Buyer personas for business websites – Part four

by David Crankshaw on December 27, 2008

In the previous three posts (here, here, and here) I explained how buyer personas work to improve the persuasiveness of your website and how to create a persona. In this final post you’ll see how to use a template to create each persona.

Remember, these buyer personas are representations of goal-directed individuals with different personalities, roles, and behaviors. As you and your team look at each completed persona, a sense of a real person should emerge, a person whose needs you will know how to address on each page of your site.

The way I use this template is to create a spreadsheet with the template categories in one column and then place the information for each of the personas (three to five) in the other columns. This lets everyone on the team see all the personas side by side. I’ve put an example in the second column of a persona we used once on a project for a software development company.

At the bottom of this post are links to a couple of resources on buyer personas that you might find useful. If you’d like a copy of the Excel template that I use, email me and I’ll send it to you.

Buyer Persona Template

Description Persona – Product Manager
PERSONA BIOGRAPHY and ENVIRONMENT
Name Robert
Title Product Manager
Demographic characteristics (age, gender, family situation, etc.) 39, one child from a previous marriage, avid golfer
WORKFLOW and BEHAVIOR PATTERNS
Psychological profile (competitive, humanistic, methodical, spontaneous) Robert is a humanistic decision maker. He is a people-oriented business person. He’s concerned with relationships, harmony, principles, and big-picture outlooks. He can be a perfectionist and is often slow to make decisions. He’s a listener, is a creative type, and is easy going. He seeks possibilities and meaning in his work. (Note: Description comes from Persuasion Architecture. See link at bottom of post.)
Role in the company Responsible for new software application products at his company. Works in a matrixed environment with sales channels, production, finance, and the rest of the marketing organization.

Robert more than anyone else has to look at both the technical and the business aspects of the new product.

Workflow of a typical day. Use details that highlight concerns, motivations. Robert’s workday is a constant effort to resolve the tension and conflicts between what customers and sales people want in a product, what the developers can deliver, and what finance will pay for. He’s very motivated to minimize these tensions wherever possible.
GOALS (in the context of your web site)
Life goals – big goals like “retire by 45″, not so important for personas
Experience goals – how the persona wants to feel when he/she visits the website, use this to reveal any anxieties a persona might have (e.g. doesn’t want to feel stupid) Robert knows that problems are going to arise on any project. Therefore, he wants to work with a vendor that he can work with, that he can resolve issues with.
End goals – What the person wants to accomplish, their motivation, this is the main goal to focus on. His main goal is to hire a company that has the size and experience for the project. And that is small enough to be “hungry” for the work.
SKILLS
What are the personas main skill areas? Robert is a kind of small-business person. His main skill is to bring products to market that customers want. But he also understands the finances of a P&L, how to work with the sales force, and how to hire and manage software development companies.
What skills does the persona want to improve? Can the website create value for the persona in the area of skills?
ATTITUDES
Experience with your type of vendor in the past, what in particular is the persona looking for.

Or, as we put it in our interviews: If you were to go to this web site, what would you need to know, what would you look for to satisfy your needs, and how would you recognize it?

 Robert’s top priority is to find a software developer that has a track record of proven deliveries. Initially he wants to see that they’ve been in business for a significant period time, wants to see proof of capability with testimonials, white papers and case studies. If he continues to be interested, then he will want to see a demonstration of ROI on projects.

Next he will look for evidence that the company has the expertise he needs for this particular project, both the technology and the type of software application.

And finally he will want to understand the process the company uses for:
- developing software
- working with the customer
- responding to and implementing change orders
Attitude towards vendors (trusting, skeptical, anxious) Robert knows that he is the primary person responsible for evaluating the vendor’s abilities and so he will be looking at the site very closely before making contact with the vendor. He is confident in his ability to make this evaluation, but wants to assure himself that the company has the abilities he needs before taking the next step. He will be asking himself:
1. Can they do the work?
2. Will they do the work?
3. Can I stand them while they do the work?

He will especially rely on the word of others to make this decision, not just what the company says about itself. This includes testimonials and case studies.

 

Resources to learn more about buyer personas:

Persuasion Architecture – Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg

Tagged as: personas


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{ 2 comments }

Adele Revella January 4, 2009 at 3:48 pm

Great series of posts on my favorite topic, David.

Here is one other component of your spreadsheet that I recommend — what are the most important reasons why this buyer would resist buying from us? We want the team to see these potential objections and identify any possible messaging or offers we could make on the site to overcome his/her resistance. I often think this is one of the most valuable insights about a buyer persona. BTW, the only realistic way to gain this insight is through detailed, qualitative win/loss interviews with people who chose not to do business with your company.

David Crankshaw January 5, 2009 at 1:48 pm

Hello Adele – Thanks for taking a look at this series and for your helpful comment about the inclusion of buyer resistance in the construction of personas.

David

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