← Instacart Interview Insights
I jumped straight to booking conversion and kind of forgot that search itself has its own success story separate from whether someone actually buys a ticket.
Start by clarifying the product's goal and target users, then define success metrics across the full user journey—from awareness to booking. Structure your answer around a metrics framework like HEART or AARRR, and tie each metric to business outcomes like revenue and user retention.
Pro tip: Show maturity by distinguishing between leading and lagging indicators, and emphasize that metrics should drive decisions, not just measure them. Also, consider counter-metrics to avoid unintended consequences like sacrificing user experience for revenue.
Define the primary purpose of Google Flight Search (e.g., help users find and book flights) and identify key user segments (leisure vs. business travelers).
Outline the stages: awareness, search, comparison, selection, booking, and post-booking. Identify key actions and potential drop-off points at each stage.
Choose a framework like HEART (Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, Task Success) or AARRR (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) to organize metrics.
For each journey stage, propose specific metrics (e.g., search success rate, time to book, conversion rate) and explain how they link to business goals.
Identify the North Star metric (e.g., completed bookings) and a few key supporting metrics. Discuss how to set realistic targets and monitor them over time.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.