“If you want to know how to sell more, than you better know why customers buy,” said Steve Ferrante, Leadership and Sales trainor, author and consultant.

That’s why any successful ecommerce website design is built around the Customer Persona. Skytap, a self-service provider of cloud automation solutions, implemented a targeted content marketing strategy using three strategic Customer Personas and saw the following results:

  • 124% increased sales leads
  • 55% increase in organic search traffic
  • 97% increase in online leads
  • 210% increase in North American site traffic

ecommerce website design consumer behavior

What is the difference between Customer Personas and Demographics?

Unlike demographics that just give general characteristics like age, gender, location, or income, Customer Personas reveals their needs, emotions  and motivations. These include:

  • Daily functions and responsibilities
  • Pain points / Frustrations / Challenges / Stressors
  • Dreams and aspirations
  • Buying habits and role in the household purchase decisions
  • Factors that influence the purchase process

To show the difference, a demographic will simply say: “Women in Singapore aged 25 to 35, college educated, white collar job.”

A customer persona on the other hand, paints a much more vivid (and useful) picture:  “Single Singaporean woman, aged 25 to 35. High disposable income because she has no kids. Works hard and rewards herself with travel, fine dining and branded fashion and accessories. Wants to show off her success and show that she is “first to the know” or “first to try” something before it gets mass appeal.  Biggest stressors: lack of time and energy, and will pay more for convenience.

How can you use Customer Personas to improve your ecommerce website design?

  • Choose photos that reflect and represent her and her lifestyle
  • Highlight products that would most appeal to her
  • Target keyword planning that revolve around her most important needs and pain points
  • Choose colors, layouts and design elements that reflect her taste
  • Center your marketing and link building campaign around communities or platforms that share that target audience
  • Create targeted ads and landing pages that specifically appeal to her and a pain point or aspiration

customer personas

How to Build a Customer Persona

You can build 2 to 3 Customer Personas to guide your ecommerce website design and digital marketing campaigns. To help you create them, use this checklist.

Personal Routine and Priorities

  • Family structure
  • Responsibilities in the home and to family members
  • Daily routine / Weekend routine
  • Biggest source of stress
  • Biggest source of satisfaction and relaxation
  • Hobbies
  • Values (i.e, 3 things that matter most to me / 3 things I won’t compromise on)

Digital Habits

  • Favorite websites
  • Social media platforms
  • Time and days they surf the most (and least)
  • Gadgets and platforms they use
  • Influencers they follow
  • What they read or did when they researched for their last major purchase
  • Websites or social media accounts that most annoyed them (and why)

Consumer Behavior

  • Budget for different types of purchases
  • Where and how they purchase (digital vs. brick and mortar)
  • How they research on products (websites, influencers, books, forums, etc.)
  • What they ask when comparing products
  • What features or services would make them willing to pay more for a product
  • Other people involved in purchase decision
  • Example of positive customer experience
  • Example of negative customer experience

“Customer Personas tell the story of your customer’s behavior, situations, thinking, and interaction on the path to accomplishing goals,” said content marketing guru Tony Zambito. Use these Personas to create an ecommerce website design that is compelling and relevant to them, and you will win a buyer for life.

MapleTree Media provides digital marketing and ecommerce design for Singapore businesses. We’ll be happy to help you develop the right strategies, messages and website design for your target audience. Contact us and view our work  to find out more.