let's spoon frozen yogurt

Marketing Research Report November 2011 Kelsey Gallagher, Kiki Gelke, Lisa Hoeynck, Elle Metz, Catherine Russell, Emily Thompson

Let’s Spoon Frozen Yogurt

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Let’s Spoon Frozen Yogurt: Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................3

Formulate the Problem................................................................................................................................3

Determine Research Design.........................................................................................................................4

Exploratory Research................................................................................................................................5

Preliminary Interview ...........................................................................................................................5

Let’s Spoon Client Consultation.......................................................................................................5

Literature Search ..................................................................................................................................5

Frozen Yogurt Industry Analysis and Trends....................................................................................5

Challenges/Benefits Facing Shops in Specific Market Niche ...........................................................6

College Market Niche: General........................................................................................................7

College Market Niche: University of Notre Dame ...........................................................................8

Competitive Context and Marketing Strategies ............................................................................10

Experience Survey ..............................................................................................................................10

Analysis of Selected Cases ..................................................................................................................13

Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Shop Marketing Research Case Studies .........................................13

Determining Descriptive Research Method............................................................................................14

Determine Data Collection Method ..........................................................................................................15

Questionnaire .........................................................................................................................................16

Design Data Collection Forms ....................................................................................................................18

Design Sample and Collect Data ................................................................................................................21

Sample Formula ......................................................................................................................................22

Analyze and Interpret Data .......................................................................................................................24

Correlation Coefficient and Pragmatic Validation ..................................................................................24

Coefficient Alpha ....................................................................................................................................25

Appendix ....................................................................................................................................................27

Experience Survey: Restaurant ...............................................................................................................27

Experience Survey: College Student Focus Groups.................................................................................29

Questionnaire .........................................................................................................................................31

Computation Tables................................................................................................................................33

Works Cited ............................................................................................................................................35

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Introduction

Marketing research plays a vital role in all stages of the marketing process, from the earliest

stages of product development to test marketing and commercialization. Given the importance of

marketing research, it is essential that the underlying reasons for the research are clearly defined in

order to obtain valuable, useful information that will lead to a successful marketing campaign. Thus, the

first pivotal step in the marketing research process is to determine the research problem.

Before one can decide the proper research problem to guide their research process, it is

important to discover the decision problem that must be solved by the marketing research. A decision

problem is the action that management is considering. In other words, what does management need to

do? The answer to the decision problem helps formulate the research problem, which is the

information needed to decide which action management should take. The research problem asks: what

does management need to know to choice the proper action? Thus, the appropriate problem

formulation is the only opportunity to start a marketing project in the correct direction.

Formulate the Problem

Decision Problem

After meeting with the management of Let’s Spoon, a new self‐serve frozen yogurt eatery

located just southeast of campus, we were able to evaluate the many marketing issues that

management hopes to solve. In particular, management of Let’s Spoon is concerned that their

advertising and promotional campaigns, such as their Two‐Punch Tuesdays and Name of the Day

promotions, have little awareness with the student population, who is their main customer target.

Moreover, Let’s Spoon is planning to reevaluate their on‐campus marketing campaign to reinforce their

existing promotions and advertisements. Management was particularly interested in how other local

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eateries promote their business to the student population. Thus, the primary decision problem that

management wishes to solve can be summarized as follows: How can Let’s Spoon increase their

awareness by marketing to Notre Dame on‐campus students?

Research Problem

In order to address the decision problems of Let’s Spoon management and to provide them with

a complete analysis of on‐campus advertising to increase awareness while simultaneously enhancing

motivation, we have developed the following research plan:

• How have students heard or become aware of Let’s Spoon and other local restaurant

and store openings in the South Bend area?

• What is the primary reason why students visit off‐campus eateries?

• What characteristics of off‐campus eateries do students value most?

• How aware are on‐campus students of the existing Let’s Spoon promotions?

By answering these key questions through exploratory and descriptive research, we hope to

provide Let’s Spoon management team with all the information they will need to take the best

marketing action and to select a successful marketing strategy.

Determine the Research Design Exploratory Research

To design the best approach to answering our decision problem, we began by conducting extensive

exploratory research. This consisted of secondary research and literature reviews of trends in the food

service industry, particularly the frozen yogurt industry. We then delved into the habits and preferences

of the college student market segment that we are targeting. We were able to increase our knowledge

of ways local restaurants promote to college students. We also conducted four focus groups, keeping

the groups homogenous by age range (21‐22 years old) and gender (two female groups and two male

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groups). Finally, our group looked at various approaches to gaining awareness and driving more people,

specifically college students, to the store by analyzing similar case studies with other frozen yogurt

venues.

Preliminary Interview Let’s Spoon Client Consultation Our secondary research began with a discussion with our client to explore Let’s Spoon’s current

approach to marketing their shop to Notre Dame college students. Let’s Spoon has started to implement

a promotional program for college students using social media as a means for communication. They

have both a Twitter and Facebook account that they update on a daily basis. The main impetus for

updating their status is with their “Names of the Day” promotion. Each day they randomly select a male

and female name. Any customer with that name can come in on that day to receive 50% off their

purchase. Let’s Spoon has also just recently launched their own t‐shirt line, featuring creative taglines

such as “I prefer to spoon” that would probably catch the eye of the college student. Speaking with the

client delineated the purpose of our research as providing University of Notre Dame specific data to

assist in implementation and understanding of on‐campus students and providing specific results on

effective ways of communicating to the students.

