Marketers usually follow a set of steps to get a good idea of their product and the markets they want to enter: Define the target audience, create a marketing strategy to reach this audience, find the best way to present the product, etc.
However, is there an exact process of how to do it? Some people say there is no precise way of how to achieve this. And others say that the only way to do it is by creating customer avatars.
But what are customer avatars, and why are they so important in marketing? In this post, we answer all your questions and share everything you need to know about customer avatars. We’ve also created an example avatar that would help you better understand customer avatars.
To take it even further, we’ve got a ready-made customer avatar template that you can download and use it right away to fast-track your avatar creation process. So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
What is a Customer Avatar
A customer avatar is a hypothetical person used to represent a real customer. Typically, it is a composite of information gathered from interviews with real customers about their wants, needs, goals, pain, and problems.
Copywriters and marketers use this information to decide who to target, how to market their business, and how to position their product or service.
The right customer avatar helps you avoid wasting time and money on customers who are not a good fit for you. It enables you to focus on the people who are likely to buy your product or service.
Why do you need a Customer Avatar?
The problem with many businesses is that after they’ve developed the product, they take vague guesses at their prospects and their needs, which leads to poor-performing marketing campaigns and mediocre sales.
A properly created customer avatar helps you pinpoint your target customer, where they are, their pain and problems, and what they need.
Without a customer avatar, marketers would be stuck guessing what their customers want. They would be stuck in thinking about their product rather than their consumer’s needs.
Having a customer avatar on hand allows marketers to see the world from their customer’s point of view. That way, they can design a marketing campaign that is in sync with the customer’s perspective.
Here are some more use cases
Using customer avatars:
1. Salespeople can anticipate their customers’ needs.
2. Companies can price their products for a perfect selling strategy.
3. Copywriters can write copy that connects and has a consistent tone of voice.
4. Digital marketers can run ads that specifically target their ideal buyers.
5. Content writers and bloggers can create content that answers the burning questions that their readers have.
6. PR professionals can create media-friendly content.
7. Social media marketers can write engaging posts that resonate with their target audience
8. Business owners can find the right product-market fit.
Now that you understand why customer avatars are so important, let’s dive into what goes into creating one.
Customer Avatars: What to Include
The standard answer to this is that you should include everything that helps you figure out who you are marketing to. The more information you have, the better.
But we know that this is easier said than done. So here are some things that the top marketers include in their customer avatars.
1. Demographic Information of your ideal customer: age, gender, income, education level
2. Their goals and values
3. Sources of information: books, magazines, blogs
4. Challenges and pain points
5. Objections and role in the purchase process
6. Behavioral Data: how often do they shop online, how many products do they buy in each category, and so on
7. Psychographic Data: attitude towards a specific brand, reasons for buying products, biasing towards certain business practices, and so on.
Now that you know what you should include in your customer avatar, let’s understand how to create one.
The 3-step Process to Create a Customer Avatar
Step 1: Create Your List of Prospective Buyers
Use any means necessary to create a list of people who would be interested in your product or service. This could include asking questions to your existing customers, researching social media profiles of people who have shown interest in your business, and simply making a note of the sales history of your competitors.
Step 2: Interview Customers
After you have created the list of potential customers, it’s time to reach out to them and find out why they would use your product or service.
The reasons why people use a product or service can be very telling.
And the most effective way to find out why people would use your product or service is to get on a call and ask them. Ask them questions about their situation, goals, and how they envision using your product or service.
Use this information to fill your customer avatar template.
Pro Tip: We’ve got a free ready-made customer avatar template for you. Check it out here.
Step 3: Collect Other Information about Your Prospective Customers
In addition to getting customer input, you should also collect other information. This can include demographics, past purchases, and any other thing that will help you understand their needs better.
Again, fill up all this in your customer avatar template.
Pro Tip: Don’t aim for perfection. The ideal customer avatar doesn’t exist. Every marketer and business on the planet uses data (similar to what we collected in the above steps) to infer their ideal customer avatar.
Now that you’ve built your customer avatar, let’s understand how to use it to create high-performing marketing campaigns.
How to Use Your Customer Avatar
Customer avatars are used to build and perfect your marketing strategy. There are four main points that marketers and businesses need to nail down:
1. Positioning: Why do people need your product or service? What does it offer that other products don’t?
2. Benefits: What makes your customer avatar happy and satisfied with your business and product?
3. Pricing: How much should you charge for the product or service, and when should you charge it?
4. Targeting: Who should you target with your marketing campaigns to get the most effectiveness?
When you nail down these 4 points, you’ll be able to create a marketing plan that gets results.
Again, don’t aim for perfection. Even the top marketers say that 50% of the money they spent on marketing and advertising gets wasted.
How to use customer avatar as a copywriter
As a copywriter, you will use all this information at every point in your writing and creation process to write copy that tells your reader that you understand their challenges and problems. That you understand the goals that are important to them.
With correct information at your disposal, you can get into the minds of your readers, and write copy that connects, talks to them, and sells without being salesy.
Customer Avatar Example:
Free Customer Avatar Template
You can download our free customer avatar template from here.
Conclusion
It is of utmost importance to use customer avatars in your marketing strategy. A customer avatar not only helps you with targeting but also creates a framework for pricing and benefits — the things that are instrumental in reaching out to customers and building high-performing marketing strategies.
Especially if you’re a business, it’s essential to take some time and think about your target audience so that you can adapt your marketing strategy more effectively. Marketing campaigns that know the exact needs of their audience will always require less money and time, and bring a greater return on investment (ROI).
FAQ
What is a company avatar?
A company avatar is a description of the company’s practices, culture, and values. This typically includes information about what marketers can expect when they try to contact that company. This information could also include any important events that happen within the company over time, as well as an image and contact information for their social media and their website.
Who is your ideal customer?
Your perfect customer is someone who is struggling with the exact problems that your product solves, and is actively looking for a product that could solve those problems.
I hope this article gave you all the information that you were looking for. If there’s anything missing, comment below, and I will help you find it.
All the best with your avatar creation and marketing campaigns. Do share your avatar with me at [email protected]. I’ll reply with some actionable insights on your avatar. This could save you loads of money in the long run.
Who am I?
Hey, I’m Himanshu Ganoliya, a copywriting and marketing enthusiast. You can find more about me here.
