Final Takeaways

Takeaway from the Course

Of my primary takeaways from this class was to approach the business model from a more customer-centric perspective.  Instead of coming up with product ideas and seeing how they can fit in people’s day, it seems to be a more useful process to really understand peoples’ daily lives and find the pain points.  I really enjoyed doing the market research on the Nordstrom Project which helped me get in the practice of trying to really understand the psyche of a customer and figure out how we could help her. 

I think this is important aspect of doing product design but a thought I do often have is that the customer shouldn't own me.  I shouldn't sell a product that isn't healthy or safe simply because "that's what the customer wants".  I think that is a cop-out and have found good support for that reading Yvon Chouniard's book, "Let My People Go Surfing."  I need to understand my customer but I shouldn't be afraid to educate them and lead them to a new type of product offering. 

Another Takeaway from the Course

Before this class, I had never given significant thought to prototyping.  And for good reason, I was a CPA for an audit firm and have focused on energy finance during my time at McCombs.  Customer Insights was the first  and only Marketing class I took besdies the core class.  However, working on the prototyping during the Nordstrom project helped me understand some of what is necessary to successfully create prototypes.  I think this will help me significantly down the road as I hope to start my own company.  The group project also made me appreciate how important it is to surround myself with creative, talented individuals.  The divergent brainstorming process was made far more productive with four individuals all working together to throw out ideas and many of them were built on top of others’ initial thoughts. 

Problems with the Project

I think it would have made more sense for Nordstrom to give us a more specific persona.  While it did not take a significant amount of time to select ours, I do not think any of us really learned much about customer insights by trying to nail down on a persona.  Once the persona was selected, we did really start to learn about the customer insights process by trying to get a good understanding of the behavior/pain points/personality of the persona.  Also, I think it was a waste of time to have the groups put together videos.  Far too much effort was exerted on this part of the process.  We are not film students, and these videos never had a good chance of looking professional.  I think the time spent on creating the video would have been better spent working on the prototypes.  We could have then just presented in class, with someone taping the presentation to then send to Nordstrom. 

Overall Project Experience

When the project was first announced, I was really excited as it was a totally different project than I had worked on at McCombs and in my prior work experience. I was also really excited to work with my group. While Sameer and I were in the same study group during our core classes, I had yet to work with Alice or Emily. I knew they both had marketing experience, so I looked forward to learning a lot from them during the Nordstrom project. As the project got started, I tossed out the idea of using a young mother for our persona as a way to do something a little bit different than the other groups.  The other members of the group like the idea and we ran with it.  Throughout the process, I learned a lot from my group as well as took away valuable experience from conducting interviews.  Once our problem statement was identified, we began prototyping.  This was quite a bit difficult from the first few stages.  It involved divergent thinking as well as trying to be creative in coming up with potential solutions.  While Professor Walls attempted to teach the principles of prototyping (using practice exercises and having a professional designer talk to the class), I came away from class without a really increased ability to prototype.  I’m not sure to what extent this represents a shortcoming of the class itself or is rather a reflection of the fact that for this part of the process, trial and error is the best if not only way to learn.  While I believe I provided good ideas in the prototyping process, especially in terms of specific things I think the Nordstrom website should offer, I leaned heavily on other members of my group who had more skill at bringing the ideas to life.  Overall, it was great learning experience and the best part was getting to know my team members better.  I don’t think we provided Nordstrom with anything of significant value, but such is the case when you have individuals who aren’t experienced with this doing only a few weeks’ worth of work.  I understand the idea that we weren’t biased with having worked for years at Nordstrom.  However, from talking with Scott Jones, it did not seem to me like there were many unique insights we have.  

Personal Privacy in a Digital World

I will preface this essay by saying I don’t devote a significant amount of time thinking about personal privacy. While I have adjusted my privacy settings once or twice on both Facebook and Google, in general, I try to not to do or say anything online that I wouldn’t be proud to tell my grandma about or see plastered in the New York Times. I’m definitely not perfect but that is the approach I try to take and
would advocate others to do the same.

