Creating Personas - Prescient Digital Media 09

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How to effectively
focus on your
website users:
Creating Personas

Presented by
Catherine Elder

© 2009 Prescient Digital Media

Who we are
• Prescient Digital Media
is a group of senior
intranet and Internet
consultants that
provide strategic
Internet and intranet
consulting, planning
and communications
services to
organizations of all
sizes.

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Today’s Agenda
• Complaints,
mistakes &
problems
• Personas –
overview & process
• Case Study
• Personas work
because
• Q&A

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Major complaints
• “We can’t find
anything”
• “Everything is
buried”

4

Common mistake
• No, we don’t know who our users are
• Yes, we know who are users are (kinda)
o I’m a user…

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Problem
• Having a website that has grown organically but it
doesn’t appeal or meet anyone’s needs.

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What do you mean by “user”?
• You may know your users but when you are designing
your information architecture and creating a design
does everyone understand what you mean by “user”?

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Analogy
• Let’s replace “website
user” with “dog”.
• Is there an image of a
dog in your head?
• Do you think everyone
has the same image?

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Do you know the Demographics?
• For example, Generation & Values
o Baby Boomers (1943–1960)
Teamwork , Long hours, Hard work, Recognition


o Generation X (1961–1981)
Competence, Ongoing learning, Informality, Feedback


o Generation Y (1982–2001)
Achievement, Structure, Collaboration, Mission


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Do you know the Special Needs?
• What are the specific requirements?
• What are the special need requirements?
o 15 % of the population has some form of accessibility
issue.

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How are your users using your site?
• Are there size, space and access considerations?

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That’s a lot to consider
• How are you going
to ensure that
you’re talking about
the same user
criteria and
statistics?

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Are you ready
to consider
personas?

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Strategy first
• Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.
Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
- Sun Tzu

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What are personas?
• “.. personas are not real people…they are
hypothetical archetypes of actual users…defined
with significant rigor and precision.”
– 1999 Alan Cooper,
The inmates are running the asylum

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Persona Definition
• Personas are
fictitious characters
that are created to
represent the
different user types
that might use a
site.

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Persona’s Explained
• Personas are
synthesized from data
collected.
• They are captured in
descriptions that
include behaviour
patterns, goals, skills,
attitudes, and
environment, with a
few fictional personal
details, including a
name, to bring the
persona to life.
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Benefits of Personas
• Personas represent a larger group of users within a
construct framework and provide a realistic point of
reference.

focus
• Personas help provide and a strong sense

goals are and thereby
of what the users’
provide them direction on how to fulfill those goals.

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Creating personas
• Step 1: Collect and analyze data
• Step 2: Align assumptions, data and user types with
goals
• Step 3: Create skeletons and rationales
• Step 4: Create Personas
• Step 5: Choose a Primary Persona
• Step 6: Promote their use
• Step 7: Use personas
• Step 8: Review personas before using again

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Step 1 – Collect & analyze data
• Conduct
o Interviews
o Surveys
o Focus Groups
• Review research
• Analyze website metrics

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Step 2 – Conduct a workshop
• Have participants
o Write assumptions
User type & goal, activity or

problem
o Group the assumptions by
user type
o Create overarching goals
per user type
o Align facts & research
data with each category

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Step 2 – Conduct a workshop
Write assumptions: User type & goal,
activity or problem
Student
Student who
thinking about
needs a course
taking courses
to complete a
to improve
certificate
career
User Type: Students Group the assumptions by user type

Goal: Make Create overarching goals per user type
courses quick and
easy to access

Fact: 80% of Students Align facts & research data with each
that take these category
courses are between
21-25 years old

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Step 3: Persona Skeleton Rationale
Demographics Represented in Personas
Gender 4 of the personas are female
 Female = 463 (70.5%) 1 is male
 Male = 194 (29.5%)

Two are between 35 – 45
Age
 age 35-45 = 225 employees (34.2% of employees) Two are between 25-35
 age 25-35 = 220 employees (33.5% of employees) One is over 45
 age 45 and up = 195 employees (29.7% of employees)
 age 18-25 = 17 employees (2.6% of employees)

Location [total employees 657 – 750] Two of the personas are from Ottawa
 Ottawa = 350 One is from Toronto
 Toronto = 276 One is from Montreal
 Montréal = 13 One is a telecommuter
 Victoria = 12
 24 telecommuters

Education Two are post grads/Master degrees
 Post graduate & Master = 222 employees (37%) Two are undergrads
 Undergrad = 207 employees (34%) One has diploma
 Diploma (Technical School) = 161 employees (27%)
 HS (High School) = 17 employees (3%)

Length of Service Two have 2-5 years
 2 years - 5 years = 217 (33.0%) One has more than 5 years
 More than 5 years = 179 (27.2%) One has between 6mths to 2 years
 6 months - 2 years = 147 (22.4%) One is a new employee <6mths
 Less than 6 months = 114 (17.4%)

