How would you improve Instagram stories – pM interview question

G → Goal / Clarify

Objective

The prompt “Improve Instagram Stories” is too broad. Let’s refine it into a focused, measurable problem statement aligned with Instagram’s product and business goals.

Clarifying Questions & Assumptions

1. Which aspect of Stories are we improving?
   → Assumption: Focus on increasing user engagement and content creation frequency rather than ad monetization or backend performance.
2. What geography are we focusing on?
   → Assumption: India, one of Instagram’s largest and fastest-growing markets, with diverse user behavior and strong competition from local and global short-form content platforms (like Snapchat and Moj).
3. What devices are we targeting?
   → Assumption: Mobile-first experience, especially Android devices, which dominate in India (~90% of users). Optimization should consider varying network speeds and device capabilities.
4. What is the business objective for improvement?
   → Assumption: Increase Stories engagement (views, replies, shares, and creation rate) by 10% in 6 months to drive higher user retention and ad inventory.
5. What is the usage context?
   → Stories are used for quick, expressive sharing of daily moments — low-effort, ephemeral content primarily meant for maintaining presence and connections.

Product Mission

Instagram’s mission is to bring people closer to what they love. For this context:

“Empower users to express themselves instantly and connect authentically through short-lived, immersive visual storytelling.”

Metrics to Measure Improvement

• Primary Success Metric:
  Average Stories Engagement per DAU (sum of views, replies, shares, and replays).
• Guardrail Metrics:
  • Story completion rate (to ensure users don’t skip too quickly).
  • Daily Active Users (DAU) for Stories (to track retention).
  • Ad impressions per session (to maintain monetization health).

Refined Problem Statement

Improve Instagram Stories in India’s mobile-first market to increase engagement by 10% in 6 months, by enhancing authentic self-expression and interaction without disrupting user experience or ad stability.

A → Audience / Users

User Segments for Instagram Stories (India)

1. The Active Connector (🎯 Target Segment)
   • Behavior: Shares Stories several times a week — capturing casual, real-life moments like hangouts, travel, or quick updates.
   • Motivation: Stays connected with friends, maintains social presence, and expresses personality through light, spontaneous sharing.
   • Usage Frequency: High (daily to weekly).
   • Why Important: This group drives the majority of both Story creation and viewership. Boosting their engagement and participation has the most scalable impact on total Story activity and network health.
2. The Passive Consumer
   • Behavior: Views Stories frequently but rarely posts.
   • Motivation: Seeks entertainment, social updates, and a sense of connection.
   • Usage Frequency: Very high for viewing, low for posting.
   • Why Important: Represents a large share of DAUs. Encouraging lightweight participation (e.g., reactions, polls) can meaningfully grow engagement rates.
3. The Creator / Influencer
   • Behavior: Uses Stories to engage followers via stickers, polls, music, product tags, and collaborations.
   • Motivation: Audience engagement, visibility, and personal branding.
   • Usage Frequency: Daily, often multiple times per day.
   • Why Important: Keeps audiences returning to Stories and sets cultural trends that shape user behavior.

---

Focus Segment:

The Active Connector — the most influential group for driving overall engagement growth. Strengthening their ease of sharing and peer interaction directly improves Story creation frequency, retention, and time spent on the platform.

U → Understand Pain Points

Context: For The Active Connector, Stories are meant to be quick, expressive, and social. However, several frictions limit how often or how meaningfully they engage — either as creators or viewers.

1. Creation Fatigue & Lack of Freshness

• Observation: Story formats and creative options feel repetitive, leading users to feel they’re posting the same types of content repeatedly.
• Impact: Reduces posting frequency as users feel less inspired to share.
• Example Insight: “I’ve already used all these filters — my Stories feel boring now.”

2. Effort Barrier to Post

• Observation: Capturing, editing, and tagging friends takes multiple steps, especially on lower-end Android devices with slower performance.
• Impact: Users skip posting quick, spontaneous moments, particularly during busy or low-connectivity situations.
• Example Insight: “By the time I finish editing, the moment’s gone.”

