Lecture 1.
milkshake case: declining sales. What to ask as a consultant?
what are the competitors, and alternatives
Are the customers satisfied?
Is there seasonality?
previous communication/ads
demographics? Who are we talking to? Are we sending the same message
product availability, and distribution?
product variability?
product quality?
trends? people are more into healthy food, and trends drive the market
What's your number 1 goal: the outcome?
Jobs-to-be-done (JTBD)
job is shorthand for what an individual really seeks to accomplish in a given circumstance. Not just
any day any time, but at certain emotions, states etc.
Job is defined as the progress that a person is trying to make in a particular circumstance.
People hire a product to get a job done. The term “hire” expresses the fact that customers use a
product until the task is completed
The product or product category does not play a role in completing the customer job. Customers
judge solutions by how well they get the job done. Solutions are always temporary as consumers
switch product categories when another one does the job better.
The circumstances are more important than customer characteristics or product attributes.
Jobs are never simply about function. They have powerful social and emotional dimensions.
What are cheap and easy ideas to solve the problem? → market it as a way to solve the problem
- relevant customers’ needs are often latent needs.
What is crucial for purchase decisions is often not the needs that consumers are aware of and
mention when asked, but rather latent needs: unconscious or hard-to-articulate wishes, desires,
dreams, fears etc.
The job of a body wash: a combination of needs
- functional needs
- emotional needs
- social needs
Advantage of the jtbd logic for customer needs
- it shifts the perspective to the customer.
- it frees the views on your real competitors
- it has predictive powers as it is solution-free
questions you can ask to uncover jobs that customers need help with
- understanding about usage, when
- emotional state; why do you use it? How do you feel? What is the delta?
,- economic questions. income levels
- what do you like about the alternatives
1. What progress is the person trying to achieve? What are the functional, social, and emotional
dimensions of the desired progress?
2. What are the circumstances of the struggle? Who, when, where, while doing what?
3. What obstacles are getting in the way of the person making that progress? What tasks do
people want to avoid? Where do you see nonconsumption?
4. Are consumers making do with imperfect solutions through some kind of compensating
behavior? Are they buying and using a product that imperfectly performs the job? Are they cobbling
together a workaround solution involving multiple products? Are they doing nothing at all to solve the
dilemma (e.g., where do you see the nonconsumption)?
5. How would they define what ‘quality’ means for a better solution, and what trade-offs are they
willing to make?
Takeaways:
Jobs to be done is a simple framework that puts emphasis on the why behind what a customer is
doing. It focuses on identifying enduring consumer needs to develop products that have a lasting
impact.
It gives a unit of focus - the job the customer is looking to do - to build measurable ways of looking at
success that do not change over time. The products need to meet the metrics important to
customer.s
You are not trying to just solve a consumer problem. You are first trying to figure out what the right
problem is.
Good products do not sell themselves!
Article: Dueling with Desire: A Synthesis of Past Research on Want/Should Conflict by T. Bradford
Bitterly, Robert Mislavsky, Hengchen Dai, and Katherine L. Milkman
The article examines the internal struggle people experience between their immediate desires
("want" choices) and long-term goals or responsibilities ("should" choices). This type of conflict is
known as the "want/should" conflict.
Key Points:
1. Nature of Want/Should Conflict: The "want" choices are often more pleasurable and
provide immediate gratification, while the "should" choices align with an individual's long-term
interests, values, or societal expectations. The conflict arises when these two types of desires are at
odds.
2. Factors Influencing the Conflict: Several factors can affect how people resolve this
conflict, including individual differences, environmental cues, and situational factors. For example,
the way options are framed or the timing of decisions can influence whether a person opts for a
"want" or "should" choice.
3. Cognitive and Emotional Processes: The article delves into the cognitive and emotional
processes that underpin the want/should conflict. It explores how people justify their choices, the
role of self-control, and how emotions like guilt or pride can influence decision-making.
,4. Implications and Applications: Understanding the want/should conflict has practical
implications for various fields, including marketing, policy-making, and personal finance. For
instance, strategies can be developed to nudge individuals towards making "should" choices that
benefit them in the long run.
