What is your favourite Google product and how would you improve it ? [Google PM Interview Question]

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Interviewer: What is your favourite Google product, and how would you improve it?

Shailesh: Alright, before that, let me clarify; I have to give the Google product, which I like the most, irrespective of how it is currently performing in the market, is it a market leader or not. Also, I need to justify why it is my favourite product and suggest some improvements.
Interviewer: Perfect

Shailesh: Okay, the way I would like to go about it is, first, I will explain what qualities a good product should have and how my favourite Google product has all those qualities. From there, we can think of some of the scopes of improvements.
Interviewer: Please go ahead

Shailesh: For me, a good product is the one which should have the following qualities:

  • It should solve the user problem.
  • It should be intuitive/easy to use.
  • It should be aesthetically pleasing. It should have good UI/UX.

My favourite Google product is Google Maps, so to be on the same page, let me explain what it is all about. It is a product which provides a map of the entire world including different views like terrain, street view etc. It assists users in navigation from points A and B, including navigation for two-wheelers, four-wheelers and pedestrians. Also, it helps users to explore nearby restaurants, petrol pumps, ATMs etc.

Now let me explain my pain points and how Google maps have addressed them seamlessly, making it my favourite product.

  • Earlier it was a pain finding the navigation/ searching the destination place. It was even more challenging when I used to travel to new places.
  • Getting detailed information about public transport was a real challenge. Once the user knew the navigation, it was a challenge to find out how to get there within budget.
  • While going to an outstation, getting track of essential places like Gas stations and ATMs was one of the most significant pain points.
  • Google Maps have a very intuitive interface in which you can search for destination and source (it can be your location as well). It will show you the distance between the source and destination and prompt you to navigate from start to destination. You can listen to the audible instruction to reach the destination if you are driving.
  • After selecting the source and destination, it gives information in detail about the public transport like the metro number, Bus number, where to change, how much time will it take to get there etc.
  • It has one explore nearby section where you can search for the nearest ATMs, banks, gas stations, restaurants, etc.

Truly Google Maps is my favourite google product, but every product has some scope for improvement. Before that, let me clarify some questions. Since Google Map is a fantastic product, it has many features like Navigation, Maps, and Nearby, so are we looking to improve any specific functionality?

Interviewer: You can decide

Shailesh: Also, improvement can be of different types like improvement in user acquisition, user engagement or monetisation. I assume that most people use Google Maps, so acquisition shouldn’t be an issue, so I would like to focus on engagement. Is it okay to proceed?
Interviewer: Yes, please

Shailesh: let’s see different Customer segments who use Google Maps

  • Commuters (bikers, four-wheelers)
  • Drivers (Ola, Uber)/ Delivery people
  • Pedestrians
  • Travellers/Tourists who are travelling to a new place
  • Explorers who just want to search for different places
  • Blind people using the Audible feature of Google maps

Almost all people use google maps, and all have great total addressable markets. I would want to focus on explorers. Other people may have a specific motive in mind while using google maps.

  1. Sometimes it gets confusing while choosing from a plethora of information given by Google, like Best restaurants near me. It provides a lot of restaurants and their ratings, which makes a person indecisive.
  2. It is painful to get directions in big shopping malls, theme parks, stadiums etc. Not able to see which floor has which outlet and how to get there.
  3. For a person who has to go to multiple places in a day, getting the perfect itinerary can be a real challenge, so he takes minimum time to go and come back.
  4. Friends deciding remotely which place they should meet is another painful activity.

Prioritisation
I would want to prioritise pain points 1,3,2,4 in that order. Since many shopping malls/Theme parks have infographics, that kind of solves users’ pain. While going to a different location in one day, a person may have a specific preference for the place, like visiting the bank early in the day and then going to other sites. But pain point #1 of deciding the best place to eat and the ideal shop to see is still a challenge. So I would like to solve pain point #1.

  1. We can have the “Next place you should try/go” feature, which will take different inputs like your recent previous google search, previous user visit, user behaviour of exploration or exploitation of the choices, reviews etc. Depending on all this, we can have a smart, personalized AI feature that will narrow down the suggestion to the top 3 places which a person should go. To improve the AI engine, we can ask the User some questions after the visit.
  2. Another solution can be giving Users personalized recommendations like geofencing. For example, if a person searched for the best burger outlet a week ago, and he has just passed a good burger outlet (.i.e. “Truffles”), he should get a notification like “Would you love to try Truffle’s bestseller all American cheeseburger at 40% discount exclusively for you”. This can act as another source of revenue for Google partnering with brands and giving personalised recommendations to Users depending on its geolocation.
  3. Alternately there can be a “Gamification” solution that may increase customer engagement. The delayed gratification of the reward of the game will improve the user's stickiness. For example, giving a review after visiting someplace will earn the User a spin of the gaming wheel, giving rewards like 30% off on shoes at a Nike outlet near him.
  4. People love their childhood superheroes; Google can leverage this customer behaviour by using augmented reality. When the user is navigating to one place, a superhero can be running and assisting/escorting the person instead of the navigation arrow.

The above solutions show that 1 and 2 have a more significant impact on engagement than 3 and 4, but the gamification feature can increase engagement without much effort. There can be a potential hindrance in solution two, like partnering with brands which may take time. So we can go ahead and have feature one on the product roadmap. We can do beta testing of the features in different areas of the world and track the following metrics for the success of the features.

  • % increase in the rating of the place that Google has suggested to the User.
  • % increase in the review posted by the User of a particular location.
  • % increase in the customer screen time in Google Maps.
  • # of spins of the gamification wheel.

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