Personas: The Building Blocks for High Growth Customer Marketing Programs

Anita John

Head of Relationship Marketing Strategy

The Theory

DemographicDemographic PsychographicPsychographicBehavioral DataBehavioral Data

(site & (site & purchase)purchase)

Decision Making Decision Making ProcessProcess

Bring it to Life!

Sports Fanatic Family Guy Gift Giver

Rule of Thumb - #1

Not all people are the same, but there are similarities in communities and groups—Stay

focused

Rule of Thumb #2

Defining personas are the starting point. Follow through is even more important

Site Customized

Products offered vary

Marketing Channels unique

Messaging Personalized

Persona Based

Financial Outlook

Example: Brian

ProfileBrian is in his mid-30’s. He and his wife Janet live in in a brownstone in a recently renovated area of downtown Chicago. Brian works for the largest property management firm in Chicago as a Senior Regional Manager. Brian takes his job seriously. Brian is known to work 60-80 hours a week. He is ambitious, driven, very dedicated, believes in loyalty. While Brian works hard, when the weekend comes, he plays just as hard.

Janet manages most of the finances when it comes to the house. In terms of investing and disposable income spending, Brian is in charge. Brian may make the purchase, but the decision is a joint one with Janet.

Both Janet and Brian have been avid Chi Sox & Bears fans since childhood. They are season ticket holders for the Bears. They pick and choose the Sox games to see. They know there are a few match-ups they’d like to see, but really make a decision based on when they are free.

Brian is in charge of looking for tickets. He will buy them, but will always check with Janet before he purchases them. Brian doesn’t have time to really search tons of sites or fuss about price. He just wants his tickets when he asks for them.

Brian doesn’t watch TV. He spends more time on the internet blogging, surfing and listens to sports radio.

Sports Fanatic

Pitfalls to Avoid

Where’s the behavioral data?

Family Guy

Now what?Defined

The Bottom Line Benefits

Shift acquisition spend to high-value personas– No longer focused on Cost per Acquisition, but more

on Cost per Customer

Choose channels, contact timing, streams and messaging that fit each persona to generate the highest response

Increase site conversion – Content, products, tools and services delivered

differently for each persona

Today: Program Driven/Lifecycle Based

1st Purchase

Repeat Purchase

Winback1st Time Visitor

Prospect New Customer Active Inactive

Welcome EM/DM/ Phone

New Customer Programs

Online Advertisi

ng

WOM

SEM

Offline

3rd party Partners

Loyalty

VIP

Repeat Promo

X-Sell Promo

Up Sell Promo

VIP Program

Reactivation

Program

Tell-a-friend/Referral Programs

Cart Abandon

Personas Determine How You Market

Family Guy

•Buys Online Acq by online ads•Family 1st Msg. about family outings•Buys at start of season Time with onsales•Price most important Provide pricing options

Sports Fanatic

•TV watcher/fantasy league player Acq through Print/TV/Fantasy sites•Loyal fan Msg. about supporting your team•Attends local games Promo rivalries•Seat location important Offer last seat purchased

Gift Giver

•Buys last minute Acq by online ad & search•Want to please others Msg. end benefit of making others happy•Give for special Occasion Promo during key Hallmark times•Hot Events Important Offer last minute options for top sellers

Where to Begin…

Get senior management buy-in FIRST

Define Personas: How?

Start with customer data (purchase & site)– Check for patterns in purchase– Check for site pathing behaviors– CLTV

Surveys– Find the common thread in terms of demographics, lifestyle,

beliefs, motivations, values

Tie survey and customer data together Add overlays to your customer data

– Experian (Simmons)– InfoBase

Use CS calls and verbatims from surveys to confirm persona definitions

Implement in Phases

Phase 1: Acquisition Channels– Choose channels by personas

Phase 2: Site and Product Enhancements– Needs and wants differ by personas – meet those

needs

Phase 3: Revamp your Customer Marketing Programs

Phase 2 & 3 can happen simultaneously

Programs/Lifecycle Driven by Personas

1st Purchase

Repeat Purchase

1st Time Visitor

Prospect New Customer Active Inactive

Loyalty

VIP

Winback

Family Guy

Sports Fanatic

Gift Giver

Persona Priority 1, Then Segments

Persona Segment List Package Offer Universe

Family Guy New Users RO Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 100,000

Family Guy Active RO Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 150,000

Family Guy VIP RO Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 30,000

Family Guy Inactives, >14 mos. Test Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 40,000

Gift Giver VIP RO Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 50,000

Gift Giver New Users Test Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 100,000

Sports FanaticAll, except Inactives &

New Users RO Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 100,000

Sports FanaticAll, except Inactives &

New Users RO Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 100,000

Sports FanaticAll, except Inactives &

New Users RO Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 100,000

Sports Fanatic Inactives, 12mos-14mos Test Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 100,000

Sports Fanatic Inactives Test Pkg A Sports Memorabilia 100,000

Control/Rollout Total 970,000

Modes of Communication Differ

Mobile Alerts

Desktop Alerts

Social Networks

Email

Combine Preferences & Personas

Family GuyGift Giver

Family GuyGift GiverSports Fanatic

Family GuySports Fanatic

Evaluation of Success

Loyalty index Repeat activity Site behavior (stickiness & conversion)

Evaluate each metric by Persona

Companies That Use Personas Today

Best Buy Schwab Intuit Ann Taylor Discover Card Amazon

Takeaway

1. Follow 2 rules of thumb– Focus on commonalities within major

clusters/groups– Personas must be adhered to in all areas of your

organization

2. Implement in phases

3. Continue to use lifecycle marketing programs, but let the personas dictate how you market