How to Answer the “Favorite Product” Question in Product (PM) Interviews | Framework & Solution

Hi everyone, my name is Rachel and I'm a product manager in big tech. Today I'm

breaking down one of the most common PM interview questions. What's your

interview questions. What's your favorite product? Why? And how would you

favorite product? Why? And how would you improve it? When I first was asked this

improve it? When I first was asked this question, I completely missed the point.

Not because I picked the wrong product, but because I sounded more like a product reviewer instead of a product manager. And for such a popular

manager. And for such a popular question, I actually struggled to find a solid structure to answer it and scoured through old threads and blogs, taking notes from every example solution. But

none of them showed me how to approach the answer like a product manager while making it sound original. So in this video, I'll share a simple framework and examples to help you nail this question and have a strong answer ready for your

next interview. Let's get into it.

next interview. Let's get into it.

Here's agenda for today. First, we're

going to break down this question into two parts. What's your favorite product

two parts. What's your favorite product and why? Then answer, how would you

and why? Then answer, how would you improve this product? We'll start by breaking down what interviewers are looking for in your answer. How to

choose your favorite product? How to

explain it well? Why it's your favorite product? And finally, how you would

product? And finally, how you would improve it. For each part, I'll share a

improve it. For each part, I'll share a few guiding questions to help you shape your answer and make it sound structured and product focused. First, let's start with what interviewers are really looking for when they ask, "What's your favorite product?" At a high level,

favorite product?" At a high level, they're assessing three things: product empathy, passion, and product perspective. Starting with product

perspective. Starting with product empathy, interviewers want to see that you can deeply understand the pain points of the consumer when you explain why a product is your favorite. They

want to know that you're not just admiring a product, but that you understand how the product improves the customer journey and how the proposed improvement aligns with the company's objectives and business goals. Next, you

want to show authentic passion for this product. Why did you pick this product?

product. Why did you pick this product?

Why does it matter to you? And how did it improve your lifestyle? When you tie your unique experience to why the product resonates with you, it adds credibility to your perspective and it makes your suggested improvements much more compelling. Lastly, interviewers

more compelling. Lastly, interviewers are assessing your product perspective.

What does a good product mean to you?

How can you identify and address existing pain points in a way that not only improves the user experience, but aligns with the company's goals, objectives, and market trends? With this

criteria in mind, let's jump into how to actually answer this question. The first

step is choosing your favorite product, as this sets the foundation for everything that follows. Now, I know this part can feel tricky. There are

thousands of products to choose from, and you might be overthinking it. Should

I pick something popular so the interviewer knows it, or is that risky because they might know more about it than I do? Though, it can feel like there's a right or wrong choice. What

really matters is choosing a product you generally understand and can analyze through a product manager's lens. Here

are three things you need to know when you pick your favorite product. First,

think about your unique experiences and something you use because of it. For

example, if you've been on a fitness journey to lose 50 lbs, maybe you use Straa to keep yourself accountable and track performance over time. Another

example could be that you travel frequently to meet clients and manage contracts, where you rely on Navon to organize your trips and expenses, seeing firsthand how it streamlines endto-end business travel for busy professionals.

Secondly, think about choosing a product that aligns with the type of company you're applying to. For example, if I were interviewing at Uber, which disrupted the traditional taxi industry, I might pick sock since both products are transforming legacy industries.

Choosing a product like this gives you a stronger opportunity to show that you understand the same types of market challenges, user behaviors, and product decisions. Make sure your choice feels

decisions. Make sure your choice feels natural, not forced. Avoid picking a product just because you think that's what the interviewer wants to hear, like their own product or direct competitor.

And lastly, try not to choose a product that's too generic, unless you can offer a unique angle or story that makes it personal to you. Otherwise, your answer can come across as surface level and lack genuine product insight or passion.

Now, let's talk about how to explain your favorite product. This part is fairly straightforward. Your goal here

fairly straightforward. Your goal here is to set the foundation and help you and your interviewer get on the same page before going deeper. This section

should be relatively brief and cover a quick oneliner about what the product does, what their mission is, and lastly, what their KPIs are. For example, let's say my favorite product is Class Pass.

This section could look like this. Class

Pass is a subscription-based fitness platform that lets users book classes and wellness experiences across thousands of studios and gyms. Their mission is to make fitness more accessible, flexible, and personalized, helping people stay consistent without

being tied to a long-term commitment.

Success is measured by booking frequency, free trial conversions, and studio partnerships. Next, I want to

studio partnerships. Next, I want to explain why this is my favorite product with two to three reasons. This is where you really tap into your product sense and break down how the product effectively solves your pain points as a user to help you come up with a few

strong product focused reasons. Answer

these three questions. Number one, what painoint does the product solve for me?

Number two, what does the product do well to keep me coming back? And number

three, how does the product create long-term value for both the user and the business? For example, for the same

the business? For example, for the same class pass example, I might say something like this. Class Pass solves a problem that myself and other busy professionals have of staying consistent with fitness when my schedule is busy. I

often travel for work, so traditional gym memberships never made sense for me since I couldn't commit to one location or make full use of what I was paying for. Class Pass gives me the flexibility

for. Class Pass gives me the flexibility to stay active wherever I am while making fitness feel accessible and easy to plan around my lifestyle. I also

realized that my workouts lack structure and efficiency, spending well over an hour each session. So, I wanted to make my workouts more structured and intentional. Keep using Class Pass

intentional. Keep using Class Pass because the end-to-end workflow is designed to be simple and intuitive. It

streamlines every part of the user journey from discovery to booking to changing class times and managing pavements and tracking fitness goals all in one platform. It also leverages personalized and well-timed offers to encourage me to book more classes and

feel good about keeping up with my fitness goals. I also love that Class

fitness goals. I also love that Class Pass creates long-term value by aligning incentives between users and studios in a way that benefits both sides of the marketplace. For users, they solve

marketplace. For users, they solve common pain points such as flexibility, variety, and convenience with a credit system that lets unused points roll over month over month. This lets users feel consistent without locking into a

long-term contract. On the business

long-term contract. On the business side, Class Pass turns unused studio capacity into new revenue. It enables

studios to reach new audiences, increase visibility, and adjust credit pricing dynamically based on supply and demand, maintaining profitability without disrupting their core model. At this

point in the question, your interviewer may ask you some follow-up questions to dive deeper into your response or move on to how would you improve the product.

Not every interviewer will ask this, but make sure you have an answer on deck.

Which brings us to the how would you improve the product part of the question. At its core, this is a product

question. At its core, this is a product design question that tests your ability to identify user problems and think through solutions. These questions

through solutions. These questions typically follow the format, how would you design or improve X for Y, where X is a product or feature and Y is a target user. In the class pass example,

target user. In the class pass example, we're being asked how would you improve classpass for Y where you determine why or the user segment that would most benefit from the improvement. As a quick refresher, we can use the circles method

to answer the product design question.

It stands for C comprehend the question.

We can skip the step because we already understand the prompt and have the flexibility to define our target user. I

identify users, define the core user segments, who is using this product, what their main goals are and workflow.

R. Report their needs. Highlight the

core pain points or unmet needs for the user segment. What moments in the

user segment. What moments in the journey still cause friction or drop off? Be specific and objective.

off? Be specific and objective.

Acknowledge that even though this is your favorite product, it still has areas for optimization. C. Cut and

prioritize. Narrow down the opportunities based on impact, frequency, and alignment with this objectives. Focus on the improvements

objectives. Focus on the improvements that deliver the most value to both users and the company. List solutions.

Brainstorm two or three thoughtful improvements that address those high impact pain points. Offer a mix of safe, ambitious, and visionary ideas that stay true to the product's mission and current stage of growth. This shows

creativity and product judgment. E.

Evaluate trade-offs. Assess the impact versus effort behind each idea. Mention

edge cases, competitors, or potential risk when evaluating these solutions to demonstrate that you understand the space well and are credible to speak about it. S recommend the solution.

about it. S recommend the solution.

Summarize your top recommendation and explain why it's the right choice. Tie

it back to user value, business alignment, and product vision to show clear structured thinking and prioritization. If you want a more

prioritization. If you want a more in-depth walkthrough of the product design question, please refer to my previous video. Finally, we'll define

previous video. Finally, we'll define success metrics that directly reflect the features impact on business goals and user value, avoiding vague metrics like engagement and focusing instead on what truly signals success for this

product. Great. Now that we know how to

product. Great. Now that we know how to answer the what's your favorite product question, let me walk you through my endto-end response to this question. My

favorite product is too good to go. It's

a food waste reduction marketplace that connects consumers with restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores that have surplus food at the end of the day.

Through the app, users can purchase food at a discounted price, preventing it from being thrown away, while saving money themselves. Too good to go's

money themselves. Too good to go's mission is to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste by making sustainable choices, both accessible and cost-effective. It's solving a massive

cost-effective. It's solving a massive global problem. In the US alone, over 30

global problem. In the US alone, over 30 to 40% of all food is wasted each year, contributing nearly 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Tug to go's goals are sustainability impact regarding number of meals saved, total

CO2 emissions avoided, food recovery ratio, and partner utilization rate. I

love this app because it's an incredible cost effective solution for people who may not always have the budget for groceries, or the time to cook a full meal. I started using Too Good to Go

meal. I started using Too Good to Go when I was a busy and broke intern living in New York City, juggling long hours, high rent, and all-time high stress levels. But the app gave me

stress levels. But the app gave me access to affordable, high-quality meals around the city. I kept using this app because I love how thoughtfully it blends user value with social impact.

It's designed around real customer behavior. People feel encouraged to use

behavior. People feel encouraged to use it, not just because it saves money, but because it makes them feel like they're doing something good. The personal and global CO2 dashboards are a great example of this. They connect individual actions to a tangible environmental

impact, creating a sense of accomplishment that keeps me engaged and motivated to come back. I find too good to go's business model incredibly well-designed, creating long-term value by aligning user behavior with business

objectives. For users, it turns

objectives. For users, it turns sustainability choices into simple, rewarding habits as every purchase feels meaningful, which builds emotional and behavioral loyalty over time. For

partners, it transforms unsold inventory into new revenue while improving brand perception through visible sustainability efforts. As the

sustainability efforts. As the marketplace grows, both sides benefit from stronger network effects. More

users drive more partner participation.

More supply creates more discovery and the entire ecosystem reinforces itself through impact and convenience. Next,

moving on to what would I do to improve this product. So, first I want to

this product. So, first I want to identify the users. The first user segment are frequent buyers who are young professionals or city dwellers who use to good to go several times a week for affordable convenient meals. These

folks are often busy professionals or broke college interns in the city. Their

goals are to consistently save money on food and are less picky about variety.

Next, we have occasional users who've tried using Too Good to Go a few times, but haven't built a habit of using it.

They may be picky eaters, enjoy going to restaurants, or enjoy cooking at home more. Next, we have supply side partners

more. Next, we have supply side partners who are businesses listing surplus food on the platform. Their goals are to reduce food waste, recover costs, and attract new customers. The last user segment I want to identify are social

impact users who are eco-conscious and prioritize sustainability and community impact. of those users. I want to focus

impact. of those users. I want to focus on occasional user segment because converting them into repeat buyers strengthens both user retention and restaurant sales consistently. Next, I

want to report their needs. Occasional

users are motivated by the direct cost savings of to go, but face friction that prevents them from forming a consistent habit. As a result, they often revert to

habit. As a result, they often revert to eating out or buying their own groceries, which offer more predictability customization and enjoyment. Within this group, we can

enjoyment. Within this group, we can dive deeper into two subsegments. First,

we have restaurant orientated users.

These users enjoy dining out, but don't use to go to go consistently due to limited availability during preferred pickup times, a lack of restaurant variety, or inconvenient pickup windows.

The unpredictability of what's available often clashes with their need for variety and convenience. Next, we have grocery orientated users. These users

prefer shopping for groceries themselves, but hesitate to use to good to go's grocery option due to concerns about freshness, food safety, and lack of control. The surprise bag model

of control. The surprise bag model introduces uncertainty. They don't know

introduces uncertainty. They don't know what they'll receive and can't plan meals around it, which limits adoption and repeat usage. Out of these pain points, I'll focus on addressing the unpredictability and lack of control

that grocery orientated users experience with the surprise bag model. This

painoint directly limits adoption and repeat use because it affects user trust, perceived value, and planning behavior, which are all key drivers of habit formation and long-term customer retention. Right now, grocery partners