Literature Search

Frozen Yogurt Industry Analysis and Trends

Revenue from frozen yogurt stores reached $1.6 billion in 2011. Revenue has increased strongly

due to the growing popularity of frozen yogurt chains, such as Pinkberry, Red Mango, and Yogurtland.

According to a new IBISWorld research report, demand is expected to jump in 2012 and will remain

robust beyond as the economy improves, the unemployment rate declines and consumers begin to

spend money on eating out. Senior Industry Analyst Nima Samadi adds, “Intense competition will

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continue to define the industry. Most chains will introduce new healthy food alternatives and expand

their current product lines.”

Two brands, Red Mango and Pinkberry, have led the new wave of frozen yogurt franchising,

inspiring growth in older brands like Golden Spoon and TCBY and inspiring start‐ups all over the nation.

Among the entries that are newly appearing areBerrywild, Flurt, Froplay, Go Yogurt!, Ocean Blue,

Peachy Keen, Phileo Yogurt, Spoon Me, Sprinkles, Sweet Ending, U‐Swirl, Yoforia, Yoggi Spot, Yogorino,

Yogurberry, Yogurt Stop and Yolato (Packaged Facts, US Market for Ice Cream).

Frozen yogurt stores are the fifth largest product segment in the broader coffee and snack shops

sector. They currently make up approximately 6% of sector revenue, or $1.59 billion. Demand from the

Frozen Yogurt Stores industry will likely remain stable over the next five years, as increasingly health‐

conscious consumers and new markets drive growth. After a period of rapid growth, the number of

establishments will taper off, with firms consolidating or exiting the industry altogether (Ibisworld

Frozen Yogurt Stores in the US: Market Research Report).

Challenges/Benefits Facing Shops in Specific Market Niche

As noted in the previous section, an increased consumer interest in weight management and

healthy eating has helped to keep frozen yogurt sales on a generally upward track while other

spoonable dessert choices have suffered declines (Mintel, Yogurt & Yogurt Drinks). Frozen yogurt’s

healthy image will continue to drive frozen yogurt sales gains, as it is forecast to grow by 34% between

2011 and 2016, to reach $281 million (Mintel, Ice Cream and Frozen Novelties).

The challenges that frozen yogurt faces comes from the competition of more healthy ice creams,

like Edy’s Slow Churned ice cream, which increases potential for confusion or cannibalization. Also,

people view functional health claims as a disconnect for a dessert product meant to be a simple

pleasure (Mintel, Yogurt & Yogurt Drinks).

The economic slowdown presents an opportunity for ice cream shop marketers to position

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themselves as an affordable luxury. Additional ad spending plays a critical factor in helping these brands

achieve a louder voice in a competitive foodservice market—where all restaurants and treat‐based

operators are vying for their share of the consumer’s discretionary dining dollar (Mintel, Ice Cream

Shops).

The fact that individuals have less discretionary spending is hurting the spoonable desserts category;

people are more focused on buying food staples than extras (Mintel, Spoonable Desserts). Obesity

concerns are also weighing down interest in desserts. The final hindrance is the trend towards buying

store‐purchased versions instead of actually traveling to the self‐serve store.

In addition to yogurt, non‐dairy and organic products are experiencing growth, with sales nearly

doubling between 2006 and 2011. Most notably, the frozen yogurt segment seems to be waiting for an

entry from Fage, Chobani, or another one of a handful of brands that have helped drive the explosive

growth of Greek‐style yogurt. Yogurt and Yogurt Drinks—U.S., December 2010 explores the Greek yogurt

phenomenon in detail and provides a discussion of the pros and cons of line‐extending into areas such

as frozen yogurt. One of the few examples is Yasso, a frozen treat brand launched in the Northeastern

U.S. in March of 2011 claiming to be the first‐ever Greek frozen yogurt. (Mintel, Ice Cream and Frozen

Novelties).

College Market Niche: General Mintel’s Social Networking—U.S., February 2010 explains that surveyed 18‐24s had a mean

number of 220 contacts associated with the profile they most commonly use compared to just 123 for

the sample as a whole and 144 among the 25‐34 segment. Clearly, social networking sites are a key

platform for marketers targeting college students. The high number of contacts among younger,

traditional students also illustrates the fact that marketers may want to consider targeting 18‐24 year‐

old students to participate in word‐of‐mouth campaigns in which they share product experiences with

others in their network or encourage others to try a product or brand. Providing product‐relevant,

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objective information or pure entertainment along with a promotional message may be an effective way

to communicate with students on social networking sites and reduce their resistance to considering a

message.

