Common Persona Mistakes
Avoid these mistakes that make personas useless
Your Progress
Section 5 of 5Test Your Persona Knowledge
Persona Mistake Detector
Spot common persona mistakes. Test your understanding.
7 Common Persona Mistakes
1. Creating Personas Without Research
The Problem: You sit in a conference room. Your team guesses what users want. You call it a persona.
This is a proto-persona. It is fiction. Users will not match your assumptions.
The Fix: Interview 5+ real users before creating a persona. Base it on data, not guesses.
2. Creating Too Many Personas
The Problem: You have 8 personas. You try to satisfy all of them. You build features nobody loves.
Too many personas = no focus. Your product becomes mediocre for everyone.
The Fix: Limit to 3-5 personas maximum. Start with one primary persona. Add more only when necessary.
3. Being Too Vague
The Problem: "Sarah is a busy professional who wants to be more productive."
Who is not busy? Who does not want to be productive? This describes everyone and nobody.
The Fix: Be specific. "Sarah manages a team of 8 engineers. She needs to ship features without surprises. She reviews 30+ pull requests weekly."
4. Being Too Specific (About Irrelevant Details)
The Problem: "Alex drives a Tesla, drinks oat milk lattes, and does yoga on Sundays."
Lifestyle details have nothing to do with how Alex uses your product. This is noise.
The Fix: Focus on behaviors related to product usage. Include only details that explain context or decisions.
5. Creating Personas and Never Using Them
The Problem: You spend 2 weeks creating personas. They sit in a PDF. Nobody opens it. Decisions ignore them.
Personas without usage = wasted effort. They become the "PDF graveyard."
The Fix: Make personas visible. Reference them in meetings. Add to PRD templates. Use them or lose them.
6. Confusing Personas with Segments
The Problem: "Our persona is: Enterprise customers, 50+ employees, annual contract value $50k+."
That is a market segment. Personas are about individual human behavior, not company size.
The Fix: Personas describe a person. Segments describe a group. Do not confuse the two.
7. Never Updating Personas
The Problem: You created personas in 2019. Market shifted. Product evolved. Personas stayed the same.
Personas go stale. Users change. Products change. Your persona should too.
The Fix: Update personas quarterly. Validate after major launches. Keep them current.
Assess Your Persona Quality
Persona Quality Scorecard
Assess your persona quality. Answer honestly.
Based on at least 5 real user interviews?
Validated with real users in last 3 months?
Team actively references it in product decisions?
Includes specific behaviors, not just demographics?
Goals are specific and measurable?
Pain points are concrete and actionable?
Includes direct quotes from user research?
You can name 3+ users who match this persona?
Context explains when/where/why they use product?
No irrelevant lifestyle details (coffee, hobbies)?
Focused on 3-5 personas total, not 8+?
Updated after major product launches or market shifts?
Answer all questions to see your quality score
Good Personas Are Simple
The best personas fit on one page. They answer: Who is this person? What do they want? Why do they struggle? When you can answer those questions clearly, you have a good persona.
Key Takeaways
- •Never create personas without interviewing real users first.
- •Limit to 3-5 personas. More than that = no focus.
- •Be specific about behaviors and goals. Avoid vague statements like "wants to be productive."
- •Skip irrelevant lifestyle details (coffee, hobbies, car). Focus on product-related context.
- •Use personas in decisions or stop creating them. PDF graveyard helps nobody.
- •Personas describe people. Segments describe groups. Do not confuse them.
- •Update personas quarterly or after major launches. Keep them current.