Product Sense: How Would You Reward People for Riding Bikes?
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
Design a product that rewards people for cycling. The product can be digital, physical or both, and the reward can be extrinsic (something tangible from outside, such as money, discounts or perks) or intrinsic (satisfaction the rider feels, such as progress, mastery, health or a sense of impact). Explain whom the product is for, which kind of reward you would use and why, how the product works, and how you would judge whether it succeeds.
```hint Start from the behavior
Before choosing a reward, name the specific riding behavior you want more of and the person whose behavior it is; what holds that person back should shape the reward.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Which cyclists matter here: commuters, recreational or fitness riders, competitive riders, or people who could ride but rarely do?
- What should the reward change: how often people ride, whether they start riding at all, or how safely they ride?
- If the reward is tangible, who funds it: the product itself, employers, cities, insurers or local businesses?
- Is there a target geography, given how much cycling infrastructure and culture vary between places?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A target behavior and a chosen cyclist segment, with the reason for the choice
- An explicit choice of extrinsic, intrinsic or combined rewards, grounded in that segment's motivation and in what happens when a reward stops
- How rides are verified and how the product resists fake or inflated rides
- A funding model for any tangible reward, and why the payer gains from it
- Success metrics that capture real behavior change, with guardrails such as rider safety and privacy
### Follow-up Questions
- How would you stop people from claiming rewards for car trips or for short loops ridden only to earn points?
- What happens to riding when a reward is reduced or ends, and how would you design for that moment?
- How would you tell whether the product created new rides rather than paying for rides that would have happened anyway?
Overview: A product design question asking for a digital or physical product that rewards cyclists through extrinsic or intrinsic rewards. It tests choosing a rider segment and target behavior, matching the reward type to motivation, verifying rides, funding incentives and measuring lasting behavior change.