Investigate Why DAU Stagnates Despite High Downloads
Overview
This question evaluates proficiency in product analytics, funnel and cohort analysis, instrumentation validation, attribution and incrementality assessment, and experiment design within a data science context.
Adobe
Aug 4, 2025, 10:55 AM
Data Scientist
Onsite
Analytics & Experimentation
0
0
Investigating High Daily Downloads but Flat DAU
Scenario
Adobe Express reports approximately 1M daily downloads, yet daily active users (DAU) remain flat.
Assume:
- Daily downloads = app store installs on iOS/Android (unique devices), inclusive of organic and paid.
- DAU = unique users who generate a qualifying in-app event per calendar day (e.g., app open or key activity), de-duplicated by user/account where available.
Task
Daily downloads are high but DAU is not growing. Outline a rigorous plan to investigate and resolve this discrepancy.
Your answer should cover:
- Data cuts and instrumentation checks you would run.
- Analyses (time series, funnels, cohorts) to diagnose where the gap occurs.
- Key hypotheses that could explain the pattern and how you would test them.
- Experiments or causal methods to validate fixes and measure impact.
Hints to Consider
- Funnel drop-offs: install → first open → permissions → sign-up/login → activation event → repeat use.
- Activation and retention cohorts (D0/D1/D7/D28).
- Organic vs. paid installs; incrementality of paid channels.
- Device/platform/app version issues (crashes/ANR, app size, OS compatibility).
- User feedback (reviews, CS tickets, surveys) and store listing performance.
- Reinstalls, duplicate devices, cross-platform cannibalization (mobile vs. web).
Solution
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