Earlier in the semester, we had the privilege of visiting the Dollar Shave Club headquarters to learn more about research tools and how to conduct focus groups. We had a lesson led by Sean Krimmel, the Consumer Insights Manager who was an alumn of LMU himself and was able to give us the lowdown on all things DSC and focus group related.
But first, what is Dollar Shave Club?
In short, DSC says they are:
"A top-shelf grooming routine. Personalized for you."
They are a subscription service that offers a variety of shaving products at a discounted price to their customers once a month. This is a popular idea in this day of retail where many consumers are demanding a DTC product with a higher sense of ease. DSC is an efficient alternative for men (and women!) who are looking for a quick way to know they are getting the best products at the best price without having to scour the convenience store aisles.
Self-care nowadays is HUGE and it is increasingly important for consumers to find an easy way to take care of themselves. When there are a ton of self-care products out there on the market it can seem very daunting at first, but DSC takes away the influx of indecision by offering their own lineup of products. This lineup completes your entire self-care routine, and never runs out.
So what did we learn during all of this?
---- We learned the importance of consumer insights and that these exist in order to bring consumers to the table and advocate for them.
---- We were able to see how a focus group functions first hand by participating in our very own.
This part of the lecture was my absolute favorite. I have always been interested in focus groups and the psychology behind it all. I remember last year in the Brand Planning & Strategy class, my group and I had to conduct focus groups for our project. I was so confident at first, but as soon as the group showed up I got nervous and wasn't quite sure of the most efficient way to conduct the experience. That's when I learned that there is a LOT more to focus groups than meets the eye and when conducted correctly, the company is able to gain a lot of valuable insight.
During our focus group at DSC, half of the class was separated into an interview room with Sean and the other half watched what was happening in the other room through a monitor. Sean started off by asking very vague questions about where the participants were from and what their college experience was like, then he directed his questions towards how they felt about self-care and then finally he got a little more specific about what types of products they use and how they get them.
I was so interested while listening to this and took note on his questioning style. Even though the students knew exactly what was going on while they were being interviewed, I think even they were thrown off by the questions and were able to share a lot more valuable information for the brand than expected.
The biggest takeaways from this lecture were, of course, how to conduct a focus group, but also then how to make that focus group data into a usable insight by bringing forward the insights that are helpful and actionable for the brand. Being able to convert data from research into a useful insight for marketing materials is the backbone of a good campaign. Learning about these different research techniques is key.
A quick personal anecdote about a focus group experience I had recently:
I was invited to a focus group with Nike a few weeks ago in Santa Monica. They promised it would only take an hour and there was an incentive of a gift card provided after the meet. As someone who just had this focus group lecture, I was very excited to go in as a participant and try to pick out the intentional things Nike did in order to make everyone feel comfortable and get insights from us. When I showed up there was pizza and drinks provided and we were all gathered in a very hip space full of friendly people. After chatting for a bit, we sat down and introduced ourselves and then were split up into small separate groups. I ended up in a group of 3 with 2 moderators, which was pretty intimidating at first because they were asking personal questions and it seemed like an in-depth job interview that I was not prepared for. The moderators looked very interested in what we had to say, but a lot of it was fully unrelated to Nike. It was only during the last 2-3 questions where they brought up fitness or fitness apparel. At the very end, we were asked to rate 6 Nike shoes based on a few important attributes to us and then we reviewed them, and that was it! Without this previous lecture, I feel like I would have felt a lot more confused during the whole experience, but after learning a little more about how these groups are conducted, I was able to make sense of it all pretty quickly.
Overall, the Dollar Shave Club visit was a great experience where I learned valuable lessons and tips that will definitely be a huge help in the future!
Comments