What is a Customer Profile?
A customer profile is effectively a detailed description of a person who embodies a particular customer archetype which your company would like to target. The goal is to get as much realism into that customer's persona without directly describing someone you know. It’s also a good idea to create several different customer profiles to explore a few possible types of customer.
These can be fun to create and require a little imagination. It does unfortunately lean a little into stereotypes, try not to get too hung up on this (within reason). As it's your sector you should have a reasonable grasp of who your customer is and have some knowledge of their habits, age, income, etc. For new groups you may have to think about what assumptions you are making about them and where more research may be required for your particular organisation.
When creating a profile it’s helpful to give your customer a name! It needs to be realistic enough to be believable, but do not call them after someone you know. Yes you want them to be specific to an archetype, however if you narrow the profile down to one particular person it could become too niche. Alongside the name it’s helpful to label them with a description of the archetype you are building their persona around.
For Example they could be:
- Greg Pullen (the tech entrepreneur)
- Jen Parker-Smith (the middle class mummy blogger)
- Mina Abdullah (the working mum)
If it helps, you could also find a stock image or profile photo to help you visualise them more clearly.
Once you have established the persona you are building, the next step is to break them into four key areas:
- Demographics
- Story
- Needs
- Solutions