SMB Personas
User-Centered Marketing, Product, & Design Decisions
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders.
The Challenge
PayPal Canada wanted to gain insights about Canadian SMBs, PayPal, and the competitive landscape to help it make more effective marketing, sales, and product decisions.
The Solution
During 2015, Preference Analytics conducted qualitative research sessions with SMBs in the form of one-on-one interviews with the specific objectives of:
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Exploring the online payment decision-making process
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Observing perceptions of payment processors, including PayPal, and attitudes to online payments in general
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Obtaining reaction to several marketing concepts
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Building personas that represent current and future online SMBs
In-depth, one-hour interviews were conducted with 40 SMBs across eight Canadian provinces, in English and French, and across different industries. Both PayPal merchants and non-customers were interviewed in-person and via interactive phone or online interviews.
Half of the 40 interviews were organized by how SMBs sell online (via a marketplace, transactional website, multi-channel, etc.). The other twenty interviews were organized by the type of tool or payment solution similar to PayPal’s existing solutions.
The Results
One key output of the study was a set of personas. Personas are a narrative description of attitudes, goals, behaviors, and preferences. They are typically based on segment data but are about one person who is a representative of the segment. Personas are used as a “gut check” tool that gives product managers and marketers a feel for the segment that can help guide decisions.
These personas were used by PayPal Canada to guide user-centered marketing, product, and design decisions. Please contact us to discuss the personas.