Final Blog

This semester flew by really fast. I can’t believe it’s the end of the semester already and I am writing my last blog for this class. I really enjoyed how the class was organized. It was very different from all of the other classes I have taken at UT. A typical class is usually to attend the lecture, read the book, and then take the exam. But this class was different in the aspect that it was not based on how good you can memorize for a test but actually to your ability to apply the material you learn in class by doing a project throughout the semester.

As I said already, this class required us to apply what we actually learn in the class to our group project. And because of that I understood what the meaning of “’Customer Insight” is. I realized and learned how important it is to gain the insights about consumers on any future product/services that is going to be launched in market. It is also very important to gain the insights on the current product that is already out in market because it helps the marketers to understand the pros and cons of that product and it also tells that if there is a need for any changes or upgrade to apply to the current product to better fulfill the customer’s needs. I also learned how important it is to actually understand the “key insights” for to better emphasize the needs of consumers. Key insight requires looking at the big picture, rather than looking at small pieces, so the product can fulfill all the requirement necessary for the particular segment. Prior to taking this class I knew that marketers do research on how to apply and satisfy the needs of the segment they are targeting but I did not know the actual process. And it was interesting to learn all the steps of how to gain insights on a specific segment and then apply it to make a product that meets with all the segment’s needs and wants. I am also using the skills I have learned throughout the class and throughout the project to write my final paper.

Another concept I learned throughout this project was about the importance of using the right kind of method to do gain the insights from your segment and then evaluating the results to use it to create a product. This project made me realize that using the right method is really important to get the accurate information. For example for our 14-15 year old girls, we used photo journals, focus group, and interviews. Depending on our segment we chose these methods to gain our insights. Photo journals were very helpful in deciding what these girls liked and disliked. By doing a focus group we were able to see how girls are influenced by other girls when giving answers to our questions. We were able to see if the answers were depended on one girl who dominated the group or not. By conducting the personal interviews we were able to see if the responses were still similar to the answers received in focus group or not. But the answers of girls were about the same from both methods. The photos they provided also showed similar themes. If we were to maybe use surveys as a method to gain our insights, I don’t think it would have helped much. With surveys they are maybe not telling what the truth is and they might make up answers. Also it’s a hassle to read and mark/write your answers rather than just telling or speaking personally. It is also very important that once you gain all the insights you need to evaluate them properly. If you understand their needs and wants clearly then you will be able to provide the product that assures all their requirements.

Working with group for this class was a little different from working on any other class group projects because I feel this group project involved a lot of communication among each other. It also involved everyone to suggest ideas so that the product we make in the end is excellent. We also had a lot of ethnic/cultural diversity so it was interesting to sometimes go off topic and learn about other cultures. Our diversity was also helpful for the project because we were able to incorporate that into our insights as well. We had an interesting finding that no matter which background these 14-15 year old girls are from they do have similarities. As far as the class goes it was interesting and I felt I was free to ask or express my opinion in class. The class was very friendly and I think that made this class have a lot more interaction between students and professor. Compared to other classes I have had, professor sometimes make it either hard to approach them or either make the class boring so a lot of students don’t participate in class discussions, but this class did not have any of these issues and students were more than happy to participate in class discussions. I did not learn as much from the group, besides working with each group member and listening to the ideas they provide for the group, than learning from the class. I learned more from class and whatever I have learned in this class will always be useful for me later in life.