Creating Personas
Personas are an important aspect of User Experience Design (UX). A persona is a representation of the target audience narrowed down to make sure design decisions meet the needs, goals and pain points for that audience. They will help you better understand your intended customer and have a user-centric approach to developing your product, marketing and business strategies.
Identifying Personas
Depending on the scope of the project and the diversity of your users, you may only need one persona to represent them, or several. By identifying a fictional character who uses your product or service, you can develop a deeper understanding of their needs and how best to serve them.
Personas can guide the decision making process for all teams in your business:
- Product developers use them to create product roadmaps
- Marketers use them to focus SEO keyword research and promotional initiatives
- Sales representatives use them to prepare for sales related interactions with customers
- Customer support specialists use them to identify patterns and pro-actively solve customer frustrations and product pain points
The most useful buyer personas reflect market research and insights gathered from user research – for instance, surveys, interviews, diary studies, A/B testing, and more. They can help your team empathize with customers and better meet your customer needs and can be consulted whenever teams need guidance for product development or marketing strategies.
The Personas
Current position - Creative Director at a digital marketing agency
Experience - 3 years at current position and 5 years as Lead Designer.
Education - BA in Graphic Arts from University of Washington
Age - 29
Pronouns - He/Him
Income - $105-115k
Location - City center
Current occupation - Web Designer at a global agency
Experience - 5 years as a Lead Designer
Education - BS Computer Science from San Diego State University
Age - 26
Pronouns - They/Them
Income - $95-110k
Location - Urban
Current position - Product Manager at Amazon
Experience - 10 years as a product and marketing manager at Fortune 500 eCommerce brands.
Education - BS in Marketing University of Texas, San Antonio. MBA University of Texas.
Age - 35
Pronouns - He/Him
Income - $120-125k
Location - Suburban
Current position - Marketing Director at Microsoft
Experience - 8 years leading marketing teams in various departments at Microsoft.
Education - BA in Marketing from University of Alabama.
Age - 32
Pronouns - She/Her
Income - $135-150k
Location - Suburban