3. Low Two-Way Interaction

• Observation: Most Story engagement is passive — users view but rarely reply or react, making sharing feel one-sided.
• Impact: Reduces motivation for creators who seek feedback or acknowledgment.
• Example Insight: “People see my Stories, but no one replies — it feels like I’m posting into the void.”

4. Inconsistent Reach & Lack of Clarity

• Observation: Users notice fluctuations in Story views but don’t understand what drives them — timing, content type, or algorithmic factors.
• Impact: Creates frustration and discourages consistent posting.
• Example Insight: “Sometimes my Story gets hundreds of views, other times barely any — I can’t figure out why.”

S → Solutions / Options (Active Connector)

1. Fresh Story Templates & Trend Suggestions

• Addresses: Creation Fatigue & Lack of Freshness
• Description: Provide context-aware, AI-driven templates and trend suggestions based on user activity, friends’ Stories, and local culture/events.
• How it Helps: Reduces creative effort and inspires users to post more frequently.
• Impact: Higher posting frequency, more varied content, stronger engagement.

---

2. One-Tap Quick Creation Mode

• Addresses: Effort Barrier to Post
• Description: Introduce a simplified Story creation mode — single tap to capture, auto-enhanced filters, optional stickers, and instant posting.
• How it Helps: Removes friction in capturing and sharing spontaneous moments.
• Impact: More frequent, low-effort Stories posted; improved DAU engagement.

---

3. Interactive Engagement Boosters

• Addresses: Low Two-Way Interaction
• Description: Encourage replies and reactions with interactive prompts like polls, emoji sliders, question stickers, or suggested reactions at the end of Stories.
• How it Helps: Creates stronger feedback loops and social reinforcement, motivating users to post more often.
• Impact: Increased replies, reactions, and overall Story engagement.

---

4. Story Performance Insights & Tips

• Addresses: Inconsistent Reach & Lack of Clarity
• Description: Show simple, digestible analytics (e.g., “Best time to post today” or “Top performing content types”) to help users understand Story reach trends.
• How it Helps: Gives users clarity on what works, boosting confidence and consistency in posting.
• Impact: Reduced posting frustration, increased repeat Story creation.

Prioritization Rationale

Solution	Priority	Reasoning
Quick Creation Mode	🔝 High	Directly removes the biggest friction — effort to post.
Fresh Story Templates	High	Addresses creative fatigue, increasing content variety.
Interactive Engagement Boosters	Medium	Strengthens social feedback loop; encourages participation.
Story Performance Insights	Medium	Helps users post consistently; less immediate than friction removal.

S → Success Metrics & Trade-offs

Primary Success Metric (Engagement-Focused)

• Average Stories Engagement per DAU
  • Sum of views, replies, reactions, and shares per user.
  • Why: Captures both consumption and interaction, directly reflecting the impact of our improvements on core engagement.

Guardrail Metrics

1. Story Completion Rate – ensures users are viewing full Stories and not skipping due to low-quality or overwhelming content.
2. Stories Posted per DAU – tracks whether creation frequency increases without spamming.
3. Daily Active Users (DAU) for Stories – ensures engagement growth doesn’t come at the cost of user retention or fatigue.

---

Trade-offs

Solution	Opportunity Cost	Design / Operational Risk
Quick Creation Mode	Engineering resources focused on UI/UX optimization, delaying other features	Over-simplification could reduce creative flexibility for some users
Fresh Story Templates	Content generation may require AI / ML infrastructure investment	Poorly curated templates could feel repetitive or culturally irrelevant
Interactive Engagement Boosters	Could distract from core viewing experience	Too many prompts may annoy users, lowering completion rates
Story Performance Insights	Product and data resources needed to generate insights	Users may over-optimize for “views,” reducing authenticity of content

---

Summary / Recap

To improve Instagram Stories for The Active Connector in India:

• Focused on reducing friction, boosting creative inspiration, and enhancing social feedback loops.
• Prioritized Quick Creation Mode and Fresh Templates to directly tackle posting effort and creative fatigue.
• Measured success via average Stories engagement, with guardrails for completion rate, posting frequency, and DAU.
• Trade-offs considered balancing speed, engagement, and authenticity versus potential overload or resource investment.