Hi, I'm Gracela!

Customer feedback refers to the opinions and responses of customers regarding their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a particular product or service. The primary goal of customer feedback collection is to ascertain their level of satisfaction. Obtaining feedback from customers enables you to improve your customers' perceptions of your brand or products while also providing you with sound advice on how to improve your business. 

After completing our MVP and wireframe, we conducted another interview with our target customers to review any additional feedback and fine-tune our application. I was able to interview five individuals who provided me with rich, detailed information about their comments and suggestions for improving our application.

The following are some of the things I've learned while conducting this activity.

 1. Customer feedback identifies product improvement opportunities.

Customer feedback is critical because it reveals what works well about your product or service and what could be improved. The perspectives expressed by my interviewees assist me in ensuring that the final product meets their expectations, resolves their problems, and satisfies their needs. 

2. Collecting customer feedback makes them feel involved.

Create an impression with your customers that your primary business objective is to alleviate their pains and meet their needs, not to simply collect their money. This increases their sense of attachment to your business; demonstrating that you truly listen enables you to develop stronger relationships with them. After all, the product is being created for them, and as such, it should be as close to their desired outcome as possible. 

3. Proactively identify dissatisfied customers.

Well, it's unpleasant to receive dissatisfied customers, but that is the reality. There will be dissatisfied and unhappy customers. This is where the value of customer feedback comes into play. Acquiring and analyzing customer feedback enables you to determine whether or not your clients are satisfied with your service and to identify areas for improvement, thereby reducing customer churn. As a result, when a dissatisfied customer expresses disappointment, you can respond immediately and work to resolve the issue. In fact, it is the ideal time to reclaim a client and possibly increase their level of loyalty. 

Thus, when some suggested that we change the color palate, while I want to maintain our color branding, I also feel like I need to make these minor changes to cater to our target customers who demanded a user-friendly color scheme for the application.

A minimum viable product, or MVP, is a product with enough features to entice new customers and validate a product concept early in the product development cycle. To put it another way, this is the process of creating a simplified product to test your hypothesis. In industries like software and IT, the MVP can help a company or startup get user feedback as soon as possible so that it can iterate and improve the product.

Furthermore, it allows businesses to cut costs and risks many times over and, with the right approach, come up with a viable business idea, as opposed to the previous methodology, in which companies create a product, launch it, and then discover that it is not a viable product. What a waste of time and money! MVP enables a company to collect as much validated learning about customers with the least amount of effort.

Developing NavigaTour’s Prototype

Mr. Ronald mentioned in his discussion that it is best to create the wireframe as a group, which we considered, but I was in charge of the layout of our application as NavigaTour's engineer. I chose a med-fidelity wireframe with Canva, which included a more accurate layout of the application. We ensured that our application has the combination of the following features in such a way that its core features solved at least one problem effectively and kept us competitive; while also including exciting features that solved a problem – something unique to our target customers. We then demonstrated our prototype to friends and family and received some positive feedbacks. 

A few people mentioned how much they liked the idea of catering to everyone, including people with disabilities and those who are visually impaired. Some expressed concern about mall updates, speculating on the possibility of shop relocations within the mall. “Do you think you'll be able to update it right away?” This question raises an intriguing point, which is why we set up a separate account for management so that we can easily update the application. A few people also mentioned that they wished the color palette was a little friendlier, and I couldn't agree with them more. I actually had trouble deciding on a color for the application. I thought it would be great to stick with our brand color, but our respondents said they preferred a more user-friendly palette.

This process aided our application in the following ways: we were able to test our product hypothesis with limited resources, we received valuable feedback without hiring or wasting engineering hours, we were able to get the product to our customers, and we established required abilities in crafting our application.

Communicating and connecting with people, particularly in business, is all about comprehending the needs, behaviors, and expectations of the target market. According to Engineer Bronson, rather than viewing your potential and existing customers as a group, it is critical to understand them as individuals with distinct perspectives - who they are, and how your products fit into their lives.

What is customer segmentation, and how does it work?

Businesses should segment their customers based on their shared characteristics in order to develop, nurture, and sustain strong relationships. This will help us understand how to position ourselves in the industry, how to personalize our marketing efforts, and how to meet their expectations.

Customer segmentation is the process of classifying customers based on their shared characteristics and similarities. This can include geographical and demographic factors such as age, location, and income, as well as psychographic and behavioral factors such as why people shop and how they shop.

How to segment customers? 

After establishing that we are part of an existing market, we dug deeper and examined our own customer population and the subsets within it. We asked ourselves the following questions about our target customers – who they are, what they do, and what they want – and see how they tie together. 