While college is a time when many gain independence and experience new thrills, it can also be

a stressful time in which personal concerns can play a key role in shaping decision making. Mintel’s

exclusive survey found that surveyed students are considerably more likely than nonstudents to say they

are concerned about “having enough money to do the things I want to do” (65% vs. 56%, respectively)

and 61% of students also said they were concerned about “my own financial situation,” while only 54%

of nonstudents agreed with that statement. Six in 10 (62%) of surveyed students also say they are

concerned about “getting good grades.” These findings help to illustrate the importance of value among

students and why 56% of students who were surveyed reported searching online for coupons compared

with just 44% of nonstudents (Mintel, Marketing to College Students). These findings and others clearly

indicate that it is important to emphasize value for money when targeting college students.

Many college students are tech savvy and spend a substantial amount of time updating social

networking profiles and communicating with others through social networking sites. More than seven in

10 students surveyed (74%) reported having visited a social networking site in the seven days prior to

taking Mintel’s survey, compared with just 48% of nonstudents who participated in the study. This helps

to illustrate the fact that social media can be an especially powerful tool when targeting college

students.

College students are notorious for their resistance to traditional marketing efforts. Many tend to

shut down completely once they feel that they are being marketed to. Some companies have employed

students to work as “brand ambassadors,” in order to educate other students about their products and

brands (Mintel, Marketing to College Students).

College Market Niche: University of Notre Dame

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The demographics of Notre Dame’s student body are extremely important for us in answering

the decision problem. Notre Dame is one of a handful of truly international universities, with a student

body drawn from all 50 states and 100 countries. About 80% of the undergraduates and 18% of

advanced students live on campus. There are no social fraternities or sororities at Notre Dame. Of the

2011 incoming class, 89% were in the top 10% of their high school class and their geographic locations

were: 41% Midwest, 23% Northeast, 18% West and Southwest, 13% Southeast, and 5% international.

The Fall 2010 Enrollment featured 8,437 undergraduates (University of Notre Dame).

The University of Notre Dame features 29 undergraduate residence halls located on‐campus.

There are approximately 3600 residence hall rooms on campus with space for over 6,200 students.

Approximately 80% of undergraduate students live on‐campus. Residence hall occupancy is typically

100% in the fall semester and over 95% in the spring semester (due to a higher percentage of students

studying abroad in the spring semester vs. the fall). Most residence halls have a kitchen area and

vending machines (The Office of Residence Life and Housing). These findings indicate that companies

seeking to target students 18‐21 will want to focus their efforts at least in part on campus promotions

and on‐campus signage, as well as grass roots efforts such as hiring student brand ambassadors.

The campus boasts numerous dining options. It has two large dining halls featuring a wide

variety of food items as well as a soft‐serve machine and ice cream containers. The soft‐serve area also

includes limited topping choices. Besides the dining hall which is included in the student meal plan,

students have the option to use their ‘Flex’ points at various cafes around campus including: Legends,

Greenfields, Reckers, Café de Grasta, a la Descartes, The Huddle Mart, Subway, Starbucks, Sbarro,

Burger King, Café Commons, Café Poche, Crossings, Decio Commons, Irish Ink, Kitz Kafe, and Waddick’s.

Of these listed options, only a few sell frozen yogurt or ice cream. The Huddle Mart has its own

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LaFortune Center Ice Cream Shop, Starbucks sells smoothie type products, and Irish Ink sells artisan

gelato and sorbetto.

A Notre Dame student only has to walk just a few hundred feet off campus to the new

community development of Eddy Street Commons to participate in sit‐down dining and quick service

restaurants such as Chipotle and Five Guys. Here, Jamba Juice, Five Guys, and Kilwin’s have ice cream‐

type options for the students to enjoy. Whether its on or off campus, there are many options for the

Notre Dame student, which poses a challenge to our decision problem of how Let’s Spoon can market to

college students at Notre Dame.

Competitive Context and Marketing Strategies

Frozen Yogurt companies promote their product in various ways. Trips to the ice cream shop

largely occur on impulse, so ice cream shop marketers continuously promote reasons to visit. The

implication is that operators should actively promote occasions to stimulate planned visits with value

incentives, typically in the form of giveaways. For example, Häagen‐Dazs shops offered a free scoop on

May 12th during its annual Free Flavor Day, which promotes the company’s latest flavor innovations. In

May 2009, Baskin‐Robbins promoted 88‐cent Soft Serve ice cream cones to build excitement and

interest in the new product (Mintel, Ice Cream Shops). Other advertising and promotional activity

typically focuses on promoting the differentiating brand qualities and signature products to stimulate

brand awareness and excitement. Social media emerges as a less expensive and highly effective

advertising tool; however, few operators are using this type of promotion to its fullest potential (Mintel,

Ice Cream Shops). Frozen dessert advertising is very seasonal, with most advertising programs starting

up in March and April and ending right before Labor Day. However, marketing to college students will

vary because of the time of year that students are in school (US Market for Ice Cream).

Experience Survey

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Interviews with Comparable Local Businesses

In order to better understand current marketing tactics aimed specifically toward Notre Dame

students, we decided to interview local food businesses in South Bend. The establishments that we

chose to talk to, Jamba Juice, O’Rourkes, Between the Buns, and the Golden Gnome, are all located near

campus just as Let’s Spoon is. Our interviews involved either a face‐to‐face or email conversation in

which we sought to understand what marketing techniques were used. The questions we asked can be

found in the Appendix. We found that these four establishments use a variety of tactics ranging from

social media to promotions to student‐specific advertising.

