Indeed phone number login (India)

The Problem

In India, many lightly-skilled workers don’t use email and prefer communicating via phone and WhatsApp. Requiring an email address to create an account was a major barrier to adoption.

The Goals

• Remove email requirement to allow phone number-only account creation
• Leverage WhatsApp as a communication channel
  
• Increase account creation among lightly-skilled users

The Scope & Collaboration

What seemed like a simple change — allowing phone number login — actually impacted many core product flows. We had to redesign and validate multiple end-to-end flows:

• Account creation
• Login
  
• Forgot password (with fallback logic for recycled numbers)
• Apply flow
• Information request flow
• Post-apply communication (traditionally via email)

Each flow was owned by a different product team, requiring extensive cross-functional collaboration. Gaining alignment and securing buy-in across these teams was one of the biggest challenges and successes of the project.

Redesigning core flows. We started by identifying all the touchpoints and collaborating teams, then redesigned all key flows — from account creation to post-apply communication and more.

The Constraints

• Phone number recycling placed limits on account recovery
• Multiple entry points and fallback scenarios
• User confusion risk with no email fallback for recovery

What I Learned

• Designing for global audiences means letting go of personal assumptions
• Early alignment with legal, content, and UXR prevents blockers
  
• Localized trust cues (e.g., WhatsApp over email) are key
• Even foundational flows like login can unlock massive growth