Customer-Centered Design: A New Approach to Web Usability

Psychographics

Understanding customers is more than mining demographic data. There is a psychographic element as well, as shown in Figure 2-1. Psychographics include the activities, attitudes, values, opinions, and interests of the consumers. They ultimately affect motivations, needs, and personality traits that affect buying behavior. Some businesses actually name a person in a target segment to replicate an actual customer. If “Jane” is their target, they will continually ask what “Jane” would think about each program or service they propose. This technique certainly brings the staff closer to thinking about the customer, but it doesn't help that only “Jane” will benefit and “Jim” may not.

Figure 2-1. Each demographic and psychographic element ...