At Jamba Juice, a chain smoothie restaurant located in Eddy Street Commons, they use a

combination of advertising and promotion to reach ND students. For example, they place ads in the

student newspaper, The Observer. Similarly, they have a Facebook page for their particular restaurant

that publicizes special discounts and promotions. Seeing as many Notre Dame students use social media,

they can reach many potential customers this way. They frequently participate in on‐campus contests,

such as dorm competitions, by offering prizes and also often offer student‐only coupons.

O’Rourkes, a pub and restaurant also located in Eddy Street Commons directly across from

campus, takes a bit of a different approach to student marketing. They emphasize events or potential

events in their advertising. For example, they offer away‐game watches, host Kelly Cares (Coach Kelly’s

charity) events, offer to host 21st birthday parties, and have a Student Night every Wednesday. In

addition, they have other weekly nights such as NFL football night and Karaoke night. All of these events

appeal to and/or are directly targeted Notre Dame students. Similar to Jamba Juice, O’Rourkes also is

active in social media. They have both a Facebook and Twitter page in addition to their very active

website. They use these pages to promote special events like those listed above, discounts, Notre Dame

events (ie. football games), etc. As noted before, many Notre Dame students use social media and

hence, this is an effective way of reaching them.

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The Golden Gnome is a brand new bar located close to campus on Route 33. While it uses some

similar tactics as O’Rourkes, it also takes a unique approach to student marketing. It does use Facebook

to promote special nights and events. These nights include a student night and other student‐friendly

activities, such as Karaoke. In addition, the Golden Gnome uses student ambassadors to reach Notre

Dame students. They want to use word‐of‐mouth tactics to advertise and do not have any formal on‐

campus advertisements. Finally, they have a “30 Shot” promotion with 30 different shots that represent

each dorm and one for off campus. Students can get a punch card and receive a punch for each of these

shots. Once the card is filled, they have the opportunity of winning a prize.

Lastly, Between the Buns is a restaurant and bar located just east of campus on Vaness St. Like

most of the other businesses, Between the Buns uses social media to reach Notre Dame students. They

have a Facebook and Twitter that they use to advertise special promotions and food/drink specials. They

also have Foursquare, which they use to offer special discounts. And like the other restaurants, Between

the Buns has special themed nights that stand to attract students. For example, they have trivia nights

on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that are very popular. Finally, they offer a 10% daily student discount.

Focus Groups

To further enhance our exploratory research, we also conducted four focus groups. These

groups consisted of 3‐5 Notre Dame students each, and two of the groups were composed of all males

and two were composed of all females. The questions we asked can be found in the Appendix.

The results of these focus groups are summarized below and the two boys groups and two girls groups

have been combined to show the difference between genders.

With both girls groups, we found that the food venues that they most frequented included Panera,

Chipotle, Let’s Spoon, Starbucks, and Five Guys. Their favorite places to socialize are places where one

can sit down, such as O’Rourkes, Panera and other restaurants in Eddy Street Commons. They go to

these places once or twice a week. Their motivation for going to eateries off‐campus ranges from

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wanting a change of scenery to going on a date to rewarding themselves. The new food venues that

they were most aware of are Let’s Spoon, McCallisters, Brothers and Falafel Express. Since both focus

groups of girls mentioned Let’s Spoon on their own, we were able to ask them more detailed questions

about it.

The majority of the girls had heard about Let’s Spoon by either driving by or through word of mouth.

The number of times they had gone ranged from 0 to 5, and overall they were enthusiastic about their

experiences there. They usually go in the evening with 1‐3 other people. And overall, most girls said that

the promotions and discounts that Let’s Spoon offers do persuade them to go there. While their

motivation for going included a craving for frozen yogurt and socializing with friends, they did say they

were more likely to go if they knew there was a discount (either by word of mouth, social media or an

on‐campus advertisement).

The most popular off‐campus food venues for the male students to go to eat and socialize are

Chipotle, Jamba Juice, Dominos, Quincy’s, Nick’s Patio, Starbucks and Martin’s Side Door Deli. Their

motivations for going to these places are hunger, socializing, convenience, people watching and having

run out of food at home. Special promotions and discounts are also huge motivators when it comes to

whether or not to go somewhere and also where to go. And the number of times they frequent these

eateries varied greatly, ranging from 1‐2 times a week to 1‐2 times a month. The other food venues that

they were most aware of are Quincy’s, Let’s Spoon, McCallisters, the Golden Gnome, Brothers, and

Urban Swirl. And once again, both focus groups of boys talked about Let’s Spoon on their own so we

were able to ask more detailed questions on the subject.

Most of the boys had heard of Let’s Spoon through word of mouth or by driving by, and they cited

the clever name as something that caught their attention. They also noted that word of mouth was

more powerful for them than social media. For those who had been to Let’s Spoon, they said that, like

the girls, they usually went with a small group of people in the evening. Unlike the girls, they were not

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particularly aware of the special promotions that Let’s Spoon offers.

