Role
Product Manager
Type
User Engagement & Gamification
Focus
Retention & Revenue Recovery
🧩 The Problem
While our mobile app had a steady stream of new users, retention and survey activity dropped off quickly after sign-up. Many users were unaware of features that could increase their eligibility for surveys — such as enabling permissions or returning regularly to maintain activity streaks.
Core Issues
Without survey starts, we couldn't recover the cost of acquiring and onboarding users
Revenue impact from poor user activation and engagement
Long-term panel health affected by low retention rates
🔍 Discovery
To understand the drop-off, I led a mixed-methods discovery process:
Quantitative Analysis
Conducted quantitative analysis of user behavior to identify patterns in activation and retention
User Feedback
Reviewed support tickets and user feedback to surface confusion around permissions and rewards
Key Finding
Users who activated permissions and maintained streaks were more likely to stay active — but most didn't realize these features existed or how to benefit from them.
🧪 Solution
We introduced two app-only incentive features:
Bonus Activation
Users earn points just for enabling key permissions (location, app usage), which improves survey matching and experience.
Immediate reward for permission activation
Better survey matching through enhanced data
Streak Rewards
Users who return consistently unlock bonuses through a gamified "streak" system.
Gamified daily return incentives
Progressive rewards for consistency
Strategic Objectives
Boost early engagement
Incentivize regular app usage
Increase survey starts
🚀 My Role
As Product Manager, I owned the end-to-end process:
Design Partnership
Partnered with design to restructure the app menu, making Bonus and Streak highly visible
Technical Enablement
Led internal enablement on Firebase Remote Config with the engineering team
Analytics Setup
Coordinated with data and engineering to set up tracking events and analytics to measure feature adoption
A/B Testing
Designed and executed A/B tests using Firebase, monitoring impact on permission activation and survey starts
Results Analysis
Analyzed results across countries and time-on-panel segments to inform iteration
📈 Results
The initiative had a direct impact on user behavior and business metrics:
Key Outcomes
Higher Survey Starts
Users who received the Bonus or entered Streak mode had a significantly higher average of survey starts
New User Impact
The impact was strongest among new users (0–6 months), helping us recoup acquisition costs faster
Cross-Market Success
In both Brazil and Mexico, data showed a consistent uplift in survey starts for users who engaged with either feature
Business Impact
Revenue Recovery
Faster acquisition cost recovery
User Engagement
Increased survey participation
Market Validation
Consistent results across regions
💡 What I Learned
Core Learning
Subtle UX changes and behavioral nudges, when informed by data, can have an outsized impact on revenue.
This project reinforced the importance of:
Cross-functional Alignment
Design, data, and engineering collaboration to move quickly on high-leverage ideas
Tight Experimentation Loops
Validate hypotheses before scaling through rapid testing and iteration
Hands-on Technical Skills
Being hands-on with tools like Firebase to support rapid testing and iteration