CHAPTER 3

Creating Customer Persona

Learning Objectives
Students should be able to do the following:

Understand why understanding your

customers is important

Able to use empathy map to understand

your potential customers

Able to build Customer Persona to

Developing Competitive Advantage

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Agenda
• What is Market Research
• Ways to Understand Potential Customers
• Building an Empathy Map
• Building an Customer Persona

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 What is Market Research

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What is online market research?
Leverages two types of data:

The data published by To help you learn more about your target audience and
The data you own
others target niche market.

How Do You Do Market

Research

Secondary research: analyzing data that

Primary research: collecting data yourself
was collected by someone else, such as
through surveys, customer interviews and
government statistics, industry statistics
focus groups.
and industry reports.

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Why Market Research Is Important?

Understand your target The easier it is to come up with Write compelling

audience better viable product ideas copy

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Types of Market Research

1. Primary Research Here are a few examples:

Data collection and insights generation,

done by you, using your internal resources.
Online surveys and questionnaires.

In-person, in-depth interviews.

Online focus groups.

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Types of Market Research

2. Secondary Research Here are a few examples:

Data and/or insights available online, you

just leverage others’ work and add your Government statistics. the National Center for Health Statistics can
interpretation. be a valuable source of data for health-related businesses

Industry research published by the Big-4 accounting firms

Similarweb.com, Google Keyword Tool for user online behavior and

activities

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 Ways to Understand Potential Customers

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Things that you want to understand

Audience

Geolocation Demography Behavioural Engagement Psychographics

• Address, education • Gender (female / male) • Loyalty to a certain • People who like your • Interest, attitude, values
institute and traveling product or brand page / photo / post / and personality of your
• Age (18-30), (35-50) etc.
spot comments – these audience
• How often do they use
• Marital status (Married / people are your fans
• Rural or city the product
single )
• Friends of people who
• Identify the state or • Readiness to make a
• Occupation (office like your page / photo /
district that you want to purchase
worker, government post / comments (friends
market your product to
servant) of your fans)
• Raise the awareness of
• Language (Malay,
the residents within the
English, Mandarin, Tamil)
area of your business
premise • Income (2,000 – 3,000 /
5,000 – 10,000)

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Questionnaire/Survey

1
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1
Focus Group

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Research Reports

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Facebook Audience Insight

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Google Analytics Audience Demographic Insight

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 Build an Empathy Map

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Empathy Map

A tool to help you put Understand what Use this to understand

yourself into customer’s potential customers are the best approach to
shoes seeing, doing, hearing approach of customers
and facing everyday

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Steps of building an empathy map

2
3
Do surveys, focus groups and
Read the information in detail
interviews with your target niche
and imagine you’re one of them
market about their day-to-day

1 4
Get an empathy map Fill in the empathy map
template based on the information
your collected

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Sample Empathy Map
1 WHO are we empathising with?
Who is the person we want to understand?
What is the situation they are in?
What is their role in the situation?
2 What do they need to DO?
GOAL What do they need to do differently?
What job(s) do they want or need to get done?
What decision(s) do they need to make?
How will we know they were successful?

What do they THINK and FEEL?

What do they SEE?

PAINS GAINS 3
What do they see in the marketplace?
What are their What are their
What do they see in their immediate environment?
fears, wants, needs,
What do they see others saying and doing?
frustrations, and hopes and
What are they watching and reading?
anxieties? dreams?
6 What do they HEAR?
What are they hearing others say? 4 What do they SAY?
What are they hearing from friends? What have we heard them say?
What are they hearing from colleagues? What other thoughts What can we imagine them
What are they hearing second-hand? and feelings might saying?
motivate their
behavior?

5 What do they DO?

What do they do today?
What behavior have we observed? What can we imagine them
doing?

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 Creating Customer Persona

2
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0
Empathy Map vs Customer Persona

Empathy Map Customer Persona

• Nature: Summary of customer research data
• Empathy map is a summary of your
understandings
• More about the feeling and day-to-day of your
potential customer
• Nature: Insights on what a customer would look
like
• Customer Persona is converting your
“understandings” into actual imaginary person
• All your future marketing campaign should be
referencing this “person”

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Steps to do customer persona

Get an easy to use customer persona

Review your customer journey map.
template

Fill in personas template using the

Review your empathy map empathy map and information you
collected

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Sample Customer Persona

Negative trends
Negative trends from the
environment Positive trends
Positive trends from the
environment

Headaches Opportunities
Professional and work related Professional and work related
issues Need positive outcomes
What <__> this
<___> really <__>?

Fears Hopes
Personal issues Name: _______ Personal goals and hopes
Role: ________

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Example Background Demographics Interests

Persona 1 • Hometown in Massachusetts

• Has two cats
• Age 38
• Three children
• Home décor
• Reading and visiting book-stores
• Drives a reliable minivan • Civilian school teacher married to or libraries
• Second-time home buyer a higher-ranking active-duty • Painting
service member • Roasting coffee
• Interested in a larger home

Spends online time on Brands

Identifiers
• Pinterest
• Active on social media
• Email
• Wiling to reach out vis email
• Facebook
• Expects a fair amount of
Jordan Young customer service
Challenges
• Military timelines
Goals
• Busy schedule
• Desire to upsize her home for her
growing and active family
Favorite tech
• Interested in a pre-sale / partially
finished home in a • iPhone
neighbourhood so she can add • Google home
custom features and make color • Fitbit
selections
• Would like to make a few
changes to existing floor-plan

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Example Persona 2 – Coffee Shop Marketing Persona
Background Hopes & dreams
• 20 years old • Become and reputable interior designer
• Single • Travel the world
• Lives in San Francisco, CA • Have the flexibility to be able to pick up and go as she
• Full-time interior design student, Part time worker pleases
• Not have to worry about finances
Finances
• Household income of $30,000 Worries and fears

• She’s super conscious about what she spends her money on • Not being able to pay her bills

• Prefers to use her credit/debit cards • Getting stuck somewhere and not being able to travel
• Not having enough time with her cat
Online behaviours • Not being able to pay back her school debt
• Facebook is her life-line
• Active on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest Make her life easier

• Looks for coupons and good deals on cool, new experiences or restaurants • Funky atmosphere that’s inviting and relaxing
• Deals and coupons
What she’s looking for • Provide a job-board inside the coffee shop for freelance
jobs
• A place to de-compress after a hectic week
Sarah Student • A quiet place to study where she’s not distract by her messy room
• Cozy seating with plenty of charging stations
• Order drinks to-go online or through an app
“I need to be able to go somewhere to relax, re-focus, and get inspired • A good deal to make her feel better about purchases
without breaking the bank” • Social media engagement incentives for discounts
• A sense of stability in her chaotic world
• Cool, new experiences or adventures
A day in the life of Sarah
• Early mornings, late nights describes her daily routines, so she lives on coffee What influences her
• She goes to school all day, studies, at nights and works freelance jobs • Her friends and colleagues
• She has a cat that keeps her grounded with a sense of responsibility • Magazines, blogs, articles, and design publications
• She’s a carefree college student
• Her house is never in order, her fridge is empty and she’s always buried in a Brand affinities
book or her laptop • Starbucks, H&M, Forever21, American Eagle, Target
• She takes the train and Ubers everywhere

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