Overview

How can a product or service be designed to meet the needs of the intended customers or users? The first step is to classify the market into distinct subsets (segments) that behave in the same way or have similar needs. Customers that fit into a specific market segment should be fairly homogeneous in their needs and attitudes, i.e. they are likely to have similar feelings and ideas about a given product or service, sold at a given price, distributed and promoted in a certain way.

Whilst market segments are very valuable, they are not always easy to visualise. What is needed is a description of one or more individuals that represent that segment, defined in a way that the project team can understand and relate to. These personas are a tool to provide insight into what motivates people to use a product, so that well-grounded decisions can be made about features and how they are presented.

The contents of this section are