12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

1) Pick a segment. In class, we have discussed how you might intuit the existence of segments that might exist in your venture's market. For this exercise, you must pick one segment.  

People with cars that get bad fuel mileage.

2) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. These interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information. 

Interviewed-

Joey

Beck

Ryan

3) Begin with need awareness. In earlier exercises, you have identified an unmet need and developed a solution. If the person you are talking to does not have the same unmet, then you need to move on. You may not include this as one of your three interviews. If the person you are talking to does have the problem, then you're on the right track! For need awareness, we need to figure out at what times, situations, places, contexts, etc., their need becomes the most salient. The questions you ask should be related to determining exactly when, how, and where their need awareness occurs. 

All three of the people I interviewed, own cars with subpar miles per gallon (mpg). This means that they run out of gas quicker than others with better mpg. Their need for a mobile refueling company, like the one I suggest, is higher than most due to them having to refuel more. They spend more time at gas stations than others. They notice this need when their cars get low on fuel.

4) Move to information search. When the person you are interviewing becomes aware of their need, what is the very first thing they do to find a solution to their problem? What sources of information do they look for? When they search in Google, what are their search terms? Do they talk to friends and family.

All of the people I interviewed answered in relatively the same manner. When asked about how they proceed after they become aware of their need, all three said that they stop at the nearest gas station. There is little to no search needed. 

5) Report the findings of your research. Simply summarize what you learned in the interviews.

I learned that the idea of a mobile gas station has some grounding. A lot of people agree on the fact that stopping at gas stations is time-consuming. I realized that people with lower mpg cars are more likely to use the service mentioned, due to the fact that they are refueling more than others.

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 need awareness and information search? 

This segment made me realize that certain people will need this more than others. People who use more gas than others are more likely to want this service because they spend more time pumping gas.