To bring this person to forefront of your mind in crystal clarity, here are examples of kinds of questions you need to answer. And your answers need to be reevaluated now and then, as your understanding of your customers grows.

Male Or Female

Your Perfect Customer is male or female, but not both.

Consider an oil additive. It doesn't take long to decide your Perfect Customer is male. Consider face creams. Female.

Name it, then put a sex to it. Even if your target is roughly split between male and female, you need to add a sex to your Perfect Customer.

Why? Because regardless of your sex, you can talk more effectively to men or to women than you can to both. It's a matter of voice, which includes tone and words selected.

A person selling a car to a married couple talks to both at same time. But key dialog is directed at decision maker, male or female. That directed to spouse is quite different, and is intended to specifically address his or her concerns.

On Web, we can't switch between two modes of dialog. Thus we need to settle on male or female.

There's No Loss In This

In end, there is no loss in making this decision. If you decide to address males, females will listen without reservation provided they are also interested in what your product can do for them. And conversely.

All you need to do is avoid sexist related dialog. "Men just don't get it," will cost you male vote. "Women just don't understand these things," will cost you female vote. Avoid such blunders at all times. They put your business at risk.

In deciding between using "he" or "she" when speaking to both genders, use "she" exclusively if your target is into political correctness. Use "he" with those over say 55. You'll have to do some figuring for a target in middle somewhere.

Your decision will probably be gender most likely to buy your product. But do make a decision. The "s/he" bit annoys all.

Turning To Age

You need to assign an age to your Perfect Customer. Again, so long as dialog is authentic, people older or younger will follow along without difficulty. Confusion arises only when we try to speak across too great a range. In doing so, we lose authenticity. And all fails.

> Intuitives ... use intuition. Concentrate on possibilities. They avoid details and tend to look at big picture.

> Thinkers ... analytical, precise, and logical. They process a lot of information, often ignoring emotional or feeling aspects of a situation.

> Feelers ... interested in feelings of others. They dislike intellectual analysis and follow their own likes and dislikes.

> Sensors ... see things as they are and have great respect for facts. They have an enormous capacity for detail and seldom make errors.

Which Best Suits You?

Texts in psychology also often break people into types as above. I have seen several dozen such definitions. Each is often quite different from others. With apologies to Stout and Rivkin (and many others), I don't find such groupings helpful.

While many of people I have known might seem best suited to one definition, each includes key characteristics from others. Did you find one that suited you? Or are you one who is some combination of two or more categories?

The reason for defining such categories in marketing is to get a better focus on your Perfect Customer. If you can do so, no doubt your dialog will be stronger. It is because of this possibility that I included above. Most, however, will not want to slice things so thin.

Situations Vary As Much As People Do

If you are selling a computer, complete details will fill a large book. Even most dedicated fact finder doesn't want that much information. On other hand, if you're selling balloons, what details are available?

Visitors to your website may be predominantly one type or another, but this depends to a large extent upon what you are offering. If you are selling lures to fisherman, you are going to meet all of these types, and combinations of them.

As buyers, personality types may not hold. Thoughtful, introspective people may buy after just a glance, particularly if they're in a hurry. The impulsive type who generally buys with little thought, may become engrossed in tiniest details and refuse to make a decision until all questions have been answered.

Other Models

As suggested, there are other sets of categories into which people can be grouped. Hundreds have been published. Here's one that works pretty well for me.