When you’re kicking off any major website or product, identifying the target users with personas is an essential step of designing relevant, well-informed solutions. Personas are imaginary user profiles that marketing and user experience designers create to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic. Each persona might use a website or product in a similar or different way which makes developing user personas an important part of the design process.
Below are examples of questions that we like to ask when developing user personas during the discovery process to develop clear and comprehensive personas.
User Demographics
What is your core audience’s age range?
Are they mostly male or female?
What is their nationality?
What is their education level?
Are they married, in a partnership, or single?
Do they have children and if so, how many?
Do they live in an apartment or a house?
What is their job and level of seniority?
Are there multiple segments of your customer base or do they mostly fall within a single demographic?
User Behavior
What does a day in their life look like?
Where do they get their information?
What type of job do they have?
How long is their typical commute?
Do they drive or use public transit for their work commute?
What hobbies do they have?
Do they like to travel?
How much time do they typically spend on the web?
What devices do they primarily use to access the web?
What websites do they visit most often and why?
What are their preferred social media channels?
What do their social and professional networks look like?
What are their driving factors when it comes to purchasing decisions?
What is their role in the decision making process?
How quickly do they make purchasing decisions?
What kind of research do they do before making a decision or recommendation?
Why do they buy from you?
In what situations are they likely to use your product?
What imagery do they think of when considering your industry?
What colors do they associate with your industry and why?
What experience will engage them?
User Goals
What experience do they look for with your company?
How much engagement and interaction do they seek?
What content is most important to them?
How much time do they have to interact with your content?
What do they want to get out of their interactions with your content?
What features do they look for in your product?
What are the essential features required for a minimum viable product?
User Challenges
What are their biggest pain points?
What problems are you trying to solve?
What hindrances exist to those using your product?
What objections might they have about your services or products?
What currently frustrates them about your product or similar products?