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

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

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 5 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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. © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 8 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 9 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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. © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 10 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

Applications Discovery Development Commercialization • 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…) © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 12 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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) © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 13 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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! © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 14 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 17 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 18 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

Principles Beware of adopting personas too personally and lose sight that the personas are just representatives of the target user group! Beware of stereotypes! © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 19 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 21 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 23 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 24 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 26 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 27 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

Development •Prioritize skeletons Core team + Stakeholders •Develop Personas •Foundations Core team •Develop priority primary skeletons © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 29 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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! © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 30 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 31 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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. © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 33 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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. © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 34 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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.). © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 36 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 37 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 39 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

Get them used Discovery Development Commercialization • 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! © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 41 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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! © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 42 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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 © Innovate |2| market, All rights reserved 43 cjbeale@innovate2market.com

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

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