15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Thank You for visiting my page, I hope you are surviving school with ease. 

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

The three people who decided to conduct an interview with were Cindi, who is at the age of 47, single, and has two children who have moved out of the house a long time ago. The second person was Louis who is 20 and lives a active life style with his dogs and boyfriend. The third person is Zach who is a student who is majoring in microbiology.

2)    Begin with alternative evaluation. 

I concluded from my interviews that how they get their information matters a great deal. Louis is young and very active on social media and he purchases a lot of thing after seeing adds on his Instagram. He said that because he does not watch TV, he would never see any commercials. He said that when he sees the adds or sees new inventions on the explore feed, he then does more research into the product. Cindi on the other hand says that she usually purchases things in this category when she is home improvement stores or in other retailers. She says that she is moderately active on Facebook and does watch TV but she likes to see and feel things to see if they are sturdy before purchasing, so online ads are not her thing. Zach on the other hand is an online surfer and likes browsing YouTube videos about the latest inventions and technology. He enjoys surfing Amazon for fun.

3)    How/where do they buy? Elements of the actual transaction can help characterize your segment. Is your segment more likely to buy online or in a store? Are they more likely to use cash or will they finance the purchase? Etc. If this is a B2B purchase, who's involved in the purchase decision? 

Zach of the bat said he makes most purchases online and after doing tons of research. He enjoys YouTube videos, reviews on Amazon, and websites listing materials and other characteristics that sometimes go over looked. Zach never really makes payments, he just uses his debit cards to purchase what he described as “capital investments” which he does not often make. Louis says he also makes a decent amount online purchases because he sees things as online adds and video on Instagram or Facebook and clicks them. He is directed to their website and if the price is right, he purchases it. Louis used his credit card which basically results in him making payments overtime but his card his inputted into the computer so he sometimes can over shop. Cindi usually pays with cash if she has the budget to swing the price of the item. She likes purchasing things at the store because she says it is much less of a hassle to return the items.

4)    Post-purchase evaluation. 

 The biggest think I got from my customers was that upon opening the package if it is visually underwhelming or highly difficult to assemble, they began to stress out. This stress brings out other ideas about how the product with perform or what if they are doing it wrong and it is not working. The second was seeing the assembled product size and ability to fit where they want it, Zach said he has limited space, so it is important to include the dimensions online.

5)    Report the findings. 

My interviews have mainly taught me that having the product online to purchase and advertisement on social media would be most likely more affordable and reach many people, even higher aged individuals were pretty up to date on Facebook. I also learned that when unboxing their product, it is good to have clear and concise directions with images, so they do not begin to freak out thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?!”

6)    Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation?

For alternative evaluation, my product is pretty unique so it boils down for it being advertised because not many people have heard about something like this. There is not really a differing factor that made them choose mine over others due to the fact that others do not really exists much. Purchase decision has better odds when the product is advertised well. My interviewees were either very trendy or technologically savvy so they wanted to see a video of this product being successful or a very cool picture of it in a room with matching furnishings.  Post purchase evaluation can be positive as long as they can pull out an easy to read and visually appealing manual with directions for assembly. That way they can create the product with ease and have more confidence in the product.