Marketing & Digital Agencies Customer Persona Update
A procedure for reviewing and updating customer personas to ensure they accurately represent the current target audience and inform marketing strategy.
Purpose
To maintain accurate and useful customer personas that reflect the evolving characteristics, needs, and behaviours of the target audience, ensuring marketing activities are properly targeted.
Scope
Covers the review and update of all customer personas used by the marketing, sales, and deliverable teams for audience targeting and messaging.
Prerequisites
- Existing customer persona documentation
- Current customer data from CRM, analytics, and surveys
- Input from sales, customer service, and deliverable teams
Includes provisions for Australian Consumer Law (ACL), Privacy Act compliance for customer data, and ACMA spam regulations.
Step-by-Step Procedure
Gather Updated Customer Data
Collect the latest customer data from all available sources to inform the persona review.
- 1.1Extract customer demographic and behavioural data from the CRM system
- 1.2Review website analytics for audience characteristics and behaviour patterns
- 1.3Collect feedback from sales and customer service teams on customer trends
Analyse Customer Segments
Analyse the collected data to identify current customer segments, their characteristics, and any shifts from the existing personas.
- 2.1Segment the customer data by demographics, behaviour, and value
- 2.2Compare current segments against the existing persona definitions
- 2.3Identify new segments or significant changes in existing segments
Conduct Stakeholder Interviews
Interview key stakeholders from sales, customer service, and deliverable teams to gather qualitative insights about customer changes.
- 3.1Schedule interviews with representatives from customer-facing teams
- 3.2Ask about changes in customer needs, objections, and buying behaviour
- 3.3Document insights and themes from the interviews
Update Persona Profiles
Revise the persona documents to reflect the latest data and insights, updating demographics, goals, pain points, and buying behaviours.
- 4.1Update each persona with revised demographic and psychographic details
- 4.2Revise goals, challenges, and pain points based on current data
- 4.3Update preferred communication channels and content preferences
- 4.4Refresh the persona narrative and representative quotes
- Include real customer quotes and data points to make personas tangible and relatable
Review and Approve
Present the updated personas to the marketing team and leadership for review and approval.
- 5.1Present the updated personas with the supporting data and rationale for changes
- 5.2Collect feedback from the marketing and leadership teams
- 5.3Finalise the personas and obtain approval
Distribute and Train
Distribute the updated personas to all teams that use them and provide training on the changes.
- 6.1Publish the updated personas on the internal knowledge base
- 6.2Conduct a briefing session for marketing, sales, and deliverable teams
- 6.3Update any tools or systems that reference persona data
Quality Checkpoints
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Expected Outcomes
Whether personas have been reviewed and updated within the scheduled cycle, typically annually.
Extent to which updated personas are referenced and used in marketing campaign planning.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many personas should we have?
Most organisations benefit from three to five core personas. Too few may be too generic, while too many become difficult to manage and apply consistently.
What data sources should inform persona updates?
Use a combination of CRM data, website analytics, customer surveys, sales team feedback, customer service interactions, and market research to build a comprehensive view of each persona.
How often should personas be updated?
Personas should be reviewed at least annually and updated whenever significant changes are observed in customer behaviour, market conditions, or business strategy.
Want this customised for YOUR business?
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