$300 loafers aren't for everyone. We were targeting a very niché market. I wanted to understand what drives their decisions, information they seek and aesthetics they value to determine which shoes to buy.

So I went to the mall.

Well, first I made assumptions about my customer.

"I feel our customers value comfort"

"I believe reading reviews of our products will help ease their concern that they never heard of us before"

"I believe our customer prefers to buy shoes in person rather than online."

I wanted to understand the key considerations and expectations for purchasing shoes. So taking my assumptions and my curiosity, I crafted a 5 question survey and went around talking to people.

• "What factors are most important when choosing a loafer?"

• "What information do you seek before making a purchase for expensive shoes?"

• "Describe your last expensive shoe purchase. What worked well or didn't?"

• "When did you realize you first needed a pair of nice loafers? What drew you to that style?"

• "Do you prefer buying in-store or online? Why?"

I then wrapped up my conversation with one last question:

"Can you rank these 5 things in order of importance when buying shoes?"

• Fit

• Price

• Style

• Reviews

• Comfort

Results

After speaking with 10 people, I went home, listened to all my recordings and did some data entry.

• People ranked 1. Comfort 2. Fit 3. Price 4. Style 5. Reviews as their ranking order.

• 77% of Customers always read reviews before purchasing

• 60% Prefer in-store to online unless they know exactly what their purchasing.