First 90 Days and Onboarding Plan Questions

Situation/Goal: Reduce 30-day churn by 2 percentage points within 90 days. Assumptions: accurate user-level event data, ability to run targeted experiments (email/in-app), Product/CS/Marketing can implement changes within sprints.

30 days — Diagnose & baseline

• Analytical initiatives:
  • Build cohort-based churn baseline (by signup week, acquisition channel, plan) and compute lifetime value impact.
  • Create churn-funnel (activation → day-7 retention → day-30 retention) and feature-usage segmentation.
• Deliverables & reporting:
  • Automated dashboard (Tableau/Power BI) with cohorts, top 5 churn drivers, and SQL notebook for reproducibility.
• Success metrics:
  • Baseline churn established with confidence intervals; top 3 risk segments identified.
• Stakeholders: Data Analyst (owner), Product, CS, Marketing for input.

60 days — Hypothesis testing & targeted experiments

• Experiments:
  • Targeted onboarding email + in-app guidance for high-risk cohorts (A/B test).
  • CS outreach pilot for VIP/annual customers (controlled trial).
  • Pricing/plan nudges for churn-prone monthly subscribers (A/B).
• Analytical work:
  • Power calculations, experiment setup (assignment, metrics), implement dashboards to monitor leading indicators (DAU, key feature events).
  • Interim analysis at 14 days; early stopping rules.
• Success metrics:
  • Each test aims for ≥10% relative reduction in cohort churn (contributes toward 2pp overall); p<0.1 interim, p<0.05 final.
• Stakeholders: Data Analyst (design + analysis), Product/Engineering (implement), Marketing (campaigns), CS (outreach).

90 days — Scale, measure impact, embed changes

• Deliverables:
  • Full experiment analysis (intent-to-treat and per-protocol), uplift attribution, and ROI (LTV uplift vs. cost).
  • Productionize successful interventions (automation + playbooks).
  • Add real-time churn risk score to dashboards; alerting for >X% weekly upticks.
• Success metrics:
  • Net churn reduction ≥2pp vs baseline; statistically significant uplift; improved leading metrics (activation + 30-day DAU).
  • Business impact: estimated incremental revenue retained.
• Stakeholders: Data Analyst (final reporting, handoff), Product (deploy), CS/Marketing (operate), Finance (validate revenue impact), Execs (sign-off).

Risk & mitigation: data gaps → quick data QA and fallback to sampling; low experiment power → widen cohorts or extend timelines; cross-team dependencies → weekly sync and clear owners. Continuous monitoring post-90 days to ensure sustained impact.

First 90 days — prioritized checklist with expected outcomes.

1. Week 1–2: Meet key stakeholders (senior leadership, product, ops, marketing, finance)

• Action: 30–45 min intro + discovery: goals, KPIs, pain points, current reports.
• Outcome: Alignment map (who cares about which metrics), short list of high-priority requests, credibility by listening and documenting commitments.

2. Week 2–4: Audit data sources, pipelines, and existing reports

• Action: Review schemas, ETL, dashboard logic, data quality issues; run sanity checks on core metrics.
• Outcome: Risk register (data gaps, inconsistency), quick wins identified, trust through technical competence.

3. Week 3–6: Deliver a high-impact quick win (one concise analysis or dashboard)

• Action: Solve a clear stakeholder problem (e.g., conversion funnel leak) with SQL + dashboard and one-slide recommendations.
• Outcome: Measurable business insight, faster decisions, visible proof of value.

4. Week 6–10: Establish recurring reporting cadence & SLAs

• Action: Propose automated dashboards, data definitions doc (metrics glossary), delivery schedule.
• Outcome: Reduced ad-hoc requests, consistent metrics, improved stakeholder confidence.

5. Week 8–12: Build partnership & roadmap for analytics work

• Action: Prioritize backlog with leadership (RICE or impact/effort), identify longer-term projects (A/B analysis, forecasting).
• Outcome: Clear 90–180 day roadmap, shared expectations, positioning as a strategic partner.

6. Ongoing: Communicate proactively and teach

• Action: Weekly updates, short demos, office hours for ad-hoc requests, training on dashboards.
• Outcome: Sustained visibility, adoption of insights, increased cross-functional collaboration.

These steps demonstrate listening, technical rigor, immediate impact, and a plan for sustained partnership — the core elements that build credibility.