Reflections

One core concept from this course that I understand better as a result of working on this group project is the concept of “personas”. I originally thought that creating personas would be easy. Though creating our original persona was easy, it was not originally accurate. We used our stereotypes to create, basically, what we thought of as a perfect man. When we finally took a real look at our persona, the metro sexual bachelor, after beginning our research, we found many of our original persona details were faulty an inaccurate. For example, our bachelors did not make as much money as we assumed, they did not have a pet dog, and they did not entertain much at their apartments. I also uncovered that many insights are gained by going through the process of reevaluating personas. You are then able to ask – why are they not entertaining at their apartments – and see if there is an opportunity there. Also, after looking back I found that traditional segmentation is not necessarily the best. Metro sexual bachelors are not all that similar. Some of the only links we found were their desire to dress well and their desire for quality and/or expensive looking items. Possibly in the future I will look into more non-traditional ways of segmentation.

Another core concept from this course that I understand better as a result of working on a group project is “gaining insights”. Through actively going through the process of gaining insights, I better understand what each research method entails, as well as the time and struggles associated with each research method. Also, I was able to experience the pros and cons of each method. For example, my group employed both a traditional research method and a generative research method. We started off using a survey and requesting our participants take pictures of their living rooms. We were able to uncover very little with the survey, mostly because we were not asking the right questions and because participants were not readily willing to complete the survey in a timely manner or at all. Because we were trying to understand our persona in a very basic way through the survey, it might have been better if we had conducted an interview right off the bat to be better able to delve deeper into confusing answers or change the questions on the spot to questions that we realize might be better suited after all. Through the living room photos we were much better able to gain insights, though our group had even more trouble with participants sending in photos than surveys, probably because of the perceived notion that it is more involved and because possibly informants feel we are invading their privacy. Through generating questions from the photos and conducting phone interviews we were able to gain the best, most valuable insights. I would not have realized the importance of asking the right questions on interview and how wording a question makes such a difference if we had not gone through this process in our project. Also, I would not have realized the difference in the quality of information between different research methods or the difficulty in gathering that information from participants.

I had multiple emotional reactions along the way as I worked on this project. The primary emotions I felt were excitement, frustration, and relief. I felt excitement in being able to do a project that for once felt worth while to my education. I also felt excited that I was able to bring in some things I had learned from my other major, anthropology, to tie in and improve my marketing major skills. This was the first time I was able to really connect both of my majors. I felt frustration on multiple occasions with my teammates. In the beginning, we had difficulty understanding each other and melding our talents. We especially had trouble with commitment to the group and project. We were eventually able to overcome all of these problems. I also felt frustration when something did not go right. For example, when we had trouble getting surveys and photos back or when it seemed there were no connections/similarities between our metro sexual bachelors. I felt relief, especially in the end. Everything seemed to come together, because no one gave up. When it seemed there were no connections we looked deeper and when the group wasn’t committed we talked about it as a group and recommitted. As far as whether I think this group project was worth it, yes. I would not have learned nearly as much without working with a team on this group project. It made every concept more tangible and understandable, while revealing the realities of doing this kind of work. I also felt it was more like what I will experience when I enter the business world as an employee – the trials and successes of working with others.

Social Media Part 2: Searching Starbucks on BlogSearch

Using Zeitgeist and BlogSearch, I searched for Starbucks. I found Zeitgeist interesting but was really intrigued by BlogSearch. I first search “Starbucks” and came up with more than I could handle, mostly news sights or recently released information from Starbucks. If I was Starbucks, searching for helpful information, none of this information was helpful. I then searched a little narrower topic that came to mind: “Starbucks taste”. This provided much more interesting information, leading me more into personal blogs by Starbucks customers or critics. One blog talked about the taste of Starbucks new Via line, their instant coffee. Great insights could be gained by reading her blog. She described her experiences with instant coffee in the past and why having a good instant coffee with her on her light backpacking trips was so important. She also presented an interesting problem she has with Starbucks instant coffee. She likes to choose how much instant coffee to put in the water and she wanted more, but with Starbucks selling their instant coffee in mini packets, she isn’t able to do this. She wants a jar of instant coffee. Since I was already thinking about problems with Starbucks products, I searched “Starbucks problems” and found a blog about how Starbucks can win back customers (because McDonalds McCafe is luring customers away). As Starbucks, it would be interesting to see what outsiders see as the problem, a fresh view. This particular person felt, among other things, that Starbucks needs to learn how to manage queues, unleash creativity in its customers, and think locally. I think BlogSearch would be very helpful if I was doing research for Starbucks. It is a great way to gain insights about what people are really thinking. It is unprobed information (not an interview with possibly leading questions). What people say in these blogs is important to them.

Social Media Part 1: Facebook's Untapped Potential

Social media like Facebook and MySpace are great opportunities to create experiences for customers. They have untapped potential for creating interesting interactive web spaces to enhance a company’s customer experience. They have the potential to make the experience more personal, turning a company into a being they can relate to, a Facebook friend. Because MySpace usage has decreased over the years compared to Facebook and because MySpace has turned into a social media primarily for music, especially indie music, I will be focusing more on Facebook and its potential for creating customer experiences.

