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Personas - The Missing Link In Your
Optimization Program
Growth Marketer, VWOCOO, AWA digital CRO Specialist, AWA digital
#AskVWO
What are we covering today?
01
02
03
They’re artificial, abstract, and
fictitious.
I don’t think you can build a great
product for a person that doesn’t
exist.
-
Personas are fictional characters created to represent the different user types within
a targeted demographic, attitude and behaviour set that will use a website, brand
or product in a similar way
Learn how personas can shape your optimization program
Demographics don’t determine behaviour
● Goals
● FUD’s
Bad personas are demographics-focused
Bad personas are too narrow
Bad personas describe the “average” customer
Bad personas are not grounded in research
Personas summarize user research findings and bring that research to life
in such a way that a company can make decisions based on these personas,
not based on themselves.
171%
What Makes A Good Persona?
Actionable personas are based on real data
Actionable personas focus on goals
Six steps to actionable personas
01
Handle
Give them a name, face and
relevant demographic overview
02
Pain Points & Goals
List what really shapes their
decisions - qualitative data
03
Key Buying Questions
List key questions persona has
before buying - qualitative data
04
Real Quotes
Use the same language that your
persona uses
05
Engagement Preferences
What marketing does your persona
best respond to? Match traffic
sources and campaigns to each.
06
Conversion Requirements
Understand their psychological needs
and how to persuade each one to
convert
Use interviews to reveal personas
● Buyers
● Non-buyers
● Lapsed buyers
● Customer services
● Spread of demographics
● 5 users per segment – yet unknown
Use interviews to reveal personas
● How are you using x?
● How would you describe x to a friend?
● How would your life be different if x didn’t exist?
● What alternatives did you consider before buying x?
● What has been the worst thing about x?
● What has been the best thing about x?
● What would you change about x?
Motivation Scenario Quote
Sales
Objection
Hypothesis
Interview 1
Interview 2
Interview 3
Using Personas To Drive Tests
From persona to testing plan
1. Audit site - from the perspective of each persona
2. Validate findings through analytics, usabilty testing, heatmaps and clickmaps
3. Use persona to create hypotheses for each opportunity
4. Rank each hypothesis
Watch personas walk through your site
1. Familiarise yourself with persona
2. Do usability testing with recruits that match personas
3. Organise observations by persona
Cross-check with other data sources
1. Check against site analytics tool as well as heat/ scroll/ click maps
2. Segment to check for differences eg device or geography
3. Combine two lists, ranked by importance
4. Map final list to personas
From persona to hypothesis
1. Does this page ‘talk’ to this persona?
2. Is the flow right for this persona?
3. Is the imagery used reflective of this persona?
4. Does the headline/ value proposition address the persona’s pains or goals?
5. What is missing on this element/ page that this persona requires?
6. Which sources of anxiety need to be addressed for this persona?
7. What additional elements will help nudge this persona forward?
8. Is the CTA right for this persona?
How Personas Lead to Better Results
Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages
Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages
Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages
Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages
+366%
Learn how personas can shape your optimization program
Facebook Case Study
The Challenge:
- Facebook fields 4 million complaints
a week.
- Identify obstacles in reporting a
photograph
The Solution:
- Identify what users feel before
reporting their friends
- Test multiple variations of their
complaint form
Source: Facebook via. NPR.org - A Report by Aarti Shahani
Facebook Case Study
The Result:
- 85% likelihood that originator will
respond if reached out with ‘it’s
embarrassing’ tag.
