Proto-personas

Proto-personas are based on secondary research only and are generated when there is little time and/or money available.

Following is a brief list of some of the pros and cons associated with using proto-personas.

Pros:

• Good to develop when there is no money available for research - using this type of persona is better than having no persona at all to guide you.
• Fast and fun to construct.

Cons:

• These personas are usually created by the business using an educated ‘guess’.
• The persona is not a validated representation of your customer or consumer.
• You could be targeting the wrong customers or consumers.

When using this type of persona, it is advisable to continually improve the persona as more factual data becomes available. Create a living document that continues to expand your knowledge as information becomes available.

For information on proto-personas see the Related Links section.