How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Shop

Who are you selling to? That is one of the most important questions to constantly ask yourself as an entrepreneur. It’s vital to know the top concerns of your audience so you can develop content that speaks to them in the right way. This is buyer persona, and this is why it’s essential for your online shop.

Why Create Buyer Personas?

Creating buyer personas was once a marketing tactic that mostly large, developed companies used. However, now that it’s incredibly easy to open your own online shop, it’s become more and more common for smaller business to create buyer personas to properly claim their position in the market.

Targeting a large group of consumers may sound like a good idea, when in reality, you’re just aimlessly targeting an indefinite group of people. By creating detailed buyer personas, targeting your ideal customer will be simplified, hassle-free and most of all, effective. You’ll be able to use your time more efficiently and can provide a strong, authentic value to the right consumers.

How to Create Buyer Personas?

Let’s say there’s 1 million people shopping online for t-shirts at this very minute. Now, within that million, there will be impulsive shoppers, discount shoppers, parents shopping for kids, even kids shopping for parents. It’s impossible to target such a broad range of people. It’s imperative to consider all parameters when developing your buyer personas, so your voice, message and content meets their needs. Contemplate what kind of shoppers will be entering your shop and identify their spending habits. Most buyer personas include the following characteristics.

• General location
• Age
• Gender
• Education Level
• Income
• Social media platforms
• Interests
• Frequently visited websites
• Lingo
• Interests and hobbies
• Relationship statuses
• Purchase habits
• Needs
• Concerns

Brand Persona Examples

So, your t-shirt shop is up and running. Now, you’re looking to create detailed buyer personas, so you can produce content that speaks to your target audience. Here we’ve drawn up some examples to help inspire your ideal customer.

Last Minute Shopper

Name:                                 Sam
Age:                                    27 years old
Gender:                              Male
Location:                            San Francisco, CA
Education:                          Bachelor’s degree
Occupation:                        Sales Manager
Interests:                            Sports, outdoors, fitness and health
Behavior:                            Buys online last minute before holidays, usually shops online
Needs:                                A quick and easy gift for family or friends, fast delivery
Concerns:                           Receiving products on time, products in stock
Common Device:                Mobile

Strategy:                             Social media post on “last minute holiday gifts”

The Bargain Hunter

Name:                                  Jessica
Age:                                     35 years old
Gender:                                Female
Location:                              Ft Lauderdale, FL
Education:                            Master’s Degree
Occupation:                          Finance

Interests:                              Budgeting, shopping, dining
Behavior:                             Rarely buys full price items, searches products by price
Needs:                                 Discounts, deals, quality
Concerns:                            Not spending too much
Common Device:                 Computer

Strategy:                              Promote monthly shop discounts and free shipping when applicable

It’s not effective to target everyone when you’re promoting products in your shop. Know who your audience is and understand their needs, so your shop becomes their solution.