OVO PayLater: Bridging the Trust Gap in Indonesia’s Digital Credit Market
Wait. What is Pay Later?
Grab targeted a 30% market share increase in Indonesia by leveraging OVO (Grab’s primary e-wallet) to launch OVO PayLater.
The goal of this project was to relaunch a differentiated, secure, and friction-free "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) experience to drive user loyalty and aggressive sign-up growth.
My Role
I led the end-to-end design and content strategy for the OVO PayLater integration.
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Streamlined approval flows to reduce drop-offs without compromising security.
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Defined the voice and tone for the Grab x OVO partnership, focusing on proactive user education.
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Collaborated with Analytics and native linguists to refine messaging based on real-time user interaction data.
The Impact
I led the cross-functional effort (Product, Legal, Localisation) to pivot OVO PayLater from an instalment-based model to a high-frequency postpaid solution. By deeply integrating the service into Grab's super-app ecosystem, we aligned the product with Grab’s long-term financial strategy.
01.
Onboarding Completion
Went up by 40%
02.
Downtime Completion
Went from 8-10 mins
to
3-4 mins
03.
ID Verification Completion
Went from 35% to 78%
04.
Cross-platform Adoption
OVO - 4.6 M
Grab - 10.3 M
The Problem
OVO PayLater was withdrawn from the market after its 2019 debut due to a prohibitive loan process and poor user retention. The goal was to rebuild user trust and drive adoption by deconstructing a high-friction financial journey into a localised, secure, and effortless "buy now, pay later" experience that could scale.
Next Thinking
To conduct ethnographic research in Jakarta:
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Interview our users and merchants
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Profile our users’ and identify their behaviours, preferences, and pain points
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Understand all different use cases of OVO on Grab and Grab on OVO
The Research
Multiple user and merchant interviews conducted
- 18 in-depth interviews with users (12) and merchants (6) across Jakarta
- 3-day observational study at markets and retail stores
- Survey of 200+ OVO users about BNPL perceptions
- Competitive analysis of Kredivo, Akulaku, and Shopee
From this, we derived the user pain points, themes, and insights
Key Insights
Barrier: Low-frequency usage due to "Big Ticket" perception.
Insight: Users needed a reason to use the service for daily, small-scale purchases.
Barrier: Cultural distrust of interest-based loans (Riba).
Insight: Our research showed that users associated words like "pinjaman" (loan) and "cicilan" (instalments) with debt and high interest. To win the Indonesian market, the product needed to feel like a utility (postpaid) rather than a high-interest debt product.
Barrier: High default rates caused by top-up friction.
Insight: Bridging the gap between balance depletion and the payment date was critical for retention.
Barrier: Lack of positive reinforcement.
Insight: Gamifying or rewarding "good debt" behaviour (on-time payments) would drive long-term engagement.
Barrier: Bottom navigation, phone settings, and app bars were in English even though the phone’s language setting was set to Bahasa Indonesia.
Insight: Language shapes perception. So, we leveraged the trend of English-to-Bahasa loanwords to create a "Modern-Bahasa" tone of voice that resonates with tech-savvy Indonesian users. This linguistic shift, combined with reframing PayLater as a flexible payment method rather than a loan product, could be key to increasing user adoption.
An Opportunity
How might we transition from a high-friction installment model to a culturally-aligned postpaid experience that eliminates the stigma of interest while driving daily utility?
Reframing the Design Challenge:
Based on research, I identified that failure wasn't due to lack of features. It was cultural misalignment and lack of trust.
Our hypothesis: If we position PayLater as a postpaid utility (like phone bills) rather than a loan product, and demonstrate radical transparency around fees, Indonesian users will adopt it as part of their daily financial toolkit.
Our Core Value Drivers:
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Offering transparency in fees and differentiating OVO PayLater (OPL) from PayLater installment products in the market.
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Offering proactive guardrails to prevent over-spending and leaning on responsible spending habits.
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Offering users multiple ways to pay
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Rewarding good repayment behaviour
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Most importantly, taking a Native-First content strategy approach. Instead of translating English into local languages, I reversed the workflow: sourcing core concepts in Bahasa Indonesia to capture cultural nuance, then transcreating back into English to ensure global alignment without losing the local 'soul.
The Design
I engineered the onboarding experience by reducing the original user flow by 14 steps, significantly lowering the barrier to entry. For the initial rollout, we strategically prioritised Indonesian citizens (WNI) with valid National IDs (KTP) to ensure 100% KYC compliance and a frictionless first-touch experience.
Before
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Onboarding: I designed a guided onboarding experience using progressive disclosure to build trust. Users abandoned onboarding because they saw KYC requirements upfront without understanding the benefits first. So, I designed a 3-screen, value-first onboarding that:
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"Spend as you like, and pay just once"--> Positions PayLater as a convenient, not debt, option.
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"See the fees you pay upfront"--> Addresses Riba concerns with radical transparency
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"Make bill payments a breeze"--> Shows utility positioning ("postpaid" framing)
Why this works: Behavioural science shows that users are more willing to complete complex tasks (KYC) when they understand the value first. By surfacing benefits before requirements, we increased onboarding completion by 40%.
After
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Zero-Friction Verification: Users abandoned onboarding during manual KYC data entry. Testing showed average completion time was 8-10 minutes, with 40% drop-off at the ID verification step.
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I replaced manual data entry with an automated verification logic. By leveraging OCR technology to auto-fill details via the e-KTP ID number and integrating biometric selfie verification, we transformed a tedious compliance requirement into a seamless, high-security onboarding step.
Why this works: -
Reduces cognitive load (no typing on mobile keyboards)
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Feels secure (biometric = high-tech trust signal)
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Faster completion = less abandonment
Onboarding completion time dropped from 8-10 min to 3-4 min, with 78% completion rate (up from ~35%).
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Proactive Guardrails: I integrated behavioral nudges throughout the journey to encourage responsible spending habits. To safeguard users against late fees, I designed a multi-touchpoint reminder system, triggering dynamic notifications 5 days, 2 days, and 0 days prior to the deadline. This ensured punctuality and maintaining user credit health.
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Partial Payment: We also introduced flexible settlement options, enabling users to make partial payments and link direct bank transfers. This bypassed the mandatory e-wallet top-up step, significantly reducing the friction traditionally associated with bill settlement.
Future Explorations:
The next phase of evolution focuses on OVO PayLater as the default payment engine across the entire Grab and OVO ecosystem. By deepening the integration, we aim to transition users from transactional usage to a 'Postpaid-First' mindset for every service, from transport to high-frequency merchant payments.
