
Zone 3 · Control
Manage
Crucial for established merchants who have availed devices and services — their control panel.
Profile / Account
Business info, billing and payment settings, language and notification preferences.
Device Management
Manage owned devices, track orders, troubleshoot issues, pay device dues.
Loan Dashboard
Monitor loan status, outstanding balance, and upcoming payments.
Customer Support
In-app chat support for immediate help — with self-serve solutions first.
FIG 3.0 — Homepage framework: Conduct (BAU) · Grow · Manage
SEC — 04 · The Solution
Conduct – Grow – Manage
FIG 4.0 — Before / After
Left: old home — cluttered, no hierarchy · Right: redesigned — Conduct framework in place
Z/01
Conduct
Any merchant who opens the app expects simplicity and ease. They need timely validation of payments, instant access to settlements, and a clear view of today's collections. Everything in this zone is about reducing friction for the core business activity.
Today's Collection — hero metric
Total day's collection shown as the primary number on home, with recent transactions listed immediately below — no scrolling required to validate payments.
Settle Now — elevated
For the vast majority of merchants, getting money in their bank account is the best validation. Settle Now becomes a primary home-screen action, not buried in a flow.
Settlement Not Initiated — transparent
Redesigned error messaging for settlement failures: clear ribbon on home, detailed breakdown on the settlement page, and deep-links to resolve pending charges.
Business analytics
Monthly collection with month-on-month comparison, 7-day chart, average daily collection, and transaction count.
FIG 4.1 — Merchant Home: Today's Collection · Settle Now · Account & QR
Z/02
Grow
Once merchants have validation of their daily business, they're open to growing it. Value-added services are surfaced in context — with illustrations that clarify what each product does.
PhonePe Business Services grid
SmartSpeaker, POS Device, Loans, Shop Insurance — shown with iconography and clear labels, accessible one tap from home.
Business loans — eligibility flow
A dedicated eligibility journey with 3 sections: Tasks (one-time to-dos like PAN submission), Milestones (6-month payment targets), and Devices (maintain 0 dues). Gamified progress to drive return visits.
Hero nudge widget
Contextual banner slot for promoting the highest-priority offering at any given time — loans, new devices, or insurance — with illustration and a clear CTA.
Incentives & offers
Promotions surfaced with clear value statements — a nudge like "buy a speaker and save ₹500" goes a long way.
FIG 4.2 — Loan Eligibility · User Journey
01
Discovery
Merchant notices a "Business Loan" widget on the home screen while checking transactions. High-intent entry point.
02
FTUE — first time use
Coachmarks explain the 3 sections of eligibility — Milestones, Tasks, and Devices — reducing drop-off at entry.
03
Tasks
Binary one-time to-dos: submit PAN, add shop address, convert to daily settlement. Completable in under 5 minutes.
04
Milestones
Meet the displayed collection and activity targets for six consecutive months. Milestone progress becomes the merchant's reason to return.
05
Devices
Maintain 0 dues on owned SmartSpeaker or EDC. Also an upsell surface for merchants who don't own a device yet.
06
Application
Once all criteria are met, the merchant applies. The third-party lender reviews the application. Completing the eligibility journey is not a promise of approval.
Z/03
Manage
For established merchants who have availed devices and services, management is critical. The profile and settings architecture was rebuilt into two clear buckets — Business Settings and App Settings.
Account & QR
Show QR, Order QR, Update KYC, and Bank Account — the most-needed account actions — surfaced directly on the home screen.
Device management
Track orders, troubleshoot SmartSpeakers with a real-time diagnostic flow, pay device dues, and explore upgrades — all without calling support.
SmartSpeaker troubleshoot
A real-time device health diagnostic that fetches signal data from the device directly — replacing a flow entirely dependent on user-reported inputs.
Profile — 2 buckets
Business settings and App settings — clearly separated. T&C repositioned. Logout de-emphasised.
SEC — 05 · Sub-Project 02
Settlement Not Initiated — a silent failure, made honest.
Merchants were seeing "this amount will be auto settled by 8 AM tomorrow" even when settlement couldn't happen due to pending charges. We corrected the messaging, added proactive home-screen ribbons with "View Charges" CTAs, and built a pending-dues explanation flow.
Decision rationale
State accuracy before reassurance
The previous promise of automatic settlement did not match the blocked state. The revised sequence makes the reason visible and explains how charges can be cleared.
Trade-off: The trade-off is a more explicit interruption to the merchant’s day in exchange for an actionable explanation. The design should not reassure someone about a transfer that cannot yet happen.
FIG 5.0 — Home in context: settlement ribbon (Conduct) + loan nudge (Grow)
FIG 5.1 — Settlement Not Initiated · Screen Flow
01 · Entry
Settlements tab —
not initiated alert
02 · Alert
Pending dues —
amount & CTA
03 · Details
Charge breakdown —
line by line
04 · Resolve
"How to clear" —
3-step explainer
05 · Done
Charges cleared —
settlement resumes
SEC — 06 · Sub-Project 03
Lending top of funnel — a 6-month commitment merchants actually finish.
The eligibility journey outlined above needed two production flows: the top-of-funnel states a merchant moves through while working toward eligibility, and a guided first-time-use flow that explains the rules up front. Both are shown below.
