Interview 5 analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 22 years old, student living with flat mates. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

She liked the idea but unlike the previous interviewees accepted she wasn't sure it was for her. She said she was actually ok with eating similar things and she was sure she followed a healthy diet. Although she did say she would download the free version 'just in case'. She did not mind about advertising as long as it would 'let me do what I am doing and not interfere with my application and what I am doing with it, I don't like annoying advertisements' with no distinction between the forms of advertising but did note that the one she would least want to see is the fixed ad between stages of recipe/pages.
On the other hand when talking about the payment and explaining the freemium model and the premium version with its added characteristics she said 'I don't pay for any app, I don't think I'd pay for this one either and therefore I am not sure about any price I would put it but maybe something like 1€ wouldn't sound too expensive'

Conclusions:

- Although this interviewee falls into one of our target profiles she was not open towards trying this app or using it on a daily basis because it seemed she had 'everything under control', this showed us that we should not be too sure upon the fact that all students living alone will have problems with cooking or knowing what to cook
- On the other hand we also saw the fact that especially out young target market are price sensitive and that based on the previous interviews and this one it is clear that users are very used in not paying for any application and therefore seem to expect the apps for free
- Up until now we still don't have a clear view on what kind of pricing to put to the application
- One clear conclusion from these 5 interviews is that fixed ads between stages/recipes are not the best option

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 4 analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 45 years old, owner of an SME with 2 kids. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

The interviewee seemed positive towards the app but I perceived she was not as keen on trying it as the previous interviewees, due to the lack of time. She found the app useful especially for her kids, due to monotonous dishes they 'always end up eating pasta'. She would like to find healthy alternatives her kids would enjoy. On the other hand she would be worried that the dishes proposed might have spicy ingredients, or wine in them and therefore would like some kind of filter or a stamp which would mention that the dish is ok for kids. This filter might also be 'I would like to be able to introduce into the app the fact that I have kids, or how many people we are in the family so the dishes could be in accordance with her family. She also mentioned that for a varied diet it would be good for the app to include seasonal ingredients, such as fruits. She would be willing to pay for a premium version if it had adaptation for kids but she would like to try it for free first. This interviewee did not propose a price she would be willing to pay, as she did not know the market prices for the apps and was firm on her decision to first try the app before she could put a price on it. On the other hand ads did not worry her and said that she would not mind any type of advertising as long as it would be 'reasonable' from where reasonable ment 'not too many ads, I don't want to be bombarded with them just like on TV'

Conclusion:
- In order to satisfy this target market of parents with kids we would need to adjust certain features of the app
- Advertisements seem unimportant as long as they are 'reasonable'
- Seasonal ingredients could be introduced
- Some demographics could be asked the user when creating an account at Q-cocino
- Stamps such as 'not recommended for kids' or 'very spicy' could be introduced

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 3 Analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 40 years old, independent Business woman working at two jobs. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

The interviewee is happy with her current eating habits, but does accept that sometimes she does not know what to cook or how to diversify her diet. She likes to eat healthy but prefers dishes which take little time to cook. She has no specific nutritional preferences such as low carb diet or vegetarian diet.

When presented with the idea she was positive about it. But thought that for her to be able to use the extended version she would need more 'I don't usually pay for applications, so I need them to really have something which interests me, I would say maybe let me try the premium version for a month before I need to pay for it'. She also did not seem very keen on the 'monthly payment ' You would get me scared with that, I would prefer a yearly fee, or a one time payment'. For the adverts she rated them from least to most 'annoying': Product placement, Pop up advertising and lastly fixed ads between recipes/pages.

She also mentioned interesting features which could be included in the app:

- Suggested decoration for the dishes
- Suggested products to acompany the product such as white wine for a dish with fish
- She would like the app to ask her if she had a microwave, an oven, gas or electric...etc.
- She would like to see the average price of the dish she is cooking
- She would also like to see the calories of each dish
- Most importantly she mentioned she would like her preferences to be saved by the app, and as she usually buys similar things and has always the same things in her fridge she would not like to have to introduce it every time she opens the app

Conclusions:

- We will evaluate the additional features mentioned in this interview, which have given us a fresh look of what can be added to the application
- Not keen on buying the app by paying monthly, would take her time in evaluating the app
- Has noted that she would be interested in trying the free version
- Would like the app to be more friendly, that is suggesting wines for dishes for example
- This interview gave an insight that this app could actually be seen as a chef in your kitchen who helps you with everything

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 2 Analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 26 years old, part time worker. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

My second interview was conducted to a 26 year old female, living with her partner and working part time. They are worried about saving up costs, especially because one of them is not working at the moment. She is starting to become more conscious about the importance of a healthy diet both for her and for her partner. She is also aware that most of the healthy dishes she know of are usually expensive,  require time, or require her searching through the internet or buying a cook book. She is worried about monotonous cooking habits as she says 'Sometimes I don't know what else to cook'
Her initial statement about the app when hearing about it was 'The idea is great, it would help many people who don't know what to cook in their day to day life'
The advertising didn't constitute any problem, 'it's free and it helps me, I don't mind if there is some usual advertising, like in most of the other apps'.
On the price issue the interviewee was not too keen. 'I wouldn't like to pay a monthly fee, it sounds like I am tied to something else and I have to pay monthly, maybe an anual fee or just a download fee would be great' 'I wouldn't pay for it probably, the features you siad where in the free version would solve my daily problems anyway'

