12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment:

The segment I am focusing on is current subscription box subscribers.  

Awareness:    

Kayla: She notices the issue of having multiple subscriptions on the last day of every month, when all of her subscriptions come out at the same time and she looks at her bank account. She debates on cancelling one of them to save $25+ a month but she is too indecisive on which one she will actually cancel because she uses products from all of them.

            April: She notices the issue of unused products she receives from her ipsy box. More often she finds herself only actually using one item a month that she gets—and it’s the one she chooses herself each month. She notices this when she puts away the items that she got and doesn’t want into storage with all the other unused items she has gotten in the past.

            Kaitlin: Kaitlin notices the issue of having products she doesn’t necessarily want at the beginning of the month when she gets e-mails from the company letting her know her boxes have shipped and offers a “sneak peek” into the boxes that are on their way. She is usually disappointed in multiple items, but typically will at least give them a try.

Information Search:

Kayla: When Kayla becomes aware of her problem, she has gone to the websites of each box to see if they offer cheaper options that might contain less to save some money. The only source she really uses is the company’s website.

            April: When April becomes aware of her problem, she goes to social media to see if any of her friends want some of these unused products, and occasionally she will try to re-sell the items on Facebook Marketplace. She does this to free up some space in her storage that is becoming overwhelming with the amount of unused subscription box products. She does talk to both friends and family but only in regard to offering them some of the unwanted products.

            Kaitlin: Kaitlin has turned to google on many occasions. She has actually searched for a variety type box and the closest thing to that she has found is Birchbox. Birchbox offers somewhat of a variety because it is considered a lifestyle box, but it comes with a hefty price tag. When she has searched in the past she used google to look for “variety subscription boxes” as well as “popular subscription boxes”. Kaitlin has also spoke with friends and coworkers for their input on subscription boxes they currently use and enjoy.

Summary:

I learned that my assumptions were correct, that other subscribers are similar to myself when it comes to not using a lot of the products they receive. They also do not want to spend a ton of money on several boxes to get a variety of items. Something new I learned was that people actually sell unwanted products they receive, which wouldn’t really negatively affect my subscription box in any way.

Conclusion:  

I would describe this segment in terms of need awareness as when they physically see something related to the subscription. For Kayla it was physically seeing it on her bank account, April when she physically sees the stockpile of unwanted and unused products, and Kaitlin when she physically sees the emails affiliated with the box contents.  As far as describing this segment in terms of information search, they rely heavily on family and friend’s advice, as well as social media.