Product Analytics & Engagement : A Deep Dive

By : Shravan Tickoo

Principal PM ( BYJU’S)
 ● Product Analytics is the discipline of
understanding user behavior on your digital
What is Product Analytics ? application i.e Website , Web App , App ( any
application which is accessible on the internet )

What is Engagement ? ○ For example : On Flipkart - if we have to find out

how many users actually come on the homepage
→ Category page ---> Add to cart ---> Checkout

How does it help us drive ● What is engagement ? - To define in simpler

terms this is an action or set of actions a user
engagement ?
has to take on your digital applications over a
period of time

○ What is the average number of add to cards a

user does in a month

● Product analytics helps us understand the drop-

off funnels in our core actions which we expect
the user to do and we as PM try to optimize that
and that optimizes engagement
What is a Product funnel where
Product Analytics helps & drives
engagement ?

In simpler words , post a user is acquired via any

channel , Activation of a user ( doing a particular
step to hook the user ) , retention ( repetation of a
certain behavior ) , referral , revenue are all in
hands of a PM
What does engagement truly Engagement means any action or set of actions which
gives instant gratification of a user , in terms of value
mean in the AARRR funnel ? and keeps adding value the more number of times
you do it

For example

● Addition of friends on FB , the more number of

friends you add , the more they are closer to you
for interactions ( chat , video ) and hence you
keep on adding friends
● Action point as a PM to drive engagement is -
improve the friend discovery experience
How do we go about driving For this we would look at Duolingo - one of my favorite
language learning products and break down their
engagement for a new product engagement and retention funnel
- Case Study ?
What was the problem DUO Duolingo wanted to simplify language learning ? but why ?

was trying to solve ? What was Value for the user

their core value proposition? 1. As the world becomes global being a polyglot
makes you accessible for more opportunities in
your careers

2. As English becomes a “Global language “ - it opens

up access to the homogenous countries like China ,
Russia to opportunities in the west ( US , Europe )

3. Even knowing better English allows you to

communicate well to drive better success at your
own workplaces

4. The Cool part of learning languages is access to

new cultures , dimensions of life and improve as an
Individual to understand the world in a better and
ingenious manner
But why DUO & not the Duo knew that language learning is not something
people will stick to if they dont enjoy the process of it
zillion products in the market ? and they knew the hook is to set the process right

● Hook 1 : Remove commitments - Learn a

language for free forever
● Hook 2 : Remove friction to the value of the
product - No logins or information is required to
use the product - A user can do language
lessons first and then he is asked to login
● Hook 3 : Login to save your progress : Once a
user does a lesson which is easy to do - they are
told if they want to save their progress - login
now

This way DUO ensured easy activation , engage via

Gamified learning + image learning ( will explain in
next slides ) and retain the user
Now that we understand how they
activated the user -lets understand
how they retained them ?
● Duo did 4 things very very right from the
early onset of their product
■ Retention hooks
○ Hook 1 : Aesthetic appeal to UI : Aesthetic
appeal brings the enjoyability quotient of the
user to a high which improves NPS
○ Hook 2 : Usage of Images to create retention
: Images speak more than a thousand words
and that what DUO did for words to stick in
mind of user
○ Hook 3 : Creation of sensory gratification via
success cues : Success cues make a user
feel empowered to continue
○ Hook 4 : A no nonsense structured syllabus
module : Users dont have to choose a path ,
its chosen for them , the eliminates user
discovery

This way DUO ensured retention at its core , where

sensory appeal , aesthetics , structured learning
created a pull for the product
 What an easy activation , strong retention pull did for
DUO is - it brought too things for them
Now a easy activation , strong
pull what does it do ? ● CAC < LTV - their CAC for a customer drastically
reduced and LTV drastically increased since
every acquired customer stays for way longer
than an average Language product
● Easy to optimize revenue funnel - since users
more often get hooked after 3 lessons , end up
paying ( At least I did )
● This also built word of mouth which further
optimised CAC

For doing all of this , DUO optimised 3 metrics

1. Easy lesson access - Activation

2. Easy lesson completion - retention
3. Easy journey completion - conversion

And this all boils down from using product analytics

to understand
 Core Product analytics funnel for DUO
So lets look at the holistic funnel
for DUO ? Acquisition - Any language learning
seekers

Activation - no commitment flow

Retention - Gamified sensory

gratification

Revenue and referral : Word

of mouth and completion
rates
 Growth analytics / Product analytics is a skill which
What is our take away from this ? takes time to master with core focus on a few areas

How does this help me become a ● The right metrics to choose

better PM to engage my users ? ● The right experiment design
● The right insight to measure

You dont have to just look at CAC , Traffic sources but

also have a sense of what you customers are doing
on your product and if thats what you intend them to
do

And when you truly get a jist of what your customers

are doing . The next innovation in any industry is at
your finger tips
Any Questions ? and Thank You