Persona Interviews: Optimizing Targets for a New Product Launch

Background:

A tech-driven entertainment product was in its pre-launch phase. The company needed additional insights about what different groups of consumers will expect from the product, and wanted to validate existing consumer personas developed via initial research. Existing consumer personas varied in their level of detail and interaction with the category.

Objectives:

Gain a better understanding of the expected consumer base. Flesh out existing consumer personas with additional category nuance and identify potential new personas that were not captured originally.

Approach:

Using a customer list from the brand, one-on-one video interviews were conducted. A discussion guide was designed to cover:

• Relationship to the category

• Category habits and preferences

• Experience with adjacent category

• Interest in new product

• Expectations for new product

My Role:

I led the project from start to finish, including contacting customers for interviews, writing the discussion guide, conducting interviews and analyzing the results. Videos were recorded and transcribed to allow for ease of analysis. Consumer themes and key quotes were delivered via a report to the client.

Outcomes:

I quickly realized the customer list from the client was mostly comprised of respondents who did not fit the demographic profile for any existing personas, but they did fit attitudinal descriptions. I discussed this with the client during a check-in and we made the decision to proceed with the research.

During analysis, I identified 5 key findings to inform the product launch and future research:

1. The demographic profile for their core persona should be expanded to include additional age groups

2. The current persona descriptions are missing a core link between the category and the product

3. A major product purchase occasion is tied to only 2 existing personas, but has relevance for all consumers

4. One persona is likely too niche to target separately

5. Some consumers will need additional education about the product and should not be part of the initial marketing

Recommendations for next steps included research to gather insights from additional demographic groups and confirm hypotheses. By grounding findings in the product value proposition and expanding beyond just marketing to the personas, I was able to deliver added value to the client that exceeded their initial expectations.