Is Buyer Persona Important For My Ecommerce Store?

Do you want to grow your online store?

Silly question, of course you do.

If you read our blogs then you'll already know that there isn’t one simple formula on how you do it.

It takes a whole bunch of effort to attract visitors and convert people into sales – but that's why creating a buyer persona is a great place to start.

Wanna know why? Keep reading this blog to find out!

What is a buyer persona?

If you check out Google Trends (below), you'll see that the phrase “Buyer Persona” only grew legs in the past 2/3 years....

But it's important to understand that this isn’t just a trend that'll soon die out like MySpace or Flappy Birds. A buyer persona is a powerful way to ensure that you are effectively targeting your audience.

If you aren’t sure, a buyer persona is a representation of your ideal customer. When you create one, you'll use market research to discover exactly who your customers are, so you can effectively target them with your marketing efforts.

What is a negative persona?

Yes there is such a thing as a negative persona – and it's a good idea to know who yours are.

Whereas your buyer persona is a representation of your ideal customer, a negative persona is a representation of who you really don't want as a customer.

Now you might think, that's crazy - a customer is a customer!

But there is a reason why you shouldn’t attempt to sell to every Tom Dick and Harry. Some people just aren’t interested in your product and that's ok. It could even be that some people are too expensive to acquire and not worth your budget to do so.

It's important to remember to focus your marketing on the people who are worth your time.

Once you've defined the negative personas, you'll be able to achieve a lower cost-per-lead and cost-per-customer which means higher sales and productivity!

What does a buyer persona include?

A buyer persona isn’t just a simple description of your buyer. It's a detailed analysis of your customers.

Your buyer persona will include:

  • Demographics
  • Values and goals
  • Challenges
  • Buying objections
  • Key marketing messages

It's likely that you'll have more than one buyer persona depending on the type of products you sell, and the reasons as to why people buy them.

For example, you could sell apparel to both men and women meaning you'll have a completely different campaign for each. Or a female could be buying a shirt for her boyfriend – so although it's the same product you are selling, the target audience is completely different and needs to be marketed to differently.

How do I create a buyer persona?

First step is to go away and do your research. One option is to implement surveys or to interview customers, prospects and people who are outside of your database, but still align with your target audience.

A great place to start is to interview your customers either via phone or email and find out what they like about your product or service.

If you need a place to find survey tools then we'd suggest using:

Next, you should aim to look over your database and uncover trends about how they were initially attracted to your site. Was it via a certain piece of content? A social media campaign? The more you discover, the easier it'll be to segment your audience and define your buyer personas.

Some of the best places to look to discover insights include your Google analytics audience report, or your Facebook insights page. By using these tools you'll be able to find demographic information, location and interests.

What questions should I ask?

When it comes to developing your buyer personas, follow these handy steps:

1. Give your persona a name

This will help you reference them for your marketing efforts, especially if you have more than one.

2. What is their background?

What job role do they have? Where would they like their career to go? Do they have a family?

3. Demographics

This will include all the basics such as their age, gender, location and income.

4. Values and goals

When looking for a product, what does your customer value most? Do they buy for the price? Do they buy for style? What motivates them to make a purchase?

5. Challenges

What challenges do they face in their day to day life?

6. Buying objections

What is the reason that they wouldn’t buy your product?

7. Define your marketing message

How would you describe your solution to your persona?

The above are our suggestions as to what you can ask, but make sure you tailor your questions to suit your product.

You can create as many questions as you like – so long as you get a detailed reference of who your target audience is, you'll be able to:

  • Bring in more traffic and leads
  • Effectively tailor your marketing messages
  • Develop a cost-effective marketing strategy
  • Decide which social platforms you should use
  • Show the customer how you can help
  • Understand buying behavior
  • Speak in their language and resonate with your audience
  • Grow your store and sell more stuff!

Closing thoughts

So if you want to take advantage of those awesome benefits then yes the answer is evidently clear, you need a buyer persona for your Ecommerce store! Check out HubSpot for free template and start better targeting your audience today.

And if you're looking to start your Ecommerce journey then we can help you achieve this – contact us today and let us help you grow your online store.