15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior Number Two
Alternatives: Turn lights off in house, have solar panels in
a backyard area, or consider windmills in the back/front yards.
My first
interview was with an older lady in the local Gainesville area. She has lived
in the same home for 24 years, so I asked if she would consider any of those alternatives
to having solar panels on the roof of her home. She went through the options
and from her experience, she really seemed to like the solar panels in the
backyard idea. She liked the first alternative, but she told me that she didn’t
think it could be as effective as the amount of energy solar panels could save.
I asked her if price played a part in her option and she said it really didn’t
matter to her. She determined that her purchase was right because of the
environmental friendliness and how much energy she’d be saving.
My second
interview was with a friend from the landscape architecture community. She thought
through all the options and determined that right now, the best alternative for
her was to be able to turn the lights off in her home. I again asked if price
was a factor and she said for this decision that price was the only factor. If
she had the funds, she would definitely choose one of the other options to be
more energy efficient, but for now she’d do what she can.
My last interview
was with somebody who is really concerned with the environment. They have researched
sustainability and efficiency. Originally, she chose the solar panel in the
backyard option, but as I started asking her about pricing and if she thought
her “purchase” was a good idea, she explained that she hadn’t thought of all the
factors. She explained that the lights option would be more fundamental and
that she hadn’t made the right purchase decision for herself at the time.
I believe that
people really do want to do what’s best for the environment and what’s best for
themselves, but there are definitely a lot of factors that play into it. This
segment was varied, some seemed to have money to be able to do such feats, but
some didn’t; yet, they all wanted to do the thing they thought was most energy
efficient.
Hi Madison,
ReplyDeleteI see that you received a lot of good insight from your interviews! I think that I agree with your statement that a lot of things influence peoples decisions whether its for themselves or the environment. I think that environmentally friendly products can be pricey and some people are not willing to pay for it even it they would like to. Maybe offering a payment plan so customers could pay monthly instead all up front would bring in more customers and potentially more revenue.
Hi Madison,
ReplyDeleteI think your interviews were really spot on, as it was really hard for me to place my situation into many alternatives. I had to dive deeper into the aspects. Solar panels are expensive and it will be hard to convince many of the lower and middle class to do so because they do not have the money! They may want to save the environment, but they would rather turn off the lights because they have things to accomplish and work for rather than focusing all of their attention on the environment. It is going to be hard to balance between being expensive and having high quality!
Hi Madison, I saw in the interview the common ground that people were thinking about. Almost everyone wants to do their bit for the environment, and they insist on doing what they think works. Solar panels are indeed a good environmental protection and energy saving products. But high costs and prices keep people away. Like Dan said. Not everyone can always put environmental protection first. Because they also have to maintain their normal living expenses.
ReplyDeleteHey Madison,
ReplyDeleteYour project is really interesting, because when I did this assignment I simplified buyer behavior to three factors: Price, quality, and style. Your project makes me think there may be a fourth factor-- a moral factor. This may not be present in all products, but like you mentioned a lot of people buy solar panels to be environmental, not because of the quality or price. Although I still think for solar panels and energy, price is the number 1 priority of consumers. Maybe this means your product should be all about creating cheap solar panels, or maybe it should approach from a more "moral" standpoint. Either way, i feel as if your interviews gave you valuable information.
Hello Madison,
ReplyDeleteThis business idea is really unique because it is one of those products that people would love to have and invest in to save the environment and feel better about their carbon footprint. However, solar panels are very expensive and not everyone has the ability to pay for them. I think if everyone had the funds, there wouldn't be anyone who refuse to have solar panels. Maybe a more cost effective kind of system would make your target audience more likely to purchase your product. For example, a solar panel that doesn't light your entire house on it's own but is just more of a booster may be less expensive. It doesn't do as much for the environment as other panels would but it does something to push people in the right direction. Great job!
Hi Madison,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on your post about buyer behavior. I think you chose a great group of people to interview and they provided valuable information to your post. Similar to your findings, I found that the that people I interviewed all had different priorities when it came to solving their issue. I would have thought before reading this post that price would be the biggest priority when it came to saving energy and being environmentally friendly like this, but I was surprised to see that not all of the people you interviewed cared about that.