A user persona is a fictional character that represents a typical user. It is based on real data and research about the target audience. It guides design, content, and marketing decisions. By knowing the user’s needs, goals, and challenges, teams can create products that suit users well which improves user experience.
User personas are not a one time task. Markets evolve and user behaviors change so a persona based on old data may no longer reflect the target audience. If you don’t update it, you risk offering products or services that don’t meet current needs. That can lead to wasted marketing efforts, poor user experience, and missed opportunities. Imagine planning your content or launching a feature based on outdated assumptions, it’s like speaking to a classroom with no students. Whereas, regularly updating your user personas ensures that your product or service remains relevant and competitive. And it also ensures your team understands what your users want now. This way, you can make better decisions and improve your offerings.
So, when exactly should you revisit your personas? What are the warning signs that they’re no longer working for you? The answers might surprise you.
So, let’s get started.
7 clear signs that your User Persona needs an update
There is no fixed schedule when to update your User personas but there is one clear thing, personas are only effective if they are accurate, up to date data and not just guessed or too old. So if your persona doesn’t reflect who your users are right now, it can lead to poor decisions, missed opportunities, and marketing that falls flat. On the other hand, refreshing personas helps you connect with your audience on their terms which makes it easier to turn them into loyal customers. That’s why it’s important to keep your personas current and relevant.
Not sure if your personas need an update? Here are 7 signs of your persona to look out for. If you ignore them, you can end up offering products or services that don’t meet current needs.
1. Significant changes in customer behavior:
Customers’ needs and behavior changes because of new trends, technology or even the season like Artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality are turning online shopping into an individual experience. To figure out whether your users have changed, you can ask the customer support team what type of questions or complaints they hear most. If they mention any new issue or if users need any new feature it means that your persona needs an update.
One more way to check this is by looking at data. Track how each user group (or persona) uses your website. Are they clicking on different things than before? Spending less time on certain pages? If your user behavior has changed, it means your persona needs an update. Also, if a lot of your website visitors don’t seem to match any of your personas, that’s a sign you may be attracting a new type of customer and it’s time to take a closer look. By understanding these changes and updating User persona, you can offer your product or services that match your current customer needs which can help you to earn trust and build customer loyalty.
2. Changes in business goals or strategy:
When a business direction has changed whether it’s rebranding, entering a new market, or changing your value proposition so your user personas needs to change too. For example, if your company used to target budget conscious buyers, but now you’re offering premium products so the people you’re trying to reach have changed, and so have their needs, goals, and expectations. Your old personas might not fit this new strategy at all as a result, your marketing, product development, messaging and other efforts will go to waste as they are targeting the wrong audience.
Does your persona still match your target audience when you expand your product range, add new features, or shift your focus to a different type of customer? If not, so it’s time to update your personas. For example, if you’ve started targeting professionals instead of students, your messaging, tone, and marketing strategy need to reflect that shift otherwise you risk speaking to an audience that no longer exists. According to a Demand Gen Report, 47% of B2B buyers viewed 3–5 pieces of content before engaging with a salesperson. If your personas aren’t aligned with your current strategy, the content you create for them might miss the mark, leading to lower engagement.
3. Competitor shifts:
The market and competition influence consumers’ buying and usage behaviour so if you do not update personas, your marketing and products may no longer match what customers want so adjusting personas can keep your strategies relevant and it also helps businesses to avoid marketing outdated ideas and keeps efforts relevant.
Sometimes when competitors make bold moves so customers’ expectations might shift overnight. They may start asking questions like: “Why doesn’t your product have this feature?” or “Can you match this price?” These are signs that their priorities have changed. So in these fast-changing markets, staying current with customer needs is a key to staying competitive.
4. Technical changes:
Technology can shake up your industry as it influences what customers perceive, how they buy, behave and make decisions. Like, the rising trend of AI powered products and Virtual reality (VR) which means what once worked for your audience may no longer connect. This shift requires updating user personas significantly to align with new customer expectations and behavior.
For example, the rise of mobile-first browsing changed customer expectations. A few years ago, most users visited websites on desktop computers. Now, over 55% of global website traffic comes from mobile devices (Statista). If your personas still imagine users sitting at a desk, you’re designing for the wrong reality and neglecting to update your personas in response to such technological advancements can lead to misaligned marketing strategies, diminished user engagement and missed opportunities. So it’s important for businesses to keep an eye on emerging technologies and digital trends.
5. Feedback from Internal teams:
As support teams talk to customers every day so they notice shifts in customer behavior and their changing needs. Also, they listen to their queries and complaints so they hear unexpected questions as a result they get to know about real users’ needs, how they think and behave which leads to better products, messages, and experiences. Also, it reveals gaps or errors in the current persona so when the persona is adjusted it makes marketing, sales, and product efforts more focused and also improves decision-making and customer engagement. For example, if your support team reports that users are now asking for features you never thought were important, or your sales team struggles because prospects care about new priorities, it shows that customer expectations have changed.
So it’s important for businesses to regularly meet with internal teams to gather feedback and ask them about common customer concerns, objections, and new patterns they observe. If there’s a mismatch between this real world feedback to your existing personas it means your personas need an update. According to a Salesforce report, 66% of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations. If your teams are hearing needs that your personas don’t reflect, you risk losing trust and loyalty.
6. Feedback from customers:
Getting feedback directly from the customers is the best way to update personas as their own words helps in accuracy and helps to better understand their needs which ensures that the persona reflects current customer needs and preferences that can lead to more relevant products, services and marketing. When feedback shows changing behaviors or new issues, updating the persona keeps strategies fresh and focused on what customers really want as a result, customer experience improves and companies can better connect with their audience. Whereas, not refreshing, the persona can become outdated and less useful thus, it may cause business to miss the new trends or needs. According to Microsoft’s Global State Microsoft’s Global State of Customer Service report, 90% of consumers believe that customer service is important to their choice and loyalty to a brand.
7. Merger and Acquisitions:
When companies merge, they face the challenge of combining two different strategies and ideas to turn into a one common plan. This significant change can lead to changes in target audience, products or services. So in this case, updating the persona is important to reflect tje new business reality. For example, after Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn, the company updated its personas to reflect the new target audience of professionals across multiple industries rather than just tech users. They integrated insights from both companies to improve the user experience across their platforms.
To update personas effectively, companies should collaborate and agree on how personas will be created and implemented in the future. This ensures the product offerings, marketing and customer engagement strategies are aligned with the updated personas.
Updating a personas is not just a “create it”and “forget it” task, but it’s an ongoing process. It is crucial to establish regular review like in 6 months or once a year as by staying attuned to market changes, gathering fresh data, and refining personal details, you can ensure that your product development and marketing strategies remain aligned with your users’ evolving needs and preferences.
Do not wait until your personas are completely outdated as by continuously refining this crucial element of your marketing, you’ll not only stay relevant but also strengthen your ability to connect with your customers in meaningful ways. By recognizing the 7 clear signs that your user persona needs an update, from shifts in customer behavior to mergers and acquisitions, will help your business remain agile, responsive, and customer centric.
Now it’s time to take action! Review your current user personas and ask yourself: Are they still accurate? Do they reflect the changing needs and behaviors of your target audience? If not, it’s time to update them.
