Personas do not work in product management

Persona method - what is it? And are they typically used?

Personas are characters, fictitious end consumers of the target group who buy the product or use the services. Alan Cooper, known for his book 'The Inmates are Running the Asylum', has contributed significantly to the development of personas. The definition of personas involves developing a deeper understanding of a specific target group in order to make informed decisions, customize products and services and improve the customer experience. They usually represent the average of the masses, rather than specific individuals. However, to get a more "accurate" picture of customers, characteristics such as income, age, marital status, number of children, daily life and so on are collected. Personas are often used in product management to describe the environment of the buyer or user of a product or service.

The persona method is used to segment customers by grouping them based on similar characteristics, needs or behaviors. Basically, however, this approach hardly gets you anywhere, as ultimately not much can be derived from this data for the product. It does not mean that you can really claim to have gained insights from this information on how you can improve products for certain personas. Demographic and socio-economic criteria have been captured, but there is a gap between these characteristics and product needs. You need to understand the needs, the personal needs of the personas and what influence these have on the product.

Situation vs. correlations

In most cases, personas are about the correlation and not the causal relationship that motivates the customer to buy the product. What influences the purchase decision and why, what is the actual reason why a product is bought in the first place, is usually missing from the persona. It is better if you think about the situations of the personas and really go into detail here. You need to consider the situation, the reasons that led to the purchase of the product. When a large number of buyers are examined, a situation that occurs again and again typically becomes visible. And the situation tells you what your product does for the customer and how you can improve it. In other words, the situation is the logical link, the causal connection between the situation and the actual purchase, while the persona simply provides the correlating data. The correlation is important later in marketing, but does not help product management to decide on features and functions. Only the situation is helpful in deciding what the next feature should be, but the pure persona and the correlation are not.

The importance of the different situations of the target group

Realize that you as a person find yourself in different situations in your life and therefore decide and act differently. Personas act as representatives ('proxies') of the different needs within the target groups and show patterns in usage behavior. With hotel bookings, for example, the background factors of your booking are decisive. It plays a big role whether you are traveling for your job at a conference, with friends on a trip, with your family on a family vacation or alone with your wife or girlfriend on a relaxation trip. These are all different situations and for each situation you have a completely different set of requirements for your hotel room. Factors such as a bar, WIFI, peace and quiet, childcare, wellness facilities and so on are then your important decision-making criteria. So it's all about the feature set that the customer needs in the situation. The decisions vary, even though you are the same person who is on a business trip during the week and perhaps looking to relax with the family at the weekend. So the situation has a bigger impact on the product than all the demographic data. Understanding these different situations can support product development by helping to better meet the needs of the target group.

Short and sweet: The different needs of personas

As mentioned, personas are mostly done wrong by collecting generalized statements and demographic data that are not the reason for a purchase decision, but only correlations. Personas are fictional characters that represent specific customer segments and help to understand the needs and desires of customers and make informed decisions. A collection of target group characteristics is not enough to improve products. But if you look at the customers' situation, you are on the safe side. It forces you to understand why someone buys a product. If the focus is on the situation, then it is possible to accumulate several reports of these situations and aggregate them into a specific persona. In contrast, if you have one persona, it cannot be broken down to the different situations. The specific steps for creating and integrating personas include defining goals and target groups, collecting relevant data, integrating personas into customer databases, statistical analysis methods, creating multiple draft personas and developing follow-up actions after persona development.

Our tip for you: Focus on the job-to-be-done!

The actual reason, the customer's situation, why they are buying or using a product must be clear. The implementation of personas within a company is crucial in order to focus on the customer's needs and optimize products and services. The job-to-be-done is the actual goal of the customer. It is important to understand the customer's goals and motivations to ensure their satisfaction. From the situation and the job-to-be-done, the requirements for a product can be understood, features prioritized and product designs derived.

What would interest us now? What experiences have you had with creating personas? Do you often come into contact with this topic? We look forward to your feedback.

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