Rule: Teams that understand personas and their problems build remarkable products.
A persona is an archetype built from observed patterns, not a fictional character
you invented. Ground every trait in market evidence (interviews, win/loss, support,
usage). See ../pm-copilot/references/framework.md for the market-driven basics.
- Buyer persona — the archetypical person who makes or influences the purchase decision (motivations, barriers, buying process). Guides marketing and sales.
- User persona — the archetypical person who uses the product day to day. Guides the product. In B2B the buyer and user are usually different people — build one of each. Create a separate persona whenever the problems genuinely differ.
The Interview Matrix (get a balanced cross-section)
Before writing personas, make sure you've talked to a balanced sample. Map who to interview across segments and persona types:
| Segments | Buyer Personas (Economic · Technical · Functional) | User Personas (User 1 · User 2 · User 3) |
|---|---|---|
| Segment A | who fills each buyer role | who the day-to-day users are |
Buyer roles: Economic (owns the budget/ROI), Technical (gatekeeps on fit/risk), Functional (uses the outcome, champions internally). Balance interviews across all four market segments: customers, competitors' customers, evaluators (win/loss) and potentials.
Interview the user for inputs (batch questions)
- Which product/feature and market segment is this persona for?
- Is this a buyer or a user persona? (Do both if B2B.)
- What problems/roadblocks does this person have (their words, first person)?
- What are their goals — who they want to be, what they want to do, how they want to feel?
- What behaviors shape how they approach those goals?
- Their background — how did they get to their current situation/outlook?
- What evidence backs this (how many interviews/tickets/win-loss notes)?
Artifact templates
User Persona
# User Persona — <Name>
**Company:** <company> · **Feature / Product:** <feature / product name>
**Author:** <author> · **Date created:** <date>
**Name:** <memorable name + role> | **Segment:** <segment>
**Relevant Information:** <age/role/context that matters for the product>
> "<A quote in their own voice that captures their outlook.>"
## Problems
Roadblocks that keep them from achieving their goals (first person):
- "I can't …"
- "It takes too long to …"
## Background Story
<Enough story to explain how they got to their current situation and outlook.>
## Goals
- **Be:** <who the persona wants to be>
- **Do:** <what the persona wants to do>
- **Feel:** <how the persona wants to feel>
## Behaviors
- <Specific behaviors that impact how they approach their goals.>
## Evidence
- <interview count / sources> · > TODO: <gaps to validate>
Buyer Persona
# Buyer Persona — <Name>
**Company:** <company> · **Feature / Product:** <feature / product name>
**Author:** <author> · **Date created:** <date>
**Name / Role:** <name> | **Buyer type:** Economic / Technical / Functional
**Segment:** <segment>
> "<quote capturing what they care about in a purchase>"
## Problems & goals (business outcome they're buying)
- <problem in first person> · <the outcome/ROI they need>
## Buying process & barriers
- **How they buy:** <steps, who else is involved, timeline>
- **Selection criteria:** <what must be true to choose a vendor>
- **Barriers / objections:** <risk, budget, switching cost>
## What moves them
- **Triggers:** <what starts the search> · **Information sources:** <where they look>
## Evidence
- <win/loss, interviews, sources> · > TODO: <gaps>
Deliver the artifact
Follow ../pm-copilot/references/artifact-output.md: confirm inputs, ask Markdown
or .docx, write the .md, convert to .docx on request via your environment's native document-creation capability.
Deliver a buyer and a user persona where relevant. Next stage: use these personas to
write pm-positioning (per persona) or prioritized pm-requirements.