{"id":78822,"date":"2022-10-04T12:26:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T11:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/?p=78822"},"modified":"2026-01-23T16:25:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:25:27","slug":"what-is-user-persona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/what-is-user-persona\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is A User Persona And Do You Really Need Them?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/glossary\/user-personas\/\">User personas<\/a> are a mess at most companies. Often based on assumptions and then neglected in a document or drawer somewhere, these personas never get a chance to fulfill their true potential.\u00a0<br><br>When done well, user personas help you build a user-centric product that satisfies a wide customer base. They ultimately keep you in touch with who you\u2019re serving, so the business stays relevant \u2013 and successful.<br><br>In this post, we will cover:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What are user personas?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What is the purpose of a user persona?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to research user personas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to create user personas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How many user personas do you need for a product?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>User persona examples<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>User persona templates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to present user personas to the wider team<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to apply user personas in product management<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-a-user-persona\">What is a user persona?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>User personas are fictionalized profiles of your users, based on research, analytics, and customer feedback about how they use your product. The key with user personas is to focus on behaviors, rather than actual demographics about the people behind the behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-the-purpose-of-a-user-persona\">What is the purpose of a user persona?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The purpose of a user persona is to help you understand your customer base better, so that you can brainstorm, advocate, and build on their behalf. They inform every point of product management and development, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/how-to-groom-a-product-backlog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">backlog grooming<\/a> to retrospectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-difference-between-marketing-personas-and-user-personas\">The difference between marketing personas and user personas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Marketing and product personas might overlap, but they certainly differ in how they are researched and how the business applies them.<br><br>Marketing personas can entail profiles of target customers. Such personas can describe where a potential buyer came from, how they interact with marketing assets or the website, and how they move down the conversion funnel. They can also inform how the sales team might approach them to close a deal.<br><br>User personas are more about how a person behaves within the app \u2013 yes, as a <em>user<\/em>. These insights inform the product team\u2019s understanding and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-development-process-stages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">product development<\/a> in general.<br><br>There can be useful connections between the two. You might notice a pattern between certain marketing personas turning into specific user personas. Such a flow offers valuable insight into the customer lifecycle, but it\u2019s not steady across the board. A single human who had one marketing persona might have unexpected behavior within your product.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-research-user-personas\">How to research user personas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Researching user behavior like this is another form of customer discovery. You should have lots of conversations with your current customers and your potential market. When having any of these conversations, it\u2019s important to ask questions that target the user\u2019s pain point and reveal how they work.<br><br>To define your user personas, ask questions such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What problem are you looking to solve?&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What tasks do you need to get done?&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What are you trying to achieve on a daily\/weekly\/monthly basis?&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why did you choose our product?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What do you do with our product?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How often do you use it?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What would you do if they did not have your product?*<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>*This question provides a specific kind of clarity around user behavior. Perhaps the customer would turn to a competitor, or maybe they\u2019d just use a whiteboard, or some other manual workflow. Their answers will tell you a lot about what it is that they&#8217;re actually trying to do in your app and how they behave.<br><br>Each focus group can offer unique insight to your research. Here is a list of potential groups you can interview and what to ask:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your longest users. <em>Why have they stuck around? What are they happy with?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your most advanced users. <em>What pro-tips and cow paths have they found?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your newest users. <em>What\u2019s their experience like?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The almost-users who tried then didn\u2019t buy. <em>Why not? Where\u2019d they go instead?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The folks who looked at the site, but didn\u2019t start a trial. <em>Ditto.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-create-user-personas\">How to create user personas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the research is done, there are three steps to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/a-product-managers-approach-to-creating-user-personas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">creating user personas<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-nbsp-lay-out-your-initial-assumptions\">1.