MROC Case Study - Dell Computer Purchase Communities
Overview & Objectives
While Dell regularly conducts qualitative and quantitative market studies to understand dynamics of the customer experience, they had yet to fully track the experience of a customer purchasing a computer - from the very initial research and selection stages through to purchase and post-purchase support experiences.
MROC Approach
To help Dell get an in-depth look at the customer experience from front to back as it unfolded, PluggedIN setup two small communities of approximately 25 participants each over the course of 6 months. One community consisted entirely of consumers who were in the act of researching and purchasing a computer, while a separate community consisted of SMB owners and decision makers who were responsible for making technology purchases in their organization. To ensure we had a complete grasp of the experience, the communities were combined with an in-person ethnography study with the same participants from the community.
Results
The community helped Dell see the purchase and post-purchase customer experience in an entirely different light, and allowed stakeholders to make improvements to the online purchase and support experience in light of the findings.