Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2 - Assignment 15A

Pick a segment: The segment I chose to interview is a group of college students enrolled in summer classes who have the need for such an app.

Interview 1: The first interview I had was with a graduate telecommunications major. The person in this interview displayed a need for my app, but they make do with what is available to them at this point in time. With the set of alternatives they currently have, price matters most because they are on the typical college budget. This person is more willing to shop online than in person which is great because she is familiar with the process of downloading apps and she understands how they function. This person cares about her grades a lot therefore the "purchase," or free download, of the app is well worth it. If my app didn't make her a better candidate to employers to become a broadcaster (her goal out of college) then she would view it as a waste of time or a bad idea to download it since it'd just be a waste of storage on her phone.

Interview 2: The second interview I had was with an undergraduate business student that is different from the person I interviewed last week. This business student determines the best candidates in the current alternative set by considering quality over everything else. Considering this desire for quality, the student has chosen to go with Study Edge's tutoring service over attending teacher's study hours. He is also more likely to buy things in person, but he hinted toward the fact that he has an iPhone and has downloaded many apps before which shows that he is familiar with the process. Similar to the first person I interviewed, the deciding factor when it comes to deciding the "rightness" of the purchase is whether or not it will further his career aspirations. If the product/service furthers his career aspirations as a businessman, he will make the purchase. Since my app will likely enable him to study more efficiently and get better grades, he is hoping that being connected with other driven students will ultimately increase his chances of landing a job after college.

Interview 3: The third person I interviewed is a political science major at the university. He is a social human being, but he doesn't know a bunch of people on campus yet. He was more than open to trying out my app so that he could connect with students on campus. Therefore, this student refers to "style" when making purchases. He likes the idea of simply being able to download my app and getting help that way since he is used to downloading apps on his mobile device. On top of this, he also considers price when making purchases, but my app is free so he was also pleased with that. The guy said that downloading the app for free in order to connect with students and potentially doing better in school would make him feel that his decision to download the app was right. If he had to pay a lot of money for the app and he didn't end up using it on a daily basis, he would ultimately view the purchase as a bad one.

Draw Conclusions: Based on what I now know about this segment and what I learned in the interviews, I would describe the people as logical and methodical. Overall, the students that would like to download such an app have a main focus of doing better in school. The alternative evaluation of my target customers seems to be well distributed in that they care about price, quality, and style. Their purchase decisions are all relatively similar in that they like to download apps on their phones because it is convenient. Finally, the target customers that I interviewed either care about the cost of the app or the career benefits of the app at the end of the day. It was great to learn of all this because it was clear that there is quite the desire for my app.