I think people need to realize that this world is full of people that are not always looking out for your best interest. Business in today’s marketplace is often cutthroat and firms are looking everywhere to get an edge. “Scraping” for data as it is described in the WSJ article on RapLeaf is an expected evolution in the business of trying to research and analyze current (and potential) customers. It is naïve to think that companies that have access to our website history or our internet searches won’t try to sift through it for possible customer insights. RapLeaf’s claim that its goal is to create a “more personalizable world” for individuals seems a bit disingenuous to me.

While I think the government is behind on improving privacy policy regulation, I don’t think that will be the ultimate answer. Personal accountability is the first step but the other saving grace is our active press. Having investigative journalists looking into unethical (if not actually illegal) practices is something we should all appreciate. The increasingly connected world makes it hard to keep important news from going viral and I think more
and more companies are starting to put more emphasis on their ethics (in terms
of the see-saw that Professor Walls discussed today).

Below is a short clip
that summarizes the idea that it is getting harder for companies to keep
secrets:




As a marketer, we will always be expected to have the latest and greatest information on our current and potential customers. However, ethical questions will have to be answered. Most of corporate scandals of late have dealt with either an environmental scandal or accounting fraud; however, the Marketing Department is and will continue to be challenged with questions of what is “crossing the line”.

Perhaps I am being naïve now, but I think the standard I use for my own behavior (on and off-line) can be extended to marketers. Companies should be guided by the values of their employees, but also by the expectations of their customers and the general public. I think it is somewhat of a cop-out to only not do something because you are afraid your actions will be made public. However, in the absence of other standards (which is not usually the case), it should serve companies well to ask themselves if they would be okay telling their customers about the marketing techniques they are used.

Part of the difficulty is that so many of these experiences are new, not only for businesses, but also for consumers. Individuals’ sense of what they feel is overreach by companies is still very much in flux. Given this newness, companies can potentially get away with some missteps. However, despite the hyper-competitive business environment, I would advise companies to use discretion, always asking if they would be comfortable with having their strategies “outed” in a WSJ article.

Creativity

Personal Creativity

Sadly, I don’t have tons of experiences with individual creativity. When I was younger (high school), I played the trumpet. Playing the trumpet was something I enjoyed, but I never gave it enough attention to really master the instrument. Being creative musically is a situation where a significant amount of commitment is required. Greats like Wynton Marsalis and B.B. King make their improvisation seem so effortless as a result of putting in hundreds, if not thousands of hours honing their craft.

In terms of my personality, I definitely fit the mold of someone who has always regarded him
or herself as “not creative.” I think my belief in the myth of the “creative type” as Lehrer describes it in the article is a result of excelling in subjects like math and science, but falling very
short in my artistic abilities. In retrospect, equating creativity with a capacity to draw or paint was (and perhaps remains) a mistake in my self-assessment.

Organizational Creativity

As an undergrad, I majored in Accounting, perhaps the least creative-oriented major offered
(unless you include the creative accounting employed at places such as Enron). After graduation, I worked as a CPA in the audit practice of a large public accounting firm. The story isn’t getting more interesting is it? As one might expect, creativity was not expected or advocated in my profession. We operated under a well regulated accounting framework (FASB) and had
very specific procedures to perform at each client. My creative juices were really only needed
when I had to figure out how to obtain necessary documentation or information from a client who either was very busy or just didn’t like to be bothered by auditors.

It is always interesting to look back at periods in our lives and wonder how we got to where
we are. I often think about how when I was in college, not only did I not think I was creative, I did not engage in enough thought about what my interests were. My major was selected more out of process of elimination rather than being drawn to the subject matter. This played out poorly as I knew as soon as I started at my former employer, Ernst & Young, that I would never be happy with a career in public accounting.

