Shopify Mobile Experience: North-Star, Supporting and Guardrail Metrics for Goal Setting

You are a product manager at Shopify. The company has decided to invest in making its mobile experience better, and you are asked which metrics you would rely on to set goals for that work and to track whether it is succeeding. Walk through the metrics you would choose, why each one matters, how they fit together, and how you would turn them into goals. ```hint Name the mobile user first "Mobile experience" at Shopify could mean the app merchants use to run their store or the phone screens their shoppers buy on. Pick one, say why, and let that choice decide what success looks like. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Which mobile surface is in scope: the merchant app for running a store, the point-of-sale app, the buyer-facing shopping app, or mobile storefronts and checkout on merchants' own sites? - Is the effort a response to a known problem, such as low mobile adoption, poor app ratings or tasks merchants abandon on their phones, or is it a broad quality push? - Over what period should goals be set, and should they tie to Shopify business outcomes or only to the health of the mobile product? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - An explicit choice of whose mobile experience is being improved, with a goal tied to why Shopify gains when it gets better - One north-star metric with a reasoned defense, and the tempting alternatives it beats, such as downloads or time spent in the app - A small set of supporting metrics that explain movement in the north star: adoption, task success, technical quality and retention - Guardrails that catch a better-looking mobile number hiding a worse outcome for merchants or buyers - How baselines, targets and attribution would work, including segment cuts and experiments rather than correlation ### Follow-up Questions - Merchants who use the mobile app sell more than those who do not. Can you claim the app caused that, and how would you check? - Time spent in the app rises sharply after a redesign while task completion stays flat. Is that a win? - How would you set the first quarter's target for your north star when there is no historical baseline for it?