Source: Facebook via. NPR.org - A Report by Aarti Shahani
Summary
1. You are not your user
2. Effective personas are based in reality - no guessing, grounded in research
3. Personas represent the voice of the customer throughout the entire process
4. Personas reflect the current state - not what you may want your customers to be
in the future, but who they really are right now
Your business has only 3 or 4
customers,
living at thousands of different
addresses
Q&A

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Learn how personas can shape your optimization program

  • 1. Personas - The Missing Link In Your Optimization Program Growth Marketer, VWOCOO, AWA digital CRO Specialist, AWA digital
  • 3. What are we covering today? 01 02 03
  • 4. They’re artificial, abstract, and fictitious. I don’t think you can build a great product for a person that doesn’t exist. -
  • 5. Personas are fictional characters created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic, attitude and behaviour set that will use a website, brand or product in a similar way
  • 7. Demographics don’t determine behaviour ● Goals ● FUD’s
  • 8. Bad personas are demographics-focused
  • 9. Bad personas are too narrow
  • 10. Bad personas describe the “average” customer
  • 11. Bad personas are not grounded in research
  • 12. Personas summarize user research findings and bring that research to life in such a way that a company can make decisions based on these personas, not based on themselves.
  • 13. 171%
  • 14. What Makes A Good Persona?
  • 15. Actionable personas are based on real data
  • 17. Six steps to actionable personas 01 Handle Give them a name, face and relevant demographic overview 02 Pain Points & Goals List what really shapes their decisions - qualitative data 03 Key Buying Questions List key questions persona has before buying - qualitative data 04 Real Quotes Use the same language that your persona uses 05 Engagement Preferences What marketing does your persona best respond to? Match traffic sources and campaigns to each. 06 Conversion Requirements Understand their psychological needs and how to persuade each one to convert
  • 18. Use interviews to reveal personas ● Buyers ● Non-buyers ● Lapsed buyers ● Customer services ● Spread of demographics ● 5 users per segment – yet unknown
  • 19. Use interviews to reveal personas ● How are you using x? ● How would you describe x to a friend? ● How would your life be different if x didn’t exist? ● What alternatives did you consider before buying x? ● What has been the worst thing about x? ● What has been the best thing about x? ● What would you change about x?
  • 21. Using Personas To Drive Tests
  • 22. From persona to testing plan 1. Audit site - from the perspective of each persona 2. Validate findings through analytics, usabilty testing, heatmaps and clickmaps 3. Use persona to create hypotheses for each opportunity 4. Rank each hypothesis
  • 23. Watch personas walk through your site 1. Familiarise yourself with persona 2. Do usability testing with recruits that match personas 3. Organise observations by persona
  • 24. Cross-check with other data sources 1. Check against site analytics tool as well as heat/ scroll/ click maps 2. Segment to check for differences eg device or geography 3. Combine two lists, ranked by importance 4. Map final list to personas
  • 25. From persona to hypothesis 1. Does this page ‘talk’ to this persona? 2. Is the flow right for this persona? 3. Is the imagery used reflective of this persona? 4. Does the headline/ value proposition address the persona’s pains or goals? 5. What is missing on this element/ page that this persona requires? 6. Which sources of anxiety need to be addressed for this persona? 7. What additional elements will help nudge this persona forward? 8. Is the CTA right for this persona?
  • 26. How Personas Lead to Better Results
  • 27. Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages
  • 28. Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages
  • 29. Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages
  • 30. Case Study: Ricoh PPC Landing Pages +366%
  • 32. Facebook Case Study The Challenge: - Facebook fields 4 million complaints a week. - Identify obstacles in reporting a photograph The Solution: - Identify what users feel before reporting their friends - Test multiple variations of their complaint form Source: Facebook via. NPR.org - A Report by Aarti Shahani
  • 33. Facebook Case Study The Result: - 85% likelihood that originator will respond if reached out with ‘it’s embarrassing’ tag. Source: Facebook via. NPR.org - A Report by Aarti Shahani
  • 34. Summary 1. You are not your user 2. Effective personas are based in reality - no guessing, grounded in research 3. Personas represent the voice of the customer throughout the entire process 4. Personas reflect the current state - not what you may want your customers to be in the future, but who they really are right now
  • 35. Your business has only 3 or 4 customers, living at thousands of different addresses
  • 36. Q&A