{"id":7796,"date":"2019-01-30T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T07:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.testingtime.com\/?p=7796"},"modified":"2019-11-15T12:10:33","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T10:10:33","slug":"complete-guide-how-to-create-personas-based-on-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.testingtime.com\/en\/blog\/complete-guide-how-to-create-personas-based-on-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Complete guide: How to create personas based on data"},"content":{"rendered":"

Table of contents:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. What is a persona?<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. What do you need personas for?<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. How do you create a persona?<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Collecting data for perfect personas<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Formulating and designing personas<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. How can you use personas in your daily work?<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. What are personas not able to do?<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Conclusion: Personas are wonderful when they are made scientifically<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Definition of persona<\/b><\/h2>\n

    A persona is a <\/span>fictional<\/span><\/i> description of a person which is nonetheless<\/span> realistic<\/span><\/i>. Fictional <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> realistic \u2013 that isn’t necessarily a contradiction:<\/span> Fictional means that you can’t simply choose a real member of your target group, one who you may even know. Instead, you invent a person that doesn’t exist. They combine important qualities of multiple representatives of your target group.<\/span> However, you need to keep it realistic. The person you’re describing should be true to life. So the persona gets a name, an age, a gender, they get a family, a job, preferences and habits and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"personas

    Example of a persona<\/p><\/div>\n

    Why you should create personas<\/b><\/h2>\n

    Personas are a method of making ‘the customer’ or ‘the user’ tangible and concrete. They are given a name and a face.<\/span> Personas have been used for almost 20 years, mostly in the field of user experience. Gradually, more and more colleagues from marketing departments are using them too. Personas have the advantage that they put you face-to-face with the person you are conceiving, designing and developing for. This makes the end product more usable and more attractive for people to buy.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Inmates

    The idea of personas originates from Alan Cooper. He developed them in the 1990s and presented them in his book ‘The Inmates Are Running the Asylum’, which is still worth reading today.<\/p><\/div>\n

    How do you create a persona?<\/b><\/h2>\n

    As mentioned already, personas are fictional. Hence the widespread misconception: Many people think personas are invented. But that’s not true.<\/span> You determine what the persona looks like, what qualities they have, what name they have and what is important to them. But you don’t simply<\/span> dream up<\/span><\/i> these things off the top of your head. Nor do you make them up according to how you would like them to be.<\/span> The basis for all good personas is always data \u2013 data and insights about your users. About the people you would like to develop products for.<\/span> To ensure you create realistic personas, here’s a tip on how to proceed. The ideal process for creating personas is divided into two parts:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Data collection<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Formulating and designing the personas themselves<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Collecting data for perfect personas<\/b><\/h2>\n

      Let’s start with step one, data<\/a> collection. The best way to do this is as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Market research, statistical analysis and conducting surveys<\/span><\/li>\n
      2. User interviews, focus groups, contextual inquiries<\/span><\/li>\n
      3. Collect information and generate hypotheses<\/span><\/li>\n
      4. Validate hypotheses by means of a survey<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        This is the model procedure and I don’t know many people who really always implement it that way. Later I’ll give you some tips on how to do this with less effort and when you can possibly do without certain things. Let’s take a look at why these five steps make sense:<\/span><\/p>\n

        1) Market research, statistical analysis, conducting surveys<\/b><\/h3>\n

        This is a step you always need, and there is no excuse to skip it. In doing so, you become familiar with the background context. You learn which applications\/products\/systems your (potential) users are already using. You see what industry they are in and what topics are discussed there. And also what others have already learned about the users.<\/span> There is a lot of information about end customers\/consumers on the internet. <\/span>Statista.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is a helpful resource. So are<\/span>\u00a0the statistical offices of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.<\/span><\/p>\n

        If you have corporate customers (business-to-business, B2B) as your target group, then you’ll have to search a little harder for information. But even then, you can find a lot of information online, such as on XING or LinkedIn forums.<\/span> If you have the feeling that you still don’t know enough, then conducting your own surveys makes sense. Good surveys require experts \u2013 or expert knowledge. Simply compiling a few questions and then unleashing them on your target group is of little use. Designing questionnaires and evaluating surveys is a science in itself. So stay humble and start with very few questions if you don&’t have any experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

        2) User interviews, focus groups, contextual inquiries<\/b><\/h3>\n

        Step two, on the other hand, is something that anyone can do. I even recommend involving as many people from the team as possible. After all, talking to users is always very rewarding. And, often, you learn a lot more from personal contact than just the facts, which is why conversations are worthwhile: You can see how users work or live, how they present themselves, how they react, how they work. This gives you a sense of who you’re dealing with.<\/span> In interviews, you simply talk to the users. You ask them about their lives and about their work. About the area that interests you regarding your product. However, it’s best not to ask users direct questions about the product. Don’t show them anything, whether ideas, screens, presentations or prototypes. Just find out what they’re currently doing and what problems they’re having.<\/span><\/p>\n

        In focus groups, you don’t just talk to one person, you talk to five to 10. They get into conversation with each other and interesting discussions arise \u2013 and sometimes even useful ideas.<\/span> Contextual inquiry essentially means visiting someone in their home. You visit the users at home or at their workplace and let them show you how they currently work. For example, if you’re planning an app for recording employees’ time, you’ll go to the office and ask them to show you how they’re currently recording their working time. You can see if they’re using another app or web form, and you can see if they’re using notes, post-its or other things. Contextual inquiries of this kind have many names or variants, and are often referred to as contextual analysis, participatory observation, or ethnographic study.<\/span><\/p>\n

        3) Collect information and generate hypotheses<\/b><\/h3>\n

        In the next step, you will see your insights from steps one and two. You are looking for similarities and differences between the users. Does a clear picture emerge? Can you explain all the differences you found?<\/span> Using this as a starting point, you formulate hypotheses. In our time recording example, you could put forward the following hypotheses, for example:<\/span><\/p>\n