Reducing MPL’s 30-Day Churn: A Capstone Project Story
How I approached user retention as part of my Product Management Launchpad capstone
Why This Project?
One of the most interesting challenges I worked on during my Product Management Launchpad capstone was centered around MPL, India’s mobile gaming platform.
The problem statement was simple but bold:
👉 Reduce MPL’s 30-day churn by 25% over the next two quarters.
Most new users were dropping off after just 2–3 sessions, never forming a habit of returning. For me, this was the perfect opportunity to apply product thinking, user research, and behavioral insights to a real-world challenge.
My Approach
I broke down my process into three key steps:
Secondary Research
Studied MPL’s current app journey.
Compared it with competitors like Dream11, My11Circle, and WinZO.
Looked at proven mechanics from apps like Duolingo (streaks) and Candy Crush (loss recovery).
Primary Research
Ran a survey with 41 users.
Conducted 3 in-depth interviews to dig into motivations and frustrations.
Behavioral Insights
Users love daily streaks but MPL didn’t have a strong system.
Losses without consolation frustrated casual players.
Many installed the app only during IPL season and uninstalled right after.
Social play was important but hidden.
What I Discovered
The biggest blockers to retention weren’t technical bugs — they were experience gaps:
Onboarding was too complex (fantasy cricket rules overwhelm new players).
Losing meant no feedback or encouragement — players simply left.
No daily progress system kept users coming back.
Social gameplay wasn’t integrated enough to create stickiness.
The Solutions I Proposed
To address these, I designed a set of solutions focused on habit formation and social engagement:
Guided Onboarding: Interactive tutorials for new fantasy players.
Loss Recovery: “Try Again” tokens + tips after close losses.
Streak Rewards: A daily streak system with escalating incentives.
Friend Leagues: Easy WhatsApp invites and private leaderboards.
Real-Time Match Dashboard: Live cricket updates inside the app.
Here’s a look at the redesigned onboarding and streak features I created in Figma:
The Roadmap
Using the RICE framework, I prioritized features in two phases:
Phase 1: Enhanced onboarding, streak rewards, live match data.
Phase 2: Friend leagues, loss recovery mechanics, and gamified challenges.
The north star metric was 30-day retention, with success measured by onboarding completion, session frequency, and time spent in-app.
For a more detailed walkthrough of my process and findings, here’s my full presentation deck :
What I Learned
This project reminded me that:
Retention is emotional — frustration, delight, and habit cues matter more than features.
Competition inspires innovation — looking at Dream11 or Duolingo sparked fresh ideas.
Product management is about trade-offs — you can’t do everything, so prioritization is key.
Wrapping Up
Working on MPL’s churn problem as my capstone was both challenging and rewarding. It pushed me to apply frameworks, but also to think about the human side of products — why people stay, why they leave, and what makes them come back.
I’ll be sharing more of these case studies here on Substack, along with insights from my own work in product management, design, and growth.