Interview Questions › Metrics

Measure UPI AutoPay for subscriptions

PhonePe lets users set up UPI AutoPay mandates for subscriptions like OTT and SIPs. How would you measure whether AutoPay is successful?

Context

Merchants want fewer failed renewals; users want control and no surprise debits.

Clarifying questions to ask first

• Is the goal mandate growth or payment reliability?
• Which merchant categories matter most?

How to approach it

1. Two sides: users and merchants
2. Funnel: mandate created, active, successful debits
3. Trust guardrails: cancellations, disputes, complaints

Framework: Goal of the product -> Users and value exchange -> North Star -> Supporting metrics by funnel stage -> Guardrails and counter-metrics -> Decision or target

Sample answer

• Monthly successful AutoPay debits
• Debit success rate on due date
• Disputes per 1,000 debits

1. Debit success rate is 88%; most failures are insufficient balance
2. Mandate cancellations spike in the first 7 days after creation
3. Disputes are 1.4 per 1,000 debits

North Star: monthly successful AutoPay debits. Supporting: mandate creation and activation, debit success rate. Guardrails: early cancellations and disputes, because surprise debits destroy trust in UPI.

What interviewers look for

• Active mandates
• Debit success rate
• Dispute rate