In Genezio, a persona is the type of user who can ask an answer engine questions about a brand. A persona defines who asks the questions, where the user is, and which language the user speaks, so that Genezio can simulate realistic conversations. Each persona is part of a specific brand, and most topics have a persona. Thus, Genezio makes the conversations from the point of view of the real customers of the brand. For Introspector topics, the persona is optional. Refer to Introspector agent.

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What a persona represents

A persona describes a typical user or buyer of the analyzed brand. For example, a persona can be:
  • A startup founder who looks for CRM software
  • A marketing manager who looks for automation tools
  • A runner who examines shoes for marathon training
Genezio models the user behind the question. Thus, the conversations are more similar to the real interactions with answer engines.

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The attributes of a persona

Each persona has attributes that change how Genezio makes the conversations.

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Brand

Each persona is part of a specific brand. Thus, the persona is a typical customer or user of the products or the services of that brand. Example:
  • Brand: HubSpot
  • Persona: Startup founder who manages sales and marketing

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Language

Each persona speaks a specific language. Genezio uses this language when it runs conversations with answer engines. Example:
  • English
  • Spanish
  • French
Genezio writes the prompts, gets the answers, and does the analysis in that language.

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Location

Each persona also has a country and a city. Genezio runs the conversations as if the user is in that specific location. This makes the conditions realistic, because answer engines can change their answers for a geographic location. For example:
  • Country: United States
  • City: San Francisco
Or:
  • Country: Germany
  • City: Berlin
The location can change the recommendations, the available products, the regulatory context, or the regional preferences.

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Genezio acts as the persona in conversations

When Genezio talks to an answer engine, it acts as the defined persona. Genezio writes the prompts and the follow-up questions as if it is that user. Genezio speaks to the answer engine as the persona. For example, the persona is:
  • A startup founder
  • In San Francisco
  • A speaker of English
Genezio writes the conversation with the answer engine from that point of view. The questions, the tone, and the context agree with how that specific user asks for recommendations or for information. Thus, the answers of the answer engines show realistic user behavior, not the behavior of generic test prompts.

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How Genezio uses personas

Personas change how Genezio runs topics and scenarios in conversations. The process is:
  1. A brand defines one or more personas.
  2. Each topic has a persona. For Introspector topics, the persona is optional.
  3. Genezio makes scenarios from that topic and that persona.
  4. Genezio runs conversations with the answer engine and acts as the persona.
  5. The conversation uses the language and the geographic context of the persona.
Thus, the conversations show how real users from specific markets can interact with answer engines.

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Example: one persona and one topic

A brand sells CRM software for startups. A persona can be:
  • Persona: Early-stage startup founder
  • Language: English
  • Country: United States
  • City: San Francisco
A topic for this persona can be:
When Genezio runs conversations for this topic, the answer engine gets prompts that simulate a user in San Francisco. The user asks questions in English about CRM solutions.

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Example: different personas for the same brand

Personas are very important when the same brand serves different types of users. For example, a bank offers debit cards. Two personas can interact with answer engines in very different ways. Persona 1: Teenager (15 years old)
  • Goal: get a debit card that is connected to the account of the parents
  • Language: informal, simple
  • Possible questions:
Persona 2: Adult (40 years old)
  • Goal: open a new personal bank account
  • Language: more direct and financial
  • Possible questions:
The two personas can interact with the same brand and similar products. But they ask questions in different ways, and thus the answer engines can give very different answers. When you model personas, Genezio can find these differences. It simulates how answer engines reply to different types of users.

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Create a persona from a document

You possibly have persona research in a document. Examples are a buyer-persona document, an internal customer-research deck, a job description, or other text that describes your customers. You can upload this document, and Genezio makes a persona from it automatically. This is the fastest procedure to get a usable persona. It is the recommended start for teams that:
  • Keep persona documents in a research repository or in marketing collateral
  • Have customer-research output from a CRM, a customer success tool, or a sales discovery process
  • Want to start without a form of many fields

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How persona import works

Upload the document on the persona creation screen. Genezio reads the document and makes a persona from its content. The persona has a name, a role, a country, a city, a language, and supporting context. Genezio saves the persona immediately as a real persona of the brand. You can edit it after, as any other persona. Each upload makes one persona. If your document describes many different personas, upload it one time for each persona, or divide the document. For the procedure, refer to Generating personas from documents.

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Why persona import is important

The largest problem when you start with the platform is to make good personas. A weak persona gives weak conversations, and weak conversations give weak insights. A real document already shows how your team thinks about a customer segment. When you start from it, you get a useful persona in one step. Your team does not have to write a persona in an empty form. For customers who already have persona research, this is an import in one step.

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Manage personas

Genezio helps you keep personas organized and portable:
  • Export personas: You can export all your personas at one time, or export one specific persona. This is useful when you share persona definitions, or when you keep them together with other research.
  • Summary field: Each persona can have a summary. The summary shows quickly who the persona is and what is important to the persona.
  • Consistent country list: The persona creation uses a consistent country list. Thus, the locations are the same across all personas. Genezio then makes and uses personas in the language and the location of each persona. Thus, the conversations stay in the correct market.

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Filter reports by persona

When the topics of a brand use two or more personas, a persona filter shows in the header of the report. When you select a persona, the report shows only the data of that persona. Thus, you can see how the answers are different for a startup founder and for an enterprise buyer. The filter stays the same across screens. It is next to the Master Filters list. If you have only one persona, there is nothing to compare, and the filter does not show.

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Why personas are important

Personas let Genezio simulate realistic discovery situations. Different users ask different questions. The questions change with:
  • The role of the user
  • The goals of the user
  • The market of the user
  • The language of the user
When Genezio models these factors, it shows better how answer engines reply to real users.

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Next steps

To know how Genezio uses personas to make the conversations that measure visibility, refer to:

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Personas in the public API

To read and change personas, refer to List personas.