What are the best practices for identifying user segments and personas?

Being part of the communities that have pain points that your product can solve, will deliver all the data you need. Qualitative data, quantitative data, beta testers, sign ups for free and paid products. If you are a part of these communities and add value to their leaders, you will be successful. Because you’ll understand their pain points. Even if your solution doesn’t solve their pain points at first, you can easily pivot after. Although I am a #genai product manager, I suggest building communities of your own with small mastermind groups and without #AI ?? in the beginning

Don't jump into the "seven ways to segment your users" pop-segmentation methods, lean into first principles. You know that all of your customers are not the same. You know that customers use your product for different reasons, have different expectations, consider different alternatives, and derive different amounts of value from your product. Every single person is different. You cannot scale by addressing them individually, and you miss the mark when you treat them as all being the same. As Seth Godin said, a product for everyone is a product for no one.

User segmentation starts with collecting data and instrumenting your app/website. Here are some key things to get started: 1. Behavioral Data: Collect behavioural data using tools like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Hotjar, Crazyegg, Instabug, etc. Based on user's behaviour such as time-spent, engagement with features, transactions, etc. segement users on the tool 2. Demographic Data: Collect data and tag users as per their age, location, and gender. Customize your product offering and user journey based on this data 3. Technographic Data: Identify and personalize user experience based on device such as mobile or desktop and acquisition source 4. Survey: Collect data directly from users through surveys, capturing preferences and opinions

Meet Your Users: Get to know your users through interviews, surveys, and observations. Understand their needs and how they use your product. Set Clear Goals: Define why you're doing this. What insights do you want? Knowing your objectives guides your research. What Makes Them Tick: Identify characteristics that matter, like age, interests, and behaviors. These are the building blocks for understanding your users. Bring Characters to Life: Create user personas as if they were characters in a story. Include details like goals, challenges, and what makes them happy. Feel Their Pain: Empathize with your users. Feel their struggles and triumphs. This makes your personas more realistic.

Gather Qualitative Data Conduct interviews and focus groups with users to obtain deep insights. Use open-ended questions to explore user behaviors, needs, motivations, and pain points. Include a diverse group of users to get a wide range of perspectives. Collect Quantitative Data Create Hypothetical Personas:

Users can be segmented based on any of the following: 1. Demographic Data: Age, gender, location 2. Behavioral Data: How users behave on your product 3. Psychographic Data: User's personality traits and interests 4. Technographic Data: User's device 5. Customer Support Interactions: User's pain areas 6. Purchase History: User's life time value 7. Social Media Engagement: Whether user is a followers or not and what sentiment does he/she displays 8. Survey Responses: What are user's preference

Some of the segmentation framework that works. 1. VALUE based: To achieve & retain customer, develop & prioritize strategies to increase customer profitability. 2. Behavior Based : Identifying customer as unique, to the point campaign targeting,defining sales channel & product features. 3. Need Based :To understand why and how they decide to buy , identifying if there is any gap between available product & customer preferences. 4. Demographics / Social demographic/ lifestyle : purchase behaviour 5. Psychographics : understanding customers in depth purchase attitude & behaviour. 6. Perceptions:To measure customer realtionship strength of different customer group by using behavioral indicators (recency,frequency, monetry Value)

Well researched authentic data is the key. The blend of qualitative and quantitative data helps create precise and actionable customer segments. Segmentation frame should focus on demographics, psychographics, behavior, needs, culture etc. Again this varies based on the product strategy. Quick example of Uber: Ride History: Analyze ride frequency, duration, and locations to identify patterns Demographics: Age, gender, and income to segment into groups like young professionals or families Behavioral: Monitor in-app activities like payment methods and promotion responses to identify user preferences and price sensitivity Behavioral: Analyze customer feedback and ride ratings to gauge satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

Always start with your goal. What are you trying to achieve? Pick a set of criteria that is most relevant to your goal and always refer to your strategy. In my experience it is preferable to select criteria that is driven by behaviors, engagement patterns and beliefs, not necessarily demographics. A great criteria to segment for is frequency of usage. Determine your two tails and position anything in the middle. Avoid niches. Focus on big pain points.