Computer and Devices Two have PDAs
 ~ 160 person with PDA All are computer literate
 ~ 300 with laptop One has minimal training (e.g. for intranet)
 ~ 250 with VPN access
 100% MSOffice

Bilingual Two of the personas are bilingual
• 27.55% are bilingual 23

Step 3: Develop skeletons
•
• Draft an outline of Female
• University Grad
the personas • 26 years old
• Conduct interviews, • Currently working full-time
at a bank
at least two for
• Working for less than 1 year
each “persona type”
• Avg. income 40K
to collect more • Works in Toronto
detail and confirm/ • She comes to the website
remove any for course information
assumptions

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Step 4: Create Personas
Generation Y (1982–2001)
Name Demographics
•
 Achievement,
Female
•
 Structure,
Age – 26 years old
•
 Collaboration,
Education – University Grad
•
 Mission
Location - Works in Toronto
 Currently working full-time at a bank
 Working for less than 1 year
 Avg. income 40K
 Role – support or management

Lifestyle
 Marital status
 Hobbies & Interests

Key Characteristics/ Behaviour
 How often on computer and on the site?
skills
 Travel, mobile or in office?
 Technical skills
 Personality traits
 Social skills
 Core competencies

Website/Intranet Uses: Future Requirements/Goals
 Frequently used areas  Can include personalization and customization
 Any collaboration needs
 Any tools or software

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Step 4: Create Personas
Generation Y (1982–2001)
Name Demographics
Facts •
 Achievement,
Female
•
 Structure,
Age – 26 years old
•
 Collaboration,
Education – University Grad
•
 Mission
Location - Works in Toronto
 Currently working full-time at a bank
 Working for less than 1 year
 Avg. income 40K
 Role – support or management

Assumption,
Lifestyle
goals, data – from
 Marital status
 Hobbies & Interests
workshop

Key Characteristics/ Behaviour
 How often on computer and on the site?
skills
 Travel, mobile or in office?
 Technical skills
 Personality traits
 Social skills
 Core competencies

Website/Intranet Uses: Future Requirements/Goals
 Frequently used areas  Can include personalization and customization
 Any collaboration needs
 Any tools or software
Web Metrics Persona Interviews

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Step 5: Choose a Primary Persona
Pierre – Project & People Manager
• Once you’ve
created several
personas one
should be chosen
as “primary”.
• The primary
persona has right
of way, their needs
must be met.

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Step 6: Promote their use
• Promote and
communicate the
personas and their
use
o Catchy Names (Rita
Researcher)
o Posters
o Cut-outs
o Cards
o Include them in your
project site
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Step 6: Use - Why use Personas
• “The idea isn’t to build something that only one single
person will love. Rather, the idea is to build something
with one single person in mind. If you use personas
focus on
as a tool to focus on very specific goals, you’ll
a whole class of people – who all share those
goals.”
– Nielsen Norman Group, Adlin & Pruitt

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Case Study
Persona for an Internet Site Design
CSI.ca

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Problem
• Common complaints with respect to usability revolved around the
difficulty experienced by users in finding relevant information.
• Features of the site most in need of improvement included:
search functionality, design (branding), and navigation, with an
emphasis on making the site more consumer-focused and
intuitive to their user audiences.
• Overall goals with respect to usability were to focus on reducing
the abandonment rate and providing users with numerous
opportunities to find the course or information they are looking
for.

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Approach
• Assessment
o Research review, metric analysis & site evaluation – Key Findings
and Recommendations report
• Planning
o Developed personas & logic flows
o Developed IA , wireframes & a prototype site
o Conducted usability testing & persona validation with 10 participants
o Modified IA & wireframes
o Created design concepts
o (12 week project)
• Site re-launched in November 2008

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Personas
• Three personas were defined:
o Persona 1: Looking for a Career in Financial Services
o Persona 2: Current CSI Student
o Persona 3: Training Manager

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Persona 1: Looking for a Career in
Financial Services
Demographics
• Female
• University Grad
• 26 years old
• Currently working full-time at a bank
• Working for less than 1 year
• Avg. income 40K
• Works in Toronto
“Debbie” • Wants to take the CSC/IFC to advance her career

Anticipated Behaviour
• Debbie will visit the CSI site either by a referral from someone else (incl. HR/Training) which in all likelihood
would be to the home page of www.csi.ca or by searching on Google for CSC, IFC or potentially CSI.
• Debbie’s first visit to the site will be exploratory; she will want to learn as much as possible about the
courses and what her options are. She will be willing to make a long term commitment to learning to get her
designations if she feels they will help her career and her earning potential.
• Debbie’s next visit to the site will be from a bookmarked page – probably the CSC or IFC main page. She
will want to know the cost so she can get approval. She will want to know how long the courses are, what
the delivery options are and when the next course is so that she can coordinate her schedule. She will want
to know how quickly she can complete her qualifications and if they can be applied to her performance
review.
• Debbie is willing to take courses in person as she sees it as a networking opportunity but she is also
computer literate and comfortable with online courses. She is also very interested in understanding the 34
exam process and seeing examples would ease her mind on what she needs to be prepared for.