An interesting thing was brought up when the interviewee was asked if there was something this application lacked. She said 'maximum price for each dish, for example: rice with mushrooms and oregano is a dish that costs you 4€, that would be nice to know and to see how much you are actually saving up with the app'

Conclusions:
- Positive attitude towards app
- Interested in trying out the free version
- Doesn't mind about any type of advertising
- Is price sensitive and proposes a price of: 2-5€ but as a single download, no monthly fee
- Thinks the basic version may cover her needs
- New characteristic could be added: average price per dish

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 1 analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:


We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ which are the market prices for such applications.
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structure Interview: Male, Spanish, 23 years old, student. Approximately 15 - 20 minutes of interview.
My first interview was conducted to a male 23 year old student, living with his parents but who has problems cooking for himself at lunch time when his parents are not at home. This is also the case on weekends with cooking dinner. He does not think he can follow a cook book and frankly has never tried it, although he has looked into the Internet for recipes but never know what to look for, where and how. He also has the problem of not having specific ingredients such as vegetables or spices he does not usually have at home.

When he first heard the idea he was positive about it and said that it seemed that when he was tired or stressed about cooking "Q-cocino would do it for him". When explained in further detail he was not sure up to what extent it would be easier for him to consult the app rather than go onto the internet or use a cookbook but was instantly retained by the fact that the recipes will only be using the ingredients he has. After the full explanation the result was: "I would very much like to try out this app, and if it really does what you say it does I would be glad as it would make my cooking time much less stressful", "I would also like to eat healthier, but as it supposes such a mess for me to just cook something I like, I don't even bother try to cook healthy meals, this would be a plus!"

When asking about the price and the advertisement he mentioned:
"I wouldn't pay for the application unless I tried it and found real value in it for my day-to-day cooking, then I would be willing to pay up to 1-2€ a month probably"
"...if the app is free I would not mind at all having ads as long as they are not too insisting, i wouldn't mind short popup ads as many applications have nowadays, but I wouldn't like having product placement especially if a recipe depends on a specific sauce only one brand has [...] they (fixed advertisements between phases of the recipes) wouldn't be a problem as long as they are not there every time I want to switch a recipe or a page inside a recipe"

Conclusions:
- Positive attitude
- Needs to try version to be 100% sure
- Adjusted to ingredients is the differentiation from competitors, the next big feature is cooking time although this one does not suppose a great differentiation from competitors
- In this case the nutritional values are extra benefits
- Adverts are ok as long as they are not too frequent or too abusive in any form
- Price should be decided once free model is tried out (this backs up our freemium version model idea)

By: Eva Borisova

Video presentation of Q-Cocino

Startup Dashboard Extension

This is not a substitute but an EXTENSION to our preliminary dashboard

Click on the picture to see a larger image

By: Eva Borisova

Survey analysis

From our survey we have deducted the following:

Demographics of our survey:

18-23 years - 73.7%
24-35 years - 21.1%
36-50 years - 5.3%

All contestants where residing in Spain and Spanish speakers

Two most popular profiles retrieved from our survey:

PROFILE #1: 

Has lunch at home 4-6 times per week
Likes to cook at home
Cooks based on his/her likes with no specific nutritional requirements
Laziness stops him/her from cooking more often
Lacks recipes to try new dishes
Goes grocery shopping 1-2 times per week
Shops with a shopping list
Does not have time to look in cook books or the Internet for new recipes

PROFILE #2: 

Has lunch at home every day
Does not like to cook
Has specific nutritional requirements such as low carb diet, celiac, vegetarian...etc.
Lacks time to cook
One of the major problems is that he/she always ends up cooking the same meals
Goes grocery shopping less than once a week
Does not shop with a shopping list
Never has the ingredients recipes on the Internet, in Apps or cook books ask for

From here we have designed the options which will be included in the application:

Free model:
Input ingredients
Input time requirements
Share the recipes

Premium model (0.99€):
All of the above and...
No ads
Nutrition habits: Choose if you are vegetarian, vegan, celiac...
Nutrition preferences: italian food, asian food...
Exclude ingredients: e.g. exclude cheese
Personalized grocery list
Discounts in local grocery stores
Video Tutorials
Save favorite recipes

Another Scenario Study

Situational Study: Exchange Student Living in Spain

 John, a twenty-one year old male attending La Salle University. John currently living with one other roommate similar in age and also a student was a perfect candidate to observe and study to see whether/how Q-Cocina would work for him. With very few ingredients in his refrigerator besides the very basic eggs, cheese, milk and bread most days he opted to make a really basic sandwich or ended up spending a lot of money getting fast food or take out that was very unhealthy. He explained that he wanted to eat healthier and loved to try new foods, but his lack of cooking knowledge and time to learn made it only practical to eat sandwiches or get food from restaurants. He also explained how much money it is to eat out almost everyday and as a student he has to compromise other spending in order to get food. He only goes to the grocery store once or twice a week and usually does not have recipes or meals in mind, but purchase what looks good, easy to prepare and cheap. With not having the time to shop for groceries daily each trip to the store is usually a time to stock up and resupply the basic ingredients that are constants in his refrigerator.