Decision rationale
Eligibility is a journey, not an approval
Separate one-time tasks from recurring collection goals and device dues. Coachmarks make the six-month requirement visible before the merchant interprets progress as an immediate loan offer.
Trade-off: Milestones provide structure, but they also expose a long commitment. Product clarity requires explaining that meeting the displayed goals leads to an application and lender review.
FIG 6.0 — Lending Top of Funnel · Screen Flow
01 · Intro
Loan intro —
eligibility overview
02 · Onboard
SMS permission —
personalised offers
03 · Tasks
0/4 tasks —
PAN & SMS pending
04 · Progress
April missed —
goals in progress
05 · Eligible
All goals met —
apply now
FIG 6.1 — Lending FTUE · Guided Onboarding Flow
01 · Entry
First impression —
what loans offer
02 · Coach
Task coachmark —
what to complete
03 · Goals
Goals tooltip —
6-month commitment
04 · Permit
SMS access —
personalised offers
05 · Review
Under review —
lender notifies
SEC — 07 · Sub-Project 04
SmartSpeaker ordering — lowering the cost of saying yes.
The original device-purchase flow required full payment before dispatch — a friction point for cash-conscious merchants. We redesigned it around a ₹2 refundable AutoPay mandate to confirm intent, deferring plan selection and setup-fee payment to the point of physical delivery — reducing the payment required before delivery while keeping the later fees visible.
Decision rationale
Lower the initial payment, explain the later obligation
The order screen separates the ₹2 mandate now from plan selection and setup fees at delivery. The product decision changes when commitment occurs, not merely the number of checkout screens.
Trade-off: Deferring payment can make ordering easier while moving part of the decision to delivery. That makes clear communication about the mandate, refund and later charges essential.
FIG 7.0 — SmartSpeaker Ordering · Screen Flow
01 · Confirm
₹2 AutoPay mandate —
confirms the order
02 · Choose
Plan selection —
superstar voice upsell
03 · Placed
Order confirmed —
clear next steps
SEC — 08 · Design Principles
The rules we designed by.
Clarity over cleverness
Every element must earn its place. No decorative complexity, no ambiguous icons. If it doesn't serve the merchant's workflow, it doesn't belong on the home screen.
Always a way out
Keeping merchants trapped backfires. Clear escape hatches in every flow, no dark patterns, no forced funnels. Trust is built by giving control back.
Need to Want
Merchants come because they need the app. The design's job is to make them want to come back. Delight isn't decoration — it's return engagement.
Show, don't tell
Value-added services understood at a glance through illustrations. A merchant shouldn't need to read to know what a SmartSpeaker does for their business.
Right thing, right time
P0 on home is today's collection — not a loan banner. Context determines priority. The home screen adapts to what the merchant actually needs in that moment.
Transparency reduces anxiety
Merchants who don't know why their settlement didn't happen raise support tickets. Accurate, proactive messaging about settlement status is as important as the settlement itself.
Outcomes & learning
What the results establish.
The reported +15% DAU and ₹20Cr monthly incremental revenue describe the wider redesign. They should not be attributed to one screen or to one designer. Settlement recovery, lending eligibility and device ordering also have distinct customer jobs; greater time in the app is not automatically a better outcome.
The leadership lesson is about prioritisation across a portfolio: a shared framework lets different services coexist without giving every business line equal prominence at every moment.
SEC — 09 · Outcomes
Measurable impact across every metric that matters.
Reported results following the redesign span engagement, service discovery and revenue. These are shared product outcomes; the figures do not isolate the effect of each design decision.
Daily Active Users
+15%
Reported growth in daily active users following the redesign.
Incremental Revenue
₹20Cr
Reported monthly incremental revenue across the redesigned merchant experience.
New Feature Adoption
25%
Reported share of eligible merchants adopting newly surfaced features.
NPS Improvement
+7pts
Reported increase of seven Net Promoter Score points.
Task Completion
85%
Reported task-completion rate.
Merchant Retention
80%
Reported retention rate; the source describes a five-percentage-point increase.
SEC — 10 · Reflections
What I learned.
R/01
Design for the busiest moment
Merchants check this app between serving customers. The Conduct–Grow–Manage framework worked because it mirrors how they already think about their day — not how the org chart is structured.
R/02
Alignment is a design deliverable
With devices, loans, analytics, settlements, and QR all competing for home screen real estate, the framework became a shared language across product, engineering, and business.
R/03
Transparency reduces support costs
The biggest merchant anxiety wasn't a broken flow — it was silence. Merchants didn't know why their money wasn't in their account. The design response made blocked settlement states explicit and provided a path to resolution. That is a concrete improvement in the information available to a merchant, even without isolating its effect on support volume.
R/04
Revenue and UX aren't at odds
Surfacing value-added services in the right context improved both merchant experience and revenue. Merchants engaged because they saw value, not because they were trapped.
R/05
Gamification earns return visits
The Loan Eligibility journey introduced milestone-based progress that gave merchants a reason to open the app even on days they didn't collect a payment. Designing for consistent re-engagement within a 6-month window was as important as the final application screen.