Analysis of Selected Cases

Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Shop Marketing Research Case Studies

After gaining some insight from our meeting with Let’s Spoon, we wanted to analyze various case

studies of frozen yogurt companies marketing to college students. We were looking for characteristics

relevant to our research problem.

Red Mango, one of the fastest growing retailer of yogurt and smoothies, has redefined the yogurt

experience with its self‐serve stores. Red Mango enlisted the help of a marketing company to raise

awareness and plan a buzz‐worthy grand opening celebration in June 2010 to introduce the retailer to

Omaha residents. One promotion they implemented was through enhancing the user experience for

Facebook fans by building the “My Mango” Facebook application that allows the user to create their

own Red Mango treat. The app allows a user to select from all the varieties of flavors and toppings,

while being presented with a calorie counter and the health benefits of their custom treat. The app then

allows the user to share the custom concoction with friends. In the first month since the launch of the

app, 367 different treats have been created (Bozell). The successful launch of the Omaha Red Mango

location led to greater brand recognition from the Omaha community and sales goals exceeding

expectations.

Loyalty programs have been a great success with retailers of all kinds so it is natural that they

are being used in the frozen dessert market. In the spring of 2009, Red Mango launched a new customer

loyalty program that lets customers earn points toward free products. The program is designed to

reward customers who are loyal to the brand, something that has become increasingly important in the

fiercely competitive upscale frozen yogurt category. Members of the Club Mango loyalty program earn

50 points for joining and 10 points for every dollar spent at Red Mango. Referral to a friend earns

another 50 points, and guests can earn 500 points on their birthday. Members receive a $5 coupon for

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every 500 points they earn, as well as privileges, such as event invitations and information about

promotions. (Packaged Facts, Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts).

Determining Descriptive Research Method

We used the information that we gathered during our research to determine the specific

descriptive research method, and we decided to administer a questionnaire. We wanted to use a

communication method rather than attempt to observe or do an experiment. This is because we wanted

to measure students’ awareness of Let’s Spoon and motivation to go there in a controlled way. Other

benefits of a questionnaire are that it is quick, inexpensive, objective, and anonymous. We chose to do

cross‐sectional analysis rather than longitudinal analysis because we did not feel this type of analysis

was necessary. Hence, we administered a questionnaire to a random sample of Notre Dame students.

Determine Data Collection Method

Design Data Collection Forms

After the sample size and data collection method had been determined, the next crucial step was to

design the questionnaire form. After careful thought and consideration, we decided that we were

looking for information about the awareness and motivation of Let’s Spoon’s potential clients with

regard to their decision‐making process when it comes to selecting an off‐campus venue to eat at. This

information would best fit both our decision and research problems. Through our questionnaire, we

were also hoping to examine basic statistical information about Notre Dame students with regard to

Let’s Spoon and other off‐campus eateries, such as how often have they visited these venues.

After deciding that we would be collecting the data in person from Notre Dame students in a

randomly selected sample of students from dorms, we knew that our survey would have to be

straightforward and easy to understand/answer quickly, because if students thought this would be a

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large time commitment, they would be less likely to assist us. Because of this, we focused our questions

on the most relevant and important information to our research. All of our questions were structured

and undisguised, and had a series of structured responses, with the exception of a final open‐ended

question.

We opted for a print questionnaire as opposed to an online questionnaire because we felt as though

this would be the best way to randomly select respondents. As with an online survey, this was

anonymous in that we did not ask participants for any uniquely identifying information, with the

exception of their dorm and class year. Although this survey was not as quick as an online one, it

allowed us greater control over the stratification of the population. Had we done an online survey, our

sample population would have been restricted to primarily our friends and their friends. Most of our

friends are seniors, and we wanted to get a more random selection of students from a variety of class

years. We knocked on the every third door in each hallway of each randomly selected dorm which we

surveyed in an attempt to randomize our respondents.

We began with three questions focused on how students become aware of different eateries in

South Bend, factors which would motivate them to visit an off‐campus eatery, and specific events which

would motivate them to go to specifically an off‐campus dessert place.

Our first question asked respondents to rate the level of effectiveness of certain channels of

communication in increasing their awareness of new businesses in South Bend. This was an existential

awareness question measuring on a basic level how Notre Dame students become aware of off‐campus

venues. Channels included were word of mouth, on‐campus advertising, Observer ads, ND listserv

emails, promotional events, TV, radio, online advertising and a specific social media section asking about

Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare. We also left an open space for respondents to list any other

channels of communication which may influence their decisions. As with all of our questions pertaining

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to awareness and motivation, respondents ranked the level of effectiveness that a certain channel of

communication had on a scale of zero (not effective at all) to six (extremely effective). We determined

that this seven point scale would allow respondents the most leeway with ranking effectiveness, and the

fact that it was an odd‐numbered scale gave participants an exact middle, and the chance to select a

three as a neutral choice. This question was multi‐dimensional because it was measuring different

channels of communication on the same scale.

Our second question was building on the measure of awareness found in the first section to assess

the motivation which participants had to select an off‐campus eatery based on a number of factors

which we deemed important to students. Again, these were measured on a Likert‐like scale regarding

the intensity of our respondents’ feelings. Our variation on the traditional Liker‐scale seemed to be the

most effective in acquiring the type of information which we were seeking. These factors were the

hours of an off‐campus eatery, customer service, store atmosphere, price, promotions/discount,

proximity to campus, and a fill‐in‐the‐blank spot for them to rank another factor. Again, this was a

multi‐dimensional scale measuring another unobservable variable.

