La costruzione di una Buyer persona è un lavoro molto impegnativo, che richiede forti doti di creatività e immaginazione. In un precedente post ho descritto un approccio abbastanza semplificato, che delinea le fasi principali da seguire per costruire una Buyer persona. Oggi, scenderò più nel dettaglio, facendo riferimento alla descrizione fornita da Steve Murder nel suo libro The user is always right, di cui ho parlato nell’ultimo post.

Ricordo che l’obiettivo di creare una Buyer persona è quello di descrivere le principali caratteristiche di un acquirente tipo, rappresentativo del segmento a cui vogliamo rivolgerci, in modo da poter creare dei messaggi che raggiungano il target nel modo più efficace possibile. 

Il risultato finale di questo progetto è costituito dalla realizzazione di un documento dove viene descritta la Buyer persona, come riportato nell’immagine seguente.

Secondo Steve Murder le fasi che si devono seguire per costruire una Buyer persona sono 12:

Segmentation – Key differentiators – Name – Photo – Personal information – Domain-Specific information – Profile – Additional attributes – Quote – Business objectives – Scenarios – Persona document.  

Analizziamole brevemente:

1. Segmentation

Il primo passaggio è costituito dalla segmentazione del mercato in cui si opera.

Imagine, if you will, a pile of rocks. It’s your mission to decribe the different types of rocks in this pile.  You can do this in many ways, of course. You could organize the rocks by size and them describe each groups. You could group them by color or texture. You could dust off that geology degree and group them by type (sedimentary, igneous, and so on). Organizing all of this individual rocks into clusters is what segmentation is all about.

It comes down to this fundamental question: can you tell stories with the segments?  If you can turn the segments into stories about real people in real situations that resonate with teammates … then you know you’re on the right track… 

Segments aren’t personas. Segments are boring list of characteristics … Personas are different because they feel like real people…   [You have to] to trasform a quick list of facts into a story that others quickly understand, remember, and act upon. 

2. Key differentiators 

Il secondo passaggio consiste nella individuazione dei principali “differenziatori”:

Start with what’s more important – the attributes that define your segments – and explain the key differences between they … You’ll usually start by trying to summarize the few, most critical differentiators in two or three concise summary bullets. …  It forces you to eliminate all but the most vital attributes that make this persona unique.

Ask yourself:  If you had 10 seconds to describe this persona to someone, what would you say? …

Of course, you also want to be able to go into more detail on these key differentiators, because detail helps create realism. By going to a deeper level of detail, you can make the persona realistic and specific rather than generic. 

3. Name e 4. Photo

Ho descritto questi passaggi nell’ultimo post.

5. Personal information

Una volta che sono stati scelti il nome e la foto, ci si può addentrare più a fondo nella vita di ogni giorno: è necessario aggiungere dei dettagli per rendere questa persona reale.

Because personas are all about inventing realistic people, details make all the difference …

[Persona] is only a vague cartoony figure until we give her an age, a job, a location, and a personaliy … Choose details that reinforce the story you’re trying to build about each persona. Got a perfectionist? Give her a hobby like beaded jewelry making …

Tra i dettagli da includere dobbiamo considerare:

• Occupazione e nome della società dove lavora: l’occupazione deve essere appropriata agli obiettivi e alle caratteristiche del soggetto; il nome della società deve preferibilmente essere reale.
• Età: deve corrispondere alla fascia di età della persona raffigurata nella foto.
• Localizzazione.
• Personalità: occorre individuare alcuni aggettivi che potrebbero descrivere questa persona (egoista, meticoloso, timido, coraggioso, ecc.).
• Condizione familiare: bisogna stabilire se è sposata e se ha dei figli.
• Hobby: occorre individuare delle attività che rinforzino le caratteristiche del personaggio che si sta creando.

6. Domain-Specific Information

Questa fase è legata al settore in cui l’azienda opera:

For every set of persona, there’s always information you want to establish about them that is specific to the domain you’re working. If it’s the real estate industry, you’ll want to specific facts such as where the persona is currently living, when she might want to buy or sell, what her financial situation looks like, and so on. 

