The 5 minute customer persona

Customer personas are overrated. Get them done as fast as possible. Move on.

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Disclaimer: this is heavily inspired by the initial article on the 5 minute persona. I couldn’t access it any more, so I made sure the content stays on the internet.

Background

I learned about the 5-minute customer persona during my discussions with Fabian in an interview on concepting software. He said personas are overrated, yet have one benefit:

Empathy.

We are not dealing with robotic users. We serve real people.

Here’s a quick guide to make a person persona in five minutes.

Implementation

Do this on a piece of paper with 3 sections

Part 1 + 2

Write the customer’s job title at the top.
Add the sections: Goals, Frustrations, Fears. Fill them out.

Part 3

Iterate on problems, solutions, and outcomes. Use the problem relevant to your product and/or the problem space you are tackling.

Problem: Threats from competition and automation; need for better deal flow.
Solution: A platform enhancing team training and managing deal flow efficiently.
Outcome: Higher revenue, skilled team, more business opportunities.

Example

Head of Recruitment Persona

Goals: Increase deal flow, improve training, enhance pipeline value.
Frustrations: Team turnover, high expectations, limited deal flow.
Fears: Automation, client conflicts, increasing competition.
Problem: Threats from competition and automation; need for better deal flow.
Solution: A platform enhancing team training and managing deal flow efficiently.
Outcome: Higher revenue, skilled team, more business opportunities.

Important

Redefine the problem from the customer’s perspective, especially their fears.
Tailor solutions to address specific frustrations.
Align outcomes with their goals.

Conclusion

This is a good template to apply, and then leave in the project specs.

We don’t need to go crazy on it.

Let’s do it once, then move on to build the product.