Story of a buyer’s journey and reflecting on Sugru conversion process.
Have you heard of this stuff, Sugru? It’s this putty that can be moulded and shaped to improve, fix or, as they put it, hack all sorts of different things. Like if your dog treats your eyeglasses like a chew toy you might be able to mould this stuff to fix them up. Or as some of their social media suggests, make a nifty little DIY toothbrush holder. The possibilities are endless with a product like this and the social community around Sugru proves (more on this later)
Anyways, I needed something to fix a broken key my girlfriend and I had a used car we had bought from a family member about a year ago. Writing this blog post, I can remember the day we got the car: with every used car there come a few kinks and ours happened to be a broken car key and a trunk latch that took a little finesse.
I remember telling my girlfriend that the broken key wouldn’t be a problem and that I would fix it up. I told her I had seen this cool putty stuff that moulds whichever way you want and hardens. Which brings me to my first stage in the buyer’s journey, awareness:
BRAND AWARENESS
I can’t remember exactly where I had first heard about Sugru, but had been aware of the product and knew I had a potential use for it. I spend more time on the internet than I’d like to admit and had probably stumbled on Sugru browsing Reddit or through one of my social media feeds.
This stuff had been burned into my memory just waiting for it’s right time to spring from my subconscious and find itself solving a problem I had months later. I can say for a fact that I couldn’t remember the brand name of the product and could only hold onto its function: the putty that moulds anyway you want and hardens.
I must have thought it was kind of fresh and functional to be able to remember it months down the line.
My awareness of Sugru from either social media or somewhere else on the internet had been my first step in my conversion process. I became aware of Sugru and was, albeit slowly, starting my process to purchase this miracle putty.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Most consumer products aim to solve a problem a potential customer is having. The issue is not everyone has a need or problem to address at the time of initial awareness, which may stunt the conversion process.
Just like in my particular case, I had briefly seen a product that was attractive enough to gain my attention and stick with me until there was a problem I needed solving. That problem happened to be a broken car key that needs a quick fix to fit on a key ring. Admittedly, it’s been over a year with a broken car key and it’s a miracle we haven’t lost it yet.
Brand awareness is a hard to measure metric. We know it’s important that consumers are aware of our product or service because if they weren’t it’d be pretty hard for someone to purchase what we sell. A lot of brands put a lot of money into awareness either through social media marketing, content marketing, print ads, etc. but the return on investment is an elusive number to track down.
We may not be able to measure brand awareness without, arguably, any sound accuracy but this is anecdotal proof that it does work.
THE PROLONGING
Like a lot of others out there, I tend to put some small tasks off for quite a while. The car key worked and we hadn’t lost it yet – so what’s the problem?
I had put off getting a replacement of the car key because a) it’s rather a large expense for a key b) the hassle involved in going to a dealership and waiting and c) procrastination.
This prolonging process frankly took about a year’s time. I know this because recently I had to renew our car insurance for the first time and as any car owner knows that happens about once a year. The solution to my problematic car key, however, always seemed to stay in the back of my mind. There’s this putty I’ve seen once somewhere on social media that might just do the trick.
TIME TO TAKE ACTION
It wasn’t until I got a stern talking to by my girlfriend that I finally had to get our car key fixed up. We had misplaced the free key for the last time and running around in the morning before work was starting to get a little old.
As mentioned, I knew I could fix my problem economically with this neat stuff I saw on social media so I rolled up my sleeves and went to work performing my best “Google-fu” and looking for a product I could only remember the function of.
I had found a Lifehacker article on the stuff and like any self-respecting internet junkie, I did some pre-purchase research on what I would later spend my money on. The reviews seemed pretty decent and I thought It might work for what I needed it for and not just something I told my girlfriend to ease her mind.
I went straight to Amazon and started pricing out the product. I wasn’t too impressed with pricing on Amazon for Sugru. I didn’t need a whole bunch of the stuff. I read some of the reviews of the Sugru, learnt it came in different colours and became, even more, convinced that I would eventually make the purchase.
Reviews are an extremely useful but tedious process in the buyer’s journey. I’m primarily looking for confirmation from users of the product to describe if it lived up to its expectations and in this case the reviews of Sugru seemed up to snuff.
I still had a little doubt – I wasn’t exactly sold that Sugru would be my answer. I turned to social media to have my reservations mulled. I took a picture of my broken car and tweeted it @Sugru to get my answer straight from the horse’s mouth.
My original tweet was sent rather late at night so I didn’t expect a response until morning so I set my phone aside and moved on to other things.
I when I woke up there was a tweet waiting for me. Sugru had responded with a blog post that had already addressed my concern – I was sold.
PURCHASE JOUNREY
I went to Amazon to check out the price range of Sugru. I found large packs of Sugru that I was able to order but nothing that seemed to fit my budget. I didn’t need that much of the magic putty and only wanted to purchase a packet or two.
I decided to check out the Sugru website and see if their prices were similar or if they offered different packages. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were not only 3-packs of the Sugru but that it also came in different colours.
I read their little What is Sugru blurb and started looking around their blog and social community a little more. There is a tonne of you can do with Sugru, I can see why some people find this magic putty pretty damn useful.
I was more than impressed with blog and social community Sugru has cultivated. Exposed to ideas, the way other people have utilised Sugru, and another use I had never even thought of was kind of interesting. My imagination started to run wild with other ways that I might be able to use the product.
An active social and blog community is next level awareness. I can only better understand the product and it’s used but can further my conceptual spectrum and find more uses for a product. Content marketing does work and this might be a perfect example to put it over the top for some people.
ANALYSIS PARALYSIS
I love to shop online. It streamlines the research, review, and purchase process. I can find reviews, ideas, and different products which allow me to make better-informed buying decisions and spend my money a little more responsibly.
Who wouldn’t want that?
The problem I run into sometimes is what I like to call analysis paralysis. What I mean is that I seem to overthink a lot of purchase decisions. I build shopping carts and abandon them, go back and rebuild with more research and hesitation in mind. The mental game I find myself playing often stops me from following through and making a purchase, or conversion.
With Sugru, the buying process was streamlined avoiding my hesitations. The “Buy Now” button was visible and above the fold. My doubts were set aside after I saw that there were three packs of the product in stock and in the colour I needed.
Credit card details were as painless as filling out a form can get and the shipping instructions, like many other e-commerce experiences, was straightforward and refined. The actual purchase process was a breeze.
CONFIRM IT
Once all my dirty details were inputted, my order was confirmed with a nice email. The details of my shipment were sent to me. Within the email notification, Sugru had also promoted their social media channels and blog. An excellent little effort to get me over there to see what the community had to offer.
As mentioned, I was impressed with the social media community Sugru has cultivated. There were lifehacks and uses for the product. Tips and tricks were provided with easy to view video and images. Their blog was handy and prompted me to start thinking about how else I was going to use this miracle product
PRODUCT ARRIVAL
I was excited when my new Sugru arrived. My car key would be fixed and I’d be able to finish this blog. The package came in a nice box with my product inside. Pretty simple. It took about a week and arrived as promised.
There was a little note inside detailing what I had ordered and how I could find help if something were wrong. There was also another push towards their social media. Asking me to check it out if I had any question or if I was looking for ideas.
USING SUGRU
Sugru worked as advertised. I moulded the putty around my car key and played with it until I got in the shape I wanted. Once it was in position, I let the stuff sit for a while, as per instruction, and the putty started to harden.
It works, really simple. The key has been repaired and works like a charm. I was impressed with the product, its usefulness, and how the Sugru website and the web community influenced my decision to purchase. I will now share my experience with the internet and the communities I frequent.