My decision to leave accounting was to find a career where I could be more creative and be a part of something tangible as opposed to the book checking nature of auditing. While the decision to attend business school was very unusual for someone in public accounting, my drive to find a career that would satisfy me intrinsically was fueled my seeing my dad’s lifelong frustration with his career.

Can I be creative? Can groups within organizations be creative?

I can be creative to some degree by myself. However, I agree with the argument put forth in the article in that my creative faculties would be greatly improved if I spent more time working on them. I like to immerse myself in learning lots about the world which I think gives me relatively good perspective (despite my limited global travels, which I would love to work on, if only I had the cash!!). Due to my desire to start my own business, I have started to devote more and more of my time to thinking about challenges the world is facing and/or will soon face. I try to think creatively about solutions that haven’t been dreamt up yet and of businesses I would have the capacity to develop to solve those challenges. My current idea was discussed in my previous blog post: the concept of a smoothie made from whole vegetables, along with whole fruit. Over time, I will discover if I am coming up with a truly creative idea or if it is one that has been previously thought of but has been sidelined by too many barriers. I do think a group within an organization is capable of being creative, but it is highly dependent on the individuals within the group and the overall culture of the organization. Disruptive innovation also comes from the creative efforts of small groups (Wright Brothers, Facebook, and Twitter). It would be interesting to see an analysis of where more disruptive innovation has taken place over the last 150 years,
inside or outside the walls of an established company.

Critique of the article

I enjoyed reading the article and it is thought-provoking to think of creativity more of a science and less as a trait that we either have or lack. The anecdotal stories of 3M and Yo-Yo Ma were interesting. I would have liked to have seen Lehrer go into more detail on our innate ability to assess what type of creative process is required for a given situation as that seems critical to a successful breakthrough or innovation. Also, I found the ‘10 Quick Creativity Steps’ a bit hard to buy into without more detail on the studies. Overall though, the article
reinforced a few different concepts for me.

· Creativity can and should be practiced.

· As both individuals and organization, we must strive to avoid complacency and must always try to obtain new and unbiased perspectives.

· Make time for reflection and relaxation so my brain can unwind and step away from the mental roadblocks that I encountered during the day.

Paper Topic

Eat Right!

How many servings of vegetables do people eat on average per day? How many servings of vegetables do people think they should be eating per day? I suspect for most Americans, the first number is lower than the second. Under that assumption, why don’t we eat enough vegetables? Is there a way to address this issue? These are the questions I want to discuss in my paper for
Customer Insights. I want to understand the behavior of individual eaters as well as those who make food-choice decisions for others (parents, schools, etc.)

Why is this topic interesting to me?

First, I am passionate about my own health and wellness; I am always trying to work on being healthier, both through my diet and my overall daily routine (sleep, exercise, etc.). I know I have my own shortcomings with my diet, most notably in the area of consuming vegetables. I know intuitively that they are good for me, but the point was driven home in a moving way when I watched a TEDx talk given by Dr. Terry Wahls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING!

Second, I am greatly concerned about the health of my fellow Americans. Obesity has reached levels such at it is considered an epidemic, a term usually reserved for things like bird flu, polio and the black plague. Many Americans subscribe to a very unhealthy diet, high in calories but low in nutritional value. While it would be nice if they could all start buying and preparing more vegetables, I don’t think it is that easy. I am interested in starting a business that helps people more easily consume nutritious vegetables.

What is the connection to the gathering and identification of customer insights and/or the design of valuable customer experiences?

Right now, my idea is to manufacture and sell a fruit and vegetable-based frozen smoothie that would be (eventually) available in groceries all across America (my plan is to try to start with Whole Foods and Central Market). At this point, I have a defined problem (lack of vegetables in American diets) and a potential solution (frozen smoothie). I still need to do more work to understand who my target customer segment is for this product. This process will involve understanding the personas of a various segments to see if there is a potential market for my product, and if so, how to position and market the product. I want to gather and identify customer insights such that I compare those insights against my own intuition. A key part of this process will be separating my own idea (and biases) for the product and the marketing approach. My research may persuade me that a different type of product is needed altogether.

