Case Study · D2C · air up
air up grew fast in 2020. What keeps customers after the first purchase was barely documented. In four weeks, we used jobs-to-be-done interviews and a behavioral design analysis to identify seven buying motives. The results reached far beyond the web shop.
Results at a glance
with impact on product and packaging
with around 800 statements analyzed
from the first interviews to 60 ideas and 5 areas for action
Starting point
air up sells a drinking bottle that flavors water through scent pods. The product was new and needed explaining. Curiosity brought many people to their first purchase.
What happens afterward was unclear. Who buys again, and why? Who stops after the first purchase? And what does a new customer need, and when, until the product becomes a habit? This is exactly the step air up wanted to understand better.
Approach
Interviews. We first reviewed what air up already knew. Then we interviewed ten customers for 30 to 40 minutes each. The groups: prospects, fresh first-time buyers, one-time buyers, and heavy users. We asked about the situation before the purchase, the trigger, the purchase itself, and whether they bought again or not.
Analysis. The conversations produced around 800 individual statements. We sorted them into 14 categories and condensed them into seven jobs. Each job got its drivers (fuel) and its barriers (friction).
Job audit. In parallel, three experts reviewed the customer journey. They mapped the key touchpoints against the jobs, from the ad to the shop to unboxing. A data audit showed which pages carry purchase decisions.
Results. We presented the results to the management team and to teams from several countries together.
What we learned about the customers
At first, the desire to try something new outshines everything else. Some customers buy even though they are not yet convinced. After a few weeks, the reality check arrives. Those who only bought the novelty rarely come back. Many benefits of the product were simply overlooked by customers.
The seven jobs showed that most customers cared about far more than taste. Health and new habits played a big role. Add practical and financial reasons, sustainability, and the wish to discover something new early and share it with others.
The most important takeaway from the analysis: additional jobs need to be unlocked earlier in the journey so that one-time buyers become regular customers. Those who know several reasons for the product before buying are more satisfied afterward and more likely to buy again.
What came of it
The jobs produced around 60 ideas. We condensed them into five areas for action and prioritized them by impact and effort. They covered communication before the purchase, product information, and the path to the repeat purchase. Each area for action came with testable hypotheses.
Some of the recommendations had nothing to do with the shop. They reached into marketing, service, and packaging.
air up adopted the ideas into its own roadmap and implemented them itself. A/B tests were not part of the engagement. The results went to the product team, to customer service, and across the whole company. They also made their way into the portfolio and the packaging.
Client voice
What we learned
01
Afterward, shop, product, and service speak the same language about their customers.
02
At air up, they reached the product team, customer service, and packaging.
03
The biggest lever belongs to those who consistently test the hypotheses afterward.
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