App store ratings for Grab dropped from 4.4 to 3.9 over the past month.

Guidance

App store ratings for Grab dropped from 4.4 to 3.9 over the past month.

How do you diagnose the cause?

Product Execution

The Root Cause Analysis Playbook

Diagnosing a metric drop is a systematic investigation, not a guessing game. The key is to logically narrow down the problem space—from macro to micro—before jumping to conclusions.

Step 1

Clarify & Validate the Metric

Before panicking, ensure the data is real. Ask clarifying questions: Is this a sudden drop or a gradual decline? Is it a 5% drop or a 50% cliff? Most importantly, is the logging broken? A sudden 100% drop in an event usually means an engineering tracking bug, not user behavior.

Step 2

Analyze Time & Seasonality

Step 3

Slice and Isolate the Data

Step 4

Investigate Internal Factors

Step 5

Investigate External Factors

Step 6

Synthesize and Propose Next Steps

Additional Tips

Think MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive): Show the interviewer you are highly structured. Group your hypotheses clearly into buckets (Internal vs. External, Technical vs. Behavioral) so you don't miss any blind spots.
The TPM Flex (3rd-Party Dependencies): Stand out by mentioning downstream services. A drop in e-commerce checkout conversion isn't always a UX issue; it could be the third-party payment gateway timing out.
Cannibalization is Normal: Remind the interviewer that sometimes a metric drop is expected. If you launch a hyper-efficient "Quick Reorder" button, your "Time Spent in App" metric will drop—but that's actually a UX win, not a problem.

App store ratings for Grab dropped from 4.4 to 3.9 over the past month.

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