---
name: customer-persona
description: >
  Build a detailed buyer persona or customer profile. Use when the user says "write a
  persona", "build a buyer persona", "customer persona for [product]", "who is our target
  customer", "ICP document", "ideal customer profile", "define our buyer", "who are we
  building this for", "customer profile", "audience profile", or wants to create a
  documented, research-backed profile of who buys the product and why.
---

## Overview

Based on **"Obviously Awesome"** by April Dunford. Traditional personas focus on demographics and job titles. Dunford's insight is that personas must be built around the customer's buying context - their situation at the moment of purchase, the alternatives they considered, and the value they received that made switching worth it. A persona without buying context produces marketing that reaches the right person with the wrong message.

## Workflow

### Step 1: Identify the persona's label and segment

Give the persona a specific, descriptive label - not a cute name. The label should communicate who they are to a new team member instantly.

```
Persona label: [e.g., "Ops Lead at scaling startup", "Procurement Manager at mid-market SaaS"]
Primary segment this persona represents: [percentage of current customers or target market]
```

Write the persona for your most valuable segment first. If you have multiple segments, write separate personas - do not blend them.

### Step 2: Document the buying situation (Dunford's core contribution)

This is what most personas skip. Define:

- **Trigger** - what happened in the customer's world that started the buying process? Not "they needed software." What specifically changed? (Headcount crossed a threshold, a new regulation took effect, a previous tool failed, a new executive joined.)
- **Alternatives considered** - what did they evaluate before choosing you? Name the actual options: specific competitors, internal builds, spreadsheets, doing nothing.
- **Switching cost they accepted** - what friction did they overcome to buy? Migrating data, getting budget approval, changing a workflow. If they accepted high switching cost, they saw real value.

### Step 3: Define the job they are hiring the product to do

Write it as: "[Customer] is trying to [make progress toward outcome] in the context of [situation]. The obstacle is [what is in the way]."

Avoid defining the job as a feature. "They need a dashboard" is not a job. "They need to show their CEO that marketing spend is producing pipeline" is a job.

### Step 4: Write the capability-to-value map for this persona

Dunford: different customer segments value the same product features differently. Document which capabilities matter most to this persona and why.

| What they value most | Why it matters to them specifically | The alternative they would use instead |
|---|---|---|
| [capability or feature] | [business or personal outcome it drives] | [what they would use if this did not exist] |

Limit to 3-4 rows. If everything is a priority, nothing is.

### Step 5: Document their objections and responses

List the 3 most common objections and the factual response to each.

```
Objection 1: "[exact words the customer uses]"
Response: [factual, specific answer - include data or proof where possible]

Objection 2: "[exact words]"
Response: [...]

Objection 3: "[exact words]"
Response: [...]
```

Source these from sales call recordings, support tickets, or customer interviews. Made-up objections produce made-up responses.

### Step 6: Write the persona summary card

```
PERSONA: [Label]

Trigger: [1 sentence - what started their search]
Job to be done: [1 sentence]
Top 3 valued capabilities: [brief list]
Primary alternative: [what they would use instead]
Deal-breaker objection: [the one objection that kills deals if not addressed]
Best channel to reach them: [where they spend attention]
Proof that resonates: [data, peer testimonials, case studies, or demos]
```

## Anti-Patterns

**1. Demographics-first persona**
Bad: "Sarah, 34, Marketing Manager, lives in Austin, has 2 kids, shops at Whole Foods."
Good: "Ops lead whose team just crossed 50 people and can no longer manage workflows in Notion."
Demographics do not predict buying behavior. Situation does.

**2. Blending multiple segments into one persona**
Bad: A persona that represents "SMB and enterprise" or "both technical and non-technical buyers."
Good: Separate personas for each distinct buying context.

**3. Inventing objections from the desk**
Bad: "They probably worry about price and security."
Good: "In 12 sales calls, the top objection was [exact quote]. Here is the response that works."

**4. No buying trigger**
Bad: Persona that describes who the customer is but not what caused them to start looking.
Good: "Trigger: their previous tool deprecated the integration they relied on, forcing a switch within 30 days."

## Quality Checklist

- [ ] Persona label is descriptive and role-specific - not a first name
- [ ] Trigger is a specific event, not a general need
- [ ] Alternatives section names actual products or behaviors, not vague "competitors"
- [ ] Job to be done is framed as progress the customer is trying to make, not a feature they want
- [ ] Capability-to-value map limited to 3-4 items - priorities are ranked
- [ ] All 3 objections sourced from real customer conversations or sales data
- [ ] Persona summary card fits on one page
- [ ] Persona represents a single segment - not a blend of multiple buyer types