How to create personas and how to segement your audience in a meaningful way. Hammad Khan of Zabisco presented this slideshow to a crowd of 50 digital decision makers for a Figaro Digital seminar in November 2011.

2. USERS FIRST

3. How well do you know your audience?
• Pretty well no doubt, but more often than not, we don’t use this intelligence well –
particularly when creating a website or app for them
• When we try to be user-centric, we quickly turn to a traditional method of
segmentation; role based groups
• This is fine, but we shouldn’t stop there if we actually want to engage people
• We need to humanise this segmentation again so we can talk to them, not at them
• Creating a set of personas is a great way to do this – but don’t fall into the most
common trap – creating meaningless personas that don’t actually help you! This
results in:
• Not actually using them
• Feeling the persona exercise was a waste of time

4. Org chart / hierarchical information architecture
What
products/services? Home
What resources?
Contact us
Home
About us Products Services Resources Careers Contact
Contact us
I’m not sure what’s Department Department Department
on offer Home Lots of similar About us
1 2 3
areas
Contact
I don’t understand I don’t know which
About News Events Media Blog Jobs department I need
this terminology

5. Org chart / hierarchical information architecture
• Results in too many sections to handle if the audience is wide/diverse
> users not sure where to start/look
> no clear journey; users have to hunt and dig for information they need
• Can become dated as the organisation changes (strategy, mergers, sell-offs etc)
• Prone to political squabbling
> which department/manager gets prime positions in the navigation/homepage
• Doesn’t reflect lateral navigation and real world browsing habits

6. Audience driven information architecture
Home
Contact us
Who are
About us Events News Media Zone Shop
you?
Student
Academic
Corporate
Partner
Job seeker
etc

7. Audience driven information architecture
• Often still too many groups to be managable
> many organisations have (or think they have) complicated audiences
> not unlike an architecture based on business structure!
> different approach, but resulting in the same problems!
• Not always as logical to end users as you might think
> think how you’d categorise youself!
> relies on self-identification; open to (mis)interpretation, confusion and cross-over
> forces users to THINK (cardinal sin of usability!)
• Still prone to political squabbling
> certain audiences of the business deprioritised
> by naming them directly, this priority becomes more obvious to the users!

8. Humanise your audience – remember, you know them quite well!

9. An iterative approach to audience segmentation
• We can’t please every individual 
Individuals But we can stack the odds in our favour!
• Logic grouping alone restricts our thinking.
Groups • We end up with narrow silos!
• Apply a mental modal: how do people think?
Motivations • Filter our audiences > manageable personas.
• Keep us user-centered at all times
• Cuts across groups/categories with shared motivations
Emotions • Focused personas mean we can engage 
• Refining doesn’t mean cutting people out
• Talk to people in ways that mean something
Personas • Tight enough to focus, flexible to personalise

10. Five simple steps to creating effective personas
1. Identify the individuals in your audience
2. Describe their scenarios, goals and objectives
3. Discover what motivates them
4. Utilise the right modes of persuasion
5. Create a series of profiles and centre the design around them

11. 1. Refine your audience to be more workable
Professional Need Personal Connection Proxy Relationships
Doctor (GP) Heart Patient (Recent) Volunteer
Heart Nurse Heart Patient (Medium/Long Term) Business Manager/Executive
Intermediary (Teacher) At Risk Adult Shop Customer/Donor
Researcher (Funded) Concerned Relative Event Participant
(Health) Journalist Grieving Relative Support Group Member
Sample from our work with the BHF

12. 1. Identifying individuals/roles
Name David Hugh John Karen Stewart
Role CEO CEO CFO CIO CTO
Sector Construction Pro Services Manufacturing Association Facilities
Organisation Wilson Group Eden Shaw PR Raw Mat Ltd The Engineering Carillion
Association
Size 500-1000 50-100 500-1000 1000+ 200-300

13. 2. Understanding goals and objectives
Goal Objective
Long term, unstructured, difficult to measure Short term, well defined, measurable
“We want to stay ahead of our competitors” “We want to increase our market share by 10%”
“We want to reduce our overheads by 20% over the next 2
“We want to improve efficiency at our factory”
years”

14. 2. Goals, objectives and scenarios

15. 3. Understanding motivations
Motivations are the driving force behind all objectives and goals. By understanding what motivates our audience,
we can find ways to engage with them in a more meaningful way.
Two types of motivation:
1. Intrinsic: Mastery, Enjoyment, Confidence 2. Extrinsic: Recognition, Competitiveness, Reward
Intrinsic motivations are self-fulfilling. We can appeal to Extrinsic motivations are validated by others. We can
these needs by empowering people with the appeal to these needs by giving the competitive benefits
information/directions/choices they need to give them of services, explaining how they save money and they will
confidence to make their own positive decisions
benefit directly as a result of a call to action

16. 3. Applying motivations to your audience
Decision Makers Influencers Look for
balance &
patterns
David Hugh John Karen Stewart Sam Jessica Karl Gemma Sandra Rating
Intrinsic Motivations
Mastery /
     5
Knowledge
Enjoyment      5
Confidence      5
Extrinsic Motivations
Recognition        7
Competitiveness     4
Reward        7

17. 4. Using the modes of persuasion
Aristotle defined these three principles as 1. Ethos: Credible
being central to persuasion.
2. Pathos: Emotional
We can apply them to our audience,
persona, journey and content to create the 3. Logos: Rational
right user experiences.
Align what you know about your audiences
motivations to these three principles

18. The overall audience journey and experience

19. 4. Using the motivations/emotions to define the
audience
Just want to get something done… Pragmatists
Not sure what to expect/find… Seekers
Keen to get involved… Activists
(potential)
Willing to be convinced…
Conformist

20. 5. Design your personas: Using Facebook / LinkedIn

21. 5. Design your personas: Using Psychographics

22. 5. Design your personas: As an Infographic

23. Make use of your new audience intelligence
• Don’t get lost in the soft-details of the individuals
• Print out your personas and surround yourself with them!
• Refer to them in discussions; use them for testing
• Not just limited to web site design
use them in online marketing plans and projects too!

24. Hammad Khan
hammad@zabisco.com | 07966 029298 | twitter @zabisco
Thank you