With the assumption that my smoothie is a viable idea, I still need to work on understanding customers in order to create a valuable experience for my future customer. This involves a number of different issues including:

-How big is the smoothie? 8oz? 10oz? 12oz?
-How do we package it? Single serving or multi-pack
-How does the customer want it pitched? Health food? Tasty meal replacement?

I look forward to working with Professor Walls to put together that has an adequate level of focus and direction. Without actually doing field research, I may have to limit the paper to an overall discussion of how and why individuals consume vegetables as opposed to diving into the potential market for a fruit and vegetable-based smoothie.

Study I am going to use:

“State-Specific Trends in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Adults – United States, 2000-2009.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, September 10, 2010 / 59(35); 1125-1130. United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Article I found directly related to my topic:

Severson, Kim. “Told to Eat Its Vegetables, America Orders French Fries.” The New York Times. 25 September 2010.

Excerpts:

“Only 26 percent of the nation’s adults eat vegetables three or more times a day, it
concluded.” (Chris W: I would assert that even those eating vegetables three or more times a day probably aren’t eating “enough” vegetables. However, my paper will be focused more on the 75% of the country who are way behind on vegetable consumption.)

“It is disappointing,” said Dr. Jennifer Foltz, a pediatrician who helped compile the report. She, like other public health officials dedicated to improving the American diet, concedes that perhaps simply telling people to eat more vegetables isn’t working.

“There is nothing you can say that will get people to eat more veggies,” said Harry Balzer, the chief industry analyst for the NPD Group, a market research company.

The nation has long had a complicated relationship with vegetables. People know that vegetables can improve health. But they’re a lot of work. In refrigerators all over the country, produce often dies a slow, limp death because life becomes too busy.

“Before we want health, we want taste, we want convenience and we want low cost,” Mr. Balzer said. Melissa MacBride, a busy Manhattan resident who works for a pharmaceuticals company, would eat more vegetables if they weren’t, in her words, “a pain.”

“An apple you can just grab,” she said. “But what am I going to do, put a piece of kale in my purse?"

“We have to make the healthy choice the easy choice,” Dr. Foltz said.

Social Media

SOCIAL MEDIA

Introduction

Social media offers companies unprecedented access to the minds of potential customers. Tracking purchasing information at your store gives you data but lacks a certain depth to the information and is much more statistical in nature. Conversely, conducting surveys and test studies provides great information but is not scalable. With access to social media, companies can get interesting insights on a huge market that includes existing and potential
customers.

It may seem obvious but it merits mention that people use social media in a variety of different
ways, and provide different levels of information to companies. One end of the spectrum is my grandma. She has an iPad and is on Facebook and also uses Pandora online radio. She uses Facebook primarily to look at pictures of grandchildren. Conversely, I use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pandora, and LinkedIn. I am on these social media websites everyday using it for a variety of different uses. There are a number of other different “types”; each provide a different
level of insights to companies culling the data.

For this blog, I will examine the information that we could elicit from Melanie, the persona for my
group’s Nordstrom project. To briefly summarize, Melanie is a thirty-one year woman, married with a young son. She works full-time as a VP at an advertising firm in Austin, Texas.

What are her “tools” and what social media applications does she use?

Melanie has a work computer, an iPhone, and a Macbook she shares with her husband (for use at
home). Melanie uses Gmail for personal e-mail and subscribes to Groupon and Living Social.
She is also a regular user of Facebook and Pandora online radio. She uses Pandora at work on regular basis (on her work computer), but only checks her Gmail and Facebook periodically during the work day (normally on her iPhone). She spends more time online, either on Facebook or just surfing the web, at night and on the weekends. However, her son keeps her from being the type of person to sit on the computer for an extended period of time

What kind of info would you try to elicit?

Gmail – Nordstrom can work with Google to get ad banners on Melanie’s computer for web searches and e-mails that contain shopping related terms. This is more of an advertising outlet though as compared to a social media tool on which Nordstrom can gather information. However, Nordstrom can send her e-mails that become customized with input from Melanie.

