Customer Experience

My most recent customer experience happened to involve of the largest purchases I have ever made.  I walked into the campus computer store last week after my Dell computer crashed on me earlier last month. The best way to describe this experience fully would be to walk you through my thought process during those brief twenty minutes and the thoughts leading up to my decision to walk into the store.

To unpack this experience properly, I must first talk about how it provoked my senses. The campus computer store is not necessarily flashy. It is in the corner of the FAC and is usually packed with students asking ignorant questions to sales clerks who they assumed are IT. The store features a few tables with laptops open on them similar to how the Apple store would present them. Without these tables with laptops, the store looks like a low-budget convenience store that only sells headphones and laptop cases. I immediately went over to these tables to test the feel of the laptops. I picked up a couple Dell laptops to feel their weight and use their touchpads. I then went over to the sleeker looking MacBooks. I felt the light MacBook Air and compared its size and weight to the MacBook Pro. I preferred the feel of the keys and the touchpad on the MacBooks to the Dells.

From an emotional standpoint, my only real emotion was “I will be broke”. The salesclerk did the best thing he could do to handle this emotion, he never mentioned price. He only mentioned the features of the product. He told me that if I did want my computer to crash again then the best product to buy would be a Mac. I can admit that I did have a certain emotional attachment to not being an “Apple” person. I liked the fact that my Dell could run all the programs from McCombs. I liked the fact that I was not drinking the Koolaid of Steve Jobs by having every single Apple product out there. My head overcame my need to go against the Mac fanatics. The salesclerk assured me that I will be better off with a Mac for X, Y, and Z reasons. The salesclerk kept my mind off the staggering price of the Mac and pointed out all of its advanced features.

When buying a technical product like a laptop, the majority of the decision is made based on the intellectual aspect of the purchase. I relied heavily on the salesclerk to tell me the ins and outs of each laptop. I wanted to know why I a better processor would help me. I needed to know why each feature on the laptop made it worth the expensive price. The salesclerk’s job in these situations is to give the customer practical examples of how various features will help their customer. Telling me the processing speed means nothing to me unless you can break it down into examples of which speed allows which functions.

            The salesclerk did a great job of showing how this new MacBook would change my day-to-day life. He told me how he was once stuck being a “Dell person” (I do not know how that is an actual term, but it made perfect sense to me at the time). He told me that he ended up biting the bullet and switching over to a MacBook after realizing it is a far better value. He related his personal experience to my current situation to push me over the edge and make a purchase decision. He finally addressed the value of the product, as he knew I was already sold on getting a MacBook. He did not give me a chance to back out of the purchase. Instead, he grabbed a laptop from the back of the store and brought it to the counter as I was taking a moment to see if I wanted to wait on purchasing the laptop. He put me on the spot and I appreciated it. I am now typing on my purchase

Customer Persona

 Customer Persona

There is an old man who claims to break the stereotypes of his golf buddies. He begrudgingly moved into an apartment after he got injured one too many times landscaping his yard. He and his 80 year old wife live in a "hip" apartment building near downtown Dallas. To truly understand this man from a marketing perspective, one must get inside his head during his average day.
Charles wakes up at the crack of dawn to read before his 7:30 am tee time. He is most likely reading his Bible in anticipation of his upcoming Sunday school class that he will be teaching. Or, he is reading his thousandth war novel. (Charles spent the majority of his career as a FBI detective and CSI investigator. He was so high strung throughout his fifty year career that he is unable to fully relax in retirement. He views everyday as an opportunity to learn something new.) He will make breakfast for himself and his wife, consisting of bacon, fresh fruit, eggs and English muffins. ( He made a deal with his wife that he would cook breakfast and get the groceries if she would cook dinner. As they approach their sixtieth wedding anniversary, the bargain is still upheld.)
Charles will then start his carpool route where he picks up his friends who live nearby for their weekly golf game. He always receives a warm  greeting from these friends followed by a joke about whatever ailment one of them happens to be suffering from today. (Charles had to find a younger group of golfing partners to supplement his close group of friends as age gets the best of them. In retired life, Charles has limited social interactions, so finding enjoyable people to spend four hours with can be very difficult.) The golf game plays out the same every time. Each senior citizen either yells at his clubs, blames the poor condition of the greens, or threatens their partner who happened to speak during their backswing. Charles will collect his bets at the end of the round and buy lunch for the crew. (He serves everyone around him. He serves others because he has the ability to do so. He is a very healthy 82 year old and feels the need to assist the rest of his age group as their health declines. He routinely visits elderly widows to fix their plumbing or a broken cabinet.)
After golf and lunch, Charles will head home to be errand boy for his wife/children. Afternoons consist of visiting children or grandchildren throughout the metroplex. Charles spends even more time helping his fifteen grandchildren than he does helping the elderly. Afternoons are used as a time for him to research whatever topic he chooses that day. He spends hours researching various things that his grandchildren mention. Topics range from: Safest car for my 16 year old granddaughter to why would my grandson like Obama? He remains up to speed on the topics that pertain to his grandchildren. He keeps tabs on all fifteen grandchildren despite the fact that they are in four different countries and ten different cities. He will know the weather forecast of each city the grandchildren are in and warn them of any incoming storm.
After an active afternoon, Charles will eat a home cooked meal with his wife. The dinner will disregard any health precautions he received from his doctor. After a quadruple bypass twenty years ago, Charles claims that he would rather keep his heart happy with steak than live a couple extra years by being a vegan. Dinner is concluded by an episode of CSI where Charles relives his glory days. After a couple of phone calls/ skype sessions with some of the grandchildren overseas, Charles will call it a night.
In retirement, Charles refuses to be viewed as old or weak. He is constantly trying to stay up to date. As an active 82 year old man, he finds it difficult to be around people his age who are not as mentally or physically capable. He is heavily invested in his family and the majority of his purchase decisions center around products for these 18-30 year olds.