How To Answer Product Improvement Questions In PM Interviews
Step by step guide on how to answer Product Improvement Questions asked at top tech companies with detailed answers by Product Managers at FAANG and other top companies
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You’re sitting across from your interviewer at Google. They lean forward and ask: “How would you improve YouTube?”
Your mind races. Do they want more features? Better engagement? Higher revenue? Should you focus on creators or viewers? Mobile or desktop?
This moment separates good PM candidates from great ones.
Product improvement questions are the backbone of PM interviews at FAANG companies. They’re designed to reveal how you think, prioritize, and solve real product challenges under pressure. The good news? With the right framework, you can tackle any improvement question confidently.
Why Interviewers Ask Product Improvement Questions
Before diving into the framework, understand what interviewers are really evaluating:
Structured thinking – Can you create a methodical approach in ambiguous situations?
Product intuition – Do you understand how products serve different user segments?
Problem identification – Can you pinpoint real pain points users face?
Creative solutions – Are you able to think innovatively about enhancements?
Prioritization – Can you evaluate trade-offs and build a logical roadmap?
Remember: there’s no single “right answer” to these questions. Interviewers care more about how you think than what you conclude.
How To Answer Product Improvement Questions?
Here’s a proven nine-step framework for answering any product improvement question.
0. Keywords - Pay attention to the keywords in the question.
1. P - Product: Describe what the product does and who it serves.
2. Q – Questions: Ask clarifying questions to narrow the scope.
3. G – Goal: Define the business or user goal you’re improving.
4. U – Users: Identify user segments and pick one to focus on.
5. P – Pain Points: List key pain points for that segment.
6. S – Solutions: Brainstorm possible improvements.
7. E – Evaluate: Prioritize solutions and discuss trade-offs.
8. M – Metrics: Define success metrics.
9. S – Summarize: Recap your reasoning clearly.
Use the mnemonic PQ-GUP-SEMS to remember the sequence.
Let’s break down each step.
Step 0: Listen for Keywords (The Hidden Step)
Before launching into your framework, write down the exact question. This might seem obvious, but it’s crucial.
Consider these two questions:
“How would you improve LinkedIn?”
“How would you improve the retention of LinkedIn Premium?”
They sound similar but require completely different approaches. The first is open-ended; the second has a specific focus (retention) and user segment (Premium subscribers).
Writing down the question ensures you stay aligned with what the interviewer is actually asking throughout your answer.
Step 1: Describe the Product
Start by demonstrating you understand the product. This keeps you and your interviewer aligned from the beginning.
Cover these four elements:
What does the product do?
Who is it for?
How are they using it?
What pain point does it solve?
Example for Spotify:
“Spotify is a music streaming platform that allows users to listen to millions of songs on-demand. It serves both casual listeners looking to discover music and dedicated fans who want to organize their favorite tracks. Users primarily engage through playlists, discovery features, and personalized recommendations. The core pain point Spotify solves is giving users instant access to nearly any song they want without purchasing individual albums.”
Pro tip: If you’re unfamiliar with the product, ask the interviewer for a brief overview. They’ll usually help.
Confirm your understanding before moving forward: “Does this align with how you see the product?”
Step 2: Ask Clarifying Questions
Never assume you know what the interviewer wants. Define every keyword in the problem statement.
If asked “How would you improve LinkedIn?”, clarify:
What does “improvement” mean? Engagement? Retention? Revenue? User acquisition?
Which user segment should I focus on? Job seekers? Recruiters? Content creators?
Which platform? iOS app? Android? Desktop web?
Any geographic focus? Global users or a specific market?
This step accomplishes two things:
It narrows an impossibly broad question into something manageable
It shows you think critically before jumping to solutions
Most interviewers will either give you direction or tell you to choose—both responses are fine.
Step 3: Define Your Goal
If the interviewer hasn’t specified a goal, you need to pick one and justify it.
Common goals include:
Revenue – Increase paying customers or amount spent
Retention – Reduce churn and keep users engaged longer
Conversion – Turn visitors into active users
Engagement – Increase frequency and depth of product usage
Acquisition – Grow the user base
Example justification:
“For this question, I’ll focus on improving engagement for LinkedIn. This makes strategic sense because higher engagement typically leads to better retention, which creates more opportunities for monetization through Premium subscriptions and advertising. LinkedIn’s network effects also mean that more engaged users make the platform more valuable for everyone.”
Choose a goal where improvement would have meaningful business impact.
Step 4: Identify User Segments
Products serve different types of users with different needs. List the main segments and their unique attributes.
LinkedIn user segments:
Job Seekers
Use LinkedIn to find opportunities and network
Browse companies and job listings heavily
Apply to multiple positions regularly
Recruiters
Search for and connect with talent
Manage job postings and applicant pipelines
Evaluate candidate profiles and experience
Sales Professionals
Find and connect with potential leads
Send high volumes of connection requests and messages
Research companies and decision-makers
Content Creators
Share industry insights and thought leadership
Build personal brand and following
Engage with comments and discussions
After listing segments, choose one to focus on and explain why.
“I’ll focus on Job Seekers for this exercise. They represent a large, active segment that drives significant engagement. By solving their pain points, we can increase both their activity and retention, which creates more value for recruiters and advertisers—supporting LinkedIn’s business model.”
Step 5: List and Prioritize Pain Points
This is where product sense shines. What problems does your chosen segment face?
Critical rule: List problems, not solutions.
✅ Pain point: “Job seekers lack clarity on application status”
❌ Solution disguised as pain point: “Build an application tracking dashboard”
Example pain points for LinkedIn job seekers:
No visibility into application status after submitting
Uncertainty about whether their profile is optimized for the roles they want
Difficulty distinguishing between startups and established companies in listings
Limited access to company culture information and employee reviews
Hard to know which skills to develop for their target roles
Ask for two minutes to think through pain points thoroughly. Then prioritize them based on:
User impact – How painful is this problem?
Business value – How does solving it support our goal?
Feasibility – Can we reasonably address this?
Select your top 2-3 pain points to address with solutions.
Step 6: Generate Solutions
Now unleash your creativity. For each prioritized pain point, propose solutions that are:
Innovative – Not just obvious features
User-focused – Clearly solve the stated problem
Practical – Feasible to implement
Goal-aligned – Support your defined objective
Example solutions for job seeker pain points:
Pain point: Lack of application status visibility
Solutions:
Application tracking timeline showing stages (submitted → reviewed → interview → decision)
Notifications when recruiters view your profile after applying
Estimated response timeframes based on company hiring patterns
Ability to see how many other applicants are in the same stage
Pain point: Uncertainty about profile optimization
Solutions:
Profile strength score with specific improvement suggestions
AI-powered profile review comparing you to successful candidates in target roles
Skill gap analysis showing what skills leaders in your desired role possess
A/B testing feature to see how profile changes affect view rates
Aim for 4-5 solutions minimum. Quality over quantity, but show you can generate multiple approaches.
Step 7: Evaluate and Prioritize Solutions
You can’t build everything. Demonstrate judgment by prioritizing solutions using these criteria:
Impact
Customer experience improvement
Business metric movement
Effort
Development complexity
Resources required
Technical dependencies
Additional considerations
Usage frequency (how often will users engage?)
Strategic value (does this create competitive advantage?)
Risk (what could go wrong?)
A simple 2x2 matrix works well: High Impact/Low Effort solutions are your priorities.
Discuss trade-offs honestly:
“The application tracking timeline is high impact and medium effort—it directly addresses the pain point and is technically feasible using existing recruiter data. However, it requires cooperation from employers to share status updates, which could slow rollout. The profile strength score is lower effort but also lower immediate impact, though it could drive longer-term engagement...”
