John Burson  edited Thursday, February 1, 2024

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How to Create a Buyer Persona: 63 Buyer Persona Questions to Know.

Buyer persona helps you to understand your customers better, and make it easier to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of different groups.

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?)