# Customer Persona > Creates detailed customer personas with demographics, psychographics, buying behaviors, and messaging preferences for targeted marketing. - Skill: `reaperinvest/customer-persona` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add reaperinvest/customer-persona` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/reaperinvest/customer-persona/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Marketing & Growth - Author: reaperinvest (https://skillmd.com/u/reaperinvest) - Updated: 2026-09-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/reaperinvest/customer-persona --- # Customer Persona ## When to Use This Skill Use this skill when you need to: - Create detailed ideal customer profiles for marketing and product decisions - Define target audience segments with demographics, psychographics, and behaviors - Build messaging frameworks tailored to specific customer types - Align team members around a shared understanding of who the customer is **DO NOT** use this skill for market research, competitor analysis, or customer segmentation of existing data. This is for building persona profiles. --- ## Core Principle A CUSTOMER PERSONA IS NOT A DEMOGRAPHIC SPREADSHEET — IT IS A LIVING DOCUMENT THAT HELPS YOU WRITE COPY, BUILD PRODUCTS, AND MAKE DECISIONS AS IF YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER WERE SITTING ACROSS THE TABLE. --- ## Phase 1: Research Inputs Gather the information that informs the persona. ### Required Inputs | Input | What to Ask | Default | |-------|------------|---------| | **Product/service** | "What do you sell and what problem does it solve?" | No default | | **Best customers** | "Describe your 3 best customers — what do they have in common?" | No default | | **Who is NOT your customer** | "Who buys but is NOT a good fit?" | No default | | **Purchase trigger** | "What event or pain point makes someone buy from you?" | No default | | **Data sources** | "Do you have customer surveys, reviews, or interview data?" | No formal data | | **Number of personas** | "How many distinct customer types do you serve?" | 1-2 | **GATE: Confirm research inputs before building the persona.** --- ## Phase 2: Build Persona Create a comprehensive persona profile. ### Persona Template ``` ## Customer Persona: [Persona Name] ### Identity **Name:** [Fictional first name — makes the persona feel real] **Age range:** [e.g., 28-35] **Role/Title:** [What they do] **Income range:** [$X - $Y] **Location:** [Urban/suburban, region if relevant] **Education:** [Level] **Tech comfort:** [Low / Medium / High] ### Demographics Summary [2-3 sentence portrait of who this person is in their daily life] ### Psychographics **Values:** [What they care about deeply — 3-5 values] **Aspirations:** [Where they want to be in 1-3 years] **Frustrations:** [What keeps them up at night — 3-5 pain points] **Identity:** [How they see themselves — "I am the kind of person who..."] ### Buying Behavior **Budget:** [What they can/will spend on solutions like yours] **Research style:** [How they evaluate options — Google, referrals, social proof, comparison sites] **Decision speed:** [Impulse / Considered / Lengthy evaluation] **Objections:** [Top 3 reasons they hesitate to buy] **Purchase trigger:** [The specific event or pain that pushes them to act] ### Where They Spend Time **Online:** [Platforms, communities, content types they consume] **Offline:** [Events, publications, networks] **Influencers:** [Who they listen to and trust] ### Messaging Preferences **Tone that resonates:** [Direct / Empathetic / Data-driven / Inspirational] **Words that attract:** [Specific words and phrases that resonate] **Words that repel:** [Words and phrases that turn them off] **Key message:** [One sentence that would stop them scrolling] ### A Day in Their Life [3-5 sentence narrative of a typical day, highlighting the moment where your product/service becomes relevant] ``` ### Anti-Persona (Who They Are NOT) ``` ## Anti-Persona: [Name] **Why they are a bad fit:** - [Reason 1] - [Reason 2] - [Reason 3] **Red flags in sales process:** - [Signal this is the wrong customer] ``` **GATE: Present the persona for review and refinement.** --- ## Phase 3: Validate Pressure-test the persona against reality. ### Validation Checklist ``` - [ ] Does this persona match your actual best customers, not aspirational ones? - [ ] Can you name 3+ real people who fit this persona? - [ ] Are the pain points based on things customers have actually said? - [ ] Would this persona realistically afford and value your product? - [ ] Does the messaging preference match how your best customers found you? ``` ### Customer Quotes Add 3-5 real or realistic quotes that this persona would say: ``` ## Voice of Customer Quotes "[Quote about their frustration]" "[Quote about what they want]" "[Quote about how they describe the problem to friends]" "[Quote about what success looks like to them]" ``` --- ## Phase 4: Apply Show how to use the persona in daily business decisions. ### Persona Application Guide ``` ## How to Use This Persona **When writing copy:** Read the persona first. Write as if you are talking directly to [Name]. **When creating content:** Ask "Would [Name] stop scrolling for this?" **When building features:** Ask "Does [Name] need this, or do WE think they need this?" **When pricing:** Ask "Would [Name] pay this without hesitation?" **When choosing channels:** Go where [Name] already spends time. ``` ### Persona Review Triggers Update the persona when: - You get 10+ new customers and notice a pattern shift - Your product or pricing changes significantly - Customer feedback consistently contradicts the persona - You enter a new market or segment --- ## Anti-Patterns - **Persona based on wishful thinking** — build from real customer data, not who you wish your customer was. - **Too many personas** — more than 3 personas paralyzes decision-making. Start with 1, add only when clearly needed. - **Demographics only** — knowing someone is "female, 35, MBA" tells you nothing about how to market to them. Psychographics drive behavior. - **Built once, never used** — a persona sitting in a Google Doc is waste. Reference it in every marketing and product decision. - **Consensus persona** — a persona that tries to describe everyone describes no one. Be specific, even if it feels narrow. --- ## Recovery - **User has no customer data:** Use the "best 3 customers" exercise. Even anecdotal knowledge is better than guessing. - **User serves very different customer types:** Create 2 personas maximum. Prioritize the type that drives the most revenue. - **Persona feels too narrow:** That is correct. Narrow personas create focused messaging. You will still attract adjacent customers. - **User disagrees with the psychographics:** Ask them to share actual customer quotes or feedback. Let the customer's words define the persona. - **Persona does not match current marketing:** The persona reveals the gap. Update marketing to match the persona, not vice versa.