15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Evaluating How Your Customers Evaluate Stuff

For these interviews my main focus was on discovering how students make their choices, how do they determine if it was a good or bad choice after purchasing it and what’s a more convenient way for the to pay.

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 Interview 1: College Sophomore majoring in computer science at UF

Since most her classes start early morning, she doesn’t really get time to have breakfast so instead she likes to get some protein bar from the vending machine since they are the fastest and nearest place. Even though the protein bars in the vending machines are very limited I terms of flavor and variety; she still prefers those due to nutritional needs being med. Most of her transactions are done through a debit card because its more convenient fore her.

Interview 2: I interviewed my friend working at a UPS facility in New Jersey.

Faiza’s office hours are Monday to Friday from 8 am to 6pm. In between she gets a half an hour lunch break. Some days she has a heavy breakfast from home that keeps her full for loner hours, but on other days she has lunch from outside. For her the most important thing is the quality and taste. Only problem is that because at lunch hours they are long waiting lines at restaurants, she doesn’t like getting food herself, so she gets it delivered. Upon asking what kind of food she would like to see in vending machines, she said burrito, salad or fruit bowls, tuna salad, spinach wrap, something that isn’t too messy to handle, and her preferred method of transaction would be through card.

 Interview 3: A friend at Rutgers University in New Jersey

Being a full-time student and working part time are very hard for her to manage so she barely gets time to eat anything. If she does, she either goes to the food cafeteria in the morning when lines aren’t long and buys something then which she later haves for lunch or she gets something from the vending machine. For her nutritional needs aren’t really that important, but taste is. She gets something that keeps her full for long.

Conclusion: Based on the interviews conducted above, my customers mostly looked at the nutritional needs and if they were being met, the price was definitely another factor because they would like to be paying for something worth the price. The third was how easily accessible it is. If all their needs are fulfilled, then they think their purchase was a good idea. But most of the time they don’t have time to reflect and think if they made a right decision because of their busy schedules.