If the goal of a product is to facilitate the user's work, then the business goal that can be achieved is customer loyalty that continues to use the product on an ongoing basis. Product personas (product personas) are developed to be able to link between user needs and business objectives. You need a strong basic understanding of user profiles and how the products offered can answer their needs.
How to design a product persona? Consumer and market research can be used to build product personas that can in turn drive the development of advanced features. At a minimum, a product persona should include a detailed description of the user and what they want to achieve using your product.
What are product personas?
Product personas are fictional representations of product users, including their behavior, goals, and key roles. Even though personas are not real people, they represent real users or consumers in real life who use your product.
Then, what is the difference between a product persona and a user persona? The terms product persona and user personas actually contain the same meaning. The difference lies only in the context of user personas which tend to be used more often in B2C (business-to-customer) business types, while product personas are more common in B2B (business-to-business) contexts. However, both refer to people who actually use the product being offered.
So why should product teams develop and use personas? Let's see how product persona roles can help you maintain the desired business focus and align with the overall company and product vision.
How to build a product persona
Taking an intentional approach and opening up space for users to express opinions/inputs on the product to be developed can guide you in understanding what product specifications answer their needs. This research process is useful in strengthening the focus of the product team's work so that they can remain objective in developing products, not solely based on personal or team perceptions.
Below are five tips for developing product personas based on data and user information. By following these tips, you can be more empathetic to your users' needs. Data regarding the user's personality can be used as a reference by the product team in prioritizing work and also in developing the overall product design.
1. Collect data and information about users
A good product persona is based on a real user experience. In this context, a key step in creating product personas is collecting relevant data and information about the experiences, personalities and characteristics of today's users. This data is obtained through interviews, surveys, and observation of consumer/user behavior.
When you're conducting user interviews, dig deeper than just finding out what activities users are doing. Dig deeper into their mindsets, feelings, and motivations when they engage in activities or interact with your product. The deeper you understand what users think and feel and why they do certain things, the easier it will be for you to design product development that fits this data.
You can get this information during interviews with users in the form of questions like, "what did you think when doing activities/interacting with the A/B/C features of this product?" The downside to this approach is that users may not accurately remember what they were thinking or feeling while using the product and making certain decisions at the time.
As a tactic, observe users as they use your product and ask them to share their thoughts when they perform certain actions. Also observe the user's expression when using the product. That way, you can capture a picture of how users feel and how your product influences their behavior.
2. Identify behavioral patterns from research
Process data from interviews with users that have been carried out. From here, you can look for patterns in user behavior when interacting with your product. This process aims to group similar people based on similar behavior to identify potential product personas. In addition, also identify different parts of the behavior of users from each other. Those differences in behavior may be a clue to your personality.
Some examples of behavior patterns include:
- Are they focused on just one task at a time, or are they constantly flitting from task to task?
- Do they browse and try different approaches to find out how to use your product, or are they looking for help right away, and do they just stop and stare at your product?
- If they access your product from a computer, do they use a keyboard, mouse or trackpad?
3. Identify key product personas
Most of the products can meet different needs for different people. Combine that with the fact that people using the same product can exhibit very different behaviors. From a product with these distinct behaviors, it's very likely that you'll discover multiple product personas.
However, that doesn't mean you have to create product personas for each user's personality. Keep in mind that, if you make a product for everyone, it is very likely that the product will not be able to meet the needs of everyone.
Identify one persona that is able to represent the user as a whole. Find personas that are examples of users who have similar needs that you want to fulfill. This is known as the main product persona.
The main product persona serves as a reference when you want to build certain features into your product in the future. The behavior pattern of this main product persona will become a reference for product development steps.
4. Find touchpoints during user activity
Once you know your main product personas, plan a user journey map for them.
Note specific touch points created by personas when using a product, such as when they first enter a product page, use a new feature, or need help with a certain step. Identify these touch points to understand how you expect users to interact with your product.
5. Share product personas with product teams
Once you've created a persona, it's time to share this persona with your team. In addition, every stakeholder who has a need for this product, such as the marketing, sales and operational teams also needs to be involved.
Introducing product personas needs to be done effectively. Personas can be represented on posters, action figures, or other physical objects to make product personas appear real and concrete. If work is done remotely, virtual posters or dummy profiles on social media can also represent the persona of this product. The key is to make personas appear like real users your team referred to while working on the product.
In addition to introducing a product persona, you'll also need to explain why you're using this profile as a reference. Basically, product persona is a design technique. Stakeholders outside of the product team may not know the details of what personas are and why your team should use them. Describe the purpose and function of a product persona that is used as a reference and reference in setting design priorities and decisions for products in your company.
If these five product design steps are implemented optimally, user needs can be more easily answered. In the long term, keeping the product consistent based on user satisfaction, user loyalty will grow. That way, business goals can also be achieved more effectively.
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