You might have heard of the term ‘user persona’ before, but what does it actually mean? A user persona is the creation of a business-based fictional character designed to represent a group of individuals who use a product or a service in a similar way. The descriptions of these users typically include their behavioral patterns, skills, goals, as well as their background information with details about their work environment.
Why Do You Need a User Persona?
Marketers usually put together these theoretical characters for data-based research and they can be very effective in helping you identify your key target audiences. It’s important to understand who is using your product or service and what they are using it for. Once you know who your audience are, this will help influence your choices going forward. Creating memorable real users will help to focus each department’s efforts and improve experiences overall.
How to Create a User Persona
There are four main steps you will need to follow to build your user persona:
Choose Your Approach
Consider the resources and time you have available to create your user personas, for example is there existing data for your industry that you could use? We recommend gathering both qualitative and quantitative data, and organizing the information into user persona groups that represent your customers.
Make sure to focus on the challenges and needs of the customer to determine if you can provide a solution to their issue/s. Ask your
customers who are they, what is their main goal and what is the main barrier that is stopping them from achieving this goal.
Need help identifying your ideal user persona? Talk to our Marketing Services team who can provide you with expert marketing insight and training.
Conduct your User Research
We suggest speaking to your customers before you create your user personas. Send out emails, create surveys, hop on calls, or even have a form on your website to gather this information. Although research collection takes time, your user persona will be your go-to document to ensure every business decision your organization makes will resonate with your target audience.
This is where you will need to look at customers that are centered on features and functions that help them do their jobs, and users that are focused on solving greater business objectives.
These personas are usually managers and so it’s your role to find out what challenges they are facing and what’s on their mind.
Quick tip: If you add a name, a header image and a quote to your user persona, you are creating a connection with your users, leading to greater empathy and understanding for them.
Analyze Your Research
Once you have finished conducting your user research, it is now time to analyze it and draw conclusions. Here, the goal is to find patterns and common traits that will allow you to identify the different types of users in your organization. While you do want to create a realistic character, there is no need to include pointless information that will not help you understand their goals or the challenges that they are facing. You can find some great templates here to use while creating your user personas.
Utilize Your User Personas
Now that you have created your user personas, it would be beneficial to share these among your key departments so that others within the business can understand them. Always keep your user personas in mind and refer back to them when needed. Before making any business decision, ask yourself ‘What would be most beneficial to this user persona?’.
User personas are a fantastic way to gain greater insight into your existing and potential customers, bridging that gap between your business and your prospects. Researching, creating and distributing your user personas helps align your business with a tangible goal that can not only improve business performance but also give your customer what they want, improving overall satisfaction and revenue.
If you’re looking for more information on user personas and how to target them, reach out to us.
