Creating Customer Personas

What is a Market Segment?

A set of actual or potential customers
for a given set of products or services,
who share the same needs or wants, and who
reference each other when making a buying
decision.
What is a Market Segment?
The smaller and more specific the segment,
the easier it is to identify and
understand them.
Questions to ask...
● What are their pain points?
● What is their buying process?
● Who do they listen to?
● Where do they congregate?
● What content do they read?
● What are likely product requirements?
● How do we find & reach them?
Questions to consider...
● What are their pain points?
● What is their buying process?
● Who do they listen to?
● Where do they congregate?
● What content do they read?
● What are likely product requirements?
● How do we find & reach them?
...Segments have all or most of these in common.
Example:

● Hand-
written
● Sketched
● Quick
Example:
● Hand-
written
● Sketched
● Quick
Exercise 1: Team Persona
1.Create customer personas as a team for
the EARLY ADOPTER of Dropbox
2.Group discussion and “dot” voting
3.Create group composite persona
4.LATER: Create customer persona for YOUR
OWN company
Sketch!
Dropbox Customer Persona
1.Imagine typical Dropbox customer
2.Give him/her a name
3.“What I truly need is…”
4.SKETCH your customer
a.Facial expression
b.Clothing
c.Background
Brainstorm FACTS (5 mins)
1.List important demographic FACTS...
a.Married or single?
b.Profession, income level?
c.Where do they live?
d.Children?
e.Age and gender?

2.GOAL: Write 5-7 FACTS

Brainstorm PAIN POINTS (7 mins)
● “I feel frustrated that […]”
● “I find it annoying that […]”
● “It’s not fair that […]”
● “I don’t have a way to […]”
● “I can’t find any […]”

GOAL: Prioritize and write

down top 5 pain point.
Brainstorm BEHAVIORS (7 mins)
● What actions or past behaviors
could we observe the customer
doing in real life?
● What do they search for?
● What other products or
services do they use?

GOAL: Prioritize and write

down top 5 behaviors.
Brainstorm GOALS (7 mins)
● What do they hope to achieve?
● What can they create?
● What will they experience?
● How do they want to feel
with this product/solution?
● Efficiency or efficacy?

GOAL: Prioritize and write

down top 3-4 goals.
Group Discussion (10 mins)
● Tape to wall
● Review other
personas
● Like? Dislike?
● Add? Remove?
● Mark 5-7 dots
by favorites
Group Composite (10 mins)
● Combine
favorites into
one persona
● Discuss and
build consensus
Tape Composite to Office Wall
● Visual communication tool for team
● Everyone is reminded of customer needs
● Transparency and fluency
● Update after each iteration of customer
interviews
A Dropbox persona example