Personas & Scenarios: tools for user and customer-centered innovation and marketing

Consumer-centered innovation
Introduction to Personas & Scenarios
PDMA workshop, June 2009

© Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 1 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

NPD : Process and Methods
Discovery Development Commercialization

• Secondary y • Prototype • Customer
research testing/ Product satisfaction
• Primary testing surveys
research: qual • Market tests • Product
(exploration / (packaging, feedback
generative) et
) advertizing, • Etc.
quant price, etc.)
(confirmatory)

Lead Users
Panels

© Innovate |2| market, All Rights Reserved. 2 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

Our Customers:
usual research
l h
output…


More attention to qualitative, emotional
factors, contexts and other “soft” factors


But…
Failure rate i still high and, among major causes:
F il t is till hi h d j
lack of understanding of the consumer and
marketing execution mistakes!*
• Interpretation of market research result studies and
research data varies depending on individuals
p g
• Typical research output does not “talk” to non
researchers
• Consumer vision is “chopped”. Consumers are rarely
observed and involved longitudinally.
• Despite Business Intelligence and other systems
marketing data is not easily accessible to all and not
holistically.**
* PDMA Foundation study 2004.
** Cambiar consulting, Enterprise Research Management: Managing the Use of Research Information, April 2006

New Options

Private online panels, Crowdsourcing
Online Communities – Private Online Communities
Personas/scenarios


PERSONAS AND SCENARIOS


Definitions
Personas are archetypal
consumers that represent
h
real consumers.

Scenarios are narratives that
put personas in action
mode within specific
situations where
consumers may use (or
buy) a product.


Why use personas
• Communicate a brand values or user-centered
NPD goals to stakeholders (internal or external)

• Deeper insights into users, target market segments,
etc. thanks to qualitative, narrative, and visual
q , ,
descriptions* of user personalities
Personas represent typical users or customers
within targeted segments**

• Alternative to dry statistics and long descriptions

* Fully developed Personas feature a rich mix of narrative / visual
** Personas development don’t replace segmentation research

Why use scenarios
• A very effective communication tool that
uses persona and story t lli techniques to
d t telling t h i t
further provide insight to the persona, and
describe behaviors needs and wants
behaviors, wants.
• A tool that assists in internalizing the
characteristics of target users, buyers,
g , y ,
influencers, etc.


Users include


Applications


• Innovation • Design • Marketing
brainstorming explorations communications
• Competitive • Industrial design (
(advertising, PR…)
g, )
research • Feature selection • Training:
• Product vision and • Usability design Channels, Sales
planning force, etc.
• Usability testing

Project/product management: marketing/product requirements, internal
communications, decision-making)

Strategic marketing (positioning, segmentation, targeting, branding…)


Personas and scenarios for the
Innovation and design Chinese equivalent of US
LOHAS (lifestyle of health and
sustainability) consumers to
design a new green product for
Chinese consumers.

Chen Pei Ying 陳珮瑩 , “Renee”
24
From Benxi, NorthEast Industrial City
Benxi
Student at Tsinghua University
School of Science (Physics)
Lives in Chaoyang district
(outer 5th ring)


Renee’s Lunch
Like most weekdays Renee is having lunch with
y g
friends at the Zi Jing Yuan student restaurant of
the university. As she stands in line to pick her
flatware she is faced with the choice of using
disposable and biodegradable wood chopsticks
or washable plastic chopsticks. Aware of China’s
steep forest loss related to the use of wood
chopsticks she goes for the plastic choice. She
h i k h f h l i h i Sh
doesn’t like them as much as woods. She knows
cleaning them uses water resources, and there’s
always the risk they re not washed well. It s the
always the risk they’re not washed well It’s the
lesser of two evils. She’d love to bring and use
the same chopsticks she uses at home but that’s
just not practical. She s heard from friends you
just not practical. She’s heard from friends you
can buy portable chopsticks in Korea. She’d be
the first one to buy reusable and portable
p y g
chopsticks if they were available, assuming cost
is reasonable and packaging is convenient of
course!

