9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

WHO: Thank to my interviews, I found out that there are some people who fall outside the boundary of my target market. These people include those who do not pay for the electricity bills. In fact, I interviewed my dad, who owns a rental home which has mostly LED lights. He said that since the occupants pay the for bills, combined with convenience made it the path of least resistance not to replace the fluorescent ballasts. After interviewing a young couple that recently bought a house, I found out that they have the need since they’re aware they would spare energy and money with LED lights. However, at the moment they said they do not have enough money to replace all the lights and they plan to do it in the future. I also found out that one of the reasons why people don’t use LED lights is laziness. One of my interviewees, a 21-year-old girl, who lives with her parents in a house with both LED and CFL’s lights, said that they are simply too lazy to substitute all the lamps and that they never really felt a need to until they absolutely had to. Interviewee number four and five, similarly to interviewee number three, said they are too lazy to change to LED lights. Interviewee number four, who lives in a rented apartment, added that he believes it won’t make any difference for the environment if he uses LED lights or not, because it would be just him. On the other hand, the last interviewee, a 25-year-old girl, said she is used to CFL lights and she does not feel like changing them because she already has those and has grown accustomed to the warm yellowish color they emit.

WHAT: Although some of my interviewees show the need to save money and energy, they focus on fulfilling this need in the present and almost all of them are not interested in long-term benefits. Furthermore, the majority of my interviewees doesn’t show the need at all, as they are not interested in changing the way things are in the present.

WHY: I think that the need is the same, but some people don’t have the opportunity to satisfy it (because they don’t have enough money/are unwilling to invest in this change), while others would probably satisfy it if it was easier for them.

	INSIDE THE BOUNDARIES		OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES
WHO IS IN	·       People who own a house and pay for their bills ·       People who are concerned about the environment ·       People who want to save energy and therefore money ·       People who are informed about the advantaged of led lights	WHO IS OUT	·       People who do not own a house / who do not pay for their bills ·       People who do not have enough money to invest ·       People who are not informed enough / who are lazy ·       People who do not have the ability to change the lights
WHAT THE NEED IS	·       To save energy and money ·       Convenience	WHAT THE NEED IS NOT	·       To change people’s habits ·       To educate
WHY	·       To save money, energy and help the environment ·       To feel healthier as led lights don’t radiate heat, UV rays and don’t get eyes tired	ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS	·       People are not ready to change their habits completely as they are okay with what they already have  ·       Convenience is more valuable than small savings ·       People are not interested in long-term benefits

Summary/Reflection: I initially thought that would be easy to sell something to people that would save them money, but I didn't take into account the time value of money, the initial investment costs to get these, and the value people place on convenience and not exercising any effort which often supersedes that of the savings they could acquire over the short term. I think convenience it of itself has monetary value that supersedes relatively low savings. This really just confirmed a lot of the barriers I initially uncovered with my first interviews. I wonder if some sort of financing and installation service would appeal to them. In further questioning I would abandon individual consumers and switch my target audience to businesses using legacy light systems and see if some sort of financing arrangement for decreased electrical costs would appeal to them.