In our Professionals series, we spotlight outstanding individuals working across the PayPay Group. This time, we spoke with Makoto Muroi, Strategy Planning Leader in the Marketing Strategy Division, who is responsible for developing marketing strategies and maximizing customer lifetime value (LTV). In this interview, he shares the key decisions behind his career, how his perspective shifted from interpreting data to driving business outcomes, and what makes marketing strategy at PayPay uniquely challenging and rewarding.
Makoto Muroi
Leader, Strategy Planning, Marketing Strategy Department, Marketing Strategy Division, Business Operations Group
After graduating from university, he joined a precision equipment manufacturer, where he worked in corporate planning. He was responsible for profit and loss management in the production division of the watch business, PSI optimization, and KPI design based on market research. He joined PayPay in December 2019 and worked in the Corporate Planning Department, focusing on KPI analysis and reporting. He later transitioned into the marketing domain and currently serves in the Marketing Strategy Division, where he is responsible for strategy planning and execution, driving the advancement of marketing capabilities and overall business growth. He assumed his current role in April 2026.
From Stability to Change — Why I Chose PayPay
When I started my career, I chose a company that offered a stable and manageable working environment. At the time, I wasn’t sure how much pressure or workload I could handle, so I prioritized minimizing risk. However, after about two and a half years, I began to feel a sense of urgency. Most people around me had built their entire careers within the same company, and I started to wonder whether I would be able to thrive outside of that environment. At the same time, I felt something was missing.
Although the environment was comfortable, I realized that I might be better suited for a place where I would be challenged more. That led me to make a deliberate decision—to step into a completely different environment while I was still in my twenties. That’s how I chose PayPay.
At the time, PayPay stood out for its bold initiatives, such as the “10 billion yen cashback campaign,” which demonstrated a willingness to execute unconventional ideas at scale. At the same time, I didn’t see it as just a high-growth company driven by momentum. Considering global trends in cashless payments, I was convinced this space would become a core part of social infrastructure in Japan. PayPay was the only place that satisfied both of my criteria: an environment completely different from my previous one, and a business that would become essential to society.
From Interpreting Numbers to Driving Them
After joining PayPay, I worked in corporate planning, where I was responsible for forecasting and analyzing KPIs such as transaction volume and payment frequency. My role was to interpret what was happening in the business and support executive decision-making. Through this experience, I gained valuable insight into how the company operates and how leadership makes decisions.
Today, however, my role has shifted significantly. Instead of simply interpreting numbers, I now focus on how to influence and move them. I’ve moved from being someone who analyzes outcomes to someone who actively drives change. Even though the “numbers” themselves haven’t changed, what they represent in my work has fundamentally shifted.
My transition into marketing was a natural progression. The areas I was responsible for were closely tied to market dynamics, which sparked my interest in marketing. At the same time, I started to question whether I wanted to remain in corporate planning long-term and felt motivated to explore new domains. As I continued approaching my work with that mindset, I gradually became more involved in the marketing domain. What I appreciate about PayPay’s culture is that it values people who proactively expand their expertise and take ownership of new challenges.
Another major shift has been my involvement in execution. Previously, I was involved in setting targets. Now, I’m responsible for how those targets are actually achieved, working closely with teams to translate high-level goals into actionable strategies. One of my strengths in this role comes from my background in finance and profit structures. Understanding how much value is generated per transaction is essential when thinking about customer value, and I believe that perspective allows me to contribute meaningfully to decision-making.
Redefining Marketing Decisions Through LTV
One of the most impactful initiatives I’ve worked on is building a framework for evaluating marketing initiatives based on LTV (customer lifetime value). At PayPay, investment decisions for marketing initiatives are driven by LTV. However, accurately calculating LTV is far from simple. It’s not enough to look at increases in GMV or user numbers. We need to understand how much profit each user actually contributes. In other words, the question is not just “Did we acquire more users?” but “How much value do those users generate?” This fundamentally changes how marketing decisions are made.
To bring this concept into practice, I took the initiative to design a framework for evaluating marketing performance. One of the key challenges is bias in evaluation. When analyzing results, it’s easy to assume that “these users were already highly active,” rather than attributing the change to the initiative itself. That’s why we needed a way to separate the true impact of a campaign from existing user behavior. We addressed this by designing control groups with similar characteristics to the target users, allowing us to measure incremental impact more accurately.
At PayPay, multiple initiatives run in parallel, each targeting different user segments. Users are segmented based on behavior and usage patterns, and tailored communication and incentives are designed for each group. This makes both execution and evaluation highly complex. Within this environment, we are required to continuously assess which initiatives generate value for which users.
There is no single correct way to design these models. We develop hypotheses for each campaign, validate them, and refine our approach based on how profit structures actually change. Through repeated trial and error, we have established a system that is now scalable and operational.
As a result, our decision-making has shifted significantly. We no longer rely solely on top-line metrics like user growth or GMV. Instead, we evaluate initiatives based on the profit they generate. This allows us to move forward with initiatives that may not dramatically increase user numbers, but create meaningful value from a profitability standpoint.
From Payments to Financial Services
Currently, my focus is on evolving PayPay from a “payment app” into a “financial platform.” While PayPay is widely recognized as a leading cashless payment service, our goal is to go beyond payments. We aim to become a partner that helps users manage, grow, and optimize their money.
This shift is driven by changes in Japan’s economic environment. With the transition to inflation and the introduction of new investment programs like NISA, the gap between those who actively manage their finances and those who do not is widening. Because PayPay is already widely used, we believe it can serve as an entry point for people who have never engaged in financial planning before.
At the same time, there are challenges. Many people still feel that investing is difficult or risky. That’s why it’s important to communicate in a way that is simple and relatable, rather than relying on technical language. Designing what to communicate, to whom, and through which channels is at the core of what makes this role interesting.
For younger users in particular, I believe it’s important that they become familiar with PayPay through everyday payments early on. By using services like point-based investment or PayPay credit in their daily lives, we aim to create a natural pathway where users gradually expand from payments into broader financial usage.
Creating Value in an Environment Without Answers
What makes working in marketing at PayPay truly exciting is that there are no predefined answers. In many established companies, the direction is already set. At PayPay, however, we are still shaping that direction ourselves. The hypotheses we form and the actions we take can directly influence where the company is headed. Of course, this environment is not for everyone.
You are expected to take ownership of your work—to expand and deepen it on your own. If you don’t, you may have fewer opportunities to experience the real excitement of working here. On the other hand, for those who can formulate their own questions, build hypotheses, and take action, this is an incredibly rewarding environment.
Looking Ahead
Rather than being overwhelmed by PayPay’s rapid growth, I want to keep up with it and stay engaged. By approaching my work with my own hypotheses and perspective, I believe I can accumulate high-quality experience. And through that accumulation, I can shape my own career. I hope to look back on this year as the moment when I was able to contribute to PayPay’s evolution from a payment service into a financial platform.
Open Positions
*Information such as job openings and employee affiliations is accurate as of the time of the interview.