For a fully SAAS product technographic segmentation would be of immense value as well. Technographic Segmentation: Categorizes users based on their use of technology, including the types of devices they use, software preferences, and adoption rate of new technology.

Validating your segments is important to ensure that you don't take product actions based on wrongly crafted segments. Here are ways to validate segments: 1. Data Consistency Check: Cross-reference user behavior data from various sources, such as behavior tools, surveys, and interviews, to ensure consistency & identify discrepancies 2. Surveys and Feedback Validation: Scrutinize survey responses to validate if users within each segment share common characteristics 3. Conversion Funnel: Confirm that conversion rates align with segment-specific expectations 4. Customer Support: Validate whether reported issues align with segment characteristics 5. A/B Testing and Experimentation: Based on test results, make adjustments to segment definitions

To validate segmentation is to experiment with different segment combinations and compare their performance. Experimenting with different segment combinations can help find the optimal way of dividing market into meaningful and profitable user groups for product. We can use different methods to test segmentation, such as A/B testing,cluster analysis,conjoint analysis on product features & campaign. Monitor and measure the key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect campaign goals, such as click-through rate, conversion rate, retention rate, or customer lifetime value. Also compare the results of different segments and see which ones perform better or worse.

After defining user segments, validation becomes crucial for ensuring their practicality and significance. This involves real user and stakeholder testing, ensuring the segments meet criteria—being distinct, measurable, accessible, relevant, and actionable. Each segment should stand apart, supported by sufficient data, reachable through product channels, aligned with your value proposition, and actionable for product development. If any criteria are not met, re-evaluate or modify the segments. Think of it as refining a recipe—ensuring each ingredient contributes to the overall flavor and success.

Don't just guess who your users are! Test your ideas with real people and data. Make sure your segments are: 1. Unique: No group overlaps another. 2. Measurable: You can track them with data. 3. Reachable: You can market and develop for them. 4. Relevant: They matter to your business. 5. Actionable: You can use them to improve your product. Keep refining your segments until they paint a clear picture of your user base. This unlocks better products, marketing, and everything in between!

Validating your user segments and personas is a critical step, akin to a chef taste-testing a new recipe before serving it. It’s about ensuring that the groups you've identified accurately represent your real user base. This can involve qualitative methods like interviews and focus groups, where you interact directly with users to confirm the assumptions made during segmentation. For our e-commerce solution, we validated our segments by engaging with users fitting each profile, ensuring they truly reflected the characteristics and needs we had identified.

When I'm creating user personas for segmentation, I find it essential to: 1. Give the persona a realistic name and photo to make them relatable. 2. Dig deep into demographic specifics like age, gender, occupation, education, and lifestyle. 3. Clearly outline their needs, goals, and aspirations, so I can tailor solutions accordingly. 4. Identify their pain points and fears concerning our product to address them effectively. 5. Map out scenarios where they engage with our product for context. 6. Use quotes that capture their tone and attitude, adding a personal touch. These detailed personas help our team empathize with our users and design products that truly meet their needs and expectations.

To make personas extra useful... ensure they help you drive product decisions. For example, if your organisation's goal is focused on revenue, it's useful to tie in typical retention numbers or conversion rates of certain segments into personas (if possible) so that another person in the organisation can validate whether that feature they're targeting helps with the organisational goals.

You almost never want to create personas. An understanding based on limited research - a proto-persona - is almost always what makes the most sense given the tradeoffs in available resources and time. You are balancing the risk of being wrong with the risk of being late. Only invest to develop true personas when the risk of being wrong warrants the high cost and opportunity cost of doing so.

Creating a persona involves crafting a fictional but data-driven representation of a typical user in a specific segment. This tool serves to humanize and empathize with users while effectively communicating their needs and goals to the team and stakeholders. The persona typically includes a realistic name, a representative photo, and background information covering aspects like age, gender, occupation, education, and lifestyle. It also dives into their needs, goals, pain points, usage scenarios, and quotes reflecting their tone and attitude. Crafting personas is akin to painting a detailed portrait, allowing the team to better understand and cater to the user landscape.