Persona 2: Current CSI Student
Demographics
• Male
• 36 years old
• University grad; Fluent in English and French
• Working for 5 years; Currently working full-time at Full service brokerage
• Works in Montreal
• Avg. income $79K
• Investment Advisor therefore, he has completed the CSC, CPH and WME;
“John” • Looking to complete his Continuing Education requirements (modules/seminars)

• John is familiar with CSI and will probably have the site bookmarked or the URL memorized and will go
there directly.
• John’s focus is on the mandatory IIROC (formerly IDA) CE requirements (30 hours professional and 12
hours compliance every 3 years).
• He will go to the site looking for continuing education courses that will provide him with the most value.
• He works long hours and is starting a family so his time is limited.
• He is looking for specific courses that he can take online if possible.
• He wants to see a direct benefit for his career in taking the courses.
• He needs to take the courses so he can complete them in time to meet the mandatory requirements.
• He may be considering expanding his license and therefore would be interested in insurance, options,
futures etc. Therefore he would search continuing education, seminars, certification and perhaps
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designations to understand what his options are and match them to his interests as well as to bank
initiatives

Persona 3: Training Manager
Demographics
• Slightly more skewed towards females
• Proficient with internal bank LMS systems
• Works full-time for one of the big banks
• 38 years old
• 8-10 years of related banking/training experience
• University grad
• Familiar with CSI and ICB courses some of our courses i.e. CSC, PFP
“Mary” • Visits www.csi.ca at least once per week

• Mary has the homepage of CSI bookmarked as she visits the site often for a variety of reasons. She needs to
be able to get a good overview of what courses are offered as well as their cost and schedule.
• Mary sees herself as more of a career manager as she provides employees with information and
encouragement on developing their career.
• For new employees she provides information on introductory programs (CSC, PFPC, IFC, PFP etc.) . She
may email the link to the employee (https://www.csi.ca/student/en_ca/courses/introductory/csc.xhtml)
• She spends time with more senior, long-term employees who need to meet mandatory requirements like
IIROC's CE 12 hour compliance.
• Mary likes to know what is going on within the training environment as well as within the industry – if she sees
up to date news she reads it and she subscribes to newsletters that offer training information and advice.
Mary likes to be knowledgeable about courses so she can offer in-depth advice.
• Mary likes to be able to bookmark various courses and see at a glance the details including pre-requisites,
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cost and schedule so she can provide the best advice possible to employees.
©•2008 Prescient Digital Media
Mary sends out emails to select employees to prompt them to upgrade their skills or to provide them with
training advice.

Before

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Conceptual Design

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Conceptual Design

Debbie
“Looking”

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Conceptual Design

John
“Current”

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Conceptual Design

Mary
“Manager”

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The site today

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Personas work because…

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• People respond to people, they are easier to
remember and reference than a compilation of data.

It is easier to remember “John Persona” rather than: male,
generation X, tech savvy, loves video games, travels a lot….

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• Personas are generative – people can relate to them,
understand them, acknowledge the relationship they
would have including experience and acknowledge that
they will change overtime.

Bethany at 10, 31, 55…

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• Personas help a team focus on important aspects of
target users – they simplify the reference points.

 Female
Late 20’s

 High energy, motivated
 Analyst, career focused
 Expert txt msgr
 Outgoing and social
 Has made online purchases

Bethany Buyer

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Use personas to:
• Develop information architecture and wireframes
• Develop design concepts
• Create functional plans
• Create content management plan
• Create content
• Create communications plan
o (intranet: Promotional plan)
o (Internet: Marketing/SEO plan to attract personas)
• Develop products, applications and tools

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Personas are a tool to help you know
your users and create better designs
and content for those users.

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Strategy provides direction

Vision

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Personas provide user focus
“Their greatest value is in providing a
shared basis for communication.” –
Pruitt & Grudinol, MS

http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?form=MSHOME&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&q=personas

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Are you ready
to consider
personas?

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Getting started
• Do you have a strategy?
• Do you want to use personas?
o Collect and analyze data
o Conduct workshop to gather assumptions, facts and
overarching goals per user type
o Develop “skeletons” and rationale
o Create Personas
o Promote Personas
o Use Personas
o Test Personas

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Catherine Elder
Senior Manager
Prescient Digital Media

celder@prescientdigital.com
www.PrescientDigital.com
www.IntranetBlog.com
www.Facebook.com (search “Intranet Global Forum”)
www.Twitter.com/intranet2
416.986.8800

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Creating Personas - Prescient Digital Media 09

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