A tailored approach is expected when planning a product launch

Days of one-size-fits-all are gone, an individual approach is required. Of course, unless we are building some very specific products or services, we cannot serve each of our consumers fully individually. It is not rational, it is not cost-efficient, and it is simply said not doable.

What we need and should do is tailor our product to so-called expectation groups. In previous chapters, I covered this partially by talking about selecting the target audience, but there is much more than that.

As the saying goes “It takes all sorts to make a world” we might be back at the beginning again — individual approach, but fortunately, scientists have found that there are some rules of conduct among people of similar age, to be more precise — generations. According to their conclusions, society, as we know it from recent history, is made up of 5 generations [1]:

• Traditionalists or Silent Generation: born 1945 and before
• Baby Boomers: born 1946–1964
• Generation X: born 1965–1976
• Millennials or Generation Y: born 1977–1995
• Generation Z, iGeneration or Centennials: born 1996-TBD

…there is also a Generation Alpha, the one succeeding Generation Z, for which researchers and popular media typically use the early 2010s as starting birth years and the mid-2020s as ending birth years [2]. Looking at the long term, in terms of creating new products and services, Gen Alpha are our future consumers, and we will soon have the opportunity to get to know them better. For this document, we will focus on today’s generations, and here are some of their behavioral characteristics on the topic of our interest:

Behavioral features of generations [3]

[1] The Center for Generational Kinetics, „An intro to Generations“, https://genhq.com/faq-info-about-generations/, Accessed on February 20th 2020.

[2] Fourtane S., „Generation Alpha: The Children of the Millennial“, https://interestingengineering.com/ generation-alpha-the-children-of-the-millennial, Accessed on February 20th 2020.

[3] Kasasa, „Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z Explained“, https://www.kasasa.com/articles/generations/gen-x-gen-y-gen-z, Accessed on March 15th 2020.

---

It is important to know trends by generations as they can help us understand similar behaviors among consumers. But the story about generations doesn’t give us the whole picture. Each generation grows up and, as seen so far, a common occurrence is the inheritance of characteristics from the previous generation over the years. The next step is [drumrolls] — entering the human mind.

During the research phase, we also need to investigate different perceptions, prejudices, and biases. A combination of all those is forming an individual way of making decisions. In business, our main goal is that a potential consumer makes a decision to start using our product, and from our standing point due to the speed of everything these days — we usually fight with heuristics.

Here are a few notes to keep in mind and definitions of key terms [4]:

• Heuristic — a rule of thumb, short cut, or educated guess that reduces or limits the search for solutions; can result in bias
• Bias — uninformed or unintentional inclination that inhibits impartial judgment; all perception is shaped by bias, which is part of the human experience (Cultural biases, Organizational biases, Cognitive biases such as availability, anchoring, confirmation, framing, etc.)
• Fallacy — a mistaken inference; faulty reasoning; a seemingly reasonable argument which is logically unsound or flawed
• Mindset — a fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations

What can we learn from all this? Well, this is something that will help us plan and develop not only a marketing strategy but a research methodology that will be covered within the next chapter.

[4] Korkut D., „Heuristics and Biases“, Algebra MBA module „Critical thinking and creativity“, Participated on October 18th 2019.