Multiple target user groups

Many products are used by a wide range of users. This trend will only continue, as we build an increasingly digital world. If the product usage and expectations are significantly different among users, it makes sense to consider these as different user groups.

In the example of a global website, Japanese and British users are likely two distinct target user groups. Existing and novice users of a product comprise another example of distinct user groups; at least, they should be considered distinct when running a study, in order to understand whether user behaviors and expectations are different.

Many UX professionals use personas to describe the different target user groups. A persona is a description of a fictitious person that represents a target user of the product. Persona descriptions give this fictitious person human attributes, such as a name, age, profession, and hobbies. Products typically have one to three primary personas, and possibly a few secondary personas.

Personas list attributes that may not be directly relevant to the use of the product. Target user descriptions, on the other hand, focus on attributes that are only relevant to the use of the product. In this book, we will refrain from using personas, or the term persona, and will instead favor "target users" or "target user groups."