Product Improvement Questions: 6 Things to Remember while Answering

Here are a list of key things you should keep in mind while answering Product Improvement Questions during PM interview

My PM Interview

Jul 10, 2021

Subscribe today and get access to every Answer on the platform. Limited Period Offer!

Activate Subscription & Unlock Answers

My PM Interview - Product Manager Interview Question Answers

How to Answer Product Improvement Questions? | Product Management

4 years ago · 9 likes · My PM Interview

Now that you know how to answer a product improvement question, lets focus on the common errors interviewees make and the important things to remember while answering such questions:

1. Always ask Clarifying Questions

While answering product improvement questions, I have seen interviewees usually have a tendency to directly jump into the solution part without asking any clarifying questions.

Not asking any clarifying questions makes your answer too generic as you would be making numerous incorrect assumptions. You would also be missing out on the opportunity to narrow down the scope of the question which would eventually help you come up with specific solutions for a particular user segment, region, platform and use cases.

You also need to make sure that the interviewer is in agreement with the assumptions you are making, while answering a product improvement question.

Here is a list of clarifying questions you may ask depending upon the the question asked:

What do we mean by improvement here? Do we want to improve user engagement, retention, revenue, new user base or is there any other objective?
Is there any particular feature we want to improve or the platform in general?
Are we focussing on any particular platform like desktop web or mobile app?
Are we focussing on any particular OS version like Android or IOS?
For the improvement are we focusing on a particular region or target group?

To help you with your Product Manager interview preparations, we have compiled a complete list of the most asked Product Management Interview Questions and Answers at companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, etc. answered by PMs at FAANG.

Now get, Full Access to All PM Interview Questions and Detailed Answers by FAANG PMs for a Year! Get the Yearly Subscription now! 👇

Activate Subscription & Unlock Answers

Preferred Payment Methods:

Google Pay / PhonePe at UPI Id - mypminterview@oksbi
Paypal at mypminterview@gmail.com

Once done, email the payment receipt at mypminterview@gmail.com

2. Never Forget to Define Goals

Once you are done asking clarifying questions, the next thing to remember is to define the goals you want to achieve through the improvements and also stating why do you want to select that goal, how does that goal help the users and the company.

Again, you need to make sure that the interviewer is in aligned with the goals you are setting, while answering a product improvement question.

3. Define and Pick one User Segment

The next key thing to note is to identify the different user segments who uses the product and to pick only one segment to focus on (unless you are explicitly asked to focus on a particular segment in the problem statement itself).

User segments must be distinct from one another and possess distinct attributes.

The selection of a particular user segment can be based on how it would help you achieve the product goals and improve the platform.

4. Never discuss Solutions while listing Pain-Points

It’s an usual tendency of interviewees to discuss solutions while they are listing down the pain points. It would be better to avoid that.

Always complete listing all the pain points of the picked segment, discuss it with the interviewer mentioning why do you think the listed pain points are most critical for the user segment, only after the interviewer is in agreement with your thoughts you should brainstorm on the solutions for it.

5. Always Evaluate & Prioritize your Solutions

Evaluation and Prioritisation are key skills that every Product Manager needs to display in their day-to-day activity. After you are done listing and discussing the solutions, you must also evaluate and prioritize them. In real life, resources are always limited and the solution which has a higher impact and lesser effort gets picked first.

6. Ask for a moment to think

It’s absolutely okay to ask for a moment to think, organize your thoughts, and then come up with an answer. In an actual interview, the questions asked could be about a product or feature that you are not familiar with. For all such uncertain situations, it’s best to take a moment to think, organize your answers/points, and then articulate it in a structured way without rambling.

Two important steps where you should definitely ask for a moment to think are while listing down the user pain points and while listing down the solutions and prioritizing them. With this, you also get the opportunity to eliminate the poor ideas before sharing them with the interviewer.

You can write down your thoughts on paper or on a Google Docs/Sheet. You may also share your screen with the interviewer to be able to better articulate your answer.

Now get, Full Access to All PM Interview Questions and Detailed Answers by FAANG PMs for a Year! Get the Yearly Subscription now! 👇

Activate Subscription & Unlock Answers

Preferred Payment Methods: