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Customer Profiles

November 20, 2008 nnyq.com edit Also known as personas, customer profiling is the process of researching and understanding of the typical audience, and focus on the different goals and scenarios the customers might find themselves in when interacting with a specific touch-point (website, catalogue, shop floor etc.). Unlike typical demographics or segmentation, differences in geography, income, status, etc. do not necessarily split customers into different groups. For example, when looking to buy the latest CD by The Kooks for a nephew, a 24 year old single mother of three living in the south of England will use Amazon in the same way that a married 53 year old senior executive living in the north of England would do. Their goal is the same, to buy a specific CD online quickly and easily.

When creating a profile the critical information needed for each user are their goals (why are they interacting with the touch-point? - to buy a CD), their tasks (what will they be doing when they interact with the touch-point - browse for The Kooks CDs, purchase the latest CD, arrange delivery to a different address), and the touch-point goals (to sell a CD, clearly show which of The Kooks CDs is the latest, cross and up sell, etc.). For the example above, in a very loose manner you might create a profile called Jane, who is 31, married, has three young children, is time poor, and needs to buy The Kooks CD online, but doesn't know who The Kooks are or what their latest CD is called. Jane will represent all the users who want to buy a specific product but are unsure of all the details.
Advantages of Customer Profiling

Most projects evolve from an idea, and grow through the opinions of influential members of the project team. The trouble with this approach is that these influential members of the project team are rarely the end user or customer. This often results in a product or service that doesn't quite meet customer expectations or needs, and the interaction with it might be clumsy. Similarly, the decision making process can be delayed due to a clash of different opinions, with no member of the project team able to make a definite agreement on whether X or Y is best for this project.

So when the project team is discussing the scope, or making design decisions, they can talk about whether Jane's needs and expectations are being met, regardless of what the influential project team member might deem as a 'cool' piece of functionality.
Disadvantages of Customer Profiling

Traditional marketers often react negatively to the suggestion of customer profiling because it does not cater for the standard demographics that are traditionally used and educated. However, in this situation it is important to explain that profiles are not designed to replace general marketing demographics, which are used for Macro marketing and advertising campaigns, but are created for the specific touch-point (website, kiosk, catalogue, etc.) as a design tool for the project team to make better decisions.
Conclusion

Customer profiling should be undertaken to provide information and steer to the project team about the end users and/or customers to allow project decisions to be made from the typical user's perspective, or to assist the project team un making customer-centred design decisions, which will result in a product or service that better meets the customer's needs and expectations, and is therefore more likely to succeed.