Our third question also dealt with motivation. This question was more specific in that it was asking

what motivated students specifically to go to an off‐campus dessert place. We attempted to address

the different occasions which would students would visit an off‐campus dessert place. These included

socializing with friends, celebration (ex/ birthday, winning a sports game), date, craving for sweets,

convenience, advertisement, and a spot for them to list another factor. This multi‐dimensional question

was attempting to further address the different types of observable occasions motivated potential

clients to go to Let’s Spoon.

Our next six questions dealt specifically with awareness, motivation and the facts about our

respondents’ relationship with Let’s Spoon. We began this section with a filter question which was used

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to determine if our respondent would be able to provide us with the information we sought. This

question specifically asked if the respondents had a heard of Let’s Spoon, with boxes to check for either

a yes or no. This was important because not only would it help us to see if the respondents were

familiar at all with the venue, but it would also assess on a very basic level if Let’s Spoon’s current

promotional and marketing techniques were effective and if a substantial percentage of the student on‐

campus population had heard of the venue.

The next question asked how respondents had heard of Let’s Spoon. We had a list of potential

channels which individuals could have heard of the venue through. These included an option for never

having heard of it, driven by, word of mouth, advertisements, and social media. Again, because this list,

like our others, was non‐exhaustive, we left an open option for respondents to fill in another method

through which they had heard of the restaurant.

Our next question was again measuring statistically how frequently respondents had been to Let’s

Spoon. Options included never, 1‐3 times, 4‐6 times, 7‐10 times, and more than 10 times. Because Let’s

Spoon has been open only since August, if a student was going to Let’s Spoon once a week, they would

have visited an approximately ten times. Anything less frequent than once weekly would be included in

more infrequent options. The following question was one of the most important in our questionnaire as

it measured the success and awareness of already existent promotions which Let’s Spoon has utilized in

an effort to increase awareness of the venue. Again, we measured these on our variation of the Likert‐

scale ranging from zero (not aware at all) to six (extremely aware). The promotions we were measuring

were the “Frequent Spooner” punch cards, two‐punch Tuesdays, “Name of the Day” discount, general

student discount, birthday promotions, and holiday/temporary promotions (ex/ Veterans received a

special discount on their frozen yogurt on Veterans’ day). Our final structured question asked

respondents to rank their level of satisfaction with their experience at “Let’s Spoon” as a whole. We

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thought this would be valuable information for the store’s management because it would most likely

correlate with how frequently customers had been there, and how likely they would be to return.

Our final question was open‐ended, and again, was written in for the benefit of management. We

asked if respondents had any suggestions or recommendations for new student promotions at Let’s

Spoon, and left a blank spot for them to fill in any ideas they might have. Let’s Spoon has been very

responsive in the past in listening to its customers and their suggestions for new promotions, and we

thought this question would garner some valuable information.

These questions addressed each of our research problems, and hopefully the completed

questionnaires will provide valuable information which could be used to address the decision problem.

Determine Sample and Collect Data

To determine the sample size for our project, we first needed to establish our specific

population. This was stated in our original decision problem, which says that we are focusing on college

students, specifically Notre Dame. Next we were able to use the population’s characteristics to

determine the sampling frame, or the certain characteristics from which the sample will be drawn. The

one prominent characteristic that we thought was necessary was choosing from the source of on‐

campus students, determining what draws them off campus to different local businesses. We also

wanted to have an equal amount of boys and girls in our sample; therefore we knew we wanted a

stratified random sample. This means we are taking our sample and creating subsets based on sex, and

then choosing a random sample of people independently from each gender. We were able to take each

gender and, based off of our sample size, choose an equal amount of people from each gender on

campus.

Next our group determined the sample size. We were able to use the sample size formula,

which is equal to: (z2 /h2 )* ∂2 . First, we were able to find our standard deviation by dividing our range

20

by the +/‐ amount from the mean. Considering our range through our questionnaire was 6, we divided

this number by the +/‐ amount from the mean which was 6, and found that the standard deviation is

equal to 1. Next we found our precision, by multiplying the range (6) by the percentage of preciseness

we wanted to measure (4%), which gave us .24. Considering we are using the 95% confidence interval,

z=2. Once all of these numbers are plugged into the equation, we find our sample size.

(z2 /h2 )* ∂2 = (22 /.242 )* 12 = 70

We made the decision that our own group member should be the people who distribute the

survey, considering we are the most knowledgeable about the project and we would be the most

reliable. Therefore, we determined that 6 people would be distributing the surveys, so we needed to

split up the sample size equal among six people. 70/6= 11.5, or 12 people, therefore we concluded that

each person should survey 12 students on campus.

Next, we decided to use a random generator to decide which dorms to survey for our random

sample. Through Randomizer.com we were able to generate 3 boy’s and 3 girl’s dorms for the final

sample. After assigning each dorm with a nominal label, the generator produced three numbers for our

range of 14 girl’s dorms, and we used the dorms that were assigned these numbers as part of our

sample. This process was repeated with the set of 15 boy’s dorms.

