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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I paid my friends to come over and visit

I paid some friends to come over the other night. 


I asked them to come over, have a little snack, and chat for a couple of hours.

I had to find five friends to come over (some said no - even when I was paying them!) and we all sat around the dining room table, and talked about kitchen towel and toilet paper.

All in the name of research.

Market research is important for your business and one of the best ways to get it is by asking your clients, or potential clients about how they use your product, why they don't use your product, or what affects their decisions around your product or service.  There are lots of opinions, even on what we wipe poo with. Pattern or no pattern, packaging, scented rolls, the list goes on and on. But also they have ideas...one idea from the our focus group I am expecting to be sent straight to the R&D team for fine tuning.

During the focus group I realised just how set in my ways I was about the paper products I buy. 


I thought I was pretty relaxed about something so basic but I learnt that:


- I never consider the option of buying home brand toilet paper
- No matter what marketing you provided I probably wouldn't buy scented toilet paper.
- I don't use paper towel, thinking them an environmental waste, but I use shower wipes, window wipes, baby wipes...
- I don't know how many tissues are in the box of tissues I buy or the price per tissue
- I use a 'stick' to store our toilet paper on, others find this tacky or even germy and never use the roll at the bottom, they throw that one out.
- I keep tissues in the kitchen - not everyone does this, each home has a 'home' for their tissues.


Very boring image showing where I keep my tissues. Research people like this.


Who knew?


If you are a business, do you regularly ask your clients about your product/service? Because you see even the humble tissue has a lot to be discussed. 


For coming over and participating in this research my friends each got $70, a night away from the kids and a chat. 

Easy money. Good for us and good for them.

Would you come over to my place if I was going to pay you...even if you had to talk about toilet paper?

13 comments:

  1. Where do I find a job as a professional product tester?? Sounds too good to be true! Home brand toilet paper is a bit nasty I agree but I couldn't use a 'stick' for toilet paper in this house as there are 3 boys......

    ps I would have come to your house for free :-D

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  2. yes i would come !!. Tissues only ever get the soft ones Klennex

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  3. Home brand toilet paper is thin, hard, shiny, ouchy, non-absorbent and really can't call it sucky because that's one thing it probably won't do!

    COPIOUS tissues at ours. Box in the kitchen, box in the bathroom, TWO boxes in the bedroom... I don't care so much about the brand - non-scented and white (which is also how I like my toilet paper. Which is kept in a funky wire basket in the toilet. It's up off the ground so all cool there!)

    And paper towel. Boys. Bad aim. What more can I say?

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  4. Absolutely - I love doing things like this !!!!

    Only ever buy the hypoalergenic 3 ply toilet paper - purple and see through packaging (Quilton ?). Only ever buy Kleenex with aloe vera - I use too many on my delicate nose to have cheap and nasty tissues.

    I can always give my opinion over the net if you need it !!!!

    have a great day !
    Me

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  5. Absolutely, I'd even come if you weren't going to pay me, I just love offering my opinion on things like these.
    We have two tissue boxes, the nice ones out of reach of the kids and one on the hall table that is cheaper as the kids go through them so quickly!
    Never have and never would buy home brand toilet paper, and not keen on the environmentally friendly ones either, just not pleasant.

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  6. Yes! When we lived in the big smoke I put my hand up for lots of market research. Very happy to chat..... about anything (well almost).

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  7. Let me tell you something funny. I have been signed up to a market research group for years and have only been to one forum (although they contact me regularly). I am never in the target group. I like it that way. Makes me feel cool and edgy (which I am neither). I would happily talk to you for free Clairey! x

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  8. I'd be there, totally! Love yakking on about "stuff", especially getting paid for it!

    (And your list is the same as my list. Scented, never. Ick. Stick, check. Tissues are bought for box colour/design, no idea on price. We have tissues in every room, at child height, so they can wipe their own noses...)

    I am a white thick double roll kind of girl...so to speak.

    xx

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  9. I'd come over with the promise of cake, but $70 would be awesome too.
    No scented, only recycled TP. I don't like it to have patterns on it because then it clashes with my bathroom decor - I'm THAT pedantic! Tissues in every room. I have shower wipes and the like from AusBlogCon (and a whole new lot from DPCON unopened) that I wash and reuse...

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  10. I'd be there....can I bring wine?

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  11. Glass of wine and some cheese and I will talk about anything. I also love those shower wipe things from DPCON and the screen cleaner things too! No idea how many tissues in a box and never buy the hard scratchy toilet rolls, I will make up my green footprint somewhere else!

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  12. I can't believe you talked about the fact that I throw away the bottom toilet roll when it has been sitting on the floor of the toilet for so long!!! Then again nothing was really sacred that night now was it!!! :)

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