The purpose of this presentation is to provide a deeper understanding of the attitudes and opinions of students on dictaphones and derive relevant marketing recommendations for decision-makers. The findings are based on a quantitative study conducted with students living in Austria.
2. Research Objective
Gain a deeper understanding of the attitudes
and opinions of students on dictaphones and
derive relevant marketing recommendations
for decision-makers.
3. AGENDA
1. Data Collection
2. Key insights:
Information Sources
Use & Ownership
Perceived Practicability
Features
Purchase Intention
Alternatives
Awareness (Brands & Price)
3. The Big Picture
4. Conclusions
5. Age Distribution
Initial sample: 450 Respondents
over 26 y under 21 y
Paperc& Pencil Questionnaire 23% 20%
Oct. – Nov. 2011
Final sample (after cleaning): 427 Students 22-25 y
57%
Demographic Profile
Net income / month
57% female, 43% male
56% Austrians, 44% Non-Austrians less than
650 - 1.349
650 EUR
51% EUR
42%
7% are employed
88% live in urban areas
over 1.350
EUR
7%
7. Information Sources
Q1. „Have you informed yourself about dictaphones before?“ (N=427)
1 in 4 students has informed him/herself on dictaphones prior to this survey.
Q 1.1 „Where have you informed yourself?“*
0% 100%
Internet 60%
Friends/Family/Colleagues 30%
Specialised Shop/IT Shop 20%
Others 5%
% of students who have informed themselves (N=109)
* Open question
8. Information Sources
Q 2. „How important are these information sources to you?“ (N=427)
unimportant to important to
low importance* neutral
highly important
Internet 6% 10% 84%
Friends/Family/Colleagues 19% 12% 69%
Specialised Shop/IT Shop 23% 13% 64%
Specialised magazines 47% 15% 38%
Catalogue for office
supplies
71% 13% 16%
% of entire sample
The Internet is significantly more important than all other sources of information.**
* On a a scale from 1 to 7 where 1-3= unimportant to low importance, 4=neutral,
5-7=important to highly important ** Statistical method: Repeated measures ANOVA
9. Internet Sources
Q 3. „How important are these internet information sources to you?“
unimportant to important to
low importance neutral highly important
Google and other search engines 90%
Price comparison sites 72%
Forums and independent sites 68%
Amazon and other online retailers 60%
Producer homepage 50%
% of students who have rated the internet important to highly important
Out of the various internet information sources, Google and other search engines have
a significantly higher importance to students than other sources. *
* Statistical method: Repeated measures ANOVA
10. Use & Ownership
Q 4. „Have you ever used a dictaphone prior to this survey ?“
About 1 in 2 students has used a dictaphone before.
Q 4.1. „Do you own a dictaphone?“
Q 4.2 . „How often did you use a dictaphone 15%
own
in the past year ?“ one
85% of users have used it 1 x month or less
frequent in the past year (70% of owners).
85 % do not
own one
Q 4.2.1. „In which situation have you used your
dictaphone?“
% of entire sample
43% of users have used a dictaphone for their studies.
11. Use & Ownership
Q 4.3 „ Why have you not used a dictaphone before?“*
0% 100%
prefer written records 56%
„…often forbidden in
lack of knowledge 26% class…“
„…no speech recognition
too time consuming 13%
software…“
too expensive 12%
% of students who have not used a dictaphone before (N=233)
* Multiple answers possible
12. Perceived Practicability
Q 5. „What is your preception of dictaphones?“ (N=427)
low* neutral moderate to high
are easy to use 9% 18% 73%
optimize workflow 13% 22% 65%
are time-saving 25% 20% 55%
have high recording quality 16% 40% 44%
are modern 34% 28% 38%
are prestige objects 45% 37% 18%
Most students perceive dictaphone as easy to use devices which optimize
workflow but are moderatly modern and carry low prestige.
