Recently, there was a very interesting discussion on BZP about people who no longer buy sets (what we in the biz call "lapsed users") and how much influence they can or can't have on product.
There are, based on what I have seen, three main types of lapsed user. We will call them Joe, Bill, and Tom. All three have stopped buying BIONICLE sets, and all are in their teens, for the purposes of this example:
Joe still thinks BIONICLE is interesting, but stopped buying sets in 2004 because he dislikes clone sets and the organic Inika masks, something he has made very clear in his posts.
Bill still likes BIONICLE too, but stopped buying sets because he likes gear functions in the figures, brown stone figures, and clone sets.
Tom is still interested in story, but his life has changed -- he has to save for college, he just got a car, and he has more demands on his money and his time than he had a few years ago when he was buying sets regularly.
Now, of those three, who does BIONICLE have the best chance of getting back as a customer? Not Tom -- his priorities have changed, his needs and wants have changed, and he has had to make a choice between what his life demands now and buying sets. It's highly unlikely that we are going to be able to reactivate him as a customer.
Bill is more likely, but much more problematic. We could get Bill back if we changed sets to suit his tastes. The problem is, his tastes run counter to everything our sales and market research tell us. Everything we know says that if we do a brown clone set with gears, it won't sell. Given that, we aren't going to do one, so it's likely Bill will not come back.
Joe, on the other hand, is a different story. Like Bill, he would be willing to buy BIONICLE again if it suited his tastes. But the things he dislikes -- clone sets and organic masks -- are the same things the majority of the audience dislikes, based on sales and market research. Changing those things and so making the sets more to his liking is easier, because they are changes we need to make anyway for the market as a whole. There's no guarantee we will get him back, because he has found other things to spend his money on ... and the difficulty makes it less likely we will set out with a goal of reactivating him ... but there is at least a chance if he is still paying attention to the sets that he might buy again.
So, you see, it's not just about "you buy or don't buy sets" -- it really comes down to WHY you're not buying, and what the chances are we will get you back. There are some Joes and Bills on BZP, and a lot of Toms, and Joe and Bill are the ones as a business you are more likely to talk about when you discuss reactivating lapsed users. Tom may well still have strong opinions on sets, but as a customer, he is most likely gone for the foreseeable future regardless of what we do.
Greg
The Lapsed User
Posted by GregF on
Oh well, I'll still buy the books.
I don't think that the lapsed users would have much influence on the sales, seeing as there are new customers each year... but I suppose the statistics don't lie. I have no advice, other than my motto, "BZP is a society of unsatisfiable complainers"
. the books become waaaay easy to read (i can read one in like 3 hours.)
. you get interested in new things like video games, cars, the other gender, etc.
. other impending things like need of money and priorities.
i think tom, bill, and whatever the last one is are really just trying to find reasons to cover the above. Tlso if you like them as a toy, not a hobby, you grow out of ur liking of bionicle.
THATS NEVA ME THOUGH. I have bouth every set since 04 and b4 that my allowance was tiny since 01 so i only bought wat i really liiked.
Luckily, though I am pretty old now, I am none of these. I am still an active user, though I have been trying to limit my Bionicle purchasing (like maybe getting 4 canister sets instead of all 6), for the simple reason I am running out of space. Now there's no way you can please that user!
Well, here's hoping this'll slow this year's summer set complaint topics.
~Doctor! Doctor!
A fan who doesn't buy simply because he doesn't like a set or series of sets is still important, because depending on WHY he chose not to buy, we may be able to get him back as an active customer again. (Just as an aside -- the general rule in the toy business is that you can't get lapsed users back again, so don't even try. We don't wholly subscribe to this, because we see things like sales in 2008, which seem to indicate some lapsed users from 2007 have come back.)
Greg
Joe sounds like Ca to me...
~AA
I don't give a fleebnork whether sets have gears or not, and, while brown sets are cool, I rather like orange.
What I do want is mechanisms. Not necessarily gears, but things like the 01 Rahi had. Or the Boxor, which was mostly levers.
And therefore I'm only buying Axalara, because it's the most complex set since the Gukko.
Greg
Then again, I'm heading off to college soon, so it could be different for others.
This makes sense. I can't remember ever having had a problem with sets, so I'm one less person comlaining.
The Mistika seem to be worse, I was expecting them to be of equal, or even greater value (as sets), especially since they had Tahu(my fav charcter in Bionicle). So it was kind of a let down after seeing the Mistika. I do like the complexer sets, thats a great idea, I'm defintly getting Axalara, and Takanuva, they are both good sets.
But this (your blog entry) does explain some things, and about certain types of fans, but I am not like either, I never was a fan of brown, I always disliked the colour, orange and yellow are way better (imo), and gears where a fun acessorary, but one I can live without, if need be. I reckon gear functions should be more incorparated into larger sets, rather than the canister sets, leaving the canister sets to be more posable and stuff.
I did dislike the organic masks and light up weapons, but the inika design was a good one. With the Mistika, the Nynrah doesn't look as cool, as sleek and smooth as the Midak, I was hoping for something more like that on the Nuva themselves, and for the masks to be more Nuvaish, like the Phantoka's where.
I am starting to transition into a more Tom like stage, but I hope 2009 will be as good as Greg says, both story and set wise, since that is what always made Bionicle better than other types of toys or even other Lego sets, a good story, and intersting sets. Lets hope 2009 brings something new, interesting and exciting to Bionicle, but still keep it Bionicle.