12A
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.
Demographic: Individuals at college or in large cities where roommates are needed to pay the rent. Specifically, those with small apartments where other individuals could hear the microwave.
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.
I interviewed Hannah Llende, Tyler Grant, and Sydney Shaffer.
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.
a. do you have roommates?
b. have you ever woken them up/have they ever woken you up from using the microwave?
c. have you ever stopped yourself from using the microwave because your roommates were sleeping?
d. would you purchase a microwave with silent capabilities?
e. is there another reason you would want this microwave?
f. how would pricing affect your purchasing?
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.
1. Amazon to get an idea towards pricing and sometimes purchase certain goods
2. BrandsMart U.S.A. is where they usually look for home appliances that are good quality and reasonably priced.
3. Their parents usually do the purchasing or research so they don't really know.
5) Report the findings of your research. Simply summarize what you learned in the interviews.
All three of the people I interviewed would benefit from having a microwave with silent capabilities. Sydney is constantly woken up by her roommate in the morning because she is closer to the kitchen. Briana is up much later than her roommate and is afraid to let the timer go off so she stays there waiting for her food to finish, opening it at 1 second. Tyler's roommates are far away from the kitchen but he does not like the buzzer in general, finding it annoying and unnecessary for him.
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?
Based on my interviews, I would say that people are unaware of their need for a silent microwave even if they obviously have one. They did not realize a solution until I present this one to them. Often, people would stand around the microwave or not even microwave their food at all because of this issue. If I were to develop this idea, it would be important to make its useful apparent to distinguish it from competitors either by having a partnership deal with Amazon or an advertisement.
Demographic: Individuals at college or in large cities where roommates are needed to pay the rent. Specifically, those with small apartments where other individuals could hear the microwave.
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.
I interviewed Hannah Llende, Tyler Grant, and Sydney Shaffer.
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.
a. do you have roommates?
b. have you ever woken them up/have they ever woken you up from using the microwave?
c. have you ever stopped yourself from using the microwave because your roommates were sleeping?
d. would you purchase a microwave with silent capabilities?
e. is there another reason you would want this microwave?
f. how would pricing affect your purchasing?
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.
1. Amazon to get an idea towards pricing and sometimes purchase certain goods
2. BrandsMart U.S.A. is where they usually look for home appliances that are good quality and reasonably priced.
3. Their parents usually do the purchasing or research so they don't really know.
5) Report the findings of your research. Simply summarize what you learned in the interviews.
All three of the people I interviewed would benefit from having a microwave with silent capabilities. Sydney is constantly woken up by her roommate in the morning because she is closer to the kitchen. Briana is up much later than her roommate and is afraid to let the timer go off so she stays there waiting for her food to finish, opening it at 1 second. Tyler's roommates are far away from the kitchen but he does not like the buzzer in general, finding it annoying and unnecessary for him.
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?
Based on my interviews, I would say that people are unaware of their need for a silent microwave even if they obviously have one. They did not realize a solution until I present this one to them. Often, people would stand around the microwave or not even microwave their food at all because of this issue. If I were to develop this idea, it would be important to make its useful apparent to distinguish it from competitors either by having a partnership deal with Amazon or an advertisement.
Hey Jane,
ReplyDeleteThe college demographic is a great target audience. I also think there would be a place to institute this technology into high-end microwaves and sell the technology that way. I have no idea whether or not there's a market for this. I think if this product was developed you could have success marketing it to-local campus stores around universities all over the country, which would open a lot of doors for expanding your business.
Hi Jane! I think that you are right on point with your target segment. I live in a 5 by 5 apartment, although this is on the bigger side, I could hear every single thing happening in the kitchen! However, like your interviewees, I would have never thought of a silent microwave as a need of mine. I think that your product will stand out from your competitors. When the food in a microwave is done a beeping noise goes off. Have you considered other ways to notify users who put food in a microwave that is done?
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