* On a a scale from 1 to 7 where 1-3= low, 4=neutral, 5-7= moderate to high
13. Perceived Practicability
Q 5. „What is your preception of dictaphones?“ (N=427) - Continuation
Dictaphone users have a significantly higher perceived practicability across
the dimensions: „are easy to use“ and „optimize workflows“ than non-users.*
are easy to use optimize workflow
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5,88** Users 5,36
Users
Non- Non- 4,78
5,00 users
users
Dictaphone users have a higher overall perceived practicability then non-users.***
Women and men have a similar perceived practicability of dictaphones.****
* Statistical method: Independent t-test *** Statistical method: Independent t-test
** Mean average, on a scale from 1 to 7 **** Statistical method: Independent t-test
14. Device Features
Q 6. „How important are the following features to you?“
1.00 7.00
Quality of recording 6,41*
Battery lifespan 6,27
Storage capacity 6,19
UBS plug-in 6,18
Easy usage
Filter for background noises
Compatibility with other applications
Speech recognition software
Digital processing option
Battery charge time
Fits good in the hand
Design 3,71
* Mean average, on a scale from 1=unimportant to 7=important
15. Purchase Intention
Q 7. „It‘s highly probable that I will purchase a dictaphone.“ (N=427)
agree to
Strongly disagree to disagree* neutral strongly agree
82% 9% 10%
* On a scale from 1 to 7 where 1-3=strongly disagree to disagree, 4=neutral, 5-7= agree to strongly agree
Overall purchase intention
1 7
Female students have a
statistically significant
Total 3,2**
higher purchase intention
then male students.***
Men 2,9
Purchase intention
increases with perceived
Women 3,4 practicability.****
** Mean average
*** Statistical method: Independent t-test **** Statistical method: Simple regression
16. Alternatives
Q 8. „How do you rate the following features of alternatives compared to
those of dictaphones?“ (N=427)
Digital usage & processing
don‘t know* worse equal better
Smartphone 35% 21% 11% 33%
Notebook 22% 15% 9% 54%
Mp3 Player 36% 27% 17% 20%
Storage capacity
Smartphone 30% 21% 14% 35%
Notebook 19% 13% 7% 61%
Mp3 Player 32% 23% 17% 28%
* On a scale from 0 to 7 where 0=don‘t know, 1-3=worse, 4=equal, 5-7=better
17. Alternatives
Q 8. „How do you rate the following features of alternatives compared to
those of dictaphones?“ (N=427) - Continuation
Recording Quality
don‘t know worse equal better
Smartphone 30% 28% 12% 30%
Notebook 30% 16% 17% 37%
Mp3 Player 33% 37% 9% 21%
Price
Smartphone 35% 30% 12% 24%
Notebook 28% 40% 10% 20%
Mp3 Player 35% 18% 19% 28%
18. Brand and Price Awareness
Q 9. „Which dictaphone manufacturers do you know?“*
„top of mind“
Samsung
11% Philips
Others Olympus
20%
Panasonic 17% 12%
9% Samsung Philips
8%
Olympus 19%
7%
Sony
Others** Sony
32%
21% 44%
% of first brand mentioned (N=213)
% of all responses (N=483) Q 10. „How much does a dictaphone cost?***
15-50 EUR 51-100 EUR 100-400 EUR
40% 42% 18%
% of entire sample
* Open question, multiple answers possible
** Grundig, LG, Toshiba, Siemens, etc. *** Open question
20. 1 Students look for information on dictaphones primarily online, on Google
and other search engines.
Recommendations:
• Increase and strengthen online presence through Search
Engine Marketing (SEM);
• Create a Google AdWords campaign with relevant
keywords like „dictaphone course“ or „dictaphone studies“
goal: to appear on the first result page;
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for the Philips Speech
Processing Website.
21. 2 1 in 2 students considers the product website an important source of
information.
Recommendations:
• Create the „Philips Student Interactive Homepage“, which
resembles a typical student room and displays the full range
of Philips products, e.g. speakers, alarm
clocks, bags, accessories and dictaphones create a unique
product and brand experience for the consumer on the
homepage;
• Increase webpage usability (navigation paths, assortment
structure) goal: bring the user quickly to the „Purchase“
option (where can I buy/find that?).
22. 3 Students have used dictaphones 1 x month or less frequent in the last year
(users & owners).
Recommendations:
• Inform users about the different ways to use
dictaphones, new product features, upgrades, etc. through:
newsletters, reminders via SMS, on blogs and forums;
• Conduct a further consumer survey on product and
software usability.
23. Students lack the knowledge of how dictaphone can benefit them in their
4 work/studies. They do not know what the products can do and their
advantages compared to alternatives.
Recommendations:
• start the dialogue on dictaphone - Philips Dictaphone
Ambassadors (a group of 100 students from all
Viennese universities to be given dictaphones and a
short product training – the devices should be used in
class to demonstrate practicability and easy usage);
• Educate the consumer about product features and
added value (in shop, on forums, online, through
traditional advertising, on social media platforms like
Facebook & Co., etc.).
24. Students perceive dictaphones as rather old-fashioned devices which carry
5 low prestige. Product design is not important to students. The quality of
recording, storage capacity, battery lifespan and USB plug-in are.
Recommendations:
• Move away from the category name „dictaphones“ to a more
appealing name, e.g. „voice recorder“;
• Focus communication on lifestyle
values, testimonials, emphasize „cooleness“ of the products;
• Turn dictaphones into trendy lifestyle objects: use different
colours and patterns for dictaphones and accessories;
• Create new features like: „Plug n‘ Play“ (easy connection with
car sound system) and „Plug n‘ Storage“ (direct file transferring
to memory stick) to optimize consumers‘ work flow.
26. Students show a moderate interest in dictaphones. They are uneducated
in terms of what dictaphones can do for them. Students prefer devices
which integrate more than one function (eg. smartphones).
Marketers need to make considerable efforts to approch and
successfully address this target group.
Key actions required:
• Be where your consumers are
• Educate the consumer
• Improve the image of dictaphones
• Start the dialogue on dictaphones