Product & engineering · v1 scope
The strategy, extracted for development
Six layers built around one advantage a wallet-only competitor cannot copy: the operator can lend — so good behaviour buys cheaper, faster credit, not just bigger discounts.
North star
Engagement — DAU/MAU stickiness, weekly. Retention is downstream of sustained daily engagement.
The guardrail
Extrinsic rewards spike in month one and fade by month three. The mercenary test watches Daily Habits and Moments engagement against Trust Score movement, same cohort — engagement up, Trust Score flat is reward-chasing, not habit formation. Instrument both series from day one.
Fixed points
Two separate two-hour holds · Rs. 25,000 a day at Level 0 · four phases over eighteen months.
01 Credit is the currency, not just coupons.
05 A purpose bigger than discounts.
02 Reward the moment, not the month.
06 Design for redemption, not breakage.
03 Keep the base layer boringly simple.
07 Reward the KYC upgrade itself.
04 Fund it with partners wherever possible.
08 Make daily engagement free, never compulsory spending.
Six layers, ordered by how often each one gives a customer a reason to open the app. The top three carry engagement; the bottom three carry meaning.
| Layer | What it is | Who funds it |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Habits | Streaks, fraud and literacy quizzes, light puzzles — all free actions. | Cheapest layer; small non-cash points redeemed into the partner marketplace. |
| Moments | Instant transaction-triggered mini-reward, max once a day. | Fixed marketing budget, capped like a CAC allocation. |
| Foundation | Automatic real-time cashback, no ledger. The default experience. | The bank's own margin, deliberately modest. |
| Trust Score | Weekly score from volume, bill punctuality, savings. Unlocks approval speed, limits, pricing. | Self-funding through reduced cost-of-risk; needs credit-model integration. |
| Marketplace & Purpose | Voucher marketplace plus the purpose track — literacy, small business, community. | Merchant and brand partners paying for visibility. |
| Onramp | One-time bonus for biometrics and clearing Level 0. | Fixed one-time cost — budget as acquisition. |
Deposit angle
ADB gating on Root and Harvest is a funding source, not a cost — low-cost retail funding measured in basis points off blended cost of funds. Track it with Treasury, not Product alone.
Illustrative. Names and thresholds are workshop material; the layering is what to protect.
| Tier | Qualifying behaviour | Foundation | Trust Score unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Account opened, first three transactions | Welcome cashback credit | Baseline established |
| Sprout | Regular monthly transacting | Elevated cashback, two to three types | Score visible; first pre-qualification signal |
| Root | Sustained 3 months+, on-time bills | Marketplace unlocked | Faster approval; modest limit increase |
| Harvest | High consistent activity + savings held | Priority support; higher Moments rate | Preferential loan pricing |
| Legacy | Top-decile 12 months+, or purpose milestones | Full marketplace and purpose benefits | Best available pricing and limits |
Requirements
One free streak freeze per calendar month — a missed day must not reset progress. No notification shaming a broken streak; one neutral reminder is fine, guilt-based copy is not.
Quizzes
Two to three questions a session, rotating, one to two points per correct answer, explanation after every answer. Starter bank: OTP over a call (no), prize fees via QR (no), MPIN to an agent (no), checking the merchant name before scanning (yes). Track completion against fraud-dispute rates by cohort — if it holds, report the layer to Risk and Finance as partly self-funding.
Games
Phase 4 only, tied to the purpose narrative — after the habit loop is proven.
Confirmed, not theoretical. Each one changes what the UX is allowed to imply.
Cooldown A
2 h · funds received
Cash-outs, online purchases and top-ups against newly received wallet funds are held. A Moments reward is funds received: credit it visibly and instantly, but say it becomes spendable after the standard window.
Cooldown B
2 h · all debits
Triggered by registration, new-device registration, email or MPIN change. If the Onramp flow registers a device, expect a blanket freeze straight after — celebrate the bonus, sequence the messaging.
Level 0
Rs. 25,000 / day
Confirmed against the source terms — and the reason the Onramp bonus exists: a Level 0 customer is capped out of the program until they clear it.
Liability
IFRS 15
Outstanding Points × (1 − Breakage Rate) × Cost Per Point. Model Daily Habits separately from Moments; one blended breakage rate misstates it. Finance and Audit sign-off before launch.
Shariah
if applicable
Frame rewards as hiba tied to real transactions, never a promised return. Chance mechanics work where the entry is a transaction happening anyway. Named board sign-off on the mechanic, not the copy.
Engagement
DAU/MAU weekly (north star, a churn signal two to three months early) · streak completion at day 7/14/30 · quiz completion and accuracy · session frequency by cohort, since one ratio can hide a power-user core.
Durability
The mercenary test · Trust Score to repayment and default correlation against a control · retention delta split by Daily-Habits-led versus Trust-Score-led engagement.
Economics
Redemption rate sustained and rising, never minimised as a saving · partner-funded share of reward value rising · points liability per layer, quarterly with Finance.
Risks
Becoming a discount clone — protect Trust Score as a funded workstream from day one · compliance and Shariah in mechanic design, not marketing review · joint Finance and Audit liability model before launch · pilot Trust Score pricing with a controlled cohort · redemption reliability and support as core KPIs · Phase 1 ships on existing data so one big-bang release can't stall time-to-market.
Out of scope
Games (Phase 4) · the full Shariah variant (Phase 4, sign-off first) · a quantified financial model, which needs the MFB's real cost-of-funds and adoption inputs rather than invented placeholders · exact tier thresholds above Level 0, from the live Schedule of Charges.
Onramp, foundation cashback, credit-linked trust score, instant moments, free daily habits, partner-funded purpose. The names are workshop material; the layering is the part worth protecting.