Customer Behavior Profile Research Paper

Introduction

The concept of market segmentation is important in the sense that it can effectively be used to sell products online through electronic media advertising and messages. And, online media such as computer and mobile internet connections make it easier for advertising messages to reach many people across the globe.

Focusing on market segmentation, e-marketing such as online service is used to reach target audience. These forms of online services include, but not limited to facebook and twitter that can be used to reach different audiences (Loudon, 2001).

Characteristics of online sales that encourage people to buy can be best analyzed by the following discussion. Currently, consumers are better informed than before due to the advent of internet shopping, and with the required information they make purchase on those goods and services that are already known to them, the amount they are expected to pay and what to expect from the products/services.

Consumers are able to find the best prices for goods or services at the click of a button, and they can get reviews on some of the best or worst components of product/service through websites comparison (Kardes, Cronley &Cline, 2011).

This means that manufacturers and retailers often work hard to ensure the best quality and price for their goods and services. Buyers and sellers do not necessarily need to travel so as to carry out business transactions since purchases and sales can be made at the comfort of their offices, thus there is no cost involved for travelling.

In addition, much time is saved because prices comparison can be made within the shortest time possible. Besides, wide ranges of products are made available at the highest quality due to stiff competition that exists in the online market (Howard & Sheth, 1998).

A company may target a customer for online sales by use of search engine optimizers (SEO) and web-design professionals to build the required keyword analysis engines, meta tags, link building, SEO optimization, and directory submission (Foxall, 2005).

The company can as well engage in thorough e-mail marketing and e-mail advertising campaigns, and it should post messages about its products on blogs daily to attract consumers to their website.

Chosen Research Method

Though, there are many market research designs employed, a research method suitable for the internet, blogs or social media is qualitative market research, which involves the use of questionnaires to be completed online. Like the case of Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization, qualitative market is meant for exploratory purposes.

Here, small numbers of respondents are engaged in market interviews upon which data are collected. The collected report does not require statistical analysis such as calculation of statistical confidence and significance levels. The market report gathered from the small number of respondents is not generalized to the entire population.

However, market researchers always employ the use of more than one research method/design (Loudon, 2001). They can choose to begin with the secondary research with an aim of obtaining background information, and then carry out qualitative research design that is based on a certain focus group to make it easier for them to explore the research problem.

Consequently, a broader survey that covers a whole nation, that is, quantitative research design might follow so as to come up with viable recommendation to the customers (Kardes, Cronley & Cline, 2011).

Developing a Research instrument

The chosen research instrument for this analysis is the questionnaire. Focusing on the development of a questionnaire research instrument, and using Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization as an example, the information sought is based on rate of healthy snacks consumption among online consumers (Howard & Sheth, 1998).

The type of questionnaire chosen for this research is a close ended one that is only a page in size, where multiple choices have been provided for answering the questions and this will be administered through web form and email.

The content of the question will generally focus on the perception about snacks sold at Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization, and the form of response should be emailed back to the organization or posted on its website.

The choice of question wording is formal and simple for easy understanding by the respondents, and this is to be done in an A-4 paper type. Finally, the completed questionnaire is tested and revised to correct errors before it is dispatched online to the respondents (Foxall, 2005).

The identified market segment for healthy snacks is one with middle income earners who constitute the majority consumers of light foods such as snacks. The questionnaire research instrument shown below can be applied to these target audiences/consumers.

• What is your current age group?

1. 5-12
2. 13-19
3. 20-29
4. 30-45
5. 46-65

• What is your gender?

1. Male
2. Female

• Are you allergic to snacks?

1. Yes
2. No

• Do you like taking snacks?

1. Yes/No

• Would you want your snacks to be sweet or sour?

1. Sweet
2. Sour

• Do you have some idea on healthy snacks?

1. No
2. Yes

• Would you like taking healthy snacks?

1. Yes/No

• Do you prefer taking snacks with fruits to with none?

1. A. with fruits
2. B. without fruits

• Do you often visit online restaurants?

1. Yes/No

• Do you like buying snacks online?

1. Yes/No

• Do you encourage your friends to buy healthy snacks?

1. Yes
2. No

• How many times a week do you take snacks?

1. A. once
2. B. twice
3. C. thrice
4. D. more than thrice

The following were the most common answers generated from the questionnaire research findings.

1. 13-19
2. Female
3. No
4. Yes
5. Sweet
6. No
7. Yes
8. With fruits
9. Yes
10. Yes
11. Yes
12. More than thrice

Customer behavior profile

Based on the research findings analysis, the following customer behavior profile can be created.

1. Many of them are in 13-19 age groups.
2. Female gender is the majority customers
3. Many of them are not allergic to snacks.
4. Like taking snacks.
5. Love sweet snacks.
6. Need to understand some information on healthy snacks.
7. Though do not have complete information, they demand taking healthy snacks.
8. Would like to continue taking healthy snacks with fruits.
9. They frequent online restaurants.
10. Like making snack purchases online.
11. Are willing to attract more customers by encouraging their friends to buy healthy snacks.
12. Visit snack restaurants for more than three days in a week.

The following steps were involved in the process.

1. Pull the questionnaire report answers for the past 12-18 months and group them in terms of age and gender.
2. Determine the most frequent age group from the returned questionnaires.
3. Identify the current customer sizes that are not allergic to snacks.
4. Confirm that the current size of clients has some statistical relevance to the top 5 online restaurants that deal in healthy snacks.
5. Confirm the purchasing foot prints of the current consumers who buy healthy snacks.
6. Confirm the consumers of healthy snacks and determine their capability as economic buyers, that is, whether they are able to sign contracts.

Product message slogan and USP Development

Here, there are some five steps that were followed in the development of product message slogan and a unique selling point (USP).

1. First, evaluate if Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization actually requires a slogan, and this is tailor-made to attract as many people as possible in the business. The slogan needs to state what the company sells, and it should not be a long one that creates boredom to the targeted consumers. The message should be short, precise and catchy.
2. Brainstorming around Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization’s strongest benefits. This is so because the slogan must be built on the organization’s strongest benefits. These strongest benefits must be quantifiable in nature. For example, healthy snacks are given as 100 percent.
3. Considering the organization’s tone of language usage. For example, professional, exclusive, and professional tones can be used in the slogan. In the case of Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization, exclusive tone has been employed to attract customers and potential consumers.
4. Personalizing the slogan by incorporating the name of the organization in the slogan. This makes it easy for the customers to remember, creates originality and avoids making the slogan to be general.

Conclusion

In sum, Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization needs to invest heavily on online marketing so as to capture many new customers and to retain the existing ones. In conducting consumer behavior market research, the organization uses online questionnaires to gather information about customers’ perception on healthy snacks.

And, the message slogan used is a catchy one that communicates to the consumers at a glance. From the findings, the organization realized that many of their target customers are young consumers of female gender who are composed of mainly middle-income families. Therefore, the company should invest more in online marketing since these customers frequently visit online restaurants.

References

Foxall, G. (2005). Understanding Consumer Choice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers.

Howard, J. & Sheth, J.N. (1998).Theory of Buyer Behavior. New York, NY: J. Wiley & Sons Publishers.

Kardes, R., Cronley, L. & Cline, T. (2011). Consumer Behavior. Mason, OH: South- Western, Cengage Learning.

Loudon, D.L. (2001). Consumer Behavior: Concepts and Applications. London: McGraw Hill.