Buyer personas are important for marketing.
They tell the marketing team who they are marketing to and sales teams who they are selling to.
But where are you supposed to start?
In this blog post, we will go through questions you can ask to help develop your personas.
So before you do any research, ask the questions below.
Let’s get into it.
Buyer Persona Questions to Ask Your Audience
Questions About Personal Background
Personal demographics
Demographic information is easy to get and tells you more about your customers, like:
- Marital status
- Household income
- Location
- Gender
- Age
- Children
Educational background
Education level, Schools they attended and what they studied?
Remember to be specific.
For example, Manchester Metropolitan University is better than Law School.
Career path
How did they ended up in their current careers?
Was their subject choice similar or different to their current role?
Traditional career path or they came from another industry?
Questions About Their Business
Which industry is your business in
Not the department your buyer persona works or the service they provide to their company.
But the type of service they give to their clients.
Doing so helps measure how your business affects the markets you’re targeting.
Also get information on your client’s business’s industry, not just the service they provide.
For example, if your client’s industry is environmental services for schools and hospitals, the answer to this question is:
- They are in the environmental services industry for education and medical customers.
Size of your business
Your persona’s business details help build your landing page from fields.
A few examples of this include:
- Industry, size
- Number of employees
Questions About Their Role
Job role and title
Time in your current role?
Job title?
Do they individually contribute or manage other people?
Who you report to and Who reports to you
Use of information about your buyer persona’s job and level depends on the product or service you sell.
B2C companies use this information to better understand details of your persona’s life.
But to B2B companies this information is more important.
For example, is your persona a manager or director and knowledgeable about your industry?
If so, they need less education but someone at an introductory level needs decision makers before making purchases.
How Job is measured
Which metrics does your persona track?
Which numbers or charts or graphs?
This tells you what makes them succeed and what about reaching their target numbers worries them.
Your typical day
What time do they get to work and what time do they leave?
What makes them most productive?
What’s they do when they’re busy working?
Include tasks for their job and what happens outside their job, like:
- Do they spend more time at work or home?
- Where do they want to be instead?
- What do they do for fun?
- Who matters most in their life?
- What car do they drive?
- Which TV shows do they watch?
Remember to be personal.
Skills required for your job
If they hire someone to replace them, what would the job description of what’s required say?
What skills does their job require and how good are they at each?
Where did they learn these skills? On the job learning, their previous job or they took a course?
Knowledge and tools used in your job
Which applications and tools do they use every day and every week?
Knowing the products they love and hate, helps find common features in your own products and adapt accordingly.
Questions About Challenges
Biggest challenges
Business is about solving problems for your target audience.
How do these problems affect them everyday? Give detail and how these problems make them feel.
For example, if your company sells personal tax software directly to consumers and one persona is a first-time tax preparer.
What are their pain points:
- Intimidated by doing their taxes alone for the first time
- Confused by tax codes they don’t understand
- Don’t know where to start
First timer pain points are different from seasoned tax preparers:
- Maximise the amount of their returns
- Find loopholes for deductions
Also come up with real quotes about these problems.
Questions About Goals
Responsibilities
Go beyond the metrics they’re measured on at work:
- Primary goals
- Secondary goals
This information helps you learn how to help personas reach goals and solve problems.
What does successful mean in your role
How can you make your personas look good?
Understanding what makes personas succeed helps companies effectively communicate with sales and marketing teams.
Questions About Learning
Learning new information for your job
To market and sell to personas, understand how they consume information:
- Online
- Learn in-person
- Newspapers and magazines
For online learners:
- Do they go to social networks
- Do they go to Google
What are their trusted sources:
- Friends
- Family
- Coworkers
- Industry experts
Publications or blogs you read
In a typical day for your personas, how do they regularly stay informed?
Information on how personas get information:
- Helps you know where get in front of them
- Establish authority in those communities
Associations and social networks you use
Find the associations and social networks your buyers spend most of their time.
This information helps you decide:
- Which accounts to create
- Which conversations to join
Questions About Shopping Preferences
Preferred interaction with vendors
Product purchasing experience and persona’s expectations should align:
- How should sales experience feel?
- Are they consultative?
- How long are they expected to be with a sales person?
- Should the sales process be in-person, online or on the phone?
Internet use for researching vendors or products and How you search for information
Where personas find new information:
- Online search
- Review websites
- Ask their friends and family
- Something else
Recent purchases
Why did they make the purchase?
How did they make their evaluation?
How did they decide to purchase the product or service?
Information on your personas potential objections help you:
- Prepare for them in the sales process
- Educate about them in your marketing
Why didn’t they buy from you or another industry provider?
Is it their first time purchasing this type of product or service?
If not, what made them switch products or services?
Conclusion
Once you’re done getting answers to these questions, find a picture for your persona.
Also practice being able to find your buyer persona to adapt your communications quicker.
This could be from talking to personas and seeing patterns in:
- Their job title
- The way they talk or conversate
- Their pain points?
- How they found your business
Now it’s over to you.
Tell me what questions you ask when creating your buyer personas?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Pingback: What are Psychographics? - XXMG