Buyer Persona example and definition

As already mentioned in the article Identify the right persona, there are two types of persona, namely the user persona and the buyer persona. In this section we will specifically go into the buyer persona.

Let’s have a brief summary of the buyer persona definition resp. persona in general.
A persona is a stereotype for a group of people with specifically distinctive characteristics and specific behaviour.
Personas are created using features which are identified in interviews, for example, or in other observations made by customers. Often not just one persona is created, but several. As many personas as necessary are developed to cover the appropriate behaviours.

Buyer persona examples/types

As buyer personas we refer to personas which influence purchase decisions in any way.
We distinguish between the following types:

1. Economic buyers and/or those responsible for budget
2. Technical experts or subject matter experts
3. User-Buyers, i.e. a user who also has an influence on the purchasing decision

To note:
Some people may also have multiple roles, e.g. user-buyers and those responsible for budget (economic buyer)

Analysis of the buyer persona

The aim of the buyer persona analysis is to find out:

• Who influences the purchase decision
• Who are the decision-makers for the purchase
• What criteria the individual decision-makers have
• What is the problem a product solves for each individual decision-maker
• What the preferred sources of information are for the decision-makers are and why
• What the preferred purchasing channels are and why they are
• What the preferred method of payment is

To obtain this information, you can proceed as follows:

• Interview your colleagues from Sales in individual interviews
• Ask all types of customers in the interviews
• Ask colleagues who have the same position in their company

Practical tip:
We have already learned that Sales staff often do not know the true purchase decision-makers or consider the wrong people as being the decision-makers. Get an impression of the market yourself and ask your interview partner.

The decision-makers for the purchase also depends on whether they are:

• Private buyers
• Purchase decision-makers in companies.

In companies, the decision-maker is also often dependent on what impact purchasing has within the company. Therefore, the effect on:

• The entire company
• Several departments
• Individual department
• Individual employees

The purchase of a customer management system is decided by the top management, whereas the purchase of stationery is controlled by a central purchasing department or the head of department.

Decision-making criteria

Decision-making criteria for the buyer persona:

• Price, savings, ROI
• Security
• Technology, interfaces
• Sustainability
• Usability
• Service, etc. …

Your task is to find out the exact criteria and document them. Develop your own buyer persona with the help of our template (Document 5).
Also document here the preferred:

• Purchasing channels (on-site consultancy, online shop, directly in the shop …)
• Payment methods (invoice, credit card, direct debit ...)
• Sources of information (newspaper, social media, trade magazine, guild meetings...)

Tip: Enter the results for buyer persona analysis directly into the Product Management Dashboard so that the results can also be used for Produkt Marketing and Go-to-Market.

Read the continuation: Interviews with the right persona

The article Buyer Persona example and definition is an excerpt from our textbook Strategic Product Management, which is available for free download.

Overview: Articles and information for product managers