Girl’s Dorms Boy’s Dorms 1. Badin 1. Stanford 2. Lyons 2. Keenan 3. McGlinn 3. Dillon 4. Pasquerilla East 4. Alumni 5. Breen Phillips 5. Zahm 6. Pasquerilla West 6. Knott 7. Welsh Family 7. Seigfried 8. Walsh 8. Duncan 9. Farley 9. O’Neil 10. Howard 10. Morrisey 11. Cavanaugh 11. Keough

21

12. Ryan 12. Fisher 13. Pangborn 13. Carroll 14. Lewis 14. Sorin 15. St. Edwards

Finally, each group member went to their assigned dorm and passed out the questionnaire to 12

people. This was all done within a matter of one day, making sure that the questionnaire is the same

and distributed the same to all people in the sample. Through this we were able to find some interesting

results, which will be determined in our analysis section. Our group took all errors into consideration,

such as response error for those who hurried through the survey and might not have had time to review

each question.

Analyze and Interpret Data

Data Results

We compiled various graphs from our questionnaire results in order to come up with our

recommendations for Let’s Spoon. The following are specific graphs and explanations, ordered by

question number:

Question 1:

22

The most effective method of increasing awareness of off‐campus businesses in South Bend among the

individuals we surveyed was word of mouth. While some other methods (Facebook, promotional

events, etc.) were also successful, the most effective was by far word of mouth. Additionally, a few

methods stood out as being particularly ineffective (Twitter, FourSquare, and radio).

Question 2:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60 Word of Mouth:

On‐cam

pus print advertising

(posters):

Observer ads:

The Week at ND em

ails/other

ND em

ails:

Prom

otional events (free

samples): Facebook:

Twitter:

Four Square

TV

Radio

Online Advertising

Effectiveness to Increase Awareness

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

23

Universally, the most important factors in the selection of an off‐campus venue to eat at were the price

and proximity to campus. There was no clear factor that did not affect selection, but hours did not

consistently play a strong role in selection, and customer service and store atmosphere did also not rank

highly.

Question 3:

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40 Reasons for Selecting Off‐Campus Eatery

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

24

The primary motivation for eating off‐campus is socializing with friends, which displayed significantly

high ratings of importance. Celebrations, including birthdays and events, followed socializing in

importance, with promotions and discounts as well as dates, closely behind. Advertisements proved to

be the least popular reason to eat off campus, among the variables listed.

Question 4:

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Motivation to Eat Off Campus

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

25

More girls than boys have heard of Let’s Spoon; almost all of the girls surveyed at least knew what it was

even if they hadn’t been before.

Question 5:

23

14

33

3

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

YES

NO

Have you heard of "Let's Spoon"?

Girls

Boys

26

Item five in our questionaire addresses how on‐campus students have become aware of Let’s Spoon. As

indicated, word of mouth was the most popular method of awareness with 59% of students surveyed

having heard of Let’s Spoon through word of mouth. 30% of the sample population have discovered

Let’s Spoon by driving by it’s location southeast of campus. A significant portion, 22%, of on‐campus

students have never heard of let’s spoon. Moreover, the students surveyed indicated that they become

aware of Let’s Spoon via advertisements and social media.

Question 6:

How frequently have you been to “Let’s Spoon”?

22%

30%

59%

4% 5%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Never heard of it Driven by Word of mouth Advertisements Social Media

How did you hear of Let's Spoon?

27

This part of our survey determines the awareness and the actual frequency of Let’s Spoon by students at

Notre Dame. We found that a majority of our sample has never been to Let’s Spoon, especially our male

sample. No one from our sample has visited the establishment more than 6 times, which tells us that

there is not a lot of reason or drawing from the frozen yogurt place in order to get students off campus.

Question 7:

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Never 1‐3 times 4‐6 times 7‐10 times More than 10 times

girls

boys

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Frequent

Spooner Punch

card

Two Punch

Tuesdays

Nam

e of the Day

Student discount

Birthday

prom

otions

Holiday/

temporary

prom

otions

Awareness of Existing Let's Spoon Promotions

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

28

Item seven in our questionnaire clearly demonstrates that Let’s Spoon’s existing promotions have very

low levels of awareness, usually zero on our 0‐6 rating scale of awareness. The promotions that had the

most awareness were the ‘Name of the Day’ promotion, the Student Discount, and the Frequent

Spooner Punch Card, respectively.

Correlation Coefficient and Pragmatic Validation

In analyzing our results, our group decided to look at the correlation coefficient between items

in questions 2 and 3 in order to show pragmatic validity. The correlation coefficient indicates the degree

of linear association between two continuous variables. It can range from ‐1 to +1. Pragmatic validity,

sometimes called “criterion validity,” should have a high correlation coefficient between measures of

different, related constructs. The constructs we are examining fall under the concurrent validity subtitle

because they were measured at the same time. The tables below illustrate our construct pairs to

measure the pragmatic validity.

