Understanding Smartwatch Purchase Drivers

Challenge

Helping a tech brand understand motivations and drivers to purchasing a smartwatch, to inform positioning and communications that drive acquisition.  

With wearable technology becoming ever-more popular, our client wanted to understand how they could drive more people to invest in the technology by understanding their consideration factors. The client also wanted to understand how their portfolio influences device perceptions and considerations, to ultimately guide future messaging and positioning.

Approach

Given the client’s global reach, we started by understanding what motivates current smartwatch owners’ purchasing behavior across North America, Asia and Europe through in-depth interviews, exploring their attitudes and lifestyle, and health and category perceptions. We then dug deeper into acquisition opportunities through group discussions with people considering a smartwatch, picking apart differences between the client and its competitors. Finally, we quantified and provided rich context for the insights we heard in the qualitative phase with a quantitative survey, illuminating how the client stacks up against its competitors across smartwatch considerations.

Impact

Our final report and beautifully edited film helped make our insights truly shareable across the client’s organization, helping global teams align on what motivates their audiences, and where they want smartwatches to show up in their lives. This allowed the client to optimize their communications and positioning strategies in the evolving category, driving acquisition globally.