A project at BellSouth provided the opportunity to conduct a contextual study in which a colleague and I visited customers customers in their homes to inquire into how they used and adapted to their technology. One of the outcomes of that research was a library of personas that provided insights into how customers lived with their equipment, talked about it, and thought about it. More significantly, we uncovered a number of possible business opportunities that could be further explored.
Here’s a recap of some of the more interesting findings.
- Houses are not built for the technology that people put into them. Customers came up with a number of original and unorthodox solutions to their in-home technology needs. What business opportunities exist to better adapt the tech to the real world living experiences of customers?
- Professionals who work in their houses can be further divided into those who run their own business and those who work for someone else. Guess which of the two is more frugal when it comes to tech purchasing decisions? Are there ways to better market to each type of customer?
- Everyone has a go-to guy; even the go-to guys have a go-to guy in some domain or another. How can the go-to guy be recognized for his talents and engaged to benefit customers and the business?
- People are pack rats. If the obsolete tech still works, plenty of customers were reluctant to give it up, so they found a way to stash it somewhere in the house, whether a closet or a basement or attic. Is there a way to engage customers by offering them some consideration for their obsolete tech?
Sean Romer 