Alex Clouser- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1 Assignment 7

1. I believe that there is an opportunity in the consumer data collection industry.

2. Consumer data collection has become increasingly worry filled on the part of consumers, as they keep pushing for tighter data collection laws so as to keep their privacy and not hand over all of their information to companies, such as what happened with Facebook. I believe that there is an opportunity in the data collection industry because of this shift in consumer attitude towards data collection. I believe that in order to collect consumer data and feedback, instead of asking for all of their information outright and scaring customers, a more effective approach would be to create interactive content such as seasonal polls or a holiday gift guide. This more personalized approach to data collection would lead to more consumer interaction and increase their overall opinion of the company, while also serving as a valuable asset to the company to decide things like what new marketing campaign they should pursue or what type of products their customers like best. This method of data collection would not worry people as much because it is not asking for personal information as much as just general consumer information in order to further the betterment of the company. My idea is to create a company that creates this interactive, company specific content for businesses, and then analyzes it and reports to them the data gained so that they will know the new business ventures that they should pursue. Hypothesis: Companies are unable to accurately gather consumer data without scaring or worrying customers because of the social climate and recent big events such as the Facebook data scandal.
Who: Companies that improve and advance through feedback and customer preferences.
What: They are unable to collect data in a way that doesn't scare consumers.
Why: Recent events such as the Facebook scandal have heightened consumer awareness of data collection and given data collection a negative connotation, leaving consumers worried.

3. Testing the who: I believe that everyone in my current "who" has this need and I cannot really think of anyone else who would have this need right now.
Testing the what: The boundary for this need is mostly consumer climate and attitude toward data collection. Other boundaries are that only data relevant to furthering the business ventures should be collected by the company.
Testing the why: I believe that the "why" I explained earlier is applicable to all potential consumers of this need.

4. First, I interviewed my roommate Gavin. Gavin said that he is often concerned with how much information companies collect from him when he is forced to make accounts to websites or uses social media because he does not want some of this information to be public, as he is a very private person and feels uncomfortable giving this information away and does not see how it is beneficial for the company to have this information. I see Gavin's perspective and understand that much of this information seems unnecessary to regular consumers, but is actually vital to companies because they can use this information to market more specifically or to start promotions that will be attractive to consumers, along with many other things. I explained this to Gavin and he said that he would prefer if they did not directly ask for his information because it feels like an invasion of privacy, he would rather them collect data some different way. In my second interview, I interviewed my other roommate David. David shared Gavin's qualms about his data being collected, but he did see the need for it and accepted it as a necessary evil. I asked him what alternatives he suggested to lessen the appearance that it is an invasion of privacy and he suggested that there should be optional polls or something of the like that would make it feel less of an obligation and more like giving a helping hand to the company. In my third interview, I interviewed my other roommate Sam. Sam said that he believes that companies should not ask for consumer data and I asked him to elaborate on this. He said that a company should not ask for data because it is personal and should not be known by some random stranger sitting behind a desk at a company. I explained that this data is only data for marketing research and company betterment, and he still believed that it was not acceptable for companies to collect this data. I understand that in this opportunity, some people are going to feel the way that Sam did, but I believe that the majority of people are going to feel like David and Gavin and there will be a big enough market that companies will accept this opportunity. My fourth and fifth interviews were with my friends Victoria and Emily. Victoria and Emily both had the same approach to this problem and believed that data collection should not be made to feel as though you are obligated to share this information with a company, but rather it should be optional. They said that in order for consumers to feel comfortable with this information being shared with a company, they must feel as though they were the ones giving the information instead of the company "taking" their information. They both believed in a psychological approach to consumer data collection. I asked them if they would like to see consumer data collection in the form of polls or holiday gift guides and they both replied that they would love to see that because it could also tailor marketing movements towards specific consumers and give consumers a feel like they have a stake in controlling how the company changes.

5. Based on my interviews, I now know that some consumers will have the attitude of Sam and I believe that this will be a small amount of consumers based off of the results of my interviews. I also know that there is a lot of support for this opportunity and that many consumers would embrace the idea of changing data collection. I believe that this support would lend companies to adopt the change and embrace my companies skill set in order to further their own business model.