2.2 – Building Customer Profiles
Regardless of whether you sell to consumers or to other enterprises, every startup sells to people. That’s why you need to understand your potential customers’ motivations and needs up front, even before you launch your startup.
This module covers:
- The importance of customer profiles and how they are used
- Elements of a customer profile
- Do’s and don’ts of creating a customer profile
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify the key elements of a customer profile
- Identify the uses of a customer profile
- Prepare questions for customer development interviews
Section A: Why Customer Profiles Are Important
The goal of any startup is to create value for a customer–and to get paid to create that value. A detailed, thorough, and robust customer profile ensures you will create meaningful value.
The customer profile feeds into many other early activities of launching a startup:
- It informs the Customer Segment section of the Business Model Canvas (covered in module 2.5), which needs to align to the Value Proposition section in the Business Model Canvas.
- It helps to inform how you will find potential customers for customer development interviews (covered in module 2.3)
- It informs the Channels section of the Business Model Canvas, describing the marketing and sales channels used when you are ready to launch and get in front of customers (covered in module 2.5)
Section A: Why Customer Profiles Are Important
The goal of any startup is to create value for a customer–and to get paid to create that value. A detailed, thorough, and robust customer profile ensures you will create meaningful value.
The customer profile feeds into many other early activities of launching a startup:
- It informs the Customer Segment section of the Business Model Canvas (covered in module 2.5), which needs to align to the Value Proposition section in the Business Model Canvas.
- It helps to inform how you will find potential customers for customer development interviews (covered in module 2.3)
- It informs the Channels section of the Business Model Canvas, describing the marketing and sales channels used when you are ready to launch and get in front of customers (covered in module 2.5)
Hear how startup founders Nick Baksh, Boyd Reid and Tennille Spencer identified the target customer for their businesses.
Optional Reading
Gynn, Ann. “How to Do Diverse and Inclusive Content Marketing That Matters”
Olenski, Steve. “Why and How You Need More Diversity in Your Marketing”
Section B: Elements & Do’s & Don’ts of a Customer Profile
Think of a customer profile as a few paragraphs that describe a customer’s personality and mindset. The goal is to get inside the mind of the customer, not to simply provide demographic data. Here are some do’s and don’ts when creating a customer profile:
Do
A good customer profile:
-
- Features several types of customers. It’s possible to have as many as three to five customer segments.
- Asks questions about the customers’ motivations. What do they care about? What is important to them?
- Answers questions such as how they spend their time throughout the day. Formulate a daily schedule of how this hypothetical customer might spend their day.
- Gathers information about their hobbies, hopes and fears, and more. What can you learn about their emotions, imagination or intuition, or even their values?
- Includes ways you can get their attention. What do they watch, read, or listen to? Where do they travel, spend time, and hang out?
Don’t
- Create the profile quickly. Do not skim over this. This is an important process that ripples through the launch process. It pays to be as thorough as possible. Answers such as “Male between the ages of 18 and 35 who likes sports” is simply demographic information; a good customer profile requires much more detail.
Customer Profiles When Selling to Businesses
If your startup sells to other businesses (B2B) you need two customer profiles: one for the business, and one for the purchaser inside the business.
Business
- What is the customer’s industry?
- What size is the business? Approximate revenue? Approximate headcount? Approximate budget size?
- What is the company’s motivation for buying your product or service? Cost savings? Competitive advantage?
- What department would you sell into? What is the job title of the person you would sell to?
Purchaser
- Ask questions about the individual purchaser’s motivations. What do they care about? What is important to them? Getting a promotion? Staying under budget? Getting their bonus this year? Looking good in front of their manager?
- How does the purchaser spend their time in the day? Create a daily schedule of how this hypothetical purchaser spends their day. What are their pain points during their day?
Optional Reading
Nealon, Gary. “How To Identify And Speak To Your Customer Personas.”
Francioni, Federico, “The upfront guide to design Inclusive Personas”
Plan
- Who is your customer?
- What do you know about them? Identify 8 to 10 assumptions to validate in the customer interview.
- What do you need to know about them?