User Research For New Markets

I swapped one detail in my campaigns and watched replies jump by 10x. Not new messaging Not a new tool Not a bigger list I ran the campaign from a local Dutch persona. → Dutch name → Dutch phone number → Dutch copy → Targeting Dutch companies Suddenly, replies started rolling in. Why does this work? Relevance. When a Dutch company gets a message from a Dutch person, in their language, from a local number, it feels real. They don’t think, “Is this spam?” They think, “This is for me.” No translation trick No fake localization It’s native from the start The offer didn’t change. The product didn’t change. But the results? Night and day. Here’s what I’ve learned running Outbound for clients across Europe: → Local persona = instant trust boost → Native language = no friction → Local contact = higher pick-up rate If you have team members in the country you’re targeting, put them front and center in your campaigns. Use their name, their number, their words. Don’t settle for generic outreach. Personalize with intent. Your reply rate will thank you. Curious who else is seeing big jumps with local-first campaigns? Or want to see the full workflow? DM me and I’ll share the playbook. #outbound #localization #gtm

I often have arguments with my buddies about the importance of a user persona in the design process. It is often an interesting conversation as everyone has their perspective on the importance of spending time creating a persona when one has a deadline to meet. Understanding your user is a top priority. It's not just about demographics or statistics; it's about going deep into the psyche, behaviors, and motivations of the potential user. Why Personas? Traditional personas often scratch the surface, outlining basic information like age, occupation, location, needs, etc. But we need to go a tat bit further. We need to go into the emotional drivers, the daily challenges, and the real stories that paint a vivid picture of who our users are. A simple process could be: 1. Start with conversations. Not just Q&A sessions, but deep, empathetic interviews that seek to understand the 'why' behind the 'what'. 2. Look for patterns in behavior. What are the common tasks your users perform, and what are the pain points they encounter? 3. How do/will users feel at different stages of interacting with your product? 4. Create scenarios where your personas face specific challenges. How would they react? What solutions would they seek? 5. Always validate your personas with real users. Ensure that they reflect the people they're meant to represent. What will the outcome be? We're not just designing for users; we're designing with them. These personas become a beacon, guiding every decision, and ensuring that our designs are not just functional but also meaningful. Remember, at the heart of personas is empathy. It's about connecting with our users on a human level and crafting experiences that resonate on a deeper, more personal level. Let's consider a user persona for a hypothetical productivity app: Emily Jackson is an early-stage startup founder, aged 27 and lives in Tallinn, Estonia Psychographics: - Goals: To streamline her daily operations and maximize her team's efficiency. - Frustrations: Inefficient workflows, tools that require steep learning curves, and software that doesn't integrate well with other systems. Behavioral Patterns: - Frequently switches between different productivity tools to manage tasks, communications, and scheduling. - Values tools that offer customization to fit her unique workflow. Emotional Journey: - Morning: Optimistic as she plans her day. - Mid-day: Frustrated with juggling multiple platforms. - Evening: Overwhelmed by the day's inefficiencies. Scenario: Emily starts her day with a plan and a to-do list but finds herself losing time switching between communication tools, task managers, and her calendar. She needs a unified solution that can bring all her essential tools into one interface, reducing the need to switch contexts and allowing her to focus on growing her business. This kind of persona can be developed after conducting interviews with potential users who expressed similar challenges and desires.

#I in Lewis C. Lin's CIRCLES framework: Dissection & Exploration I stands for "Identify Customers" or the User personas. Critical, yet often under-used, this is one of the most decisive steps for building successful products. PMs encounter two primary scenarios when defining their user base: 1. Greenfield Development: When building a product from scratch, resist the temptation of a "one-size-fits-all" approach or even a "one-size-fits-many" approach. This not only leads to better, more focused solutions but also keeps costs manageable and avoids overwhelming the team. 2. Feature Expansion: When developing add-on features/solutions for an existing product, it's crucial to consider the established user segments and their evolving needs. Leverage existing user research and data to understand them. As discussed in one of Shravan Tickoo's sessions, these rich personas can be built with 4 dimensions: 1. Demographics: This includes foundational data like age, gender, income, and location. 2. Psychographics: Dig deeper into user values, interests, lifestyles, and personalities. This helps understand their motivations and decision-making processes. Eg. In India, motivation for buying a car is a status symbol. So, Tata Nano's placing itself as "The Family Car" could have had a positive impact over cheapest car. 3. Behavioral: Analyze how users interact with similar products, their browsing habits, and preferred communication channels. Eg. User activity on a daily basis on Instagram vs. weekly activity on BookMyShow 4. Needs-Based: Identifies the core problems users are trying to solve and the desired outcomes they seek. Eg. WhatsApp to do business vs. to stay in touch with friends & family. Creating and continually revising rich user personas helps PMs ensure the product meets user needs effectively. #Day50 #100DaysChallenge #ProductManagement #UserPersonas #Demographics #UserResearch #ProductDevelopment #ProductStrategy #CustomerSegmentation #TechProductManagement #ProductInnovation #BusinessStrategy #CustomerInsights

Design thinking is all about empathy—really understanding users to create better solutions. Personas help, but what if they weren’t just static profiles? What if they could talk back? In this third design thinking and AI challenge, you’ll push persona development further by using Generative AI, first crafting a detailed user profile, then automating it so you can ask questions, test assumptions, and explore user needs in real time. Step 1: Learn the Basics Watch this video on how to create a persona: https://lnkd.in/gVpH8NQW. This will introduce the key elements of user personas and why they matter in design thinking. Step 2: Define Your Persona Use the following categories to structure your persona. Consider: Name & Background: Age, job, education, lifestyle, values Jobs-to-be-Done: What tasks and goals does this persona focus on? Use Cases: How do they interact with products/services? Gains: What makes them happy and successful? Pains: What frustrates them? Example: "Alex, a 28-year-old software engineer, struggles with work-life balance and remote work distractions." Step 3: Generate Your Persona Using AI Copy and paste this prompt into Claude or ChatGPT: Prompt: "Act as a UX researcher creating a user persona based on the User Profile Canvas. The persona is for [context, e.g., online education, healthcare, retail]. Generate a detailed profile including: - Background (name, age, job, lifestyle, interests) - Jobs-to-be-Done (main tasks, goals, and motivations) - Use Cases (where and how they interact with a product/service) - Gains (what makes them happy and successful?) - Pains (what are their struggles and frustrations?) Format the response as a structured character profile." Step 4: Make It Interactive & Test It Now, turn your persona into a conversational character and interact with them using this single prompt in Claude or ChatGPT: Prompt:"You are [Add Persona Name From Last Prompt] Answer all questions as if you were this person. Be natural, engaging, and self-reflective. If asked about challenges, share frustrations authentically. If asked about motivations, provide thoughtful responses. Respond as though you are having a real conversation. Now, let’s begin—describe a typical day in your life." Then, engage with the AI persona by asking: "What do you find most frustrating about your work?" "What motivates you to keep going?" "How do you use [specific product/service]?" Bonus: Build a Custom AI Persona (For Advanced Users) Want to take this further? If you have ChatGPT Pro, try creating a Custom GPT persona: Go to ChatGPT (Pro Version). Click "Explore GPTs" → "Create a Custom GPT." Set the instructions to: "Always respond as [Persona Name]. Answer questions as if you were this character, keeping responses natural and engaging." Here is an example Chatbot that we developed based on a persona https://lnkd.in/gW_8sAhc #AIdesignchallenge #AI #Designthinking