Improve Customer Experience

Source: Consumerist.com

Personas: A process
Planning

Retire/Recycle Skeleton

Use Development

Launch Identity


Planning
1. Clearly define objectives:
• Data-driven personas
• Assumption personas
pp
2. Define approach
3. Review research on users and customers
• Identify key research that must be shared with
y y
the team.
• Identify g p in knowledge.
y gaps g
4. Identify potential persona targets.
5. Refine approach (as necessary) and design team
pp ( y) g


Principles
Personas must be:
• Relevant to business goals and products
• Data driven with clearly identified
assumptions
• Enlightening and inspiring

Our goal is not to:
g
• Describe every possible user or user type
• Detail every aspect of users’ lives


Principles

Beware of adopting personas too personally
and lose sight that the personas are just
representatives of the target user group!

Beware of stereotypes!


Bringing Personas and Scenarios at
g g


Our Goals
• Clear understanding of our main user or customer
types
yp
◦ We look inside out, and outside in
◦ We look at market data, and team assumptions
◦ We look at our consumer landscape, and we narrow the
field to primary users
• Enhance our team’s communications related to the
consumers
• Bring the consumers to work with us
• Disseminate marketing information to everyone on
the team and beyond


Kick Off: 2-day workshop
Planning


Use Development

Launch Identity


Skeletons
1. A-priori Layout
• Categories of importance Core team +
• Context of Use Stakeholders

2. Process research and cluster
data
• Review research Core
Co e team
data/identify key facts
• Internal (ethnographic,
focus groups and surveys)
• Secondary industry
• Government Champion and Project Lead:
Consumer Research Manager
• Affinity exercise
Stakeholders:
1. Identify and Create Core team VP Marketing, Director Engineering

1. Verify categories (compare Core team:
with step 1 categories).
p g ) Program Managers, Product
Managers, Engineering, Design,
2. Identify subcategories Customer Service, Web designer,
3. Create skeletons PR/Communications Manager

Britax categories (assumptions)
Customers Users

• Parents with children •Caretakers
• Safety obsessed parents & grand parents •Parents
• New parents •Grand parents
• Retailers •Baby sitters / nannies
• Status seekers •Siblings
• Affluent •Friends
• Friends & family (gifts) •Car poolers
• Expecting couple •Toddler/child
• Single mom •Advocates
• Highly educated •Police officers
• Grand parents •Firemen/EMT
Fi /EMT
• Trend conscious •Nurses
• Single dad •CPS Technicians
• New versus experienced customers •Sales representatives
• Celebrities and their Personal Assistants •Influencers
•Bloggers
•Consumer unions
•NHTSA
•TC


Identify affinities


Priority user categories
Based on assumptions Based on data review
1. 1st time moms 1. Millenial Mom, 1st Time
2. Experienced moms Married. Wants the best.
3.
3 1st ti
time d d (3a) / CPS
dads (3 ) 2. Millenial Mom, Experienced
(3b) a. Stays at home
4. Au-pair and nannies
p b. Works
5. Grand parents 3. GenX Mom, 1st Time
4. Dad, 1st Time
Married


Create Skeleton: grand parent
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Income: $80,000
Education: High School Grad
Job: Retired Admin Assistant
Family goals: enjoy their grandchildren
Number of kids: 3 adult children, 3 grandkids under age 8
Marital Status: Widow
Car: Lucerne
Travel: frequently with tour groups
Technology use: cell phone
gy p
Reads: newspaper, Better Homes & Gardens
Hobbies/Activities: gardening, crafts, genealogy
Struggles with: health problems
problems,
Life goals: being a positive role model for her grandchildren

Personas process
Planning


Use Development

Launch Identity


Development
•Prioritize skeletons Core team +
Stakeholders
•Develop Personas
•Foundations Core team
•Develop priority
primary skeletons


Prioritize skeletons
1.Prioritization should focus on immediate
goals
• We want to reduce the set of targets
to those that are critical to the
current product cycle
2.We want to identify skeletons for primary
/ priority personas
3.Consider: frequency of use, size of
market,
market revenue (historic or potential),
potential)
strategic importance

Note: unused skeletons may come out of the closet later!


