How to answer the favourite product interview question?
and its not just about the product or your liking…
One of the most frequently asked Product Management question is “What is your favourite product?”
More often than not, people answer this question in binary as, my favourite product is whatsapp or iphone or alexa or whatever… and that’s it. And they are out of the competition almost immediately because that’s NOT what the interviewer wants to hear from you.
Introducing, the most advanced Interview prep platform to help you with your most important journey!! Check out InterviewClub.co — your AI Co-Pilot for interviews and book time with more than 200 mentors across Product management, design, data, AI/ML, Marketing and more
Book a 1:1 with me on Interviewclub.co
The way to answer this question is as any other product design or product sense question. The interviewer is more interested in understanding, how do you think about products in general AND THEN talk about your favourite product, supported with WHY is this product your favourite from a zillion competing products out there. Who are the various users and how good are you able to identify with the users?
The interviewer wants to hear what pain points is that product solving for you? What pain points is it solving for other user segments etc.
A broad framework to answer this question is:
- My favourite product is ABC… and here’s why…
- Talk about the 3Cs : Company, Consumer and Competition. How is the product positioned in the market. What’s the competition? Why does this product appeal to you more than the other products? What do you like about one or two other competing products, that are not done too well in this product.
- Talk about the user segment: Go as razor sharp on identifying yourself as a user as possible. (You must be a power user of your favourite product and must know the product inside out). Just calling out Gen Z and Millenials, living in Tier 1 or 2 cities is not enough. You need to bring in psychographic segmentation along with it. Even better if you put a name to this persona, such as John goes to an undergrad school and takes a bus, 30–45 mins both ways, this is the time when he uses the product.
- Talk about what does the product do for you. How do you use it, How does the product help you achieve what you want to. Talk about the motivations and how it differs from someone who’s NOT a highly engaged user on the product.
- At a very high level, talk about the areas of improvements in the favourite product, as this is also more often than not the most asked, follow up question to a favourite product.
This article was written in a single sitting on a sunday morning, without really proof reading or giving a second thought or structure. Please be super critical in giving me your feedback on the same. Always happy to improve. Like I mentioned earlier, writing is not a skill that comes to me naturally, hence, I am really pushing myself out of my comfort zone while putting this together. Hope you like it. Appreciate your help.
Join the fastest growing and most inclusive product community, PMx. A space for product managers, analysts, designers and data scientists all together. Click here to sign up and create your profile.
Connect with me on linkedin, Instagram , twitter or follow my youtube channel. You can also book my time for your PM interview prep. Happy to help!
Introducing, the most advanced Interview prep platform to help you with your most important journey!! Check out InterviewClub.co — your AI Co-Pilot for interviews and book time with more than 200 mentors across Product management, design, data, AI/ML, Marketing and more
Book a 1:1 with me on Interviewclub.co
