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There are four key steps to developing actionable customer personas.  Integrating these steps will help you develop a clearer picture of who your key customers are and what best motivates them in the brand selection and the buying process.  This in turn will bring clarity and focus to where your organization should best invest time, talent and money to best meet the customer’s needs and thus maximize the impact to the business.  

In second installment, we discussed the steps involved in selecting the right customer target segments for persona development.  In this installment, we will discuss the second step in developing actionable customer personas, pulling all the relevant data together for each target segment. 

Step Two: Pulling It All Together

Now that the top customer segments to target have been identified,the next step is to form a cross-functional team to develop the corresponding personas. Keep the team limited to a core group of people that have significant knowledge about the customer.  Take care not to allow this group to become too large. It is important to involve the key stake holders to ensure buy-in.  Input from others can be gathered and added as needed.  This will help ensure the development process moves smoothly and efficiently.  

People to consider for the core team could be representatives from the following areas:

• Marketing (team leader)
• Market Research
• Sales
• Key Agency Partners
• Marketing Operations (web & CRM analytics)

• Call Center (Voice of the Customer)

In order to bring the customer persona to life focus on answering questions in five key areas:

1. Demographics:  Age, location, education, income, household size
2. Activities and Behaviors:  Important actions or activities in daily life
3. Personal Histories:  Goals, needs, and interests when interacting with the product or service
4. Expectations:  Different needs at various touch points and needs not being met
5. Decision Criteria:  Strongest reasons for buying and the key influencers

In addition to data that is already available, research may be necessary to address the knowledge gaps before these questions can be answered in a meaningful way.  A combination of both qualitative and quantitative research will help breathe life into the persona:

• Qualitative Research: customer interviews (phone or in-person), focus groups and ethnographic research
• Quantitative Research:  web and CRM program analytics, market segmentation tools, customer surveys and other internal data

A final note when developing personas, ensure these missteps are avoided:

• Avoid using information that is based on a very small sample size
• Avoid using irrelevant data that is not a key driver of purchasing behavior
• Avoid developing too many personas
• Avoid conducting customer interviews in a leading way and thus not getting a natural response from the customer

About the author:  RD Shanklin & Associates is a healthcare & life sciences marketing strategy consultancy focused on driving profitable growth through enhancing customer insights, strategic & tactical planning, marketing and commercial strategy.

 Regina Shanklin is the founder and principal consultant for the organization. She is a marketing executive with over 20 years of delivering business results while generating strong return-on-investment (ROI). Regina has a diverse marketing background and has driven results in the Healthcare, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and Advertising industries.