Who This Helps
This is for Product Managers who see a key number drop and need to know why—without endless meetings. The Business Analytics Mission Pack gives you the structure to turn that 'what happened' into a clear 'here's why and what's next.'
Mini Case
Your weekly active user count dropped 18% last Thursday. The team is pointing fingers at a new feature, a marketing email, and even 'seasonal trends.' You have one hour before the stakeholder check-in. Panic is not a strategy.
Do This Now (5 Steps)
- Isolate the Signal: Pull the data for just the metric that dropped. Don't get distracted by ten other charts. Look at the 7-day trend before and after the dip.
- Check Your Launch Calendar: What changed around the drop? A new app version? A pricing test? A campaign that stopped? List every change from the 48 hours before the dip.
- Segment the Drop: Break that 18% down. Was it all from one user type? One country? One device? Find where the bleeding is concentrated.
- Form Your One Hypothesis: Based on steps 2 and 3, pick the single most likely cause. For example: 'The drop is concentrated among iOS users who haven't updated to our latest version.'
- Plan Your One Next Test: Decide the one action to confirm or rule out your hypothesis. Maybe it's checking crash logs for that iOS version or sending a small in-app message to that group. Your mission is to learn one thing.
Avoid These Traps
- Chasing Every Metric: You see the 18% drop, then notice a 5% dip in another metric. Ignore the noise. Focus on the big one.
- The 'Everything' Meeting: Don't call a meeting to 'look at the data.' Come with your hypothesis and your one proposed test. Lead the discussion.
- Assuming It's Permanent: A one-day blip is different from a week-long slide. Diagnose the pattern before declaring a crisis.
- Forgetting the User: It's easy to blame 'the code.' Ask: what changed for the user? Did a flow get longer? Did a message confuse them?
Your Win by Friday
By Friday, you'll have moved from 'our KPI is down' to 'we found the likely cause and are testing the fix.' You'll have a clear, data-informed story for your stakeholders instead of a shrug. That's the power of a focused mission—it turns anxiety into action. You've got this.