Case Study
Queen Pelican Cleaning
Overview
Queen Pelican Cleaning is a start-up business with a mission to develop businesss strategies that stresses environmentaly friendly business practices, services and products. How can the business win over consumers who are pro-green in their minds, but not in their pocket books?
The Problem
Many consumers are not aware of potential risk conventional cleaning products pose to their health. One reason is because they don’t know the type of cheminals they are constantly explosed to by convential cleaning companies because they do not ask. This information is rarely shared with consumers. The Consumer Product Safety Commissions reports that “90% of polluntants in the homes are caused by a cocktail of items often found in conventional cleaning products. If more consumers understood the benefits of using green cleaning services, the demand for green cleaning services could increase. Users could easily meassure how the benefits of going green cleaning by how they feel.
Update Problems 2022
This problem statement was written in 2022 based on research from 2018. Had the problem statement been well defined in the original research, the prototype would have been based on the above statement. It would have also focused on solutions geared towards winning customers over to green cleaning and not been so design & company focused. The new problem statement needs to be revised to include problems faced with green cleaning companies in the COVID era. The case study will be updated this year with new research and a new prototype and design.
Strategies, Possible Solutions & Updates
Discovery
Queen Pelican needs to convert more users to “Green Cleaning products and services” by showing potential users how they could benefit. Eighty percent of our test market said green cleaning was important however, but only 19% are willing to pay more for green products.
Define
Queen Pelican could benefit greatly by developing a differentiation strategy that compares and contrast the benefits of green cleaning products and services backed up with hard scientific data. It’s brand could be strengthened through newsletters and a blog.
Develop
Develop design strategies that can solve the problem of user ambivalent attitudes towards using green cleaning products & services. Push health benefits through video blogs, newsletters & product trials. It’s time to prototype.
COVID Update
Our initial study (2018) focused on green cleaning. In a matter of 2+ years, the demand has pivoted towards safe and effective disinfectant and COVID mitigation. An updated case study is needed.
Failures in 2018's Case Study
A well defined problem statement wasn’t initiated in the original case study and my revised statement didn’t reflect the research. More focus was placed on the design, and not solving (or stating) the problem.
Why Eco-Cleaning?
60% reads labels
40% look for brands when purchasing cleaning products
19% willing to pay more for eco-products
47% know people with allergies & chemical sensitivities
83% favorable rating when asked about green products / services
The Research
The research sought out to determine if Austin’s green culture and allergy problems correlated to consumers seeking out green cleaning products and services. I needed to find out how important those things were and how far consumers would go to reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals.
Either me or someone at my work/home have one of the following:
Allergies 35%
None 25%
Chemical sensitivities 21%
Disabilities 10%
Special Needs 8%
The Challenge
How does Queen Pelican overcome two dichotomies? The first is an 83% favorable rate when asked about green cleaning products. The second is the fact that only 19% will pay more for green cleaning products and services?
Interviewees expressed concerns about potential exposure to harmful chemicals in their home and work environments. Those concerns did not always match their purchasing habits. Queen Pelican Cleaning’s challenge was to find ways to influence them to get past these ambiguities.
Solutions Update
Queen Pelican can’t operate with the same green cleaning company model prior to COVID-19. Three companies in the Heuristics report have updated their sites to include disinfection cleaning services. All three websites have made adjustments to their business models. that means QP’s final website design is obsolete and incomplete. There are changes that can set QP apart from the competition just from a short study of the competition’s updated websites.
Heuristics
The original Heuristics report needs to be updated to include changes companies have made due to COVID-19. All companies in the original heuristics research have updated their cleaning services to emphasize their disinfectant services. One company has a COVID policy on the top of their home page. The images below reflect some of the changes. The new, post COVID services are circled.
This site is still in the building process
Discovery Phase
Target Validation
In this phase, a series of questions were asked to validate the target audience’s attitudes and level of conscientiousness towards the environment. Was Eco-living a lifestyle or just a cool idea they would get around to thinking about? My questions were purposely subtle to avoid any implicit biases… One of the first questions asked was “have you ever planted a garden?” What brand of eco-products did you use?
Devices Used to Complete the Survey
- PC’s and Laptops 49%
- Tablets 5%
- Mobile Devices 46%