BeReal · Metrics · Mid · 45 to 60 minutes

Why are installs not becoming a habit?

BeReal is a social app that prompts people to post a candid photo at the same time each day so friends can share what they are really doing. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Metric analysis
Hypothesis driven thinking
Prioritization
Experiment design
User behavior reasoning

The situation

The Head of Product at BeReal asks you, a PM on the core product team, for a recommendation before quarterly planning. BeReal has broken through with strong awareness and large global install growth. Assume cumulative users are roughly 73 million and recent acquisition remains healthy. But an internal Android dashboard is bothering leadership: the number of active installs looks solid, while regular opens per active install have been drifting down in several important markets. Some people argue this is normal for a product built on novelty and that the team should keep investing in growth. Others worry the product is attracting curiosity without building a durable habit, and that active install counts are masking a deeper engagement problem. You need to help the team decide what metrics matter most, what the likely causes are, and whether the next quarter should focus more on acquisition, activation, or retention, without changing BeReal's core identity too much.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page product metrics memo for quarterly planning.

Your answer must

State the core product problem in one sentence and define one primary success metric plus 3 to 5 supporting metrics.
Explain why active installs and regular opens can point to different health signals, and what each might hide in BeReal's case.
Give at least three hypotheses for the decline, tied to user behavior, and show how you would test or falsify each with data.
Segment the analysis by at least two dimensions, such as cohort age, platform, market, friend graph maturity, or notification exposure.
Make a next quarter recommendation, acquisition, activation, or retention, and include 1 to 2 experiments with clear success thresholds and risks.

Constraints

Do not assume major new products, celebrity programs, or partnerships.
Keep the core once a day, friends first experience recognizable.
Base the memo on existing internal product data plus light instrumentation additions, not a long research program.
Assume the team can meaningfully prioritize only one main area next quarter.

Format

Use sections for metric tree, diagnosis, hypotheses, recommendation, and experiments. A small table is fine.

How BeReal actually played it

Examines BeReal's rise to 73 million users and fall, pointing to warning signs such as low open rates among active Android installs and the cost of lacking a retention loop.

Installs without regular opens are a red flag
Novelty needs a retention mechanism
Explain declines with behavioral data

Built from BeReal Failure Turned Into A Product Strategy & GenZ Consumer Behavior Masterclass by Peter Mucka.