How to use a customer avatar to increase sales

Author: Leanne Knowles

Publish date: August 2024

8 minute read

Introduction

If your small business isn't dominating its own market niche, then it’s going to be hard work for you all the way.  As an aspiring founder or small business owner, you will need to understand your customer needs and expectations at a very deep level.

This article explains how a customer avatar can help you attract profitable new customers that are ready to buy. These are buyers who become raving fans and who can't easily be drawn away by your competitors and their shiny offers.

Here's what you'll get:

• what is a customer avatar and why does it matter to you
• the benefits of a customer avatar
• what happens when a business doesn't use a customer avatar
• how to define a customer avatar that works for your business
• different types of customers
• the questions you can ask to gather the information that you need.

What is a customer avatar and why does it matter?

A customer avatar is a fictitious character that represents your ideal customer.

Your customer avatar describes the type of person for whom you have created your product or service. They will be profitable to your business, appreciate your solution, and will engage with you in good faith. Creating your customer avatar is a strategic activity that helps you drive performance in key areas of your business.

4 benefits of a customer avatar

There are four ways to apply your customer avatar to the strategic decision making process:

1. Create a clear differentiation

Understanding your customer better than your competitors helps you differentiate your brand, attract more of your ideal customer and grow a sustainably profitable business.

2. Improve your products and services

A customer-centric focus helps you improve products and services and present irresistible offers to each of your customer groups, so you can enjoy stronger revenue, cashflow and profitability.

3. Increase Marketing ROI

Deeper customer insights improves decision making about the message, marketing channels and content for each sales campaign, maximising results and reducing costs

4. Enhance Customer Experience

Understanding your customers better than your competitors allows you to deliver a stronger customer experience that meets their expectations at every touch point, and become the supplier of first choice.

What happens without a Customer Avatar?

Without a customer avatar, your business is likely to make more ad hoc decisions about your products and services, sales and marketing campaigns, and customer service systems. Your results become more hit and miss.

As a founder or business owner, you may have a deep knowledge of your buyer. However, if you want to enjoy financial and lifestyle freedom and make a big impact on your market, you will need to delegate widely. Every member of your team must know your customer intimately on many levels, and better than any of your competitors. Furthermore, everyone must have the same information.

• Pricing pressures: Most markets are highly competitive. Without a clear differentiation, your business will experience pricing pressures.
• Missed opportunities: You might have the better product or service, but competitors often can copy key elements of what you do.
• Wasted time and money: In a crowded market, there are many options for your buyer to consider. It is difficult to attract their attention and convert them to a sale, without wasting enormous amounts of time, money and effort.
• Your customer experience is your brand: All buyers expect at least a partly digitised access to your business. Finding the right balance of digital and personal is vital. It can become complex for you and your team to make these decisions.

The Customer Avatar process can make the difference for you and your team in addressing each of these challenges. If you want a free template download [MS WORD] to help you get the job done, click on the button below.

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Customer Avatar template please!

How to define your Customer Avatar

Your customer avatars should become a living, breathing reference for your decision making, updated as new information is revealed, and used to brief your team and your service providers as they implement your business strategy.

Investing time in developing these answers will help you make better informed decisions and to delegate and brief more effectively to your team members at sales and marketing time. At the end of the day, this enhances your potential for increased revenue, profitability and brand value.

Types of customers

You will need to determine what type of purchase they are making with you:

• Purchasing for personal use
• Buying on behalf of a business 
• Buying on behalf of a government organisation

Personal use

This type of customer is commonly referred to as Business-to-consumer (B2C). Marketing and selling to a B2C customer uses a very different approach when compared with selling for business or government use.

Buying for a business

This type of customer is commonly referred to as Business-to-business (B2C). B2B marketing and selling is more complex because there are often many people who influence the purchase decision and more steps in the decision making process. You will need to understand the decision maker, the influencers, the organisational buying process and the industry. The complexity will depend on the size of the business, the ownership structure and the level of risk associated with the purchase.

Buying for government 

This type of customer can be referred to as Business-to-government (B2G). Selling to government can be similar to selling to a big business. There is usually an even high level of accountability and transparency required.

The personal buyer (B2C)

Customer Avatar Name

Give your Customer Avatar a name that will help you to relate to them as a specific character with a specific problem you want to solve. If you need help to get started with this, think of an existing customer, or a friend, neighbour or someone you know who represents the ideal buyer.

The Influencers

Who are the people in the buyer's life who influence the purchase decision? If the purchase brings with it a higher cost and a higher risk, they are likely to consult more widely with people that they trust before making a decision. This might be a parent, spouse, or a close friend.

This information is important to know as you design your marketing and sales campaign.

Functional problem being solved

What is the functional problem?

• What are the jobs or tasks that need to be undertaken to solve the problem?
• What is the functional outcome they want?
• How would your customer describe the functional outcome they want to see? How will they measure success?

This information helps you choose language that connects with the buyer.

Emotional drivers

What are the emotional drivers behind the purchase behaviour of your audience?

• What are your buyer's thoughts, feelings and reactions in response to the problem or unmet desire they have?
• How do they want to feel after your solution? What does it feel like for them after they have used your product or service?

Emotional language connects people to their buying motivations.

Household income

What is your buyer's household income? What budget is typically available for this purchase? When you understand your buyer's family situation, you can also assume their priorities.

There is no point investing in marketing campaigns for a customer group who cannot afford your product or service.

Lifestyle interests

What kind of lifestyle does your buyer live?

• What kind of personal interests might they have?
• Is your buyer family oriented?
• Do they have a large network of people in their life?

Lifestyle interests can help you understand their priorities and style, as well as potential channels for marketing.

