Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #2

Previously, I had identified a customer segment that I wanted to focus on with my business idea, and I conducted interviews in order to gather more information about their buying behaviors. The information gathered provided some valuable insight to this opportunity and some things that may need to be focused on or refined. This time around, I am focusing on the alternatives that this particular customer segment may utilize. To reiterate from the last post, the segment I have decided to focus on is students in their first or second year at the University of Florida who are taking out student loans to cover the cost of tuition and living in college. I found three more students who fit this categorization, and focused on the alternatives as it relates to student loans, and the information needed to fully understand student loans. Since I am proposing a service that is aimed to advise and inform students of the details, processes, and effects of student loans, I wanted to ask the interviewees where they go to get this particular information. The most common first response was the financial aid office at the university. Expecting this answer, I wanted to inquire about the type of information they gathered and if they found it to be satisfying to their needs. The overwhelming response was that they felt they were given helpful information but walked away still confused about the whole process. The next alternative was the internet. All three of the students I interviewed stated they typically take to Google whenever they have a questions, which leads them to a variety of different websites and services that provide a touch of information. Again, the consensus seems to be that this is not all encompassing either. A final alternative seems to be people who have been through college and took out student loans before and know a little about the process. For this particular opportunity and the identified need, the main "picking" factor isn't price, or quality, rather it is convenience and amount of information gathered and absorbed.
It was important for me to also ask in these interviews about the idea of paying for services that will satisfy all of their needs as it relates to student loans. Given this is not something that students typically pay for, like financial aid advisers or the internet, I need to gather information to determine if this is something that they would pay a small amount for. In these three interviews, two of the three expressed interest in paying for a service that would provide all of the necessary information. The other student expressed it is really dependent on the price of the service and just how helpful it would actually be. This leads into the next topic I discussed with these students, what matters most to them when they think back on the "rightness" of the purchase. The overwhelming response to this question was that each student cares about the fact that the service will actually do something to help their financial situation now, as well as in the future.
In conclusion, it is clear that this particular customer segment has alternatives when it comes to their student loans. It also is very evident that these alternatives are not exactly meeting their full needs, and it is something that these students feel passionately about being fulfilled.