Question 2:

Construct Covaried With… Correlation Coefficient

Hours Convenience 0.864709725

Customer Service Convenience 0.750933385

Store Atmosphere Customer Service 0.951105874

Price Promotion/Discounts 0.864980829

Promotion/Discounts Promotion/Discounts 0.906907565

Proximity to Campus Convenience 0.645161105

Question 3:

29

Construct Covaried With… Correlation Coefficient

Socializing with Friends Celebration 0.910651615

Celebration Socializing with Friends 0.910651615

Promotions or special discount Promotion/Discounts (#2) 0.906907565

Date Socializing with Friends 0.7999114

Convenience Proximity to Campus 0.645161105

Advertisement Promotion/Discounts (#2) -0.086081719

Coefficient Alpha

Even though our questionnaire featured multidimensional measures, we still wanted to look at

the coefficient alphas, using one male dorm results and one female dorm results as our sample. Because

the coefficient alpha works only with unidimensional, multi‐item measures, we are only able to illustrate

how the measure of consistency could be used and not rely on the alphas for analytical significance. The

formula for coefficient alpha is: (k/(k‐1))*(1‐(sum mean)/total variance). We computed the answers of

the 24 students (12 in each dorm) and put them in an excel chart to get our required data. We

renumbered the questionnaire so that each sub‐question had its own number. Our group decided to

take out the ‘Other’ questions because we found that these were always scored a 0, and thus, would not

help our coefficient alpha. We then did the purification process, which first involves an item to total

correlation to see which items are demonstrating low correlations. We could throw out those that had a

0 or negative correlation to the total, and then recomputed the two coefficient alphas. The new alphas

didn’t vary that much from the alphas computed without purification. The graphs can be viewed in the

appendix section of this paper.

The closest we can come to a unidimensional, multi‐item scale would be comparing social media

as a total to the individual measures of social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Four Square. We

30

were able to see an increase in the correlation for the female dorms, however the correlation for the

male dorms remained about the same.

Recommendations

Through the information gathered in our exploratory and descriptive research, we have

been able to answer our several research questions. Moreover, we have ultimately been able

to answer our decision question: how can Let’s Spoon increase their awareness to Notre Dame

students living on‐campus? After analyzing the results of our questionnaire, we developed

several recommendations, which provide Let’s Spoon’s management with the information

necessary to effectively increase their awareness to on‐campus students.

Because we found that there is little to no awareness of Let’s Spoon’s existing

promotions, it is essential that Let’s Spoon drive awareness through the most effective

communication methods. We found from the results of item one in our questionnaire that he

most effective methods of communication to increase awareness were word of mouth,

observer ads, Facebook, and promotional events. In addition, we found through item two of

our questionnaire that price and promotions and discounts were the strongest motivators to

encourage on‐campus students to go to an off‐campus eatery. In addition, we found that

proximity to campus was a very important factor in choosing to eat off campus. Consequently,

we recommend that Let’s Spoon develop Facebook coupons to encourage people to visit Let’s

Spoon. Let’s Spoon Facebook page can also help to further increase awareness of Let’s Spoon’s

existing promotions. Also, in the future, we would encourage Let’s Spoon to look into Stampt

and other iPhone applications that will allow students to electronically keep track of their

discounts and punch card points. Additionally, we recommend that Let’s Spoon emphasize

31

their location’s close proximity to campus within their advertisements, due to the importance

of location and convenience demonstrated by the students surveyed.

In addition to Facebook ads, we recommend that Let’s Spoon combine the effectiveness

of word of mouth campaigns with a student discount or promotion to encourage students to

spread awareness of Let’s Spoon. We found that word of mouth was one of the most effective

methods of increasing awareness among on‐campus college students. Moreover, we found

that pricing and promotion were essential reasons to choose a particular off‐campus eatery.

Also, item three of our questionnaire showed that socializing and celebrating with friends were

also important motivators to eat off‐campus, as well as promotions and discounts. To take

advantage of all of these trends, we recommend that Let’s Spoon develop a referral program.

Within this program, students who bring in friends to Let’s Spoon will receive discounts in

return for spreading awareness to new customers. By enacting these recommendations and

utilizing the information we’ve found about enhancing on‐campus student awareness and

motivation, the management of Let’s Spoon can capitalize on our marketing research and

develop effective promotional campaigns that will increase students’ awareness and ultimately,

enhance yogurt sales.

Appendix

Experience Survey Questions‐‐Restaurants: 1. History/Background 2. Location 3. Industry 4. Mission 5. General promotions? 6. Any promotions/marketing directed toward students? 7. What have been the most effective?

32

‐What types of promotions/advertising do you use most frequently

Experience Survey Questions—Focus Groups: 1. Where would you go for an off campus snack? 2. Where would you go to socialize that is a food venue? 3. How often? 4. List favorite places to go in South Bend. 5. What motivates you to go? 6. What new food venues are you aware of? 7. **If they mention Let’s Spoon or other venues, then go on to more specific questions. 1. How did you hear about Let’s Spoon? 2. Have you been? How often? 3. How many people? What time of day? 4. Do student promotions and social networking affect if you go? 1. Where have you seen these? 5. What motivates you to go?

33

Questionnaire

35

Computation Tables

Coefficient Alpha:

37

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