Case Study: Dough Revolutionizing Trivia and Surveys

Role: Director of Projects & Operations | Cleinsight
Duration: 2020–2024 | Industry: SaaS, Market Research, Martech
Methodology: Agile (Kanban), Lean Startup, Growth Loops

Context & Opportunity

While working on multiple survey platforms at Mighty Egg Technologies, I saw a pattern: completion rates were low, engagement was flat, and most tools hadn’t evolved beyond digital forms. This realization led to the birth of Cleinsight and Dough.

Dough was the participant-facing part of it, while Cleinsight was client-facing. It entertained users and generated high-quality feedback for brands. I led Dough from concept to launch, building the product, leading the team, managing growth ops, and securing partnerships with leading FMCG brands, MNCs, and government entities.

Goals

We set out to build a mobile-first platform that:

• Made trivia accessible, fast, and competitive

• Collected zero-party data through gamified surveys

• Integrated branded content in a way users welcomed

• Built trust through transparency and community feedback

Strategy & Execution

Phase 1: Discovery & Concept Validation

• Conducted user interviews to understand trivia patterns, incentive expectations, and gameplay fatigue

• Analyzed competitors in both spaces (HQ Trivia, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms) to identify UX, trust, and engagement gaps

• Validated that users were more likely to complete surveys after participating in games, especially if incentivized

Phase 2: Product Design & MVP

• Created a PRD focused on:

  • Real-time trivia with live hosting

  • User profile completion & targeting

  • Leaderboards, streaks, and referral rewards

  • Push notifications for retention

• Prioritized features in a Kanban pipeline, enabling quick pivots based on user feedback

Phase 3: Development & Iteration

• Tested different game types:

  • “One Wrong Answer and You’re Out” flopped

  • Points-based trivia succeeded, but needed a minimum reward threshold to maintain user satisfaction

• Migrated to a serverless architecture when concurrency demand exceeded early expectations

• Ran daily standups and maintained an evolving backlog to track real-time issues, bugs, and user feedback

Phase 4: Marketing, Monetization & Growth

• Deployed lean content campaigns on Instagram and Facebook, using gameplay highlights, winner shoutouts, and viral reels

• Built a community through direct updates and reward transparency — users became advocates

• Partnered with brands to embed survey questions into games, monetizing attention without interrupting it

• Used Kanban to coordinate brand activations, monitor campaign KPIs, and track sponsor feedback

Results

• 50K+ users onboarded within months of launch

• 80%+ survey completion rates when tied to trivia incentives

• Brand partnerships secured with MNCs and FMCG clients

• Zero-party data collected across user segments for brand targeting

• Built a scalable backend to support thousands of concurrent users during live games

Challenges & What We Learned

• Scalability: Live games created unexpected traffic surges — serverless infra and beta test loops helped manage it

• UX Fatigue: Iterated multiple game formats to find the right balance between fun and fairness

• Incentive Structure: Users were highly responsive to reward mechanics, requiring a balance between payout and sustainability

• Community Transparency: Open comms around bug fixes and reward timelines built user trust and long-term retention

Key Takeaway

Engagement isn’t just about mechanics, it’s about meaning. Dough succeeded because it listened, adapted, and made feedback part of the user experience, not an afterthought.