Many businesses of all types and sizes have begun to start their own pages on Facebook. From browsing multiple companies Facebook pages, I believe few if any are using Facebook to its potential, let alone understand its culture and how it is used. Most companies are using Facebook passively instead of actively. Anyone can use and be a part of social media, but the key to being successful at using any social media, whether business or person, is active participation. Having an account on Facebook so fans can merely join isn’t good enough.

There are several ways companies can use Facebook to create experiences. First, the Facebook profile should be an important part of an employee’s job, or a team’s job. This means the profile should be updated with wall posts at least every day and the site should be maintained, for example uploading photos and keeping track of “fans”, “members”, or “friends”. The goal is to basically create a being that your customers can connect with, the “Facebook” you have created. The manner of your posts should reflect your customer personas (older or younger, male or female, etc.). Even creating “interests” for your Facebook business profile is a good idea. For example, REI would have things like hiking, enjoying the fresh mountain air, and maybe even eating healthy. Second, blogs, twitter, and your company website should be linked to your Facebook making it your one-stop-shop. For example, I get on my Facebook, see in my updated list of wall posts that you’re having a sale, I go to your businesses’ Facebook profile by clicking on the wall update, and then can easily click on the website link from the Facebook page. But most importantly, the greatest way to create a customer experience would be to develop applications for Facebook. For example, Starbucks could create “Your own Starbucks coffee shop” application where their customers run their own virtual coffee shop, make coffee drinks, hire employees, and invite friends to come have coffee at their shop. Starbucks could also create Starbucks coffee “gifts” that friends could send/gift each other. You could even create an application for “What Starbucks drink am I”. For Nike, they could have an application on Facebook where you set distance or time goals for running and could update your application with your new information after every run. It could help you plan and reach your running goals. Maybe you could even create running groups through the application, enabling you to watch your friends’ progress and cheer them on. The application possibilities are endless and I think this is where companies can really create customer experiences through Facebook. Don’t let your customers just become a “fan”; make them an active fan through the use of applications.

What Wal-Mart Knows

I think that Wal-Mart has been good at converting their data into an experience that serves as a competitive advantage for them, but not great. They are doing some very crucial things such as anticipating customers’ specific product needs during certain times, i.e. hurricane preparation and holiday shopping. They are also doing a great job at looking at the customers’ shopping basket and identifying groups of products purchased and in turn insuring a low price of key products to lure shoppers into their store. But there are other areas that could be addressed. For example, the location of items needs to be addressed. Not only throughout the store, but where on the shelf items are located in regards to other items as well as the items location according to height/distance from the floor. They could analyze, of the products purchased in a “shopping basket”, what percentage of those products are located in upper levels, lower levels, or mid levels in the store. Where in the store are these products purchased? Therefore, what kind of journey does your customer take through the store? And…what customers are going to what areas of the store? Or…can we place other items around certain products to make an extra sell, products the customer isn’t currently buying with that product but should. Other technology that can be utilized further is their cameras. You could deduce the height of your customers, find and average height, and determine whether your customers have difficulty accessing all products without the help of an employee (because we all know you will never get help in Wal-Mart). That is a problem, in my opinion, that really needs to be addressed (but I’m biased since I’m 5’4”). My guess would be the majority of their shoppers are women, who tend to be shorter, and would have difficulty reaching the top shelves. They can also use data mining to find the key products people come to the store for and what products they do not come for (they might already be doing this; obviously everything they are doing won’t be revealed in a NY Times article) and explore the “whys” in those answers, creating new experiences from what is learned.

I don’t think there are any privacy issues associated with all of that data and the amount of personally identifiable data they are able to capture. They aren’t getting anything that you, the customer, aren’t willingly giving them. As far as the article says, they aren’t using the data you are giving them to go searching for any ungiven data, i.e. how much your home costs. So, from what was described in the article, it does not bother me and I do trust them. The correct way to look at this problem is not how it affects me if my information were to get out in some way, but how it affects them, because every individual and company will act in the interests of themselves/itself. It isn’t in Wal-Mart’s interests to take my personal information lightly. They want to guard it for their own personal gains. Information is power. If information were to be leaked, this is just as bad for Wal-Mart as it is for their customers, not to mention they will have many angry suing customers on their hands. Sure, I’m weary about any company having my information on hand, but if it means better deals, experiences, and service for me, I’m in. Bottom line is that it is in the company’s interest to keep that information locked up and safe.

I think Wal-Mart is having both good and bad impacts on its suppliers. It is good for Wal-Mart as well as their suppliers to move to RFID instead of barcodes. Wal-Mart helps move its suppliers forward as Wal-Mart moves forward. But, not sharing much or any of the data information with their suppliers is detrimental for both Wal-Mart and its suppliers. It doesn’t allow the supplier to gain insights and therefore to make their products better. For example, a supplier could possibly determine how customers are reacting, or not reacting, to their packaging from the video cameras in Wal-Mart, or maybe specific buying habits, or who is buying their products. By not sharing this information, and therefore not helping suppliers improve their products, Wal-Mart is not selling at their full potential. Increase in sales for suppliers means increase in sales for Wal-Mart.

