Not every merch buyer is looking for the same thing. Some care about creativity, while others prioritize speed or sustainability. That’s where buyer personas come in. They’re snapshots of your ideal customers that allow you to better understand their goals and pain points.
When creating buyer personas, Mailshake’s Sujan Patel says it’s not enough to assign cute names to stock photos. You need to create buyer personas from real data. This is because opinions don’t build useful personas — research does. In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share his 4-step process for creating truly helpful buyer personas.
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Step 1: Mine your existing customer data. Patel recommends starting with what you already have. Your CRM holds patterns about who buys, how long their sales cycle runs and which deal sizes stick. He suggests pulling a list of your best 20-30 customers and looking for commonalities in role, company size and industry. You could also explore sales call recordings to learn the language your customers use.
Step 2: Conduct 5-10 customer interviews. Quantitative data shows you what happened, Patel says, and interviews tell you why. Try conducting 5-10 interviews with recent buyers and ask them about their buying journey, not the merch they bought. You could ask, “What was happening in your business when you started looking for a solution?” and “What almost stopped you from buying?”
Step 3: Validate with analytics and social listening. Next, according to Patel, is cross-referencing your interviews with behavioral data. He says site search queries reveal what visitors actually want, and social listening shows the language and frustrations your audience shares publicly. This helps you avoid building a profile based on one loud customer’s feedback rather than a real pattern.
Step 4: Draft and pressure-test your persona. Finally, Patel recommends filling in your template using research findings and then running a simple test. Show the persona to your sales team and ask: “Does this match the people you talk to every week?” If they squint or shrug, something’s off. Sales reps are the fastest reality check you have.
The best buyer personas aren’t built on assumptions. They’re built on real-world feedback. When you take the time to understand what drives your customers, you can create more relevant messaging and ask better questions. This ultimately helps you become a more valuable partner — not just a merch provider.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Sujan Patel is the founder of Mailshake, a sales engagement software.
