The purpose of this exercise is to broaden your understanding of consumer behavior by bringing you face-to-face with a customer. The first step is to find a person who is not a member of this course and who has recently bought a product or service of the kind defined in the box below. This customer could be an institutional/industrial buyer if you prefer.
Your assignment is to conduct a depth interview of about 30-60 minutes in length with this customer. The goal of the interview is to understand the decision process that governed the purchase of this product or service in terms that can be useful to a marketing manager. You can choose to do this for product A or product B (see below).
The list of questions on the back of this sheet is intended as a broad guide around which you can structure your depth interview. It is not to be followed dogmatically. Nor is it complete and exhaustive of the types of questions you need to ask, or the level of detail for which you need to probe. Rather you should try to stimulate a lively and open discussion around these key question areas from which you can: (a) develop a deep understanding of the purchase decision process; and (b) surface the factors, in the environment and in the customer’s psyche, that really determined why the customer acted the way s/he did.
Be prepared to report briefly and concisely to the class your key insights. You will probably find it useful to summarize your thoughts in writing (1-2 pages).
A. A mundane product or service costing less than 100QR.
B. A product or service costing over 10000QR
General Discussion Areas
Your task is to audit the choice process.
Who was the decision making unit?
• Who bought the product or service?
• Identify all those who played a role in the decision process. What role did they play?
What motivated the purchase?
• What problems did the product/service solve? What functions would it facilitate?
• What attributes seemed important?
Characterize the decision.
• Was it a first-time decision? A review of a previous decision? A careful decision? A casual decision? Was the amount of deliberation appropriate to the decision?
Characterize the decision-making process.
• What triggered the process?
• Was there an information search? How was the search conducted? How much information was collected? What sources were used? When in the process was information gathered?
• How many alternatives were evaluated? Why those?
• How was the final choice determined?
Where did the consumer buy?
• Why there?
• Which came first: where to buy or what to buy?
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