Personas
Distill the most important attributes of the people who buy and use your product
Use template
About the personas template
Personas represent the ideal profile of a potential customer — their goals, challenges, likes, and dislikes. Building these profiles helps you develop real empathy for the people you serve. When you understand who they are and what they need, you are in a better position to help them solve their problems.
Of course, personas will differ depending on your product and industry. This template is a good starting point — with space to add summary descriptions, skills, goals, behaviors, pain points, and needs for three personas. You can customize and add any information that is helpful for your team.
Be sure to treat personas as more than a one-and-done exercise. Your customers change over time and getting to know them is an ongoing process. As your knowledge evolves, revisit the personas, layer in new learnings, and link planned features and user stories to the real people you are building for.
Best practices
Bring your customers to life so you can make more informed decisions and investments.
Start with fewer Consider the core personas you want to reach. If you work in enterprise SaaS, for instance, your core personas might include a buyer/decision-maker, a user, and a key technical member who handles security reviews.
Talk to real customers Do not guess when adding details to the template. Go straight to the source instead — talk with customers and prospects who you already serve today. Ask them about their motivations and challenges so you can base your personas on real experiences.
Build out your personas Give each persona a name and add an image to humanize who your customers are. Then summarize their goals, pain points, and needs.
Keep your personas at the forefront Share your whiteboard with the team to stay focused on who you are building new functionality for. Or take it a step further and create your personas in Aha! Roadmaps — so you can establish a direct link with the features on your roadmap.
