Cross-Channel Personas

In large organizations that manage multiple communication channels and services, different stakeholders frequently have different ideas about who the customer is and what he or she needs. This leads to assumptions that often aren’t based in reality. In this absence of a prioritized understanding of their users, organizations often assume everyone is a customer or that the customer is just like the members of the organization. This misconception leads to poor and inconsistent customer experiences and can waste organizational resources on building services, features, or content that don't truly meet a user’s need. The result of trying to serve everyone is that you are unable to effectively serve anyone.

Cross-channel personas build empathy for users and further the customer focus of the organization. They allow stakeholders, designers, developers, and content creators to gain a shared understanding of their users and their goals, needs, behaviors, and expectations. No matter which channel or service a customer uses to interact with the organization, they are represented by a persona.

Based on qualitative and quantitative user research data, personas represent a product or service’s different user groups. Personas are not real people, but they are based on real data from customers. Personas often incorporate elements of the users’ story that help make each user group distinct.

Our process for creating cross-channel personas

To create cross-channel personas, Anthro-Tech starts by leveraging an organization’s available research and customer data. We find gaps in the client’s understanding of current and potential customers, and then we design a research strategy to gather the additional information needed to clearly define the customer segments. We add depth to those segments with qualitative research from real-customer experiences and opinions.