Some interviewers may ask you to sketch wireframes or describe the user journey for your top solution. Be prepared to go deeper.
Step 8: Define Success Metrics
How will you know if your solution works? Establish clear metrics to measure impact.
Organize metrics into two categories:
Primary Metrics (directly measure your goal)
For engagement: DAU/MAU ratio, time on platform, feature adoption rate
For retention: Churn rate, 30-day retention, user comeback rate
For revenue: Conversion rate, ARPU, LTV
Secondary Metrics (supporting indicators and guardrails)
User satisfaction (NPS, CSAT scores)
Feature usage rates
Guardrail metrics to ensure you’re not harming other areas
Example for application tracking feature:
Primary:
Increase in job seeker DAU by 15%
30-day retention increase of 10%
60% adoption rate within 3 months
Secondary:
Application completion rate (ensure feature doesn’t add friction)
Recruiter satisfaction scores (ensure no negative impact)
Feature engagement rate (how often users check status)
Step 9: Summarize Your Answer
Bring it home by connecting all the pieces. A strong summary should take 30-45 seconds and include:
The objective – What goal were you improving?
User segment – Who did you focus on and why?
Key pain points – What problems did you identify?
Prioritized solution – What did you recommend building?
Expected impact – How will you measure success?
Example summary:
“To summarize: our goal was to improve engagement on LinkedIn. I focused on job seekers because they’re a large, active segment whose increased engagement benefits the entire ecosystem. We identified several pain points, with application status visibility being the most impactful to address. I recommended building an application tracking timeline that shows candidates where they are in the hiring process, with notifications when recruiters view their profiles. We’d measure success through increased DAU, improved retention, and feature adoption rates while monitoring that application completion rates don’t decline.”
A crisp summary demonstrates you can think holistically and communicate clearly - which are essential skills for a PM.
Common Mistakes to Avoid ❌
Jumping straight to solutions – Always understand the problem space first. Resist the urge to immediately propose features.
Ignoring clarifying questions – Don’t assume you know what the interviewer wants. Ambiguity is intentional.
Choosing too many user segments – Focus deeply on one segment rather than superficially covering multiple.
Mixing pain points with solutions – Keep problem identification and solution generation as separate steps.
Forgetting business impact – Your solutions should align with real business goals, not just be cool features.
Skipping metrics – PMs are measured on impact. Always define how you’ll measure success.
Pro Tips for Success ✅
Ask the interviewer to confirm after each major step
Take 2 minutes to think before listing pain points or solutions
Think out loud - Interviewers want to see your thought process
Stay grounded - Solutions should be practical and implementable
Use frameworks - PQ-GUP-SEMS provides structure
Prioritize ruthlessly - Show strategic thinking, not everything matters equally
onnect to metrics - Everything should tie back to measurable outcomes
Consider trade-offs - Show objectivity by discussing downsides
Practice Makes Perfect
The PQ-GUP-SEMS framework is your roadmap, but you need to internalize it through practice.
Start with below practice questions:
How would you improve Uber for riders?
How would you improve YouTube for creators?
How would you improve Spotify?
How would you improve LinkedIn job search?
For each one, run through the entire framework out loud. Time yourself—you typically have 30-40 minutes for these questions in real interviews.
Even better: Practice with a partner who can push back on your assumptions and ask follow-up questions, just like a real interviewer would.
Final Thoughts
Product improvement questions feel overwhelming because they’re deliberately open-ended. But that ambiguity is actually your opportunity to shine.
By following this structured framework, you demonstrate exactly what interviewers want to see: clear thinking, user empathy, business acumen, creativity, and prioritization skills.
Remember, the interviewer isn’t looking for you to magically redesign their product better than their team could. They want to see how you think when faced with a complex, ambiguous product challenge.
Master this framework, practice consistently, and you’ll walk into your next PM interview ready to tackle any improvement question thrown your way.
Now go nail that interview.
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