Fix Your Buyer Persona Gap to Win More Customers

Crafting truly effective buyer personas requires moving beyond basic demographics to embrace the rich tapestry of consumer identity. While these profiles form the bedrock of countless marketing strategies, a significant gap often exists between the persona on paper and the actual individual. This disconnect means campaigns fail to resonate deeply, leaving potential customers feeling overlooked and ultimately choosing competitors.

The core issue with many standard buyer personas is their lack of nuanced detail regarding the various identities a customer holds. Marketers might include a target persona in their creative briefs, yet the resulting materials still miss the mark. The execution falls short because the persona itself doesn’t capture the depth of lived experience. Consequently, brands struggle to authentically engage consumers from underrepresented or underserved communities who otherwise fit their target profile. This represents a substantial missed opportunity, as getting it right makes buyers feel recognized, valued, and that they truly belong.

We see the consequences of this lack of specificity play out in various ways. Common complaints from consumers include magazine covers that never feature plus-sized individuals, general market advertisements with no Hispanic representation, or website pages that ignore basic accessibility features. Other missteps involve ads that include people from diverse backgrounds but lack cultural intelligence, with messaging that doesn’t speak to their specific needs or objectives. Sometimes, visual imagery resorts to stereotypes rather than authentic representation.

Consumer identities are deeply woven into the fabric of their decision-making process. Every individual possesses a unique combination of characteristics that subconsciously or consciously influences what they purchase and from whom. A person might be a Black woman, left-handed, following a gluten-free diet, married to a Spanish-speaking immigrant, and raising a bilingual, mixed-race child. In many purchasing scenarios, at least one of these identity facets will guide their choice. A business owner may seek success stories from entrepreneurs who “look like them.” A family might select a car salesperson based on language compatibility. A parent will actively seek toys and dolls with features reflecting their child’s appearance.

For some consumers, considering their identity isn’t a choice but a necessity shaped by societal influences. Their experiences, including how others interact with them, differ significantly from those considered part of the “mainstream.” In one client engagement involving service providers and end consumers, research revealed that aspects of the providers’ identity, such as race, ethnicity, and gender, directly impacted how they were treated while performing their work. Their professional skill wasn’t in question, but their identity shaped their customer interactions in ways their mainstream counterparts did not experience.

Customers don’t compartmentalize their identities when making purchases, even if marketers fail to incorporate this reality into their personas. A buyer’s identity is so intrinsic they may not even consciously recognize its role in their decisions. If market research doesn’t probe these areas, this critical dimension remains invisible, creating the fundamental disconnect between persona and person.

Marketers must remember that customers are constantly asking, either consciously or subconsciously: “Is this product for someone like me?” That “someone like me” could refer to a solopreneur, a person who isn’t tech-savvy, a neurodivergent individual, someone who speaks English as a second language, a woman, a person with a larger body frame, an individual with textured hair, a parent, a non-parent, a single person, a married individual, a Hindu practitioner, a gay man, an immigrant, a person with a disability, or someone who is 53 years old. The list is endless. If a consumer doesn’t feel your offering is intended for “someone like them,” they will simply move on.

The challenge for brands is to clearly and swiftly communicate that their solution is designed for the specific identities of the people facing the problem they solve. This requires explicitly acknowledging and calling out those identities within buyer personas. A neurodivergent consumer might fit a demographic and psychographic profile perfectly, but they won’t feel seen or supported if the persona ignores all aspects of their neurodivergence.

To build more effective buyer personas, focus on these two approaches:

1. Add Identity Layers Within Your Personas Enhance your existing personas by incorporating more identity-based context. This additional information provides crucial guidance for campaign execution. Whenever possible, let data inform which identity layers to include. Delve into any available internal or third-party data about your ideal consumers from an identity perspective. If this data is inaccessible, gather it directly through surveys, one-on-one interviews, or other engagement methods. This allows you to systematically build identity layers into your persona profiles.

Once you understand the specific identities, be intentional about communicating that your offering is “for people like them” throughout the entire customer journey. Consider a persona named “Creator Carmen.” Knowing she is visually impaired, an Afro-Latina, and prefers English with Spanish support is a start. But without understanding how these factors influence her decisions, the information is useless. Infuse your personas with nuanced details about how identity shapes challenges, frustrations, and aspirations. Supplement this with supporting documentation that acts as a guidebook, explaining how Carmen’s experience differs due to her disability versus a version without one. Customer interviews, focus groups, social listening, and secondary research are invaluable for gathering the necessary cultural intelligence.

2. Build Identity-Specific Personas Sometimes, creating personas dedicated to specific identities is the most effective path. Success depends on your overall suite of personas and how they are categorized. This approach works exceptionally well when developing specific products, features, communications, experiences, or core messaging. For example, if your product serves children under 18, their needs, experiences, expectations, and the ethics of marketing to them are sufficiently distinct that layered personas may prove inadequate.

Another scenario involves event planning. An email marketing strategist shared how her Muslim faith identity impacted her experiences at business conferences. Brands hosting events who wish to create an inclusive space where Muslim attendees feel seen and supported would benefit greatly from developing a separate, identity-specific persona for this audience.

It’s time to elevate your personas beyond their traditional limitations. The payoff for embracing identity-rich personas is substantial: more authentic campaigns, higher conversion rates, and a greater overall market impact. By incorporating the fundamental elements of identity that guide your ideal customers’ buying decisions, you unlock the full potential of your marketing strategy.

(Source: HubSpot Marketing Blog)