Buyer persona – what it is and what it means

If you want to sell a product or service successfully, you first need to identify who your target audience is. By knowing who your target audience is, what they need and what their preferences and expectations are, you can create an offer that will really interest them and make them make a positive purchase decision. However, in understanding your customers’ expectations and needs, building a buying persona is extremely helpful. In this article you will learn:

• What is a buyer persona?
• What elements make up a buyer persona?
• How do I create a buyer persona?
• What role does buyer persona play in the purchasing process?
• In which areas can buyer personas be used?
• Why create a buyer persona?

Buyer persona – definition

Buyer persona is the image of a consumer who perfectly matches the target group. This image is based on real data and market research. Buyer persona therefore allows you to find out the preferences, expectations and customer journey. You will learn what needs drive the customer and what influences their purchasing decisions. You will be able to use this knowledge to optimise your marketing activities and tailor your product or service offering to consumer preferences, which will ultimately provide you with better sales results.

Buyer persona negative

When talking about buyer persona, it is also important to mention its opposite, which is the negative buyer persona. The negative buyer persona is the image of a consumer who, for some reason, you will not want to attract to your company. A negative buyer persona is, for example, the representation of a problematic consumer who, for unknown and unspecified reasons, will not be satisfied with your products or services and whose opinion could have a negative impact on your company’s reputation. This group will also include representations of customers whose habit is to buy a lot of products and return them regularly (for no particular reason).

Both the creation of a buyer persona and a negative buyer persona will allow you to plan your marketing and strictly sales activities accordingly. This is because the data you have gathered will help you to know where it makes sense to allocate your resources and which areas are not worth paying much attention to.

Elements of a buyer persona

A properly constructed buyer persona should include such components as

• demographics – includes gender, age, marital status, place of residence, education and income size, among others,
• psychographics – covers the values, interests, beliefs, lifestyles, behaviours and attitudes of prospective customers,
• occupation and industry – information relating to the type of occupation, type of business, place of work, conditions and specifics of the industry and professional environment,
• influences – persons or factors that may influence a potential consumer when making a purchasing decision,
• preferred channels of communication – these may include, but are not limited to, social media messages, phone calls, emails or meetings,
• fears and challenges – these are factors (customer doubts and daily difficulties) that could potentially prevent the consumer from making a positive purchase decision,
• the course of the purchase process – this determines, among other things, how consumers make their purchase decisions; for example, some customers may make a purchase decision quickly, while the purchase process of others will take longer (not because they are not interested in the product or service, but because they need more time to think about the purchase).

Building buying personas

Knowing the elements that make up a buyer persona, you can move on to creating one. The process of building the image of the ideal customer should include the following stages:

Gathering information

In building a buyer persona, information about your ideal potential customers is of primary importance. In order to obtain the data necessary to create the buyer persona, you can use, among other things, market research – e.g. surveys:

• market research – e.g. surveys, interviews or focus groups,
• competitor analysis,
• feedback from your team members,
• existing customer data (e.g. from customer service desks, Google Analytics, CRM systems or social media).

Data analysis

The data collected in the previous step should now be carefully analysed. Before analysing, however, it is worthwhile to segment the acquired information, i.e. to divide it into smaller groups consisting of thematically related aspects. Segmentation criteria may include, for example, demographics, psychographics, work situation or most frequently used communication channels.

Once the data has been grouped, analyse the collected information and assign the most prominent trends, tendencies and behavioural patterns to the individual segments. For example, you may find that younger users are more likely to use your products because they have no problems using them, while older users are not convinced. Through such analysis, we can allay the fears of a customer belonging to an older age group, as we will know that the customer’s external problem is a lack of knowledge or skills to use the product

Profiling the buyer persona

You can use the data obtained and the conclusions drawn from its analysis to create a buyer persona profile. In order to ensure that your ideal customer’s image is complete, you should consider all the elements that make up your buyer persona. So take into account demographics, psychographics, occupation and industry, influences, preferred communication channels, challenges and concerns of the customer and the buying process. From this, create an idea of your ideal potential customer – this will be a semi-fictional image based on real data. Keep in mind that, depending on the specifics, size and diversity of your target group, you can create different buying personae – there may be more than one.

Updating the buyer persona

In order for the buyer persona you have created to fulfil its objectives and allow you to adapt your marketing activities to the needs of your target audience, it must be constantly updated. Once a buyer persona has been created, it will not remain relevant throughout the entire period of business. Both market conditions and customer preferences and behaviour may change. An important step in building a buyer persona is also to constantly update it. Be sure to continually monitor the data you are acquiring and adapt your idea of the ideal customer to changing conditions and customer needs.

Buyer persona – roles in the buying process

To create an effective marketing strategy, it is not enough to create a buyer persona alone. It is also very important to understand the role the buyer persona can play in the purchasing process. Depending on the nature of the product or service and the organisational structure to which the buyer persona belongs, we distinguish between roles such as:

• initiator – notices and communicates a problem or need, the solution to which will be the purchase of a specific product or the use of a selected service,
• advisor – although he cannot make the final purchase decision, he has a strong influence on it – his arguments and the information he provides can significantly influence the decision to purchase a product or use a service,
• the decision-maker – is responsible for making the purchasing decision – it is up to him/her to make the final decision on whether to take up the offer or not,
• the purchaser – the person authorised to purchase a product or access a service, responsible for finalising the transaction,
• user – uses the purchased product or service – it is worth noting that, depending on the different organisational structures of the company, the buyer and the user are not always the same person.

Application of buyer persona

Buyer persona can find application in many areas of business. These include:

• Marketing activities – buyer personae are above all an invaluable tool for the marketing department. This is because they allow us to gain knowledge of who we will be targeting, so we can create a personalised marketing message and effectively persuade its recipients to take specific actions.
• Sales – by knowing what the preferences, expectations, challenges and problems of potential customers are, we can create a product or service offer that responds to their needs. An attractive offer, tailored to consumers’ expectations, in turn encourages them to make a positive purchase decision, which results in better sales performance.
• Customer service – the buyer persona enables you to know and understand the needs, expectations and problems faced by potential customers. This, in turn, enables us to communicate effectively with consumers and improve customer service – because we know how to talk to consumers and, knowing their potential difficulties, we can immediately offer them effective solutions.
• Product development – the known expectations and preferences of potential consumers can also be used in the process of product development. Knowing what customers need, we can enrich the product or service with specific functionalities, thanks to which we will be able to meet customer needs.
• Management – buyer personae are also helpful at the company management level. This is because they help us to know which activities are best invested in, which areas are worth developing and which growth opportunities are best exploited.

Buyer persona – importance for business

Buyer persona allows, above all, a better understanding of the needs, expectations, challenges and difficulties of the potential consumer. This makes it possible to introduce measures that will be a complete response to the preferences of potential customers. This will result in a more attractive product and service offering, a greater likelihood of making a positive purchase, and greater consumer satisfaction, which will win customer trust and loyalty. As a result, it will be possible to achieve better sales results and a higher return on the business investment made.