Personas are useful beyond the selling process. A human face and life was a lot easier for engineers and developers to work with than the traditional market information used when building applications or designs. For companies such as Microsoft,[24] IBM,[25] and QVC,[26] personas have helped developers see websites and applications beyond their perspectives. Companies can now anticipate users’ perceptions by understanding what triggered specific emotions about products or services they offer.
Large video game companies, such as Microsoft in its Xbox work,[27] use personas when developing games. To understand and appeal to varying ages and interests, game developers put themselves in their users’ shoes. The interests associated with the persona of a typical 14-year-old will be different than those of a 35-year-old, yet a game such as World of Warcraft does a beautiful job of appealing to both the young and the old. How can two very different personas enjoy the same game? The developers of World of Warcraft understood that players do not enjoy this game for all the same reasons, but rather, different aspects of the game will appeal to the different personas. Only by understanding each persona, the various situations he will likely be in, what triggers certain emotions and reactions, and what hesitations he may have, were the developers able to successfully mold an experience that is catered to each persona’s needs.
To recap, personas pave the way for:
Understanding what makes different market segments tick, what appeals to them, and what turns them off
Relating to the different personality types that will come and addressing their needs accordingly
Understanding that all users come at different buying stages, thereby evoking empathy within site developers, marketers, and sales teams
Understanding competition well, which market segments are likely to identify with a competitor more than you, and why
Many clients are a little confused when we first present the concept of personas to them. They tend to think of persona development as market segmentation. It is important to distinguish between the two. Although persona creation relies heavily on market segmentation, segmentation is just one part of what a persona requires. Personas created for online selling processes focus more heavily on online behavior and usability trends. Market segmentation is the division of the market or population into subgroups with similar motivations.
Widely used bases for segmenting business-to-consumer (B2C) markets include the following factors:
Region
Size of metropolitan area
Population density
Climate (for industries impacted by it, such as heating, cooling, and sporting goods)
Age
Gender
Family size
Generation
Income level
Occupation
Education
Ethnicity
Religion
Lifestyle
Activities
Interests
Hobbies
Opinions
Attitudes
Values
Social responsibility
Forms of entertainment
Behavioral factors:
Benefits sought
Usage rate
Brand loyalty
User status (potential, first-time, regular)
Readiness to buy
Occasions that stimulate purchases
Widely used bases for segmenting business-to-business (B2B) markets include the following:
The goal of each element is to get you to understand the market you are appealing to and how you can better cater to them. You should delve into the various demographics and similarities within the market to create segmentations and narrow the target market. Although market segmentation accounts for customer buying patterns and behaviors, you are still “catering to the masses.” Targeting millions within a single market segment is not the same as humanizing that segment by creating a persona with a face, life story, wants, needs, and fears.
If an accounting firm targets B2B companies within the pharmaceutical and technology sectors, it has probably identified its market segments. Within each sector there are differences such as geographic location, company annual revenue, and number of employees. An example of the segments might be:
Technology firms located in the Midwest, with annual revenue between $5 million and $10 million and 20 to 50 employees
Pharmaceutical firms located in the Northeast, with annual revenue between $10 million and $20 million and 100 to 200 employees
When the accounting firm creates its website or a campaign that appeals to either of these two segments, the team will use terminology that is familiar to the particular industry. Relying on marketing segments, however, creates a website that is too generic and too vague. How do you appeal to pharmaceutical firms located in the Northeast? What would trigger technology firms located in the Midwest—or their staff, for that matter—to remain or convert on your website? What individuals are you targeting exactly within each sector? What fears and uncertainties will these individuals have? What motivations will these companies and individuals have for considering your service? How can you put yourself in your target market’s shoes to think and behave like them on the website? Market segmentation will start you on the road to answering these questions, but it does not answer them immediately.