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John Burson  edited Thursday, February 1, 2024

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Creating a buyer persona, buyer persona formula

Here is your product buyer persona formula

Buyer Persona =
f(personal background) + f(employed by company) + f(role in a company) + f(challenges) + f(goals) + f(information source) + f(shopping preferences)

Let's define each argument. 
Note: for simplicity he=she

Buyer persona questions will define your buyer persona formula arguments

Personal Background = f(demographic, education, career path)

Describe person demographics

• Is he male or female?
• What is his name?
• What is his picture?
• Is he married?
• What's his annual household income?
• Where does he live?
• Is he male or female?
• How old is he?
• Does he have children?

Educational background

• What level of education did he complete?
• Which schools did he attend, and what did he study? (Get specific here. "MIT" is better than "liberal arts college.")

Career path

• How did he end up where he is today?
• Did his major in a subject that's very similar to or very different from his current role?
• Has his career track been pretty traditional, or did he switch from another industry?

Employed by Company = f(industry)

Industry

• In which industry or industries does his company work?
• What is the size of his company (revenue, employees)?

Note: details will help in building the fields for order forms.

Role in a Company = f(role, metrics, typical day, skills, tools)

Role

• What is his job role title?
• How long has he had this role and title?
• Is he an individual contributor, or does he manage other people?
• To whom does he report?
• Who reports to him?

Note: The importance of considering the buyer persona's job and seniority level depends on the product or service you're selling.

1. For B2C. You may consider this information as a way to understand the buyer persona's life better.
2. For B2B. This piece of information is more crucial. Is buyer persona at a managerial or director level knowledgeable about your industry? They'll need less education than someone at an introductory level, who may need to loop in other decision-makers before purchasing.

Metrics

• Which metric(s) is the buyer persona responsible for?
• Which numbers or charts does he look at every day?

Note: This will help to determine what makes him successful and what he might be worried about when it comes to "hitting their numbers."

Typical day

• What time does the buyer persona get to work?
• What time does the buyer persona leave the work?
• What does he do when he is most productive?
• What does his "busy work" look like?
• Is he spending more time at work or home? 
• Where would he rather be?
• What does he like to do for fun?
• Who are the people in his life that matter most?
• What kind of car does he drive?
• Which TV shows does he watch?
• What outfit is he wearing?

Skills

• What would it say if they were hiring someone to replace them and had to write a job description of what's required?
• What are the ideal skills for this job, and how good is our persona at each of them?
• Where did they learn these skills?
• Did they learn them on the job, at a previous job, or by taking a course?

Tools

• Which applications and tools does he use every single day?
• Which applications and tools does he use every week?

Note: Understanding what products they love (and hate) to use can help you identify commonalities in your product (and adjust your positioning accordingly).

Challenges=f(challenges)

Challenges

• What are his biggest challenges or problems?
• How does that problem affect his day-to-day life?

Note: focus on the nuances that illustrate how that problem makes him feel. For example, let's buyer's company sells personal tax software directly to taxpayers. Some customers may be first-time tax preparers. What are the pain points of first-time tax preparers? They are probably intimidated by the customer doing their taxes for the first time, overwhelmed by a tax code they don't understand, and confused about where to start. These pain points differ from those of a seasoned tax preparer, whose pain points may not be knowing how to maximize their return and finding creative loopholes for deductions.

• Try coming up with accurate quotes to refer to these challenges. 

Note: For example, "It’s been difficult getting company-wide adoption of new technologies in the past," or "I don’t have time to train new employees on a million different databases and platforms."

Goals = f(goals at work)

Goals

• What is he responsible for?
• What is his primary goal at work?
• What is his secondary goal? 

Note:  It will help you learn what you can do to help your persona achieve his goals and overcome their challenges.

Success = f(success)

Success

• What makes him look good?
• What does it mean to be successful in his role?
• What can you do to make your buyer personas look good?

Note: Companies that take the time to understand what makes their personas successful will enjoy more effective communications from both the sales and marketing teams.

Information Source = f(search channel, content source, social groups)

• How does he learn about new information for his job: online, in-person, in newspapers, and in magazines?
• What social networks does he visit?
• Does he use search, Google, etc?
• Which sources does he trust the most: coworkers, friends, family, or industry experts?
• Which publications or blogs do you read?

Social groups

• Which associations and social networks does he participate in?

Shopping Preferences = f(point of sale location, influenced by, history experience)

Point of sales location

• How does the buyer persona prefer to interact with supplies?
• How much time do they expect to spend with a salesperson?
• What should their sales experience feel like?  (consultative, etc.)
• Prefer: In-person meeting, online, or over the phone?
• Where does he find new information? (online, look at review websites, ask their friends or family)

History experience

• Describe a recent purchase. Why did you consider a purchase, what was the evaluation process, and how did you decide to purchase that product or service?
• What might make them reticent to buy from you or any other provider in your industry?
• Is this their first time purchasing a product or service of your kind? (If not, what caused them to switch products or services?)