Customer Personas: The Ultimate Guide
Understanding the people who support your business is one of the most strategically profitable moves you can make. Building a business customer persona, or buyer persona, will help you not only identify the consumers most likely to buy from you, but also help you understand how you can best engage with them. So, how much do you know about your business’ customers?
What is a customer persona?
A customer persona is a developed representation of your ideal consumer based on data collected from your own or others’ research. These personas will help you narrow your marketing message and streamline your communication, reaching the most qualified buyers.
You wouldn’t use the same digital marketing method to reach a group of finance industry c-level executives as you would an audience of millennial start-up owners. By creating your brand personas, you attract high-value leads who are interested in your product or service and more likely to convert from content consumer to loyal customer.
Customer persona creation supports your business in:
- Developing email marketing messaging
- Creating useful content
- Product development
- Choosing effective sales tactics
Knowing that a buyer persona is important is step one. Next, you’ll need to determine how in-depth your research will go to build out the persona.
Elements of customer persona
You likely already have basic details about your customers based on website analytics, customer satisfaction surveys, and purchase history. To fully develop the semi-fictional consumer identity, you’ll want even more insight into their lives and spending habits.
Consider research that will allow you to understand buyer-specific details, like:
- Pain points
- Needs (desired solution from product or service)
- Interests
- Income level
- Education level
This personal information will help you understand your customers’ motivation for purchases and engaging with your brand. There are several avenues available to collect the information you need.
How to gain customer information
Today’s consumers are more aware of withholding their personal information than ever before. However, research suggests there are ways to connect with your audience and gather the data you need without leaving your customers fearful that you’ll use their information in a harmful way. Try these data-collection methods:
- In-person interviews: As customers visit your store or opt to connect with you via Zoom, you can gather their feedback in a comfortable, personalized way. Statistics show 57% of people will engage in an in-person survey when asked. The downside to this approach is the time investment on your end with hosting one survey at a time.
- Mail survey: While we live in an increasingly digital world, research shows roughly 50% of mail survey recipients will take part. This premium platform will come at a cost, as this survey method is generally the most expensive.
- Email survey: Email marketing has long been touted for it’s high ROI ($44 to every $1 spent), so sending a customer survey via email falls in line with a budget-friendly, effective approach. You can expect a 30% response rate, but avoiding spam blockers may help you increase your engagement. Avoid the word “survey” in the subject line, as this can be a trigger for some spam-detection programs.
- Post-purchase email survey: When you confirm a purchase with a customer or send a receipt, embed your customer survey within that email.
- Website survey: Embed a customer survey on a specific landing page on your website. If desired, you could incentivize your users with a discount code toward a purchase made that same day – giving you more customer data and an increase in sales.
Use the data you collect to create detailed customer personas that support your marketing strategies, product development, and strengthen your loyal customer base. Admail can help you develop HTML responsive emails that will engage your users. Connect with us here to see how the comprehensive Admail system works.