15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.2

1) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. 

o   The segment that I identified in the first part of this assignment was female college students here at the University of Florida. For this assignment, I was able to interview both 1^st and 4^th year students involved with sorority life on campus who enjoy going out often, as well as a 4^th year student who is not involved in “Greek life” but that enjoys going out often too.

2) Begin with alternative evaluation.

o   After interviewing all three of the students, it became clear that the most important factor in deciding which alternative to go with was cost. College students do not have a lot of disposable income and I think that in making this product a reality, I am going to have to be conscious of this information. Quality was another important factor as there are currently no products like mine available on the market, but the consensus was that the product needed to be of good quality if they were to be serious about spending money on it. Since my product involves the consumer to wear it daily, I also was able to gain feedback surrounding the visual appeal of the product. The interviewees that I spoke to did not want to wear something too bulky. Out of my product concepts, the bracelet/necklace seemed to be the consensus top choice over the rings and clothing microchips just because they were seen as “discrete” and “sleek”. Overall, I was able to gather that cost and quality seem to be the main factors for consumers, but that visual appeal also played a role as well in deciding whether or not the consumer would be likely to purchase my product.

3) How/Where do they buy?

o   All three of my interviewees stated that they would be more inclined to purchase the product online. Shopping online gave them an opportunity to compare the product against its alternatives and to read customer feedback about the product. The 1^st year student stated that she does most of her shopping now online since Amazon has a student discount for Prime membership and this allows her to quickly view/compare products online and get them in her hands with 2 days. This provided me with some valuable insight as consumers want to look at the effectiveness of the product through customer reviews and they also want to compare the product to see if there are any alternatives that are more cost-effective.

4) Post-Purchase Evaluation.

o   When thinking back and evaluating their purchase, the thing that seemed to matter the most was did they get their value back from the product. Since price is one of the major factors for consumers in making their decision, I was not surprised to hear during the interviews that they look back and think about whether they got enough use/value out of the product to justify the price that they paid for it. The 4^th year student involved with sorority life on campus stated “I really try and see how much I used the product. If I just had it sitting in its package or hardly touched it, I am not going to feel as comfortable with that purchase compared to if I had used the product even a couple times a week.”. This information is important because I am able to understand the importance of value to the consumer and how the product must be easy to use so that consumers are more likely to get use out of it.

5) Report the findings.

o   When presenting my concept to the interviewees, all three of them appeared to be very interested in my product. They acknowledge the existence of the problem I am trying to solve and agreed that it is definitely a step in the right direction to solving this issue. The interviewees were very surprised to hear that there are currently zero competitors to my product on the market and stated that it would be something they would be interested in depending on the price/appearance of the product. I was able to gather valuable feedback surrounding the different versions of my product (bracelet/necklace/ring/microchip) which allowed me to gain a better sense of which versions would be more popular than others. The bracelet/necklace seemed to be the popular choice for the interviewees I selected as these versions are sleeker and more discrete for everyday use. 

6) Draw Conclusions.

o   Based on what I already knew about the segment and what I know now after conducting these interviews, I would describe this segment as being cost-conscious and analytical consumers. This segment is more cost-conscious as they have less disposable income to spend, being that they are in college and most students do not have jobs that provide them with a lot of disposable income. I described this segment as being analytical consumers because I was able to learn that (for the most part) they prefer purchasing products online so that they may compare against alternatives and review customer feedback to judge the product’s overall cost-effectiveness. This can also be seen in the post-purchase evaluation where these consumers judge the value that they were able to gain from the product in deciding whether or not it was a good purchase. Taking in all of this information, I think I am able to learn about the importance of price-sensitivity within this segment and also about the importance of building a solid foundation for the product. Consumers tend to be more likely to buy something that is great reviews, so making sure that my product is great at fulfilling its purpose will be a major key in attracting more consumers to my product and developing a solid foundation for the product.