 John is a perfect candidate for the use of the Q-Cocina application. His lack of skill and knowledge in the kitchen, but his desire to learn and eat creatively and healthier would be solved by Q-Cocino. He indicated that he was very limited with time, but wanted to buy more food from the markets. Unfortunately, John never knew what to do with the things he would purchase, so Q-Cocina would help him not only expand his culinary skill, but also learn about new foods and recipes indigenous to the Spanish region. He explained that he would be willing to pay for this application not only a initial download fee, but monthly or annually too because in the long run he would be saving a lot of money and gain a skill that he never possessed before. Without even knowing of the product he explained that he was desperate to change his eating/cooking habits within the home.
By:Jack Formica

What we have done so far

This is a brief illustration of our strategy for Q-cocino study so far:

Click on the image to see it larger

by: Silvia Rubio

Update on Survey results

Here is an update on survey results and translation of final questions to English. Some of the primary questions posted on October 29th 2012 have been changed after a secondary analysis.

Questions:

¿Reside usted en España (Si la respuesta es no, abandone la encuesta)?  - Do you live in Spain? (if the answer is no please quit the survey)

Si y tengo menos de 18 años - Yes, and I am under 18 years old

Si y tengo 18-23 años - Yes, and I am 18-23 years old

Si y tengo 24-35 años - Yes, and I am 24-35 years old

Si y tengo 36-50 años  - Yes, and I am 36-50 years old

Si y tengo más de 50 años  - Yes, and I am over 50 years old


¿Con que frecuencia comes en casa?  - How often do you have lunch at home?

Cada día - Everyday

de Lunes a Viernes - Monday to Friday

4-6 veces por semana - 4-6 times a week

1-3 veces por semana - 1-3 times a week

Nunca - never

¿Te gusta cocinar en casa?  - Do you like cooking?

Si - yes

No - No


¿Tienes alguna necesidad especifica a la hora de cocinar (puedes escoger más de una respuesta)?  - Do you have any specific requirement when cooking? (you can choose more than one answer)

Si, nutricional (Vegetarianos, Baja en Calorias, Celiaca...etc.) - Yes, nutritional (Vegetarian, low carb, celiac…etc.)

Si, puramente según mis gustos - Yes, but purely based on my likes

Si, tiempo de cocción - Yes, time of cooking

No - No

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify


¿Cuales de estos motivos te llevan a no cocinar? (puedes escoger más de una respuesta)  - Which of these stops you from cooking? (you can choose more than one answer)

Falta de tiempo - Lack of time

No se me da bien cocinar - I don't know how to cook well enough

Por pereza - I am lazy

Falta de ingredientes específicos - I lack specific ingredients

Cocinar variado me sale caro - To cook varied dishes is too expensive

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify


¿Con que problemas te encuentras a la hora de cocinar?  - Which of these problems do you face when cooking?

Me faltan ideas/recetas para cocinar - I lack ideas/ recipes to cook

Cocino siempre lo mismo - I always cook the same things

Cocino casi siempre comida pre-cocinada - I frequently cook pre-cooked food

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify

¿Cuando fue la última vez que comiste lo mismo que hoy?  - When was the last time you ate the same as today?

Hace más de una semana -  over a week ago

Hace una semana - a week ago

Hace menos de 2 días - less than 2 days ago

Hace entre 3-6 días - 3-6 days ago

¿Con que frecuencia vas al supermercado a comprar comida?  - How frequently do you go to the supermarket to buy food?

Cada día - every day

1-2 días por semana - 1-2 days per week

3-4 días por semana - 3-4 days per week

5-6 días por semana  - 5-6 days per week

Menos de 1 vez por semana - less than once per week

Otro (especifique) - other, please specify

¿Vas al supermercado con una lista?  - Do you shop according to a shopping list?

Si - yes

No - no


¿Por que razón no usas herramientas como Internet, recetarios, aplicaciones para innovar en la cocina?  - Why don't you use tools such as the Internet, cook books, apps to innovate in the kitchen?

No tengo tiempo - I don't have time

No entiendo bin las recetas - I don't really understand recipes

Nunca tengo los ingredientes que me piden - I never have all the ingredients they ask for

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify

Answers until 04/11/2012

By: Eva Borisova

Survey

As part of our research we are conducting a survey for the Spanish market, and it can be seen and answered below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SB56PLC

En estos momentos estamos llevando a cabo una encuesta sobre nuestros potenciales usuarios, estariamos agradecidos a su colaboración:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SB56PLC

By: Eva Borisova & Silvia Rubio