Customer & Market Research
MARKET RESEARCH
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In our market research, there were three primary questions we wanted to answer, and based on those questions applied different methods for qualifying and quantifying the problem we wanted to address:
01. Who is our customer?
Here we used observational research and short-form guerilla interviews to explore how commuters live their lives and what matters to them.
02. WHAT ARE PAIN POINTS & WHY?
Here we used surveys and long-form interviews to explore how what pain points and benefits mattered most to everyday bike riders.
03. HOW IS IT BEING SOLVED?
Here we conducted desk research and competitor benchmarking to understand why existing solutions do not solve commuter needs.
01. Who is our customer: OBSERVATIONS & INTERVIEWS
In addition to observing petty nuisances around campus, we conducted 10 interviews with everyday commuters on the go and learned that many are often forgetting simple necessities like staying hydrated, bringing an umbrella, or wearing a helmet.
We noticed that in all of our conversations, people really cared about balancing safety and convenience during their commute, whether that meant staying upright on a crowded bus or avoiding an unexpected crash while zooming around on an e-scooter, people we're still obsessed with getting to their next destination with as little hassle as possible.
But across these responses, we found that some of the frequently mentioned pain points around convenience and safety came from individuals who were commuting via bike. This consequently became our focus area.
02. WhAT ARE PAIN POINTS & WHY: SURVEY & INTERVIEWS
Focusing in on everyday bike riders, we conducted 5 longer-form interviews and deployed a survey with 54 responses. Assessing both the qualitative and quantitative date from these methods allowed us to not only validate the importance of safety and convenience for these users, but also extended our understanding of why those pain points exist and what requirements would be most beneficial.
EXAMPLE EXCERPTS FROM OUR INTERVIEWS
EXHIBIT A
SURVEY RESULTS
Nearly 70% of common commuters rated that safety was the most important consideration for them when riding a bike. Many common commuters recognize that head trauma from a biking accident can be extremely severe from both a health and medical cost perspective, and hope to avoid every encountering such experiences. Second to safety is comfort while riding and ease of use, which validates our understanding of our users' preference for convenience and hassle-free travel during their commutes.
But despite a majority of bike riders ranking safety as their biggest priority, only about 31% of common commuters always wear a helmet when riding their bike. for them when riding a bike (Exhibit B). In our open text responses questioning why riders did not wear a bike, about 38% discussed issues of discomfort, 30% reported often forgetting it, and 27% discussed challenges carrying a helmet with them while on the go. These reinforced which pain points we should target in order to improve helmet adoption and adherence.
EXHIBIT B
EXHIBIT C
We further probed into how satisfied common commuters were with their existing helmets across different dimensions. While many acknowledge that their helmet felt safe and durable, Comfort (5.42 / 10) and Compact/Easy to Store or Carry (6.43 / 10) were the lowest scoring dimensions on average across a total of seven-dimensional categories (Exhibit C).
These results further validated the need that existing helmets do not address these pain points for users and that there is opportunity to solve this problem.
Lastly, we wanted to understand if there were particular competitors or alternative solutions that were doing a good job, and we tested this by asking respondents to share how familiar they were with some of the leading helmet brands focused on comfort and portability. To our surprise, over 60% of consumers for every category were unfamiliar with the brand. This reinforced our evaluation of the fragmented market, understanding that no major player has too much power over influencing our customer's purchasing decisions.
EXHIBIT D
03. HOW IS IT BEING SOLVED: DESK RESEARCH & COMPETITOR BENCHMARKING
From conducting a competitor benchmarking exercise and from reading market reports, we realized that many competitors and alternative solutions were not currently addressing the key pain points around comfort, portability, and convenience for everyday commuters. More detail on these competitors and our summary findings can be found in the Competition Analysis section.
MARKET RESEARCH SUMMARY
Starting from a larger problem of addressing petty nuisances of daily commuters, we were able to narrow down on everyday bike riders and the specific pain points they experience around comfort, portability, and convenience. Overall, from talking to potential users to surveying them on their key needs, we learned that while safety is a huge concern for bike riders, this often becomes an afterthought or a deprioritized consideration when commuting everyday. This is because in everday circumstances, common commuters are trying to eliminate any possible hassle that can deter them during their day, and this includes dealing with the discomfort and bulkiness of existing helmets. This research therefore underscores the idea that if a solution were to improve the comfort and portability of helmets, more commuters would adhere to wearing a helmet and consequently feel safe.
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