Personas are like imaginary users who help you understand your real ones. They make it easier to see what users need and want. But, Why Personas Matter? Empathy: They help you feel what users feel. Goals: They keep you focused on what's important to users. Now, how to Create Personas? ??Give them names and faces to make them feel like real people. ??Share their stories—jobs, hobbies, and what's important to them. ??Talk about their goals and what problems they're trying to solve. ??Describe their challenges and frustrations. ??Show how they use your product and what they think about it. Remember: Update personas as your product and users change. Use personas to make better decisions about your product and marketing.

This is critically important. In my experience,customer needs,value, behaviour evolve and also with time various factors shift your target customer. So your current customer segments may not be who your target customers are in the future. You'll need to monitor your overall segmentation strategy as that target shifts.

Updating and iterating your segments is the most important step of all. Iteration helps you add/refine information that you didn't consider and helps create robust segments.

In order to ensure accuracy and relevance, it is important to update and iterate on user segments and personas. Here are some guidelines to follow to achieve this: *Update your data sources regularly to ensure that the information used to create personas is accurate and up-to-date. *Establish feedback loops with relevant teams, such as customer support, sales, and product development to refine and update personas. *Conduct periodic user interviews and surveys to gather fresh insights and understand any changes in user behavior, preferences, or needs. *Periodically review and evaluate the criteria used for segmentation as markets and user behavior can change. Finally be open to change as user segments and personas are not static.

User segments and personas are dynamic, not fixed. As your product, market, and users evolve, regularly update them with fresh data and insights. Monitor user feedback, behavior, and satisfaction, identifying trends or gaps for adjustments. Regularly test and validate these segments, seeking input from your team and stakeholders. Keeping them current ensures your product aligns with users' evolving needs, delivering lasting value. It's like adjusting sails on a ship—constantly adapting ensures you navigate the changing waters of user expectations and market dynamics effectively.

here are some additional things you can consider when creating impactful personas: 1. Personality & Quirks: Go beyond demographics and add unique traits, like humor, optimism, or even tech savviness. Sprinkle in fun quirks or habits that make them relatable and memorable. 2. Quotes & Sayings: Add their voice! Craft quotes that capture their tone, attitude, and how they might talk about your product. Remember, the more details and nuances you layer into your personas, the more alive and relevant they become. Think of them as living characters evolving alongside your product and user base.

Effective segmentation is a dynamic process, not a one-time event: 1. Start with data: Crunch usage patterns, demographics, and surveys to spot natural groupings. 2. Go beyond numbers: Conduct user interviews and observe behaviour to understand motivations and needs. 3. Seek diversity: Don't assume homogeneity. Look for sub-segments within segments for targeted experiences. 4. Keep it actionable: Personas should guide product decisions, not just decorate presentations. 5. Iterate and evolve: As data and user needs change, update your segments and personas to stay relevant.

Identifying target audience for which product is being built and try to segregate them based on demographics like location, occupation, age, etc. If possible trying to study user personas of competitors in the same space helps as well.

Effective identification of user segments and personas begins with thorough research. Conduct surveys, interviews, and analyze user data to understand demographics, behaviors, and needs. Group users based on common characteristics, ensuring each segment is distinct and sizable. Develop detailed personas, including fictional but realistic user profiles, incorporating aspects like goals, pain points, and preferences. Continuously validate and update personas as user behaviors evolve. Collaborate with cross-functional teams, such as marketing and customer support, to gain diverse perspectives. Utilize tools like Google Analytics for quantitative insights and employ empathy maps for a deeper understanding of user emotions.

User segmentation and personas are powerful tools for unlocking the secrets of your audience. The outputs of these tools should allow you to move beyond generic strategies and craft experiences that truly resonate with your diverse user base. Data Drives Decisions - Quantitative data (demographics, usage patterns) helps define segments, while qualitative data (motivations, pain points) enriches your understanding. Choose the Right Segmentation Framework - There's no one-size-fits-all approach (Behavioral, Needs-based, Demographic) Craft Compelling Personas -Breathe life into your segments by creating personas – fictional characters representing each group Validate and Iterate: Personas and segments are not static. Regularly test them