These additional facts contribute to making the persona more realistic.

7. Profile

A questo punto occorre inserire in una descrizione quanto fin qui raccolto, tracciando un profilo:

Personas are stories, and the last thing you want your persona document to look is a long list of bullets. Bullets are useful for facts that you want people to be able to scan quikly, but they can’t take the place of the narrative profile of your persona. The profile is the meat of the persona; it summarizes all the key differentiators and attributes, while telling the story of who this persona is and how he or she interacts (or wants to interact) with your company.

Profiles work well when they provide context for who these people are – the story of how they got to where they are today and what they need from here.  It’s important to rely not only the facts, but the psychlogical and emotional side as well.

8. Additional Attributes

Per rendere più realistica la storia, occorre aggiungere altri dettagli:

You can give many other attributes to your persona other than those I’ve discusses so far … But tread carefully … Keep the emphasis on what’s most important and make sure everything else (including the realistic details that add flavor) supports your main messages about that persona … Find the few details that best support the overall story you’re creating. Don’t feel that just because you have data on something, you have to use it in the personas.

9. Quote

Per rafforzare la descrizione di questa persona è molto utile aggiungere una citazione:

Like the summary bullets, a quote from the persona’s own mouth (so to speak) can capture his or her essence and serve as one of the initial things that people read to get a quick sense of that persona.

I recommend creating a quota towards the end of the process, because after you dive into all the detail, a quote forces you to look at the big picture and figure out what the one thing is that this person would say that would summarize where he or she is coming from. Keep short and focused on one or two points that set this persona apart from the others. Be sure to use the natural language of the persona – after all, this is supposed to be the persona talking to you, not jargon-filled marketing copy.

Un esempio: 

“My work is who I am, so everything has to be just right” – Patricia the Perfectionist

10. Business Objectives

Adesso occorre ripensare quali sono gli obiettivi che questa Buyer persona dovrebbe raggiungere:

After you’ve finished a rough draft of your persona and you’ve included the bits of realistic detail that make your persona come to life, there’s one more important piece to add: the business objectives you have for the persona …

Ask yourself what you want and expect the persona to do for your business, given what you know about him or her …

11. Scenario

La penultima fase riprende quanto fatto nella fase 7, dove si è tracciato un profilo, per costruire adesso una trama o, meglio, una storia:

A completed persona is like a marionette: until you pull its strings and make it move, it has no chance of looking realisitic and telling a story. Scenario put personas in motion … The persona is the character, and a scenario is a plot …

Persona can exist without scenarios, but often these stories are a useful first step toward actually using personas …

I like to use the classic components of good storytelling when doing this.

Set the scene – Establish the goal or conflict – overcome crises along the way …

Your goal insn’t to write a novel, but only one or few paragraphs that dive into a particular usage scenario.

12. Persona Document  

Siamo arrivati all’ultima fase: la creazione di un documento con le principali informazioni che caratterizzano la Buyer persona. Secondo Steve Murder:

Personas can take many forms, but you want to have one version that represents the complete information on each persona. The full persona document was presented … wih components such as key differentiators, name, photo, domain-specific information, profile, business objectives, and so on.

You can design this document in many ways, but I’ve settled on a template that has the following information hierarchy:

• The persona’s name, photo, quote, and key differentiator bullets have the most emphasis and serve the quick snapshot of the persona.
• The narrative profile, full key differentiators (often a list of user goals), and business objectives for this persona are the seconday blocks, occupying most of page.
• Details that flesh out the persona, such as personal information, domain-specific information, and computer and Internet usage, fill the remaining space.

Keep this document within one page, if it’s possible … Prioritize what needs to be in the persona and eliminate the unnecessary. Your goal isn’t to say everything about each persona, but to provide just enough detail to make each persona feel real.

A questo punto, avendo realizzato il documento della Buyer persona, e avendo dunque un immagine reale del nostro target, si dovrebbe essere in grado di capire quali contenuti possono essere inviati e in che modo devono essere scritti.

Con questo post concludo la serie di post dedicati all’argomento “Buyer persona”.