retention. Right now, grocery partners often have more surplus than demand, leaving many bags unsold. And even when users purchase them, a portion of that food still goes unused due to lack of control over the items that they can

get. By improving clarity around what

get. By improving clarity around what users can expect before purchase, too good to go can increase user satisfaction, reduce churn, and drive more consistent engagement without compromising its mission of reducing

food waste. Next, we want to list

food waste. Next, we want to list solutions. The first solution we have is

solutions. The first solution we have is an item transparency preview. We want to introduce a what you might get feature that gives users a partial preview of typical items or product categories based on partner history. This sets

clearer expectations without compromising the surprise element.

Another solution is having a curated surprise category. We can allow grocery

surprise category. We can allow grocery partners to bundle surplus items into theme categories such as fresh produce bag, dairy essentials bag, or a pantry staples bag instead of fully random surprise bags. Users can choose a

surprise bags. Users can choose a category that fits their needs while still accepting some variability in exact items. And next, we have a smart matching and pre-order system. Roshi

partners could pre-list surplus items in a day in advance by bundling products that are near expiration, allowing users to pre-order through the app. This

creates predictability for users and incentivizes partners with more reliable earlier sales. Next, we want to evaluate

earlier sales. Next, we want to evaluate the trade-offs for each of these solutions. For the first one, it's a low

solutions. For the first one, it's a low impact and a medium effort initiative.

It's low impact because it improves user trust and reduces hesitation by setting clear expectations, but doesn't fully solve the predictability problem. users

still face inconsistent availability and lack control over what they're getting, limiting its ability to drive habitual use. It also doesn't address

use. It also doesn't address personalization or long-term engagement.

It's medium effort because it can leverage existing partner data, but data accuracy and standardization may vary across restaurants. It requires moderate

across restaurants. It requires moderate engineering and design work to display expected items dynamically without overpromising as well. Next, for the curator surprise bags, this is a medium effort, medium impact initiative. It's

medium impact because it offers partial predictability by allowing users to choose a category such as bakery or dairy, which reduces uncertainty and food mismatch. It improves user

food mismatch. It improves user satisfaction and repeat use, but doesn't fully solve timing or availability issues. Still, it meaningfully enhances

issues. Still, it meaningfully enhances the user experience without changing the core surprise mechanic. It's a medium effort initiative because it requires new partner workflows for tagging or categorizing surplus items and minor

backend updates for category grouping.

operational complexity increases slightly but remains feasible within the existing product framework. And lastly,

we have the smart matching and pre-order system which is a high impact and high effort initiative. It's a high impact

effort initiative. It's a high impact initiative because it directly addresses both unpredictability and lack of control by allowing users to plan and pre-commit to bundles. It creates

stronger predictability, improves retention, and provides partners with earlier, more reliable demand. This

solution aligns closely with both user satisfaction and business efficiency.

It's a high effort initiative because it involves building a new inventory management tool, significant engineering and coordination effort, but highly scalable once implemented. Now, we want to recommend a solution. Introducing a

smart matcher and pre-order system would allow grocery partners to pre-list surplus items and bundle them by type, giving users more predictability and control while maintaining flexibility.

This drives habit formation by helping users plan meals confidently and leading to higher repeat usage and stronger retention. By matching demand earlier,

retention. By matching demand earlier, it also reduces the number of unsold grocery bags, meaning more food saved, more money saved, and greater alignment with Too Good to Go's sustainability mission. And lastly, we want to list our

mission. And lastly, we want to list our success metrics for a new feature.

First, we track growth in pre-orders per partner per week, which would indicate stronger partner adoption and earlier demand capture. We'd also measure the

demand capture. We'd also measure the reduction in unsold grocery bags or end of day waste, showing better alignment between supply and demand. Next, we want to track an increase in repeat order rate among grocery users. This would

signal improved habit formation and retention. And finally, we monitor the

retention. And finally, we monitor the predictive match fulfillment rate. How

accurately the system connects users to available surplus, reflecting overall efficiency and impact. Addressing these

gaps would build trust, reduce friction, and make the experience more predictable and reliable for this group. And there

you have it. I hope this video helps you shape your response to the what's your favorite product question for the product management interview. Thanks for

watching.