&nbsp; Lay out your initial assumptions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most product managers start with a set of assumptions about which user segments they have, based on the research. Of course, you need to put these to the test. Lay out these assumptions as \u201cproto-personas\u201d \u2013 either on a series of whiteboards or post-it notes. Feel free to reformulate these in any way that feels right. This is really just a first draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-share-these-assumptions-with-other-people\">2. Share these assumptions with other people<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you get too far, share your assumptions with other people who were also involved in the persona research, have conducted previous customer discovery, or are otherwise close to the users. We call this a \u201csense check\u201d \u2013 essentially, you and your colleagues are confirming, \u201cDo these feel right? Do these make sense?\u201d If the answer is yes, then it\u2019s time for step #3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-define-the-user-personas\">3. Define the user personas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This final step is about defining the user personas more clearly. Based on the information you have of each section, what can you summarize about them? These personas should be defined, but they don\u2019t need to be <em>detailed<\/em>. Don&#8217;t worry about going super deep, and there\u2019s no need to include (often fictional) demographic information.<br><br>For example, some companies create personas that include gender, age, location, or other biographical information. These types of details, while perhaps humanizing the imagined user, don\u2019t actually tell you much about how they use your app. In fact you get caught up in irrelevant details.<br><br>So, when it comes to defining user personas, don&#8217;t overdo it to the point that they\u2019re not useful anymore. That said, there are a few important dimensions to define.<br><br>A user persona can be comprised of many different user dimensions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The type of business<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The role of the user<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their frequency of login<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their jobs to be done<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-many-user-personas-do-you-need-for-a-product\">How many user personas do you need for a product?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Some product managers might wonder how many are necessary to get all the insight and other benefits of creating personas. Certainly you need more than one, but what\u2019s the minimum? And is there a maximum?<br><br>No, there is no set range to follow. The number you need for a product depends entirely on what your product is, how varied your customer base is, and also just what your team finds useful.<br>Segment the market variables and user dimensions in different combinations. Keep whatever tells you something important about how that profile relates to your product. You might also have some personas that relate only to a specific feature with your product. That\u2019s okay, too.<br><br>Here at ProdPad, we have 15 user personas. They are all based on customer discovery and research. Check them out in the next section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-user-persona-examples\">User persona examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at another company\u2019s user persona examples will help put the research and creation process, outlined above, into concrete form.<br><br>So here we offer up ProdPad\u2019s very own persona examples, which we\u2019ve developed over time. Each of the fifteen personas is based on how the user:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Actually uses ProdPad as a tool<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contributes to (or oversees) their own team\u2019s product management and success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.26.03-1-1024x416.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of all of ProdPad's user personas\" class=\"wp-image-78834\" style=\"width:512px;height:208px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.26.03-1-1024x416.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.26.03-1-300x122.png 300w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.26.03-1-768x312.png 768w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.26.03-1.png 1256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Those are the titles of our&#8217;s as examples. But what does a persona look like beyond its title? When you click on one in ProdPad, you open a larger profile where all the insight is stored.&nbsp;<br><br>Check out this mock-up of \u201cCoordinating Christina\u201d. This is a great example of a personified user that\u2019s not stuffed with irrelevant demographic information.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"767\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/coordinating-christina-1-1024x767.png\" alt=\"Coordinating Christina - a mock user persona\" class=\"wp-image-78829\" style=\"width:512px;height:384px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/coordinating-christina-1-1024x767.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/coordinating-christina-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/coordinating-christina-1-768x575.png 768w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/coordinating-christina-1-1536x1150.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/coordinating-christina-1.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-user-persona-template\">User persona template<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A template can help your product team create personas that are standardized and well-rounded. Plus, just like with other parts of product management (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/glossary\/user-story\/\">user stories<\/a> or collecting feedback), templates make the process more straightforward. No matter who is filling out the persona, they know exactly what information and context to include.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At ProdPad, our user persona template includes the same four elements, covering different facets of the persona:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Description<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Goals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Behaviors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Frustrations &amp; Limitations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The beauty is that this user persona template could work for any product in any market.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"272\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.10.42-1024x272.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of ProdPad's user personas.\" class=\"wp-image-78831\" style=\"width:512px;height:136px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.10.42-1024x272.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.10.42-300x80.png 300w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.10.42-768x204.png 768w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.10.42-1536x408.