Calculate expected value for user retention

Last updated: October 29, 2025

Quick Overview

Given the following scenario about user conversion, calculate the the p-value.

Doordash
Analytics & Experimentation
Product Manager
Doordash
October 29, 2025
Product Manager
Phone Screen
Analytics & Experimentation
Hard

258

5

4,673 solved


Given the following scenario about user conversion, calculate the the p-value.

Analytics questions at Doordash evaluate your ability to define metrics, design experiments, and derive actionable insights from data. This Phone Screen question tests your end-to-end analytical thinking.

What the Interviewer Expects
  • Design complex experimentation strategies for tricky scenarios
  • Handle multi-armed bandits, switchback experiments, and quasi-experiments
  • Address long-term effects vs short-term metrics
  • Propose causal inference methods when randomization is not possible
  • Build a measurement framework that connects metrics to business value
  • Discuss organizational experimentation culture and maturity
Key Topics to Cover
Funnel analysis and cohort analysis
Sample size and power calculation
Metric definition and success criteria
Network effects and interference
Novelty and primacy effects
How to Approach This
  1. Define success metrics carefully. A good metric is measurable, actionable, and aligned with business goals.
  2. Run experiments long enough to account for novelty effects and weekly seasonality.
  3. Use funnel analysis to identify where users drop off for maximum optimization impact.
  4. Segment results by key dimensions (platform, country, user cohort) to catch hidden patterns.
  5. Consider network effects and interference between treatment and control groups.
Possible Follow-up Questions
  • What if the experiment shows a positive short-term effect but you suspect a negative long-term impact?
  • How would you handle seasonality in your experiment?
  • How would you handle interference between treatment and control?
  • What would you do if a stakeholder wants to end the experiment early because initial results look good?
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Browse Analytics Questions
Sample Answer
Problem Setup

To calculate the expected value for user retention at DoorDash, we need to define our analytical question: What is the expected value of retaining a user compared to losing them?

The data requir...

Methodology

To compute the expected value, we'll use a funnel analysis approach, which involves calculating the p-value to determine if the observed retention rates are statistically significant. We'll co...


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