Uber Product Design: Taking a Gift Card Holder from Code to First Trip or Order

You are a PM at Uber. Someone has just been given an Uber gift card. Design the experience that takes them from holding the card to actually spending its value in the Uber app. ```hint Start before the app opens Many recipients get the card as a printed card or an email, and some have never used Uber. Map every starting point a recipient could have before you design a single screen. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should the design cover physical cards bought in stores, digital cards sent by email or text, or both? - Does redeemed value go into a stored account balance that works across rides and food orders, or is it tied to a single trip or order? - Must the flow handle recipients who have no Uber account or have never installed the app? - Is success only a smooth redemption, or also turning gift recipients into regular customers? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Who redeems gift cards (existing customers versus first-time users, physical versus digital cards) and which group the design prioritizes, with a reason. - An end-to-end flow from first contact with the code to the first trip or order paid with it, including entry points, account creation and applying the balance at checkout. - Failure states such as invalid, already-used, unactivated or wrong-country codes, and how each user recovers. - The mechanics behind a safe redemption: single use, a reliable balance record, and protection against code guessing and fraud. - Success metrics for redemption and later usage, with guardrails on fraud and support volume. ### Follow-up Questions - Months after redemption, much of the gift card value is still unspent. Is that a problem for Uber, and what would you do about it? - Criminals buy cards with stolen credit cards and sell the codes. How would you change the redemption flow without punishing honest recipients? - How would you tell whether gift cards bring in new customers who keep riding or ordering after the balance runs out?