Choosing between three explanations of what makes younger users pay

The question

The company’s team had three competing explanations for how younger users decide what to pay for: pricing, the product itself, or a change in how younger people pay.

Each pointed to different product decisions, so the team needed evidence strong enough to tell them apart.

Our approach

We built the hypotheses from desk research, then tested them face to face with younger users, students and workers alike, across the three markets.

To separate what people say about paying from what prompts them to pay, we started with how they handle money itself, and with the apps and platforms they already pay for.

Between sessions, AI support let us check emerging hunches across ages and markets, and we took them back into the next sessions as sharper questions.

The company had run parallel research in North America. We set every theme beside it, to see which patterns were specific to these European markets and which were shared.

What the team came away with

The executive team had a map of how younger users decide what to pay for, setting out the distinct ways into paying.

Alongside it came a toolkit the product team could work from directly, and a starting point for each market.