The Dell Computer - Creative and Innovative

I feel that because both “creative” and “innovative” are basically synonyms for each other, being that both typically result in the other because both terms envelope originality and imagination, that for this paper, “creativeness” will have more to do with the “thoughts of originality” behind the product and “innovativeness” will have to do more with the “production of originality”. The product that immediately comes to mind when I define creativity and innovativeness this way is the Dell Computer. I believe Dell created the idea of a real personal computer and backed it up with innovation that allowed a personalized computer at a low price.

Dell has been creative and innovative for several reasons. Dell created the idea of an every man’s computer by making it possible for a customer to create his or her own computer according to their needs and budget constraints. For example, when ordering your computer you can choose the size of your hard drive and your processor speed. They have even recently added more options to personalize your computer, even letting you choose the color of your computer. By making the computer able to be personalized and at a reasonable price, a computer could be put in every family household and in every student hands. Dell also innovated a new process of buying a computer. They cut out the middle man, the brick and mortar store. The computer is sold directly to the customer through the internet. As well as selling directly to the customer, Dell also innovated a new process of creating a computer. The computer is not constructed until ordered and depending on where the computer is being sent (where the customer lives), the computer pieces are sent and put together at a distribution site closest to the customer.

Being innovative means really uncovering what a customer needs, even if they don’t consciously know what they need, and developing a product, service, or experience to solve that problem. This also does not mean that the product, service, or experience has to be “out-this-world” different. Dell’s most innovative idea was giving the customer control. Each customer has different needs and wants for their computer, be it a family computer, personal computer, student computer, or a small or large business computer. Each customer also has different needs as far as price. A business owner may want, and be able, to spend more on a computer than a student about to attend college for the first time. Dell acknowledged that their customers had different needs and enabled customers to have a computer to fit their needs by giving them control over functionality and price.

By cutting out the middle man and doing business directly with the customer through the internet, Dell is better positioned to learn about their customers, test ideas, respond quickly to problems, and more quickly implement new ideas. Dell is a prime example of how technology is changing the face of innovation.

Reflections on Dan Ariely's "Predictably Irrational"

The primary lesson from the chapter is that our expectations give each of us unique perspectives, biases, and stereotypes that determine and shape our experiences. This contributes a significant clue in our quest of gaining valuable insights and/or designing valuable experiences for our customers. The information we provide our customers, in the form of colors, graphics, written and spoken information, as well as the information provided to them from outside sources (their own life experiences) affects their attitudes toward the product and experiences surrounding it. We can use this information to help us understand possible existing biases and perceptions our customers come with, as well as what information we should introduce to our customers, and in what way and when we should introduce this information. This theory introduced by Ariely in the “Predictably Irrational” chapter could also be supported by the examples provided by our guest speaker, Kate Canales. Some examples she gave for how people have different perspectives and therefore experience products differently, can been witnessed by the man who uses his Swiffer to wash his car or the woman who believes she needs four different types of toothpaste to complete her tooth brushing experience. Their held expectations determine how they view and use their products.

The main example Ariely gives is the 2 beer experiments he does at a pub at MIT. He provides two beer samples to each college student, one typical brew (Budweiser) and one MIT brew (Budweiser with a few drops of balsamic vinegar added). He varies the information provided to each student and observes the outcome – which beer will the student chose for a free pint after the tasting. The different variants in provided information were: no information given about either beer; information revealed about beer B containing balsamic vinegar before the tasting; and information revealed about beer B containing balsamic vinegar after the tasting occurred. The findings for the first experiment were: when no information was provided, students chose beer B, “the clear winner”( Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely); when the information was provided before the tasting, students visibly showed a clear dislike to beer B and chose beer A for their free pint. A second experiment was done to test the affect of information timing – what would happen if you gave a student the information about the beer being tainted with vinegar before tasting versus after tasting. In this case, at the end of the sampling the students were given the unadulterated beer and given the recipe and balsamic vinegar to add to their beer if they desired it. The findings for the second experiment concluded that the participants who were provided the information about the vinegar following the tasting were two times more likely to add the balsamic vinegar to their unadulterated beer then their counterparts who received the information before tasting beer B.

Expectations affect “nearly every aspect of our life” (Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely). An example of being affected by expectations would be if your friend told you about a new restaurant that serves excellent food. Knowing this information will affect how you perceive the food at this restaurant when you go to eat there. Your experience at the restaurant would be different if you had never received this information – you might think the food tastes better than you would have without the information. Another example would be a parent’s belief that their daughter is a great, possibly “the best”, dancer. This will affect their experience and perception of a dance competition that their daughter is in. They will believe their daughter is the best, probably seeing little to no mistakes in her performance, while seeing many mistakes in all the rest of the competitors. One last example is when a product promises to do something – for example, a product promises to help reduce “fine lines and wrinkles”. Does this product actually do this? A person using the product may believe that she sees a reduction in lines and wrinkles when in fact the cream has done nothing to change the appearance of her “fine lines and wrinkles”.