Description
Among our initial study participants, there were a couple who strongly depicted themselves as those who would normally purchase only items they needed online and very occasionally make additional inexpensive purchases for items they wanted but didn’t need. One participant in particular would notice that she needed to refill some necessary supply and keep it in mind for days until she was ready to make a purchase, and when she did browse for an item she wanted, she would spend as little time as possible comparing listings before purchasing an inexpensive one. Her behavior seemed efficient but also unnatural, as if she were intentionally trying to get off the site as quickly as she could.
Intrigued by this behavior and some insights from post-study interviews, I decided to explore a behavioral persona of the low-budget shopper, a university student who doesn’t have a reliable source of income to fuel frequent unnecessary purchases, based mostly on this participant but also drawing on aspects from others, such as those who enjoy buying clothes online.
In the journey map for this persona, at each stage in the shopping process, I focused on behavior, thoughts/feelings, and the theme of shopping being a source of stress vs. relaxation. It seems to start off relaxing, then dip into stressful waters when droves of recommendations appear, culminating in relief when checking out and being able to finally leave the site and all its tempting advertisements.
Proto-Persona
- Name: the low-budget shopper
- Activated Role: full-time university student with no car or part-time job
- Goal and motivation: I want to limit my online purchases to necessities because I don’t have the money to spend on things I don’t need.
- Conflict: Things that I want but don’t need make me feel excited and happy.
- Attempts to solve (and results):
- I try not to browse on sites with temptations (e.g., jeans). This has worked so far for preventing purchases, but people around me wear or talk about things that I am interested in buying, so I need to keep suppressing the urge to look for items from these brands online.
- When I shop for necessities online, I try not to look at the recommendations for items I didn’t intend to buy from the beginning. This is difficult because the recommendations are very prominent.
- I keep track of things I need to buy soon in my head and wait to put them in the cart to check out all in one session so that I don’t need to go on the shopping site often. This helps with reducing the number of times I start online shopping, but I might forget to buy things, and I still can’t avoid recommendations once I’m on the site.
- Setting(s) where they try to solve the problem:
- When I am alone in my room and have time on my hands
- When I am bored in class and want to do something else
- Key Tools/Skills: smartphone, friends who tell me when there’s a good deal online for something I’m interested in, the self-restraint I already exercise
- Routines:
- I go shopping for groceries in person.
- I notice that I’m running out of a certain product and make a mental note that I need to buy more soon.
- I hear about a good deal on something I’m interested in from a friend and keep in it in mind for a future online shopping session.
- Habits:
- Once I have everything I need in my online cart, I immediately check out.
- I keep everything I need to buy in my head.
Journey Map
