Dollar Shave Club is all that.. and a barber shop!

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to visit the Dollar Shave Club (DSC) and hear from one of my M-School mentors, Director of Consumer Insights Sean Krimmel! Sean and a couple other members of his team spoke to us about DSC and more specifically about their work with consumer insights at DSC.

Off the bat, DSC impressed me with the office space alone. Like many of our other company visits, DSC offered an open concept office space, allowing for free flow of thoughts and ideas. Unlike many of our other company visits however, DSC's office space was complete with a full-service barber shop, a DSC vending machine, and an espresso bar!

After getting the full tour, we headed to a conference room for Sean's presentation on consumer insights.

The term "research" in relation to a job description, has never really seemed compelling to me. However, Sean's description of the hands on work they do with consumer insights unveiled an entirely new definition of research.

I have always been fascinated by what makes consumers make the decisions that they do, (part of the reason I wanted to go into marketing) and realizing that the act of research and consumer insights actually sheds light on this aspect of consumerism, was very intriguing to me.

Sean also explained the purpose/ meaning behind several DSC products, digging into their specific target market and reasoning for specific product choices. One thing in particular that Sean spoke about, pertaining to their fragrance collection, really stood out to me.

Sean introduced to us "the timeline of scents". This timeline broke down multiple stages of life and assigned those life stages "scent goals". This timeline ranged from the teenager, who uses fragrance to cover odor, to the married adult, who uses fragrance to smell nice.

I found it very insightful of DSC to categorize life stages and fragrances in this way; a way that very much made sense, but also a way that I had never before considered. Sean further broke down categorization of their fragrance collection into two sides of the 'smell spectrum'. The first being scents that are "fresh, clean, and light" (for the teenager on the timeline) and the second being scents that are "woodsy, earthy, and warm" (for the married adult on the timeline).

Another insight Sean provided was DSC's reasoning for picking aim at the young, world-changing customer. DSC, as Sean explained, did not target the consumers who were most engaged with the personal hygiene industry. This is because practically every other company offering personal hygiene products aims for that engaged market. DSC rather, focuses on a more untapped demographic in the industry, differentiating their company from their historically successful competitors.

After Sean's presentation, we heard from Mauricio Alfonsson, who works in recruiting at DSC. Mauricio offered us all several pieces of advice as we get closer to entering the work-force and highlighted the things he looks for when choosing interviewees and job candidates. Mauricio's brief presentation segued into the group activity that followed.

Sean hosted a mock focus group to demonstrate to us what this type of research method looks like and how it is conducted. Since our class was a little larger than the traditional spaces allowed, we broke up into three groups. One group stayed in the conference room and watched the focus group in action via live video stream. Another group became part of the actual focus group, and was led by Sean to a separate room. And the last group, the one I was part of, went to view the focus group from the room adjacent to the focus group room.

The room we viewed the focus group from had a double-sided mirror (just like in criminal investigation shows) and a sound system streaming from the focus group room, which allowed us to watch and listen to the focus group in action. I thought this was especially cool as I love crime shows and had never seen a double-sided mirror in real life! (or at least had never been on the back side of one)

Sean led the group by administering a variety or questions that seemed to start very broad and become narrow as the focus became DSC and their products. Sean's first question involved participants describing their experience as new students at LMU. This question allowed him to transition into the topic of hygiene products they purchased as new students and eventually led to DSC specific questions.

Through this activity, I learned the importance of making interviewees feel comfortable and remaining nuetral when questioning them. I enjoyed watching someone who does this for a living conduct the focus group, and took a lot away from Sean's presentation and expertise.

Knowledge and insights were not the only thing I walked away with though! DSC gifted each of us with their classic subscription box. The box contained a razor handle, 4 razor blades, shaving butter, hand cream, and tooth paste! Overall, I was very impressed by my experience at DSC; their dedication to innovation, growth, and company culture has inspired me to seek work at a like-minded company in the future!