Personas are perfect tools for bringing empathy to the drawing board. Personas work best when validated thru multiple insight sources radiating from who the company is targeting — towards the actual users that evolves over time. 

Personas must reflect, as much as possible, a profile of a real person. Identify the following:

• Needs 
• Wants 
• Goals 
• Aspirations 

Where to base our personas?

• Organizational Vision 
• Customer Service Metrics
• Promos / PR Audience 
• Marketing Framework
• Own Research 

Organizational Vision 

If the vision is about inclusivity and empowerment, who are the people covered? 

Customer Service Metrics 

• What are our customers’ immediate problems? 
• What’s currently broken and needs to be fixed? 
• Which features are most useful?
• Where are the drop-offs?

Promos / PR Audience 

Where do we spend money on promos and or campaigns? Support those efforts in targeting those personas. 

Marketing Framework 

Customer Journey and Funnels

Own Research 

If you think we are forming a new persona, do research and validate it. The exploration of a new persona, on the other hand, could be brought up to an earlier starting point with cross-team collaboration.