Pandora – It would be interesting to see what demographic information could be pulled from Pandora users, either directly from Pandora or from surveying current Nordstrom customers (to see if they use and Pandora, and if so, what they listen to). It may be difficult to zero in on “stations” Pandora should advertise on, but advanced technology may provide insights on
what stations Melanie and other potential customers tend to listen to.

Facebook – To the extent this is possible, Nordstrom would benefit by being able to gain information on what brands (and what other retailers) Melanie is exploring on Facebook (either by posting something, “liking” someone else’s post, or clicking on a Facebook advertisement). Combining that knowledge with general information on Melanie that could be obtained from Facebook (female, mother, lives in Austin) could provide significant value to Nordstrom. A secondary benefit of obtaining information on Melanie’s Facebook usage is finding out other non-shopping information on Melanie. Learning what else interests her (restaurants, news outlets she accesses from Facebook such as HuffingtonPost and New York Times, etc.) can help us build out her persona.

How would you get at that information in a way that would be most accurate and telling?

This is the most difficult part of any information gathering effort, regardless of the tactic. Information that is not relevant or actionable is closer to data and could quickly become just an exercise in burning through cash. Also, if the information is misunderstood, it has the potential to steer a company like Nordstrom in the wrong direction with respect to its marketing strategy.
Social media is still a very new frontier for companies trying to extract information regarding current and potential customers. One of the most important ways Nordstrom can obtain useful information regarding potential customers is to have staff whose responsibility is to execute Nordrsom’s marketing strategy in all social media outlets (including Pinterest and Twitter) so that you build institutional knowledge within the organization on how to navigate this medium. The use of cookies and coupon codes can be used to track how individuals reach Nordstrom’s website. While the company should do its best to obtain info in a cost-effective manner, senior management should realize that trial-and-error is somewhat inevitable and should push its marketing employees to be sure to learn from each action, whether or not it succeeds in driving
sales.

Persona

Amanda is a forty year old white woman. She lives in an upper-middle class
neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. She is married with three kids, ages seven, five and four. She and her husband both work full-time; she is an OB/GYN doctor who works in an office with three other doctors. Her family’s household income is in the $300,000-$400,000 range.

Amanda takes pride in her appearance and is always well put together, even at work. She follows fashion trends, getting ideas for potential purchases from trends she sees at the tennis club or at a friend’s dinner party. She receives messages about fashion from a small amount of television she watches as well as advertisements in the magazines she reads. She enjoys reading People while waiting for a flight like many other women, but also subscribes to The New Yorker.

She is technologically savvy, but does not have the time or desire to blog. She has started hearing about Pinterest but wonders what she would really use if for and even she even has the time for it. She has an iPad and enjoys using it tremendously. In terms of online shopping, she buys certain things online, mainly books. She still prefers to go a local retailer and be able to try garments on rather than deal with buying something on-line and having to deal with sending it back if it isn’t right.

Amanda does not shop on a regular basis. Between her job and her family, spare time is hard to find and while she does enjoy shopping, she would prefer to spend the time working out or just spending time with her friends or family. When she does find the time to shop, Amanda is not scared off by high prices. She is a value shopper, preferring to own a few very nice pieces rather than a closet full of outfits purveyed at Forever 21. Excellent customer service is a way to win Amanda’s business. Sending her coupons in the morning newspaper is not. She generally shops alone, enjoying the time she has to herself.

In general, she worries mostly about her children, wanting them to have the chance to get an education and have a career as satisfying as the one she now enjoys. She and her husband are prudent savers but also feel good about rewarding themselves and have a comfortable (and often stylish) way of life. Amanda has a high level of self-confidence as a result of her own successes and while she attributes her material desires mainly to following what she thinks is attractive, she does still feel the need to fit in with her peer group of wealthy middle-aged mothers.

Welcome!

This is my customer insights blog.