Problem space
The process began with a thorough review of all existing research, including documented support calls, cancellation reasons, surveys, documented customer interactions, and marketing research. This provided a solid foundation of information and insights about our users.
I then organised and ran a workshop to create proto-personas, aiming to align the team’s existing assumptions about our users without relying on new research. Participants from the Sales, Support, CX, and Marketing teams contributed to this effort, helping to shape our initial understanding of who our users might be.
Following the workshop, I sent out a survey to gain a deeper understanding of our users' needs and pain points. Concurrently, I conducted in-depth interviews with 25 users, each lasting 40 minutes. These interviews were crucial in gathering detailed information about our users' demographics, roles, needs, frustrations, and pain points.
Solution space
After collecting the qualitative data from the interviews, I organised it into smaller groups, identifying keywords, sentiments, and themes based on their relationships. This helped in identifying patterns and drawing meaningful insights from the data.
I then compared these findings to the proto-personas we had created earlier, validating or disproving our initial assumptions. This step was essential in refining our understanding and ensuring that the personas were accurate and reflective of our actual user base.
Finally, I presented the findings and our first personas to the company. This comprehensive and collaborative process resulted in the creation of personas that provided valuable insights into our users, helping to guide future decisions and strategies for Matomo.
Objectives and key results
Building the first personas for Matomo resulted in a unified understanding of our users across all departments, ensuring everyone was aligned on their characteristics and needs. This clarity helped prioritise work effectively, focusing on features and improvements that would have the most significant impact. Additionally, the personas fostered empathy within the team, guiding user-centric decisions and enhancing the overall user experience.
