Over the years I have been asked to explain the value of personas. After all, they are not cheap to create, especially when you do it right. When I say right, I mean supported at the very least by contextual research into the circumstances of the target audience followed by a thorough analysis of that context that results in great information design deliverables capturing the essence of the personas. This qualitative form of persona can also be enhanced by subsequent quantitative research, which may provide accurate insights into the relative size, value, and desires of personas, acting more as market segmentation and supporting business strategy. This balanced qualitative/quantitative approach
can be very useful when integrating business and design teams to form a viable customer-focused strategy. The following is a short list of factors that make personas a very valuable strategic design tool for business.
How personas are a driver of digital innovation, in no particular order…
• Provide a framework for generating ideas that satisfy a particular audience
• Each persona is a channel for capturing insights and generating ideas
• Drivers of user-generated innovation…based on real needs, responding to certain behaviors and motivations
• After conducting extensive consumer research the creation of personas is an excellent tool for synthesizing the information discovered
• They keep the design and business team objective in identifying needs etc.
• Enables designers to empathize with a target audience
• They have the potential to generate a-ha moments for business
• Can tie ideas and concepts back to real market segmentation
• Supports the generation of measurement strategies by tying brought-to-market concepts back to specific market segments…targeted validation
• A persona is a cognitive shorthand to understanding a large body of information
• Informs the creation of key user experience deliverables especially information architecture and content strategy
It is also worth calling out the benefits of a program of “Persona Socialization”, where personas are introduced to the business through a variety of means and materials…
• Allows internal business teams keep their eyes on the prize, when bringing new products and services to market
• Helps communication and consensus between internal teams tasked with bringing new products and services to market
• Provides a solid basis for personifying target audiences over time