Communication style

What communication preferences does your buyer have?

• Are they likely to be very direct and fast to decide? 
• Do they want a lot of hard evidence, or do they pride themselves on their gut instinct? What is the balance of the two?
• Are they slow to trust? Cynical? Relationship driven?
• What other characteristics would you expect from them?

Your choice of language, tone of voice and steps in the buying process will all be influenced by this information.

Sources of information

Where does your buyer hang out? What trusted sources do they get their information from?

• Online/Offline?
• Publications or subscription?
• Social media? Which ones?
• Community or religious groups
• Sporting or hobby groups?
•  Professional networks?

Typical day

What does a typical day look like for your buyer? What are they doing during each time period?

• Pre 7am
• 7am – 9am
• 9am – 11am
• 11am – 1pm
• 1pm – 3pm
• 3pm – 5pm
• 5pm – 7pm
• 7pm – 9pm
• 9pm – 11pm
• 11pm +

The business or government buyer (B2B/B2G)

When planning a campaign for a business buyer, you need information about both the individual and the business. Gathering information about the individual is similar in some ways to the B2C buyer, but with a few important differences.

Customer Avatar Name

Give your buyer a name that will help you to relate to them as a specific character with a specific set of requirements. It is helpful to think about an existing customer, or a potential organisational buyer that you want to attract to the business.

Job title & responsibilities

What is the key focus of your buyer's job?

• Is it about people?
• Bottom line?
• Customers?

This information helps you focus your sales and marketing language, as well as functionality and pricing.

Age/Seniority/Experience?

Where do they sit in the decision making process?

• Who are they directly accountable to?
• Who is their boss, and what will the boss be expecting to hear?

Functional problem being solved

What is the functional problem?

• What are the jobs/tasks that need to be undertaken to solve the problem?
• What is the functional outcome they want?
• How would your customer describe the functional outcome they want to see? How will they measure success?

Your buyer's organisational profile

Your organisational type

What type of organisation are you seeking to serve?

1. Government/Quasi Government
2. Private Business
3. Industry or Professional Associations
4. Social Enterprise
5. Not For Profit
6. Other

The industry sector

What industry sector does this organisation operate in? Here are some examples:

1. Health & Wellbeing
2. Medical & Allied Health
3. Workplace Health & Safety
4. Medical Technology & Pharma
5. Defence
6. Manufacturing
7. Resources
8. Engineering
9. Technology
10. Agribusiness
11. Professional Services
12. Personal Services
13. Administrative Services
14. Government
15. Emergency & Social Services
16. Other

Business characteristics

What are the key characteristics of your target organisations?

• Size – by employees #
• Size – by annual revenue
• Geographic location
• Who are their customers, and what are they selling?
• What is the organisational style/brand?

Influencers

Who influences the decision making process?

• People inside the organisation
• External stakeholders or communities

Steps in the buying process

What is the duration of the buying cycle? How often do they purchase?

• What are the steps in the buying process?
• Who is involved at each stage?
• What information is needed at each stage?
• How long does a decision typically take between each step?

Budget 

What kind of budget is typically available for the purchase? What time of the year is the budget set?

More about your B2B/B2G decision maker

Emotional drivers

What are the emotional drivers behind the purchase behaviour of your audience?

• What are your buyer's thoughts, feelings and reactions in response to the problem or unmet desire they have?
• How do they want to feel after they have used your solution? 

Emotions motivate buying decisions.

Communication style

What communication preferences do they have?

• Are they likely to be very direct, dominating and fast to decide? 
• Do they want a lot of hard evidence, or do they pride themselves on their gut instinct? What is the balance of the two?
• Are they slow to trust? Cynical? Relationship driven?
• What other characteristics would you expect from them?

This information helps you choose language, a tone of voice and the right steps in the buying journey to support a successful sale.

Professional values

What does your buyer value most in business? What is driving their actions and decisions? This information will help you understand where to focus your communication about the benefits of your solution.

Sources of information

Where does the decision maker hang out? What trusted sources do they get their information?

• Online/Offline?
• Industry memberships?
• Industry events?
• Subscriptions or publications?
• Strategic partners?
• Supply chain partners?
• Specialist consultants?

Typical day

What does a typical business day look like for your ideal customer? What are they doing during each time period?

Summarising the key information

If you want to enjoy financial and lifestyle freedom and make a big impact on your market as a business owner, you will need to delegate widely. Every member of your team must have the same information to ensure success.

Here is a summary of the key questions to be answered as you develop your Customer Avatar:

1. Type of customer
2. Customer avatar name
3. Decision maker
4. Influencers
5. Functions being solved
6. Emotional drivers
7. Household income (B2C)
8. Lifestyle interests
9. Communication style
10. Sources of information
11. Typical day
12. Organisational profile (B2B/B2G)

Getting it done

When you are ready to upgrade your business results, you’ll need a template to get the job done. Here is Customer Avatar Template I have used in my own business to help me sharpen and refine key decisions.  It’s yours for free and it’s an easy download, so just click on the link below and you’re on your way to the next step.

Yes! Give me the template.

About the author

Leanne Knowles is the founder of Headswitch.  She is an experience business strategist who has been helping aspiring founders and business owners to navigate the risks, opportunities and rewards of business life for more than 25 years. She started her first retail and boutique manufacturing operation while still in her early 20's, and sold them both ten years later. She has been a digital specialist with Deloitte, a business coach for the Australian Government's Entrepreneur's Programme, and founding CEO of a successful Australian MedTech startup. Leanne has served on the board of directors for multiple not-for-profit organisations over 13 years.

Leanne understands first hand the challenges and demands of small business.