Making Customer Research Actionable Through Personas

“User-centered design” has always been the mantra for involving real customers in the process of creating or enhancing web sites. Unfortunately, in the past it has often been difficult for companies to find the time or money to conduct significant customer research or testing. If they were lucky, organizations conducted a quick usability test, and that was it. Most companies spent more time imagining what real customers would want, rather than actually talking with them.

User-centered design has since come a long way. Successful organizations are finding that direct contact with customers is the key to creating a user experience that leads to business results. Thus, many companies are employing a number of customer research techniques.  The result?  Companies are swimming in more customer data than ever before. Knowing more about their customers
translates into better decisions about how to best serve them.  The downside? Companies are swimming in more customer data than ever before! When looking at the raw output from customer interviews, surveys, usability tests, and site traffic analysis, knowing where to start can be overwhelming. Web teams often don’t have the time to sit back and analyze all the data to look for overall themes that would be useful and actionable. Instead, they’re drowning in details.

At Molecular, we have found that personas are a particularly useful tool for making customer research come to life. This perspective explores the concept of personas, and why they are valuable throughout the design and development process to put a face on customer research and turn data into
the kind of wisdom that leads to better user experiences and better web sites.

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