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Cases

Ohjelma
Bike Lease Finland

Bike Lease Finland

Leasing and maintenance of employee bicycles, digital services.

Ohjelma
Excelence Solutions

Excelence Solutions

Consulting and data analytics, expert services and consulting.

Ohjelma
Finnish Timber Oy

Finnish Timber Oy

Ecological log buildings and construction site processes, project business.

Ohjelma
Green Scape

Green Scape

Customized green wall services for B2B clients, service business.

Ohjelma
Marine Craft

Marine Craft

Customized motorboats, project delivery, manufacturing industry.

Ohjelma
Scandinavian Design

Scandinavian Design

Leasing and maintenance of company bicycles, digital services.

Task

Building a Buyer Persona



In this task, the student will create a buyer persona for a case company that describes a typical customer or buyer. They will utilize the case description and make appropriate assumptions about the customer's background, goals, challenges, and purchasing criteria. The result will be a practical one-page buyer persona description that could be used in marketing and sales planning. This task develops customer understanding and helps to see the company’s offering through the eyes of the customer.

Learning objectives

After completing the task, the student:
1. Can describe the typical customer of the case company in the form of a buyer persona.
2. Can structure the customer's background, goals, challenges, and purchasing criteria based on the case description.
3. Can make appropriate, justified assumptions about the customer's behavior and motives.
4. Can produce a buyer persona description that can be utilized in marketing and sales planning.

Step by step

  1. Building a buyer persona

    Objective:
    The objective of this assignment is for the student to describe a typical customer of the case company in the form of a single buyer persona. The aim is to structure the customer’s background, goals, challenges and purchase criteria based on the case description and justified assumptions.

    Material:

    • The case description of the selected case company from the learning material.

    • The assignment is based on the customer information provided in the case description and on moderate, logical assumptions based on it.

    Assignment process (instructions for the student):

    1. Choose the perspective of the buyer persona
      Decide whether you will describe:

      • a consumer customer (B2C) or

      • a business customer decision-maker (B2B, e.g. procurement manager, entrepreneur).
        Briefly justify (3–5 sentences) why this type of person is important for the case company.

    2. Describe the person’s background
      Write 1–2 paragraphs describing the buyer persona’s:

      • basic information (age range, role/occupation, life situation)

      • environment (e.g. where they live or the size of the organisation they work in)

      • daily life (what they do for work or in their free time).
        Use creative but appropriate and justified assumptions based on the case description.

    3. Specify goals and motivations
      Describe in 5–7 sentences what the buyer persona wants to achieve with the offering of the case company. Consider:

      • what kinds of results or benefits they expect (e.g. saving time, saving costs, ease, quality, experiences)

      • which values or motivations affect their decisions (e.g. safety, sustainability, price, status).

    4. Identify challenges and pain points
      List at least 3–5 key challenges or “pain points” the buyer persona experiences in the current situation. Briefly describe:

      • what the problem is

      • why it is difficult or stressful for them

      • how it shows in daily life (e.g. rush, uncertainty, errors, discomfort).

    5. Define purchase criteria
      Describe the basis on which the buyer persona chooses a supplier or service provider. Write half a page about:

      • which 3–5 things they need to feel are in order before they will buy (e.g. price–quality ratio, reliability of service, easy onboarding, recommendations)

      • which factors can prevent a purchase decision (e.g. too high a price, unclear benefit, insufficient support).
        Justify why these purchase criteria fit the target group of your case company.

    6. Summarise the buyer persona on one page
      Finally, compile a one-page buyer persona description that presents:

      • the buyer persona’s name or nickname (e.g. “Busy Kaisa”, “Procurement Manager Harri”)

      • a concise background description

      • the main goals

      • the key challenges

      • the 3–5 most important purchase criteria.
        Aim to write in a way that gives the sales or marketing team a clear understanding of the customer.

    Submission and evaluation:
    Submit a text of approximately 1–2 pages that includes:

    • the selected buyer persona perspective (B2C/B2B) and a short justification

    • the buyer persona’s background, goals, challenges and purchase criteria

    • a one-page summary that functions as a practical buyer persona description.

    Evaluation will focus on how well you:

    • use the case description and make justified assumptions that fit it

    • describe the buyer persona’s daily life and motivations concretely

    • structure the challenges and purchase criteria clearly and in a way that is useful for marketing

    • write in an understandable and customer-oriented way.

    Recommended working time: about 45–60 minutes, individually or in pairs.

Tasks by audience and theme

University of applied sciences

Polytechnics and higher education studies.

68 tasks