Metrics question

You are a PM for Instagram stories. You are considering increasing the expiration time of the stories. What metrics would you look at to make this decision?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Ability to identify the right metrics to evaluate a specific product change and its trade-offs.

Clarify the hypothesis: longer expiration time might increase content viewed per story but could reduce posting frequency if content feels less ephemeral.
Track a primary metric: total story views and completion rate before and after the change.
Track a posting-side metric: stories posted per active user, since ephemerality is part of what encourages casual, frequent posting.
Track a retention metric: whether extending expiration changes how often users return to check stories throughout the day.
Run a controlled A/B test with a subset of users rather than a full rollout, to isolate the causal effect.
Set a guardrail: overall time spent and satisfaction survey scores, since longer-lived stories could feel like clutter.

Names the explicit trade-off: longer expiration could raise views but might lower posting frequency by reducing perceived spontaneity.
Proposes an A/B test design specifically, rather than just listing metrics to 'look at.'
Gives an illustrative outcome, e.g. views up 10% but posting frequency down 5%, marked as an assumption requiring a net judgment call.
Adds a qualitative guardrail, user sentiment, since a metric-only view could miss a 'clutter' feeling shift.

Only tracking view count and ignoring the potential negative effect on posting frequency.
Recommending a full rollout without proposing a controlled test first.

Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.