SMS Deliverability at Uber

While interviewing with Uber for a role as a Product Manager, I proposed a solution to a common problem in the A2P messaging space: low SMS deliverability.

Presented with an open-ended problem statement, I followed a user-centric design process to investigate and pitch a plan. My solution addressed OTP SMS delivery failure, impacting thousands of active users of Uber Eats and Uber Rides globally.

Product Manager Candidate | Uber Communications Platform | November 2021

Problem Statement

The following is a paraphrased case prompt provided by Uber.

SMS messages, and particularly one-time passwords (OTPs), are a critical part of the Uber user experience, necessary for phone number verification during new account creation as well as retrieving lost or forgotten credentials. Two KPIs that Uber prioritizes in this space are cost in USD and overall deliverability, i.e., rate at which SMS is successfully delivered to customers.

The SMS ecosystem is complex. It consists of different SMS providers in different regions, with each provider having independent aggregators through which SMS is routed.

Over the past month, there has been a significant decrease (> 5%) in SMS deliverability, which is capable of generating considerable friction for users looking to sign up or sign in to Uber. How should this issue be diagnosed, root causes be identified, and a solution to stem the impact to users and the business be crafted and executed?

Early Ideation

Prior to my interview with the Communications Platform team at Uber, I had no experience with large-scale A2P messaging, be it over SMS, voice call, email, etc. However, this space resonated with me given my work with international students. Having observed the real-life implications of splintered communication, I earnestly researched ways to strengthen Uber’s A2P messaging via SMS —and gleaned some tips for my own long-distance interactions in the process!

I drew inspiration from my time at Blackstone to outline a strategy with which to approach low SMS deliverability at Uber. At Blackstone, I led ideation and design for a fully electronic chatbot to support investors. Primarily, I remembered that:

  1. Partnerships with external vendors requires both transparency and responsible withholding of sensitive information. SaaS vendors offer a breadth of data resulting from exposure to multiple clients, which can either accelerate or risk internal business goals.

  2. Users receiving communications from applications or websites respond well to expected, consistent messages and poorly to unexpected or redundant messages.

Though a stranger to mass user-facing communication while interviewing at Uber, I weaved a persistent consumer-centrism into my recommendation for Uber’s response to low SMS deliverability.

Design Process

In understanding the decline in SMS deliverability and forming an opinion on effective solutions, my design process emphasized UX and industry best practices. I reasoned that a sustainable fix to SMS delivery failure would unblock access to core application functions, regain user trust, and comply with long-term A2P SMS guidelines set by telephony vendors.

I followed this sequence of steps:

  1. Define Problem

  2. Identify Missing Information

  3. Establish Business Impact, Success Criteria

  4. Assess Potential Root Causes

  5. Explore Solution Alternatives

  6. Recommend Best Option, Elaborate on Feature Vision

  7. Plan Execution

My final presentation is below.

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Outcomes

Ultimately, my recommendation was to design and implement an SMS Quality Control System (described above). By enforcing consistency and predictability into Uber’s SMS communications, vendors would be less likely to block Uber SMS.

In reality, Uber certainly leans on quality checks and last-mile rules to regulate email traffic, but quality control is not the most effective solution to deliverability drops in the SMS space. To counter the forces that lower A2P SMS deliverability, Uber utilizes a smart-routing system that dynamically allocates high-priority SMS to vendors that exhibit strong deliverability over a specified look-back period of time.

A piece of feedback from my interviewers on my approach to addressing low SMS deliverability was to consider vendor costs. I had framed the issue in purely user- and vendor-oriented lenses, but in practice, SMS costs heavily influence strategic decisions.

As for me, I got the job! I know a lot more about A2P communications than I once did.