Assignmenet 12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Assignment 12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Choosing a segment: 

For this assignment, I chose a segment of college students with part-time jobs. All three of my interviews were with people who work part-time while also juggling the workload of a full-time college student. One, is a student at Santa Fe college and is looking to transfer to UF one day. He has a part-time job working as a dishwasher. Another, is a student at IU Bloomington who works a part-time job working at his cousin’s car shop. The third person, an undergrad student at UF, has a job where her work hours are flexible, but earning a good amount of money can be tough since it comes from commissions.

Interviews:

·       Interview 1:

o   My first interviewee did have a problem about being able to save up a decent amount of money for the future, but his worries lie more within keeping track of the money rather than the method he is using to save money. This interviewee learned from his parents about how to save his money and how to be careful with how much his purchases costs. As a person who prefers to save than spend, he doesn’t have much of a problem with sticking to his method of saving money. He also said he doesn’t make much at his job, so he can’t spend a lot of money anyway even if he wanted to. When I asked when his worries came to mind, he said that it only pops up whenever he’s considering buying something. When he’s not sure about something financially, he either goes to his parents or goes to Google and type in anything related to his worries, admitting that it would probably take him multiple searches before he finds what he’s looking for.

·       Interview 2:

o   Answer: My second interviewee is worried about managing his money now, because he has now personal finance skills since he’s never taken a class on it or learned any from his parents, which leads him to feel more worried about how he’ll handle his money in the future. When I asked him in what situation he thinks about this, he told me it usually happens whenever he has a depressive episode, because he has depression. He also said it hurts him a little bit whenever he makes a purchase. He did tell me that he is less worried about how to go about saving a decent amount of money rather than where his money goes in terms of the purchases he makes. He did say he was open to the idea of purchasing an app that not only keeps track of his spending but also his spending habits, where he spends his money. If he had any worries about how to budget or save, he’d preferably want to seek out a personal financial advisor or go to his parents rather than search anything on Google or a group of friends. When I told him about my product idea, he did say he would be interested in purchasing it for how it helps him keep track of his money and the daily budgeting tips that it will give him because he thinks he “seriously needs help” with his personal finances.

·       Interview 3:

o   My third interviewee does have the problem of wanting to know how to budget better and how to save money; however, it’s not as urgent or one of her primary problems. She grew up in a family who was very frugal in nature, and she picked up the skill naturally, but she would still like to learn more about personal finances, especially since the good majority of the money she earns at her job goes towards paying for college expenses. She said that she keeps track of her spending and the money she earns and what it goes into in a spreadsheet that she made for herself, which takes up a lot of time since she has to input data manually. She also said that she doesn’t worry much about expenses for the most part, only when she’s keeping track of it to make sure she didn’t go over budget. When she does want to learn more about how to budget and save, she mostly goes to Google and searches for “budgeting and saving tips” as well as other things such as “what is a roth ira” and “what is a 401k.” When I told her about my product idea, she did express interest in purchasing it for the ease of keeping track of her spending and the budgeting tips and especially the articles that would be provided by the app since she wouldn’t have to spend time searching for it on Google.

What I learned: 

I learned that the demand for individuals to buy this product is rather high. Most of the people I interviewed, have worries about saving a decent amount of money in the future and handling their money in the present and even more so in the future. Though they all expressed interest in buying my product, they all wanted it for different reasons. My first interviewee was comfortable and confident in his solution to saving money and believed he could still utilize it in the future and wanted the app just for its money-tracking ability. My last two interviewees wanted the app for both its money-tracking ability and the daily budgeting and saving tips it gave; however, my third interviewee was the only one who expressed seriously interest in wanting to read the articles. They did all agree that a personal finance class should be taught to students starting in high school at the very latest, since students at that age are starting to want to look into getting a job. They also agree that having an app that helps you track your money and spending habits isn’t an efficient or effective substitute for a formal personal finance education.

When I asked how they would search for a solution to a problem, their answers varied also. They ranged from talking to parents, to searching for articles on Google, to even seeking out a personal finance advisor.

How I would describe this segment: 

I think that there are a lot of college students who have at least had the thought of handling and saving money cross their mind. It’s hard not to think about it once in a while since paying for college costs so much and the only ways to even come close to paying for it all with little to no debt are through scholarships, grants, loans, and having a job.