Buying Behavior #1

Sketching out the Beginning of the Buyer Behavior Process

Here I will  be interviewing three potential customers of retractable Eno straps in order to determine how they begin their buying behavior.

The Segment:

I will be discussion on consumer geographic which include those living in a) college towns, and b) rural  regions known for outdoor activity such as hiking, biking, and kayaking. These regions typically include the mid-north and mid-west area of the United States.

The Interviews:

I asked each interviewee a series of questions to gauge 

1) When/where they most prominently notice their unmet need.

2) What they do do find a solution to the problem

Interviewee 1:

I spoke to this person while I was hiking in Tennessee over the weekend. They were in an Eno adjacent to the trail. I had about a 20 minute conversation with this person and was able to gathering the following information. They live in Tennessee, however they work a full time job so they only have time to relax on the weekends. They most commonly Eno a few times every month on the weekend when the weather is nice and they want to relax. They have noticed there being a problem with the difficulty of folding and packing their Eno straps, which occurs every time they take down their Eno, which again- happens a few times a month. They would rate this a very minimal problem because it isn't a big deal, and if all else fails, they just stuff the straps in their backpack. They haven't done much of anything to solve this problem, because its not detrimental in the grand scheme of things. If they were to google a solution, they would look up "easiest way to fold Eno straps."

Interviewee 2:

I spoke my sister's boyfriend for this interview because he is an avid traveler and spends a lot of his time hiking in the north. He said he spends a lot of time enoing, and even sleeps in his Eno on camping trips. He thinks Enos are great because of their simplicity, but admits that the straps can be annoying. He notices this problem every time he is on a trip, which is typically 100 days out of the year. As a hiker, he likes to travel light, and stuffing Eno straps in his bag takes up a lot of unnecessary room. He spoken to his buddies about this, asking if they have a different way of packing their Eno straps, but hasn't done any online searches. He would definitely be interested in a more efficient way to compact his Eno straps, as long as it was some overly complicated device.

Interviewee 3:

I spoke to a student Enoing on campus. They very heavily agreed that there is a problem with Eno straps frequently saying "yessss that is SOOOO relate able!" This  person Enos frequently, almost every day between . They find it a good opportunity to enjoy the outdoors after sitting in a building all day. Sometimes they spend a little too long in their Eno, and end up late for their next class because it take so long to fold up and put away the straps. Furthermore, this student is very organized, so it bother them greatly that they cant fold their Eno straps precisely. They complain about this to their friends often, and have researched online "bigger eno bag" and "quick eno folding."

Summary

• Interviewee one experiences this need fairly often but does not deem it a large enough issue to solve.
• Interviewee two experiences this need very often and doesn't actively pursue solutions, but would be interested in one. 
• Interviewee three experiences this unmet need almost everyday and is actively pursuing a solution.

Conclusion

Through my interviews, I learned that people within this geographic segment who own Enos most definitely have this unmet need.  However, 2/3 interviewees haven't actively pursued a solution, so it may be difficult to expect them to invest in a solution in the future. I also learned that people in this market are very focused on simplicity and using an Eno to relax, so the product should reflect that.