Conclusion:
The article contributes to the understanding of the internal struggle between immediate desires and
long-term goals, offering insights into how people navigate these conflicting motivations. The
synthesis of research highlights the complexity of the want/should conflict and suggests ways to
influence decision-making in favor of long-term well-being.
Lecture 2. Understanding consumers
Decision-making unit: DMU. the person who makes the decision.
Toilet paper example:
She made decisions, sometimes partner. Daily need. trigger is that the product needs to be available
before its empty. it’s a daily need.
looking for nearest by convenience store. Most important aspect is price, since all the toilet paper is
the same. Bundled price to see which bundle is the cheapest. 3 layers are important, most efficient.
Color is also important.
final decision: price with discount.
4 p’s, price is very important for cheap products. price per package the cheapest has been chosen.
Brand didn’t matter. it took like 3-5 minutes.
it’s a quick and automated process. You go for the option you always go for, more of a habitual
process. the difference is not that far in this decision making in the cheaper option.
price matters because of the competitors. everyday things so you buy them all the time.
DMP: decision making process.
The steps that consumers go to to make the decision.
AIDA funnel: ways to attract a consumer. Marketing funnel. attention/awareness, interest, desire,
action. Important way to track how consumers are making decisions relating to your brand.
A: you become aware and I. interested.
D: emotional aspect and then you take A action
after that, people can repurchase, loyalty
Better products skip the funnel and go immediately to repurchase, because if they go back they can
get out of the funnel because they lose interest.
→ When there’s a monopoly, the funnel doesn’t look like a funnel but more like a straight line.
awareness: know
interest/desire: feel
action: do
There are different shapes and with this you can identify your bottleneck and you know which area
you have to tackle.
It's important to know who’s your target group to identify in your funnel.
Product more than 100 what also identifies that person example: niche parfum
DMU: friend
, niche parfum, maison française
DMP: starting online, webrooming process. trigger;/ his passion, birthday was coming up so money
to spend.
Brand he liked already and he wanted to get another one from the brand he liked.
looked at reviews, went on the brand website to see the price, price comparison, after that he went
to a store to try it first. Went to milan to try all of them and then sprayed something on his skin,
getting some coffee to see how the parfum developed. He liked it and then he bought it. He also
tried different parfums. He bought it at the store he had a good experience it and bought it in the
store instead of online. price didn’t matter since he was ready to spend.
Consumer is willing to do extensive research before purchasing more expensive products. You are
more passionate about it so you take more effort. Doesn’t always work like that.
product loyalty can also be a factor. influenced by others. No awareness, you just buy it regardless
the price.
Difference between funnels: cheap is a more functional need, expensive is more a social or
emotional need, you want other people’s approval for example. Desire is higher and branding is
more important. You trust the company so you know what to expect.
experience: if it’s expensive you want to get the most out of it. For cheap products the experience is
not that important and it stops after buying and using. The experience for expensive products goes
on after purchasing. That’s where the value comes from. Scarcity also really matters
Cross model: y-as: high involvement low involvement
x-as: utilitarian function versus it serves an ego-expressive function.
pen: low, left if you use it every day. if it’s a gift from a father: high, right. emotional aspect is
included.
Toothpaste: you use price to move from left side of the model to right side of the model
low involvement: Colgate etc
high involvement: whitening toothpaste for ego and desire
Involvement can be explained in how often you use it or where you are in the process.
soft drinks: juice, redbull, drinks at a party, coffee brands
utilitarion/ you talk about the features, the options, the expertise
Ego: you talk about a dream, a desire.
you match your marketing to the opportunity
Luxury products: ego expressive and low involvement. cola, you don’t want cheap brands but youre
also low involved.
With repeated purchases, you go lower on the y-as
You need to segment your customers. You have to understand what your consumers like.
Heterogeneity in desires so you have to divide the market into segmentations
Benefit: personalization, more disciplined, different dynamic pricing, promotions, you should be able
to identify which are your valuable customers
- Segmentation aims at dividing the market into subsets of customers
- members are different between segments, but similar within
Benefits tot the firm: → sustainable profit growth
- Identification of valuable customers (higher CLV)
- More targeted promotions & Marketing communications
Benefits to the customers: → satisfaction & loyalty
