4 Ways to Create a User Persona that Actually Works!- Part 1/2

“People ignore design that ignores people”

~ Frank Chimero, Designer

Intro

Imagine trying to build a product without knowing who will use your product, or how your product will be used and for what purpose it will be used.

Imagine building a house without knowing who or what will live in it? Are you building for Goliath or David? For dogs or elephants?

Unfortunately, a lot of Product Managers just jump into designing and building products/features without a proper understanding of the target user. BIG mistake!

The job of a product manager isn’t just to build products but to build products that meet the needs of the target users. And to build products that meet users’ needs, you need to understand who your target user is.

4 Rule of Thumb:

• Don’t assume you know your users. Do your research
• Everybody is not your user. A product that appeals to everyone appeals to no one
• The more specific you are about your user details, the better
• Sketch out your user profile. Don't store the info in your head.

So, what the heck is a User Persona?

A user persona is a sketch, a representation, of your target or ideal audience. This is usually a combination of pictures and attributes of your ideal or target user/customers/audience.

A good user persona x-rays who your ideal/target user is. What her fears are, what makes her happy, what makes her sad, etc. other details usually include what her pain points and goals are, where she lives, what she likes, how tech-savvy she is. Others include age, aspirations, educational level, etc.

Every detail helps but be careful not to create a document that is so detailed that it becomes unusable.

To prevent you from creating a very wordy and unusable user persona, always ask yourself and your team: what is it about our users that we must know to create the product that they will fall in love with?

When answered with clarity, you are halfway into creating a great user persona.

4 Ways to Create a Good User Persona

1. Get out of your Comfortable Office

My personal experience is that going out to meet with your potential customers works like magic. You will get to see them in their natural habitat. You will get to see what they look like and how they behave. This should not be confused with focus group research. While out, sketch a profile of your ideal/target user; don’t worry about the fine details. You can always brush that up when you get back to your office. I recommend speaking to a diverse audience in different settings. If they permit, take actual pictures to use for your document. These pictures will definitely make more sense and would be more relatable than those random free pictures you will find on the internet.

2. Create Various Versions of Your User

Make different versions of your potential users’ persona. The ideal number would be anywhere around 3-5 different versions. Mix and marsh different details to create 3-5 different versions of your target audience. Then see what cuts across all of those different versions. Those are the most important things you need to know about your potential users (that is not to say that the other details are not relevant)

Keep your best 2 or 3.

3. Use Your Imagination 

Another way to create a good user persona is to brainstorm alone or, preferably, with your team members on who your ideal target audience is. On each sticky note, write out an attribute/description of your target audience. This should leave you with more details than you need. So, you have to group similar attributes/descriptions, and/or discard those that do not align.

4.    Use a User Journey Map

If you have users that have ever used or are currently using your product, you may create a user persona by mapping out the different ways users interact with your product.

For example, if you have a banking app that generates different tiers of account for your customers, you may map out the journey of how different customers interact with your app.

• User 1- Downloads your app and initiates signup but drops off at a particular stage
• User 2- Downloads your app, completes signup but never does any transactions
• User 3- Downloads your app, completes signup and continues to use her account at the basic tier of account
• User 4- Download your app, completes signup, upgrades her account to a higher tier but never transacts
• User 5- Downloads your app, completes signup, upgrades her account and continues to transact

The exercise above will reveal a lot about your users and ensure you understand whom you're building for!

Feel free to share your experience and watch out for the concluding part of this article next week.