Develop personas
Start with foundation document
• Include reference to data source

Develop primary / priority personas
• Include important characteristics: goals, roles,
segment, behavior, physical attributes, skills,
activities, needs, preferences, environment, and
opinions
• Choose values that are reasonable, believable, and
meaningful, and within the range and essence of the
data
• Apply good story-writing practices to make your
personal alive and the story flow well and to grab
reader’s attention


Personas process
Planning


Use Development

Launch Identity


Meet Amanda
Fun and Funky Mom-to-Be
Age: 26
Income: $82,000
Education: Associate Degree Nursing
Personal: Married. Owns teacup Chihuahua.
Children: Expecting her first child
Job: Orthopedic Nurse
Family goals: Pay off debts. Raise a healthy, well behaved
child
Car: Ford Escape hybrid
Travel: Drive up to in-laws in Washington DC once a year.
Holidays at the beach and mountain.
Technology use: Savvy Internet user. Has her own blog.
Reads: Mostly online via newsfeeds from BabyCenter.com, Celebrity Baby Blog.
Hobbies/Activities: Working out, yoga, shopping and tailgate parties with
friends, relaxing at the spa
Struggles with: Changing her lifestyle to accommodate the child
Life goals: Balanced living with a career as hospital administrator, family life,
and personal life.


Amanda has four baby
showers planned and is
registered at Babies R Us
Us,
Target, Pottery Barn Kids, and
Giggle. She’s solicited advice
from all her friends. She’s also
been reading the blogs and
websites to find about
ebs tes d
products. She loves reading
the reviews from other moms
– it helps her understand
what the product is really like
once you get it home and
start using it.


Process
Planning


Use Development

Launch Identity


Communication
Plan: stakeholders, who needs what information, who
does what (core / extended team, ecosystem)
( , y )

Format and artifacts: executive summary, emails
(updates, newsletter etc.), posters,
(updates newsletter, etc ) posters trinkets & gizmos
gizmos,
comparison facilitators (persona rosters, detailed
posters, cards, booklets, etc.), communication
constellation, etc.
t ll ti t

Photos: consider photo shoot for different aspects of
p p
personas (different places, activities, circumstances of
product use, expressions, etc.).


Persona integrity
Assign owners (core team) to:

•Sponsor and monitor proper use of Personas and
scenarios during project or product lifecycle

•Keep profiles and underlying data up to date
(foundation)

•Field questions from the organization and
Field
interpret profiles


Process
Planning


Use Development

Launch Identity


Accomplished Goals
Understanding f
U d t di of our main user and customer types
i d t t
◦ Differentiated customer types by
• Influencers
• Purchase behavior
• Key d e s
ey drivers
Driven change in the organization
◦ Enhanced marketing communication tools
◦ Updated Corporate Web-site
• twitter, facebook
Improved team’s communications related to the consumers
◦ Improved product mix
◦ New product design based on Persona type


www.Britaxusa.com


Get them used

• Narratives & • Scenarios & • Marketing
storytelling: design mapping communications
scenarios, “points (storyboards) (advertising, PR…)
of pain”, process • Mood boards & • Documentation,
mapping, use visual design training and
cases explorations support:
• Competitive • Walkthroughs and instructions,
reviews (products, design reviews guidebooks,
marketing, etc. • Use profile for Channels, Sales
• Feature user testing and force, etc.
,
brainstorming user research
• Evaluation of • QA testing
proposed features

• Bring them into meetings, NPD process, and decision making
• Design explorations, competitive product review, feature brainstorming and selection,
design
d i reviews, recruiting profile for market research and usability, etc.
i iti fil f k t h d bilit t
• And make it fun!


Key considerations
• Personas work best if used right away. Consider
p p
postponing your persona effort if you don’t have
gy p y
projects to use them right away!

• Personas hhave a lifecycle. It’s easy to get carried
lf l ’ d
away in the fun of designing and launching
Personas.
Personas The hard work is after launch Don’t
launch. Don t
underestimate the task.

• Be ready for Personas retirement/recycling/update
decisions. Now may be the time to bring
skeletons out of the closet for new projects!

Want to learn more?
• Product Development and Management
Association – Vi i
A i ti Visions magazine, September 2008,
i S t b 2008
Vol XXXII, page 26 (Chapter Spotlight: PDMA
Carolinas chapter)
chapter).
• The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, Alan
Cooper
• The Persona Lifecycle - Keeping People in Mind
Throughout Product Design, Tamara Adlin & John
Pruitt
• Consumerist.com: Best Buy Personas
y


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