Customer Avatar (18A)

First of all, this assignment is so fun!!! Throughout all the assignments, I think I have been constantly forming and editing my perspective on who my customers are but now I get to flesh them out! Like I have stated in my elevator pitch and previous posts, most coffee customers come into coffee shops to study, socialize, to enjoy a good cup of coffee. Sometimes, customers are a combination of all of these experiences. Knowing this, The Mount must be versatile enough in space and experience to fit all of these needs. 

But speaking of the customer, here’s who I would picture walking into The Mount. 
**Disclaimer: this description is highly specific. I am aware that not all customers will fit into this mold, if they did that would be scary, but I am sure some of the aspects of this customer will be shared by most customers.***

Let’s name my customer Emma. Emma is a college student who comes from a relatively small town. She worked in a coffee shop during her last years of high school so she is well acquainted with the barista experience and is looking for a job in Gainesville but she’s not in any hurry. She needs to focus on her studies. She’s an Anthropology and English double major who can sit down and read for hours. Depending on the day and whether or not her stamp card for The Mount is full, her orders range from simple pour-overs from The Mount’s range of fair trade coffees, to speciality lattes containing honey, lavender, or simply vanilla. She prefers hot drinks over cold, coffee over tea, but her orders change up every once and while so she keeps the baristas—who all know her by name—guessing. 

Her prime time for visiting is in the mornings because she loves the quiet hours the Mount offers until 9AM. It allows her to spend some quality time with God praying, doing a devotion, or just sitting in the quiet space while enjoying her coffee. In the afternoons, Emma loves to treat her friends to coffee whenever they come with her to The Mount. Afternoon is usually her time to socialize because she does get easily distracted. But in these instances when she needs to get on the grind, she’ll take her belongings to the second floor study space where it’s quiet and she can focus. 

Emma drives a light blue scooter because it’s efficient and gives her access to all parts of campus—also because her favorite color is blue because she loves the sky and sunsets. She appreciates that The Mount is not too far from campus because then she can scoot safely to The Mount without having to get on any major roads. 

Emma doesn’t have kids, yet, but she wants to. She secretly hopes that she will find her soulmate sitting right across the tables at The Mount. But before she does any of that and starts a family, she wants to travel, perhaps study abroad somewhere in Europe, learning more and more about how writing and literature shape the human condition. Emma has a desire for cultivating deep friendships and having genuine conversations about what she loves and lives to hear the stories of other people she already knows or hasn’t met yet. The Mount is a perfect place for storytelling which is one of the reasons she comes often. 

To be honest, a lot of these descriptions stem from my own habits as a customer. But in talking with other fellow coffee lovers, I have found that a lot of people—my fellow college students share the same wants of quality coffee and coffeehouse environment as I do.