15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

In order to figure out the buying behavior of my target market, I interviewed three people. The first person I choose to interview is my next door neighbor who prides himself on his various investment strategies. He's been the first one to tell me that it's not the price that matters, but rather it's the future value of what you're buying that matters the most. With that being said, he said the research for determining something's future value is much more difficult and time consuming than shopping around for the best price. He made it clear that confidence is also key and when you purchase something, no matter if it's a good, service, or stock. He stressed that you need to be 100 percent committed to it and not semi attached to alternatives on the market. Although, he said that price wasn't the most important aspect, he said it's important not to over pay and shorten a potentially large gain.

The second person that I had the privilege to interview was a family friend aged 32 years old. She has no investment experience and said her first factor when shopping for a service or good is the price. She said once she determines the price that she likes or best fits her budget, she moves on and compares the brands as she said she likes to associate brands with the quality of the product. She described herself as the type of person that won't purchase at a discount price if she's not getting exactly what she wants. For example: she'd rather buy the black car for $30,000 rather than settle for the red car that's only $25,000. We concluded that her buying behavior is centered around preference, brand recognition and quality. She said the main reason behind her buying behavior is that it's very hard to predict a future value and she'd rather get what she wants today rather than wait and see the unexpected down the road.

The third person that I interviewed valued familiarity above everything else. He said his biggest pet peeve is purchasing a new product or service with a learning curve and that he'd rather purchase something he's familiar with and knows will perform how it's suppose to. He said this style of buying behavior can tend to be more expensive at times initially but that being a loyal customer usually pays off when it comes to service and renewals. With all that being said he thinks that quality is associated with familiarity because when you find a product that works effectively, there's no reason to mess with it and try something else. Contrary to the first two people that I interviewed, this buyer showed his purchase decisions are not based off trends and outside pressures, but rather based off what will serve him the best.

These interviews helped me realize that people use completely different strategies to justify their purchases decisions even when shopping in the same market space for the same product or service. Although everybody takes price, quality and value into consideration, they're placed at various degrees of importance unique to the buyer. These interviews showed me that purchasing behaviors vary greatly, so when designing a product or service and marketing it, you need to make sure to appeal to most segments to maximize your sales. Conducting more interviews could help me determine the single most powerful buying behavior to help narrow in my focus.