Keep your perfect customer in the cross-hairs

Answering a question this morning about how Google Analytics helps your website made me think about how important it is to target your perfect customers.

It's a fairly basic marketing principle: to create a persona of your ideal customer and then target your marketing to that person. It helps with all sorts of creative decisions, from content to colours, to think about what would appeal most to your ideal customer.

How does this translate into your website design? Here's a few ideas:

• Focus on your customer throughout the design process - right from the start - to make sure the colours, imagery and photos appeal to the right person (not necessarily you or your designer).
• Write using language that is appropriate, compelling and easy to understand for your ideal customer.
• Know what motivates them to purchase your product or service. It might have plenty of benefits, but some will appeal more to your perfect customer than others. Focus on these benefits.
• Provide clear links from your front page for each of the things your ideal customer will want to do on your site. Then make these processes as easy as possible to perform.
• Have information and news that relates directly to the needs of your customer. Even better if you can work in how your product or servces meets that need!
• Ask real life people who fit your profile to test your website. Focus on two things: whether they can perform the tasks they want to do and whether they find it appealing.
• Accept feedback from your users, both formally and informally.