“Buyer Personas” to optimize customer acquisition via the web
Any commercial activity begins with the study of its future client in order to adapt to him and accelerate his access to the product that one wishes to sell to him. In the context of the web this can be called buyer persona optimization.
It has always existed. It can be seen in what are thought to be traditional businesses that do not have sophisticated sales techniques.
In the souk, we can observe that the touts do not appeal to all passers-by, and above all do not appeal to them in the same way.
First, they only appeal to passers-by who may be interested in their services or products. And above all they adapt their speech according to whether they are addressed to a woman, a man, a young person, an old man, someone they know ….
For example, a candy vendor will address a child, while a book or medicine vendor will address parents even if their product is intended for children.
It is all these techniques used in a naive way in the souks, which can be found in Marketing under the name of “Buyer Persona”.
In this article we explain what the Buyer Persona and how to use the strategic and operational marketing.
What is a Buyer Persona?
Before explaining how the Buyer persona optimizes customer acquisition via the web, below is a definition.
The French translation of “Buyer persona” would be “buyer persona”. In marketing literature in French, it is found under the term “Persona”.
Persona is the profile of the target customer for a line of product and service. It represents a group of target customers who have common properties. A persona can be targeted by multiple products, and a product can address multiple personas.
How does the persona optimize customer acquisition via the web?
The creation of the persona, allows to adapt the communication in terms of content, media, tone ….
For the same product, the customer’s characteristics are completely different. Taking the example of online language training, the target client could be a head of household, a student, a training manager of a company, a school principal….
The Persona carries the common characteristics of a target customer group. The creation of Personas, allows to distinguish the profiles of the customers with their motivations, pains, budgets, criteria of choice… different.
Appropriate relationship management optimizes the Marketing budget and increases performance. The cost of customer acquisition can be reduced and retention will be better.
The definition of the persona includes an exclusionary component, which is called Persona négatif
What is a negative persona?
Some people meet all the conditions to be interested in the product. So they are potential targets. But you shouldn’t try to convert them, for different reasons. Like them:
- Are not creditworthy
- Already have the product with you or with another supplier
- Are undecided, and converting them will take too much time and resources
The creation of the negative Persona thus makes it possible to avoid spending unnecessary marketing and sales resources.
The persona conditions interactions
Let’s illustrate how the persona conditions the content of interactions with contacts. For the online training example, below by Persona the type of interaction we could have:
- Boss of the family: Articles and mailings about the importance of training for children, presence in events of parents’ associations …
- Student : Articles and mailings about the languages most requested by employers, attendance at student lounges …
- Company training manager: Articles and mailings about state aid for employee training, assigning a salesperson to get an appointment and establish a framework contract …
- School director : Articles and mailings about the benefit of having online training as a complement to the face-to-face course, participation in training fairs …
How to create a persona?
Creating the persona first requires conducting or relying on market research. Then do polling and conducting interviews with contacts who are in your target.
No source of information should be neglected to collect as much data as possible about their relationship with your offer. These are your:
- Customers and prospects in your contact base:
- Commercial
- Employees
- Contacts outside your contact base
We have to find ways to encourage people to answer your questions: gifts, discounts …
The data collected will help build the profile of your ideal customer. First, identifying information: location, age, marital status, education. And more information on his motivation, his objectives, his objections …
These elements firstly allow you to draw a complete portrait of your target. And secondly, thanks to this portrait you are addressing the right content, to the right person at the right time.
This engages your targets more and more with your business, thus gradually leading them to the act of purchasing your service.
In its service definition of the digital marketing strategy, Wedigitalpro helps its clients to better define their Buyer Persona.