Then, as a follow-up to the initial interview with our target customers, the group members classified our target audience. As a result of this activity, we were able to tailor our marketing strategies, ensuring that our target audience received the application they desired. For instance, it should be user-friendly for those who are not technologically savvy, for costumers such as Pia; it should include discount and sale offers for shoppers, such as Albert; and the application should display prominent mall amenities such as restrooms, particularly for visitors to Cagayan de Oro City, like as Aubrey.

Customer requirements are a complex mixture of many requirements that are frequently contradictory. It is critical for businesses to map out these needs, determine which ones they want to cover, and prioritize which ones they want to address first. And, in order to complete this task in a systematic manner, the Value Proposition Canvas is used.

Value Proposition Canvas (VPC), according to our speaker, Engr Marbert Jael, is a process that will assists you in understanding your audience and their problems. Furthermore, it will assist you in determining which product-market fit is best for your project; understanding your market and developing a product that meets their actual needs. Product-market fit is indicated by matches between customer profiles and value propositions, which increases the project’s chances of success.

A Good Value Proposition Canvas should be able to answer the following questions:

What your customer needs and cares about.

What you do really well.

What your competition does really well. 

Understanding why customers buy is the heart of the value proposition because, simply telling people about a great product does not always make them want it; if you don’t explain the value clearly, chances are, they won’t buy it.

The two shapes represent NavigaTour's value proposition and customer profile. This figure both helps us understand our market's needs and how our application can best deliver to our target market. Data was collected from ten random people via an online interview using Facebook, Instagram Video Call, and GoogleMeet.  Link to NavigaTour’s Value Proposition Canvas and Business Template: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JpjR0b1M7Z4b8Pewl_VraZZBcd8J39lI?usp=sharing

NavigaTour’s Customer Profile

Our customer profile is depicted in the graph. It is divided into three sections: jobs, pains, and gains. This process allowed us to think from the end-perspective user's when defining the tasks, challenges, and desires of our target market.

NavigaTour’s Value Map

We were able to pitch our top five start-up ideas to ma'am Angelie last week, and she chose TempTress as the best of the five and suggested that we pursue it. However, after much deliberation among the members of the group, we have decided to pursue another project. While we believe TempTress is an unique and intriguing project with a real chance of success in the business world, pursuing it would require us to invest in the right people to program and manufacture the actual product, which we did not have the financial resources to do. As a result, we changed our direction and settled on NavigaTour – a 2D CDO Malls navigation application that aims to assist customers/tourists in seamlessly and conveniently locating areas (shops or facilities) within the mall that they wish to visit. Following our discussion of all the features we want this app to have, we immediately began gathering information from our target market. And, as discussed during the first week of our Technopreneurship classes, we are not allowed to tap into our family and friends, particularly when conducting interviews, for the reason that may not feel encouraged to provide accurate, honest answers, which I totally agree. This activity taught me that conducting interviews is a difficult task, especially for someone like me who is introverted and who dislikes soliciting favors from strangers - but I thrived and I’m proud of myself! However, the results did help in the development of effective strategies for our project, and I was also able to reflect on features that resonate with the problems of our target market. Additionally, the data collected demonstrated that some people did have difficulty locating facilities or specific shops within the malls of Cagayan de Oro City, particularly those that they visited seldomly. This is sufficient to demonstrate that there is a group of people who experience the same pains when going out to the malls.

Building a successful team is more than just gathering a group of people; it also entails finding the right combination of professional skills and personalities that complement one another while working toward a common goal. After being instructed to form a four-member team for this class, I immediately decided who these individuals would be. While I recognize that this is a group decision, I already knew in my heart that they needed to be on my team. To begin, I know what they are capable of, their strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, we understand and complement one another when we work together. Shiloh Mae Maghinay, Alyssa Nicole Ochate, and Sephia Mae Tabac are my teammates and my closest friends in college. 

We had time to reflect and learn more about our personality types during our lively discussion. I already knew Maghinay and Tabac were extroverts; they are both warm, idealistic, creative, and unquestionably social. They are both natural born leaders too, which is why the we chose Maghinay to be the team CEO. Ochate and I, on the other hand, are both introverts, but she's an INFP-T and I'm an INFJ-T. She is more free-spirited, whereas I am more structured and rigid. We've decided that Tabac and Ochate will be our designers, with me as the team's engineer. 

Our team is called ATOM, and I think it's pretty clear how we came up with it. It's basically just the first letters of our surnames combined. Because of the personalities of my team members, I am confident that I have the ingredients for a successful start-up. We have Maghinay, the driver and energizer who keeps the rest of the team on track, Tabac, the cheerleader who boosts our morale, Ochate, the adventurer who helps the team take risks, and Me, the perfectionist who ensures that the project is done precisely.

