A Product Sense question to gauge how well you can break down what makes a good product
Most product sense interview questions will begin with 'What is your favourite product'. It is meant to test your ability to consistently analyse and improve existing products in a way that aligns with the goals of the company and the needs of the users.
What is your favourite product and why?
Begin by specifying what the product is, briefly explain what it does, and state why it's something you enjoy using.
Glovo: Glovo is a grocery delivery platform that allows users (me) to place an order from a variety of stores (restaurants, supermarkets, retailers of water and gas, etc) and have it delivered to my preferred location within a couple of minutes to an hour depending on the destination, relative to the store I ordered from. I can also request a rider to go to a specific place to pick or purchase something for me and deliver it to the location I choose.
I am a premium user of Glovo as I pay the monthly subscription fee which guarantees me free delivery for all orders above a specific amount.
Here’s why Glovo is my favorite product enough that I use it multiple times a week:
Here, I have broken it down based on the four part user experience test: usable, useful, accessible, enjoyable.
- Delightful: Glovo stores my order history in every store I order from so ordering the same item I previously requested is a seamless process. I just click on the plus sign to ‘add to cart’. To add to the delight, I can tell when an item I know I’ll need, even if not immediately, has a discount so I can save more money by ordering it now.
- Useful: A lot of times when I’m in a time crunch (e.g. I'm cooking and I notice I am missing a key ingredient), I am able to view how long a delivery will take and make order decisions based on how urgent I want the delivery to arrive. While the estimation isn’t always accurate, it often falls within the expected ballpark.
- Usable: I can tell when a store is still open or closed, especially when I need to place an order early in the morning or late in the night. Most often, items that are out of stock at my favorite stores are also usually marked ‘out of stock’ or unavailable. This means I cannot order something then be surprised that it doesn’t arrive.
- Accessible: I can pay for my items using cash, MPESA, or an auto-debit on my saved bank card. This means that whatever version of money I have, I can pay for my order without undue difficulty.
How would I improve it?
Focus on improvements that are beneficial to the different stakeholders and in alignment with product goals/company mission:
Multiple Carts, Single Checkout
Sometimes, I need to purchase items from different stores based on availability or pricing. Currently, Glovo requires that I only purchase from one store at a time, complete the request then go back to search for the other items from the other stores.
A lot of times, I may forget the name of the other store I intended to buy something from and either abandon the intention altogether or buy a less-preferred alternative; which diminishes my user experience. This process also takes a lot longer to complete.
To improve this experience, I would provide the option of at least three different carts in a single session (even if it's just for premium users) that allow customers to confirm and place their orders from different stores and check out at once.
Benefits to Glovo: More revenues resulting from higher commission fees on orders placed, or increased subscription if it’s a feature for premium users only.
Benefits to Stores: more purchases from customers based on increased ease of purchase from customers.
2. Add/replace an order up until the courier is at the checkout.
Currently, Glovo only allows the user to modify their order during the confirmation process on the in-app checkout. A lot of times, I may forget a small item such as a packet of salt or an extra loaf of bread that would be inefficient to order by itself. In moments like this, I wish I could easily add this item to the list that the courier is already shopping for, but I cannot; even if I call the courier.
To improve this experience, I would borrow from what Uber does with their ‘Add or change’ location feature during an active ride. I would create a feature that enables a user to ‘add, delete or replace’ an item within the window between placing an order and courier check out at till, after which this option would be deactivated.
Benefits to Glovo: More revenues resulting from higher commission fees on orders placed, or increased subscription if it’s a feature for premium users only.
Benefits to Stores: more purchases from customers based on increased ease of purchase from customers.
3. Better tagging and recommendations
While not as common a problem as it is in competing products like Jumia Food, a couple of times I have searched for an item from a specific store on Glovo and the search results were filled with recommendations of very non-related or barely-related items. Sometimes, the product I was searching for was available in other stores on Glovo but would not be shown in the recommendations list.
This means I have to try different keywords, or exit the current store and restart a different cart in different stores to find what I am looking for. This process can be time consuming and frustrating, resulting in the need to abandon cart or go without the item I needed.
I would improve this by improving the tagging and recommendation engine and explore recommending the product if it’s available on another store. The latter would work best with the ‘additional cart’ feature above which will ask the user if they would like to create an additional cart so they can get this item that is available in the alternative store.
Benefits to Glovo: More order placed hence more revenues resulting from higher commission fees on orders placed.
Benefits to Stores: more purchases from customers based on increased ease of purchase from customers.
How would I prioritise?
Prioritise based on your understanding of reach, impact and effort the improvement will require/influence
"I would prioritise my recommendations based on data and user feedback to gauge how many other users could be experiencing the same friction areas. Based on assumptions of impact and effort, this is how I would prioritise my list:
1. Add/replace an order until courier/personal shopper is at check-out: I would prioritise this first since it seems relatively easy to implement based on the limited info I have. A new status would be placed on the courier-facing app for them to activate once they're at the till. Activating this status (perhaps through a button) would then close out the modification window for a customer.
2. Multiple carts, single checkout: I would prioritise this next because it has the most likely impact of getting users to place more orders, seamlessly. It would also encourage more orders from stores users have not ordered from before hence increasing potential revenues from stores across the border.
3. Better tagging and recommendations: This would be the third priority because it is an ongoing process that is likely to take a lot longer and need some modifications with time.
Product sense product interview questions are there to help you showcase your thought process when it comes to creating, assessing and improving products that are under your influence. When answering this specific product question, remember to address all the other 'smaller' questions within it and show your thought process.
It is okay to pause from time to time to gather your thought process.