Design a Birthday App
Google Product Manager Interview: How would you design a Birthday App
1. Clarifying Questions
Before jumping in, I’d clarify:
Should the app be standalone or integrated with existing platforms
(e.g., WhatsApp, Google Calendar, Facebook)?Assumption: Consider the app to be a standalone app.
Do we have any specific target audience in mind?
(Teens, adults, professionals, parents)Assumption: It’s upto you to choose.
What’s the primary goal — remembering birthdays, organizing parties, or sending gifts?
Assumption: It’s upto you to choose.
What platforms are we launching on — iOS, Android, web, or all?
Assumption: Consider it to be mobile first.
Do we want monetization (gifting, subscriptions, ads), or is this a utility app?
Assumption: It’s upto you to decide.
2. Goals
The primary goal of the birthday app is to help users build stronger personal connections by making it easy, timely, and delightful to remember, celebrate, and engage with their loved ones’ birthdays. This involves creating a seamless experience where users feel thoughtful, organised, and emotionally rewarded for showing up on important dates.
Metric:
DAU/MAU ratio (engagement)
% of birthdays wished via app
A key objective is to ensure that users not only remember important birthdays but also enjoy celebrating them meaningfully—whether through personalized wishes, curated gift options, or shared memories—all from within one intuitive platform.
3. User Segments
1. Social Butterflies: Active users who love celebrating birthdays in fun, creative ways.
Needs: Customizable wishes, social sharing tools, and group features like birthday collages or Stories.
2. Forgetful Friends: Users who often miss birthdays but want to stay thoughtful.
Needs: Early reminders, synced birthday calendar, and 1-tap wish options.
3. Gifting Shoppers: Users who prefer sending meaningful gifts over just messages.
Needs: Curated gift suggestions, easy checkout, personalized notes, and delivery tracking.
4. Remote Families: Family members living apart who want to stay emotionally connected.
Needs: Shared family birthday calendars, group videos, and simple greeting tools.
Priority Segment: Forgetful Friends
Why?
They represent a large, universal need—people who care but often forget birthdays. They drive frequent app engagement through reminders, are easy to convert with low-effort features, and have high viral potential by consistently showing up for others. Solving their problem creates strong retention, habit loops, and word-of-mouth growth.
4. User Pain Points
They often forget important dates, leading to guilt and missed opportunities to connect.
Birthdays are spread across phone contacts, social media, and calendars, making it hard to track in one place.
Default calendar reminders (if any) are generic or too last-minute to act on meaningfully.
They don’t have any fast, low-effort options to send thoughtful messages without overthinking.
They get stuck choosing the right message, card, or gift under time pressure.
If they forget on the day, there's no feature to help them recover (e.g., belated wishes, auto-scheduled messages).