Here are a few start-up concepts that we came up with:

TempTress - A temperature changing mattress for bedridden people.

Book a Nanny - Convenience for all Parents who needs immediate extra hands.

PetNanny - One call Pet Nanny for your fur babies.

Where to Rent - Conveniently find a renting place in one app.

RestoRev - Find. Choose. Reserve. Review.

Taking a personality test can spark a lot of thought and reflection about yourself, your lifestyle, and how you interact with others. I've taken several personality tests in the past, but they all seemed to contradict the majority of my self-perceptions. This could be because I took them when I was younger and didn't really know who I was at the time. However, the Myers Briggs Test Indicator results that I took recently were fairly accurate in terms of how I perceive myself today. While the tests were not particularly eye-opening for me, they did confirm many of my beliefs and perspectives about myself, how I interact with others, and what I enjoy in life.

Out of the sixteen different personality types, the result shows that I have an INFJ-T personality type, which simply means dominant introverted intuition. Each of the letters are fairly self-explanatory and accurate given my temperament and personality. The statistical conclusion was 72% Introvert (I), 63% Intuitive (N), 56% Feeling (F), and 68% Judging (J). Therefore I had a distinctive preference of introversion over extraversion and moderate preference of intuition over sensing; feeling over thinking, and judging over perceiving.

I wasn't too surprised by the results of the test because I've always been an introvert. I'm not a "spur of the moment" type of person, and I like to weigh the pros and cons, as well as the negative and positive consequences, before making a decision or taking action. I also value my time a lot and prefer to spend the majority of my time alone or with a small group of people. I was surprised, however, that I got a feeling over thinking, because I'm the type of person who always tests alternatives against logic and reason to see which decision proves to be the most effective or realistic. But, it’s interesting now that I think more about it.. I realize that I do make decisions based on the well-being of others. The rest of the result accurately describes who I am - someone who is very private, despises conflicts, and is extremely sensitive.

It's not easy to have this personality type because we tend to overcomplicate things that are actually pretty simple - it's in our nature to exaggerate the difficulty of a situation in our heads. Even though I've always felt like I didn't fit in or that most people didn't get or understand me, taking this test gave me a sense of validation. Now that I know more about my strengths and weaknesses, I'm better prepared to set goals for myself.

Covid-19 has filled our lives with uncertainty, fear, and disappointment but I am a strong believer that everything that happens is meant to happen for the greater good. While it may be frightening to consider a silver lining to this pandemic that has destroyed and killed so many lives, I believe that we can learn from this tragedy and improve our society. We can either do nothing or learn from it.

Before the pandemic there were times when I wished I could slow down because I felt I was constantly overburdened with work and didn’t have time to enjoy life. Then came March 2020, and I found myself with all the time in the world, no place to go, and days totally void of social interaction. So I took advantage of this time to relax, spend time with my family, and learn a new skill - gardening.

Growing my first garden was such a rewarding experience. After killing countless plants ranging from flowers to herbs, I was finally able to grow a vegetable garden with my mom last year and I am pleased with the results.

Going out to garden has taught me a lot of valuable life lessons which I would love to share with you.

Here are 4 important life lessons I have learned from gardening:

1. Growth occurs over time. You cannot plant a seed today and expect it to sprout and grow into a full-grown plant by tomorrow. It makes no difference if you lavishly water the seed in the hope that it will germinate quickly and grow to maturity in a single day. I promise you, it will not.

Time is one asset that cannot be manipulated. Plant the seed and allow time for it to grow. This reminds me not to rush any process in life that requires time for growth. I’m learning to value the time required for growth. And watching that growth occur in our backyard is extremely rewarding.

2. Nature is therapeutic for the soul. Hands buried in dirt. The fragrance of living plants. Observing insects perform tricks in the garden. It’s an incredibly therapeutic experience. Even though some physical labor is required, the pleasure I derive from gardening far outweighs any strain placed on my body.

3. Nourishment should be continuous. Plants require constant care. This teaches me that self-nourishment is not a one-time event. It should be a continuous procedure. Whatever we care about, whether it’s our bodies, our relationships, or our homes, it should be continuously cared for in order for it to thrive.

4. Never ever ever give up. After several failed attempts at gardening, I was almost convinced I was incapable of planting anything. However, I attempted again and was successful in growing vegetables. This teaches me that even if you fail multiple times at something, you can still succeed. Never, every give up!