#4 Customer survey with the prototype

Hello everyone,

we know that it might be a bit boring that we're going to write about another customer survey we conducted, but this is pretty much what we've been doing recently. 

However, this time we brought the prototype with us to find out how much people like our initial design and to test how much time it takes to convert the jacket into a bag. Besides, we recorded all the 16 interviews so that we can make a video summary of the feedbacks and comments for the second challenge. But let's dig a bit deeper into our insights!

The main findings of our survey:

• The average number of city trips per year was 8.125. However, one lucky bastard among the respondents is a clear outlier of the sample with 24 trips. Leaving out his answer, the average drops to 7.06 times a year. We are still happy with this number, as it still can be regarded robust enough.
• People seem to be bothered by carrying items during their city trips, as 7 respondents - out of the 12 answering this question - agreed on the hassle. 
• More than half of the respondents carry a jacket with them during city trips.

Following a short interview with the survey participants, we showed them our prototype with a presentation of its features and usage. Then we asked people to try to fold the product by themselves and to give us their impressions about the product.

The prototype in action :)

• The average time of transformation was 28.43 seconds. Yet we have to take into account the fact that one guy was probably not taking too much attention since he needed an extra round of product “presentation”, that led his time to be of 64 seconds. If we excluded this outlier from the group, the time mean would be only 25.7 seconds.
• Most of the respondents (9 out of 13) found the way of folding very easy 
• Only 6 people shared a negative impression with us, addressing the following issues:
1. The design of the prototype is too basic and not really good looking – factor that will be properly addressed with the new version of the product, we promise!
2. The size of the clip buckle is too big and invasive for the design of the jacket - this was the most common feedback we got (from 6 people), so we definitely should find a way to reduce its size and, if possible, even hide it with a piece of cloth 
3. The sleeves are too long and not easy to fold - problem that we will tackle immediately
4. The color of the jacket is too dark - only one girl reported the color as a problem, which will be solved by providing many color variations in the future. Also, most of the people seemed to be satisfied with basic colors.
• Furthermore, we were suggested to be more precise on the number of items the jacket can store: A drawing of the jacket’s pockets with a brief description of what can each of them contain would be apparently of a great value!
• Just like in our previous surveys, we asked the respondents about the price they would be willing to pay for our product. In line with prior outcomes, 9 out of 14 respondents were keen of spending at least 30€ on the product, with 7 of them willing to pay 50€ or more. However, the average of 41€ was a bit under the price we settled. (50€)
• And, last but not least: we also asked whether they’d find a value in taking the jacket to festivals. To Sara's biggest pleasure, from those who were claimed to be festivals visitors (8), 7 said that they’d find value in having this kind of product during a festival.

Based on the surveys that we've conducted in the past couple of weeks, our key feedback and insights can be summarized as follows:

1. There seem to exist two categories of our potential customers in terms of price sensitivity: 

• Customers who are rather price-sensitive and willing to spend only a small amount of money (around 20€) for a waterproof jacket independently of its characteristics
• Customers who are rather quality-sensitive and willing to pay a premium price (range 50-70€) for higher quality and more features. Since we won't be able to produce and ship for less than 20€, we will most probably focus on this group.

2. Our product would be difficult to sell in brick-and-mortar shops, because customers do not understand the functionalities of Backjag when they walk around shops and see it without any kind of explanation. While it is relatively easy to show how it works on a website (e.g. in form of a video or gif), in brick-and-mortar stores it would require a separate stand and physical workforce, which is probably extremely expensive. This means that one of our channels in the BMC will be removed (physical shops).

3. We have to investigate two more customer segments: 

• People dressing in sporty clothes, as they prefer functionality over pure aesthetics when choosing clothes compared to elegant and hipster people.
• Hobby runners and sportsmen, as they might like to purchase a rain jacket which can also be used as a bag adherent to the body when it's too warm. Hobby sportsmen usually bring only the most necessary items, such as keys, mobile phone, iPod, and wallet when doing outdoor sports, thus the capacity of Backjag would probably meet their needs.

4. Although we think that are existing prototype is already cool enough, we should make a new version with a quality jacket which resembles the final one, otherwise some people will not understand what we are selling.

5. We got clear feedbacks on what to do in order to improve the design:

• Hiding the belt clips and make them smaller
• Adding more pockets
• Ensuring that all pockets are waterproof
• Finding the way to close the top part (e.g. with a zip)
• Ensuring that the jacket is light enough to walk for hours without feeling it
• Offering multiple colors

Well, one thing is clear: we won't get bored in the following weeks. :) Stay with us, we are coming with our next post by the end of this week!