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screenshot-2022-10-04-at-11.10.42.png 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The beauty of using ProdPad to manage your product is that all of the team\u2019s discussion and documents related to user personas are stored right there in each profile. Anyone can ask questions or annotate directly in the app, which helps drive the continuous innovation of these personas forward. More on <em>that <\/em>in the last section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-present-user-personas-to-the-wider-team\">How to present user personas to the wider team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to user personas, communication is key. User personas are meant to be spread throughout the team so that everyone is aligned on who you are serving and how!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve defined your user personas and shared them with the team, there are two common problems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The personas aren\u2019t ever used. <\/strong>They are made once, and then they\u2019re stored in a Google Drive or somewhere else on the internet that&#8217;s hidden away. They&#8217;re not connected to the work that&#8217;s being done day to day, and they just get lost<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The personas are seen as untouchable. <\/strong>They are made once, and then they\u2019re treated as law. I\u2019ve seen some user personas actually carved into plaques, written in literal stone! These personas don\u2019t adapt to changes in your product or the market, so they\u2019re gradually less effective and even become misleading<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are a waste of valuable research and potential! So, what should you do instead?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-tips-for-sharing-user-personas-with-the-team\">5 tips for sharing user personas with the team<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Present the personas in a simple format. No need to invest tons of money; these might (and should) change<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Put them somewhere accessible and visible, either within your product management tool or near where your team does their work<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When you present them, share your screen or print them out and stick them on the walls around the office. Talk through each one and field questions from the group<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make it clear that these personas are subject to change. The point is to keep them current<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Welcome feedback! The team should feel they have some impact and responsibility around user personas<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>In ProdPad, we keep personas in our navigation at the top of the page, right next to all the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/features\/customer-feedback\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">customer feedback<\/a> you are collecting in the app. The team can access the personas at any time, and certain members can easily edit them.<br><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"510\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Personas-1024x510.png\" alt=\"Personas on the front page, and on the nav bar.\" class=\"wp-image-78835\" style=\"width:512px;height:255px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Personas-1024x510.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Personas-300x149.png 300w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Personas-768x382.png 768w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Personas-560x280.png 560w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Personas.png 1366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-apply-personas-in-product-management\">How to apply personas in product management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you have created and shared your personas, how exactly do these abstract concepts about your customers come into play on a practical level?<br><br>User personas can be used to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide the jumping off point for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/writing-user-stories-quick-wins\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">writing great user stories<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Categorize customer feedback or new product ideas according to user type<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Understand and prioritize the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-product-roadmap-everyone-understands\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">product roadmap<\/a>, according to who needs what<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Conduct <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/user-persona-segmentation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">user persona segmentation<\/a>, to drill down and get valuable insight into individual personas, or compare behaviors across different personas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For even more guidance, read on about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/how-to-create-great-user-personas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">how to work with user personas when you\u2019re a product manager<\/a>.<br><br>As we have said before, user personas are meant to be used and reviewed regularly! They require iteration, just like any other part of your business. When you are learning through continuous discovery practices \u2013 whether it\u2019s about your market, your customers, or your product \u2013 be sure to include these personas as a facet of your business that might need updating.<br><br>With solid personas in place, as well as a process for iterating upon them, your team is bound to build the best product possible for your customers\u2019 needs!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/downloads\/product-management-kpis\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Product-KPIs-banner_Blogs-1280x300-1-1024x240.png\" alt=\"Measure the right KPIs\" class=\"wp-image-80389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Product-KPIs-banner_Blogs-1280x300-1-1024x240.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Product-KPIs-banner_Blogs-1280x300-1-300x70.png 300w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Product-KPIs-banner_Blogs-1280x300-1-768x180.png 768w, https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Product-KPIs-banner_Blogs-1280x300-1.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>User personas are a mess at most companies. Often based on assumptions and then neglected in a document or drawer somewhere, these personas never get a chance to fulfill their&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5032],"tags":[],"pp_uni_tag":[],"class_list":["post-78822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-product-ux"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Is A User Persona And Do You Really Need Them? | ProdPad<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What to know what a user persona is? 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