Customer profiles need to be deeply accurate
A customer persona filled with decorative information but lacking buying motivation is a persona for display, not for use.
A persona is useful when it focuses on the pain points, motivations, and decision-making criteria of customers, not when it lists extensive demographics and personal preferences. The depth needed is sufficient for you to write a piece of content and make a sales pitch immediately. If after reading the persona you still don’t know what to write, it lacks the most important part.
- startups and small businesses need guidance on content and sales
- need to coordinate multiple teams, channels, and people in the team
- demographics should only be added when truly used for targeting ads
- fabricated persona in the meeting room, not derived from real interviews
- create too many personas, making the team forget and not use them
A persona doesn’t need to be thick. A persona needs to be relevant. A simple question to measure if a persona is deep enough: after reading it, can you write a piece of content and make a sales pitch immediately? If not, it lacks the most important part.
Parts of the persona that are truly usable
Most common personas tend to make the same mistake: they are thick in the unused parts and thin in the core areas. The creator knows the customer’s name, what they like to drink, and which social media they use, but doesn’t know what the customer is trying to accomplish and what they fear the most.
Three components a persona must have to be usable:
- The job the customer is trying to accomplish: customers do not buy products; they hire products to complete a task in their life or work. Understanding that job is understanding the reason behind the demand. (Christensen, Jobs to be Done)
- Pain points and desires: Where are customers feeling discomfort, what are they worried about, and what results do they want to achieve? This is the content of the Value Proposition Canvas (Osterwalder): the jobs customers are doing, their pain points, and desires must align with what you offer.
- Criteria and decision-making language: Customers compare options based on which criteria, who has a voice in the decision, and what language they use to describe their issues. The customer's language is the raw material for writing content.
When to keep it concise, when to go deeper.
One-page persona, focusing on motivations: suitable for startups and small businesses. Records enough customer jobs, main pain points, decision criteria, and a few common phrases from customers. Enough to guide content and sales immediately.
In-depth persona with empathy map and customer journey: necessary when multiple teams serve one customer, many channels need coordination, or when the team is large enough that information gets fragmented between departments. The empathy map helps the entire team view the customer from the same perspective, not just the marketing department.
Demographic information such as age, income, and region should only be added when that information is truly used for targeting ads or selecting distribution channels. Don't stuff it in just to make the persona seem complete.
Common errors when creating personas
- Fabricating in meetings: Personas drawn from internal speculation often reflect the views of the creators, not the reality of the customers. Personas are only reliable when derived from real customer interviews.
- Piling on decorative information: Names, profile pictures, music preferences, and pets do not help create compelling content or close sales. They make personas seem lively but strategically hollow.
- Create too many personas: When there are five, six, or seven personas, the team cannot remember them and does not use any. Keep a maximum of three most important customer groups.
- Finishing and then storing it away: A beautiful persona on a slide that is not incorporated into content, advertising, or sales pitches is a wasted persona. It needs to live in the daily work of the team.
- No updates: When the market changes or new interviews show that customer motivations have shifted, the old persona becomes a trap. It makes you think you understand the customer while actually understanding an outdated version of them.
Customers do not buy products. They hire products to accomplish a task in their lives. Understanding the job and the true motivations behind it is more important than any demographic information.
Clayton Christensen, Jobs to be Done (Harvard Business Review)
A practical principle: personas derived from interviews are always better than imagined personas, even if they seem much simpler. Simple but real information leads to better decisions than complex information that is guessed.
Decision checklist
Topic: How detailed should customer personas be before they can be used. Sinh Vũ guide, sinhvu.com
Select each item you find appropriate, then print or save as PDF to take with you.
If you have marked most of the signs above, this is the time to discuss in more detail. Sinh Vũ can help you review and propose a direction.
References
Clayton Christensen, Jobs to be Done (Harvard Business Review). Alexander Osterwalder, Value Proposition Canvas. Sinh Vũ S1: internal process perspective, practical experience.
Frequently asked questions
How many people need to be interviewed for a persona to be sufficient?
It must be a real target customer, not an internal guess. There is no fixed number, but when stories start to repeat, the data is saturated and you can synthesize it. More important than quantity is quality: interview deeply enough to uncover real pain points and motivations, not just surface-level preferences.
How many personas should a business have?
You should keep a maximum of three most important customer groups. More than that and the team won’t remember them and won’t use any. If you feel you need five or seven personas, that’s often a sign that you haven’t clearly defined the segments you serve, not a sign that you need to create more personas.
Is demographic information such as age, occupation, and income necessary?
Necessary, but only to the extent of targeting ads or selecting distribution channels. Demographics do not explain why customers buy or do not buy. Two people of the same age, income, and industry can have completely different buying motives. Collect demographics after understanding motives, not before.
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