Persona Research
Personas are consumer archetypes developed through in-depth, in-context ethnographic research that accurately "stand in" for real consumers. Each persona represents a broad range of individuals who exhibit similar needs, frustrations, desires, motivations, and behaviors.
Persona research relies on ethnographic research methods that allow the research team to experience consumer interaction with a product or purchase channel in relevant contexts. Persona research typically begins with a review of existing qualitative and quantitative research to provide a background for understanding the appropriate demographics and geography of the market as well as how any previous segmentation initiatives have defined consumers. The follow-up in-context ethnography involved in persona research allows for richer insights into the consumer mind because it is closest to recreating actual user experiences.
Following the research, ethnographic data is scoured for themes and patterns, and then analyzed to determine how attitudes and behaviors cluster to create personas. Details are then added to the clusters of attitudes and behaviors to create a complete consumer snapshot. Each persona has a name, lifestyle, demographics, needs, goals, frustrations, and unmet needs.
For more details, refer to our white paper: W5 on Personas.