Elizabeth is a 31-year-old nurse who drives a scooter, enjoys making lemon cakes, and spends most of her time with her 1-year-old.
Despite trying to find a balance between work and home responsibilities, Elizabeth struggles to make more time for herself. Although she tries to give herself moments of self-care, these moments are few and far between. There is a need for Elizabeth to recharge, relax, and take care of herself.
Using this description, you know Elizabeth's age, profession, gender, desires, struggles, and pain points. In your mind, all this information helps you place her in a category, but it doesn't tell you why she buys your product.
A buyer persona usually includes descriptions such as Elizabeth's, as well as demographic and personality information.
In the early days of customer segmentation, this would have been sufficient to inform marketing campaigns and product development. In order to reach their audiences, companies must go beyond standard buyer personas as markets grow and consumer awareness increases.
It will be possible to reach customers like Elizabeth with empathetic solutions that help her, rather than stereotypical cure-alls that are easily overlooked if we apply what we've learned about how people make decisions.
Here are three myths about buyer personas - and what you can do instead.
It's Not Enough to Have Standard Buyer Personas
The first mention of audience segmentation was made in 1956 by Wendell Smith. The definition of market segmentation given by Smith is, "the adjustment of market offerings to the needs of consumers or users."
Smith knew that creating segments would increase consumer/user satisfaction. However, Smith's idea of segmentation was years before we had a clear understanding of psychology, behavioral economics, unconscious bias, and how to satisfy consumers.
We have learned a lot about how people think, rationalize, and categorize others since Smith discussed segmentation. It was Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky's 1974 research paper A Judgement Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases that exposed how people process information and are influenced by it. Likewise, Clayton Christensen introduced his jobs-to-be-done theory in 2003.
It has made a lasting impact on how we create ads, price products, introduce call-to-actions, and influence many other marketing activities - but not our way of creating buyer personas.
According to Kahneman, Tversky, and Christensen, there are three myths about the standard buyer persona that could harm your marketing. Now let's dive into them.
Myth #1: You need a name for your buyer persona
All of us have heard the old advice to name your persona something memorable. Names like Sally Sales Girl and Mary the Marketer will help you create a more concrete persona in your mind and marketing.
Fact: Naming your buyer persona introduces bias
If you give your buyer personas a fake name, you could introduce bias into your marketing.
When you introduce naming bias to your marketing, you are consciously identifying a particular customer as your best customer. That's great! You might also unintentionally exclude people who are a good fit for your product but don't resemble the person you imagined. That's not good.
You're more likely to seek out customers who match your unconscious idea of Elizabeth than those who actually use your product or service if Elizabeth is your best fit customer.
It has been shown that people with easier-to-pronounce names are viewed more favorably than those with harder-to-pronounce names. Despite most studies on unconscious name bias focusing on resumes and job applications, we can apply those lessons to buyer personas as well.
It depends on where you live and what language you speak whether it is easy or difficult to pronounce. It is important to remember that a name you are familiar with might not be familiar to your audience.
Solution: Name personas based on segmentation data
We create buyer personas to categorize a large number of people. Rather than naming them after people, name them after traits they share.
Are most of these best-fit customers soccer fans? Great! Name them 'The Soccer Players.' Or maybe they're using your product to free-up time in their scheduling processes. The Free Timers - what a wonderful idea.
In naming this group of people according to their segment, or their need, any bias can be eliminated.
Your buyer personas will be more focused on the category of people you're serving, rather than just one pretend buyer.
Myth #2: A photo makes your buyer persona more relatable and realistic
On the first page of most buyer personas, there is a stock photo. There have even been cases where companies display cardboard cutouts of buyer personas in their offices.
It is admirable to bring to life a category of people, but assigning one image or person to represent a large group creates bias.
Realistic buyer personas don't require a face
Buyer personas represent what you believe your ideal customer looks like, but they don't necessarily represent the entire audience. Your Elizabeth persona portrays a middle-aged white female, but 100% of your audience isn't middle-aged, white, and female.
Using a stock photo for our personas could introduce racial, gender, or beauty bias. Biases like these are so ingrained in our minds that we follow bias patterns even when we don't believe the bias to be true logically.
Bias blind spots are caused by this phenomenon. It is estimated that 95% of cognition occurs below the threshold of conscious awareness. Whether you realize it or not, you have ingrained patterns in your mind which shape your decision-making whether you are racist, misogynistic, or ageist.
Solution: Forget the photo
Don't include stock photos in your buyer personas. Your marketing efforts and functions will not be affected by this. It will help eliminate unconscious bias. Get straight to the point rather than using a stock photo.
It may be tempting to add a cartoon character, but that doesn't solve the problem. Don't waste time with pictures; get straight to the information that will help you reach, resonate with, and sell to your customers.
You must acknowledge that your customers come in a variety of races, shapes, and sizes.
The better your marketing represents your audience, the clearer your product, messaging, and communications will be.
Myth #3: Buyer Personas Should Describe Character Traits
B2B buyer personas are often created to inform marketing teams and executives who their customers are and to keep promotional efforts consistent. In order to reach the right people in the right way, you need to use more than just character traits, demographics, and socio-graphics in your buyer personas.
Fact: Buyer personas should tell you why people buy a product or service.
Understanding your audience and empathizing with their pain points is the best way to resonate with them. Building and segmenting your buyer personas is the first step to understanding your audience.
When you segment your audience based on attributes such as brands they like, habits they have, or job titles, you're grouping people together based on fleeting characteristics.
Our example persona, Elizabeth, might change jobs, move to a new city, or change any trait about her life. As a result, Elizabeth might be shifted out of your customer demographic unnecessarily. Despite loving your product, she would still buy it, but now you are no longer marketing to her.
Solution: Segment according to the job-to-be-done.
Make your personas based on what your customers have hired your product/service to do for them, instead of on demographics and character traits.
For instance, Elizabeth is a mom who loves long baths and buys Suave deodorant. Neither her age, her job title, nor her love of baths influence her choice of Suave. She buys Suave because she has been using it for years, loves the smell, and likes the way it makes her feel. Suave deodorant keeps her feeling and smelling great.
Clayton Christensen was the first person to discuss the concept of people hiring products and services for a particular job.
Combining the emotional psychographic information of buyer personas with a jobs-to-be-done approach will help to inform your marketing efforts and open up your market in a way that allows you to serve all kinds of people. According to Christensen, "Companies that develop offerings centered on jobs, instead of customer attributes and buying behaviors, can excel in the market and avoid disruption."
You Will Grow Your Business by Using the Best Buyer Personas
Now is the time for buyer personas to catch up with our understanding of how people think, behave, and purchase. Take your next buyer persona project to the next level by ditching the fake name and picture, and focusing on what your product can do for your customers.
Despite being narrowly focused and empathic, your marketing deliverables will be more inclusive to a wider audience. By creating better buyer personas, you can develop marketing practices that resonate with your audience and grow your business.