Building Your User Personas
What is a user persona?
A user persona is a research-based model or archetype of a specific group of users that represents the goals, needs, and behaviour patterns of those users.
User personas are used in design and marketing to help make decisions about products, services, websites, apps, and just about anything else that can be designed or marketed. By using personas, brands are able to create more relevant and targeted experiences for their customers.
Why should brands build user personas?
There are many good reasons for why brands should build user personas, but here are a few of the most important ones:
User personas help brands better understand their target audience. By understanding the wants, goals, and behaviour patterns of their target audience, brands can create more relevant and targeted experiences for them.
User personas help brands improve the effectiveness of their marketing and advertising. By targeting their marketing and advertising to a specific user persona, brands can improve the likelihood that those users will take the desired action.
User personas help brands improve the customer experience. By understanding the needs and behaviour patterns of their target audience, brands can improve the overall customer experience by making sure that the products, services, websites, and apps are designed with those needs in mind.
We helped Reds with their user personas
Why brands should invest time in crafting personas
Some of the benefits you can expect from investing time in persona development include:
1. A deeper understanding of your target audience
2. Improved marketing and advertising effectiveness
3. Improved customer experiences
4. Increased sales and conversions
5. Reduced costs associated with bad customer experiences
But why should you take the time to develop a user persona when you could just target everyone? The answer is simple: because not everyone is your customer. By targeting a specific group of users with your marketing and advertising, you can improve the likelihood that they will take the desired action.
User persona development is an essential part of any successful marketing or advertising campaign. By taking the time to understand the needs, goals, and behaviour patterns of your target audience, you can create more relevant and targeted experiences that will improve your business results.
The difference between 'target market' and personas
When most people think of target markets, they think of large groups of people defined by broad demographics like age, gender, income, location, etc. But persona development takes a different approach.
While target markets are defined by broad demographics, user personas are defined by specific wants, objectives, and behaviour patterns. This allows you to create more targeted and relevant experiences for your target audience.
For example, let's say you're a clothing brand that sells women's clothes. Your target market might be "women aged 18-34." But your user persona might be "Sara, a 25-year-old woman who is looking for stylish and affordable clothes." The persona is much more detailed, allowing you to create more targeted marketing campaigns.
When should you use personas?
User personas can be used in any situation where you need to make decisions about products, services, websites, or apps. Persona development is especially important in the early stages of product development, as it can help you make sure that your product is designed with the needs of your target audience in mind.
Marketing & Messaging - A persona can be used to create highly targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to convert. For example, if you know that your target audience is "Sara, a 25-year-old woman who is looking for stylish and affordable clothes," you can create a marketing campaign specifically for her.
This campaign might include ads on fashion websites and social media platforms that are popular with young women. The ads would feature stylish and affordable clothes that are likely to appeal to Sara.
Because of the targeted nature of the campaign, it is more likely to convert Sara into a customer than a generic marketing campaign that is not targeted to her specific needs.
Using your personas to position your brand accurately - Your persona can also be used to position your brand accurately. For example, if you know that your target audience is "Sara, a 25-year-old woman who is looking for stylish and affordable clothes," you can position your brand as a fashionable and affordable option for young women.
This will help you attract the right customers and make sure that they have a positive experience with your brand.
Creating customer journeys with personas - Personas can also be used to create customer journeys. When a customer visits your website or uses your app, they will go through a journey that is specific to their needs.
For example, let's say you have an e-commerce website that sells cars. The customer journey might start with the customer looking for a specific car on your website. Then, they will go through the checkout process and purchase the vehicle they desire.
If you know that your target audience is "Meg, a 25-year-old woman who is looking for a stylish and affordable car," you can create a customer journey that is designed to meet her specific needs.
This customer journey might include ads for stylish and affordable cars on fashion websites and social media platforms that are popular with young women. The ads would lead Meg to your website, where she would be able to find the car she is looking for.
Then she will find the perfect car for her and add it to her cart. Once she has completed the checkout process, she will be able to track her order and receive updates on the status of her car. By creating a customer journey that is specifically tailored to Meg's needs, you are more likely to convert her into a customer.