Target Audience: How It Can Help Improve Your Site Design

It's impossible to please everyone because each person has needs of a different nature and origin. It's important to understand what needs you can cover and for which clients you will be the only choice.

A target audience is a group of people on whom the sales of a company are oriented. It's collected from those potential customers who are united by similar characteristics, goals, and lifestyles. At each stage of work, the organization should look back exactly at the audience: how customers will use the product, whether it will be convenient and useful to them, where customers learn about it, what sources of information are studied, how to attract and motivate them to buy, and so on.

When designing a website, remembering the target audience is important. If the future design is created based on your preferences and tastes, you need to realize that not every visitor to the site will appreciate the design as much as you do. This rule works for any business, be it a world-famous company like playamo.com or Amazon or a local online retailer. This is where you will need a portrait of the target consumer of your product to focus on their interests.

Defining Your Target Audience

In order not to "get lost" in the characteristics of your consumer and to determine the target audience, use systematized techniques. For example, the 5W methodology (What? Who? Why? When? Where?):

What? Describe the product you are offering: whether it's a physical product or service, and in what field it's used.

Who? Identify the potential customer who will be interested in your product in social categories: gender, age, income level, place of residence, etc.

Why? In what situation might a person need the product you are offering? Highlight a purpose or multiple purposes for which a customer might contact your company to make a purchase.

When? Will the target customer buy your product regularly or seasonally? Think about and determine how often the person will come to you. What circumstances will determine the regularity of the purchase?

Where? Explore the places from which people can find out about your product. Where is your potential customer used to buying similar products? Where can they learn about you? Correctly identifying this parameter will help you connect with your target customers.

After 5W segmentation, the portrait of your target audience becomes discernible, but can you draw it even clearer?

DISC Analysis

Your target audience can also be specified by behavior using DISC analysis (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance). Let's analyze it in detail:

Dominance — an eagle. This consumer is determined and straightforward.

Influence — a parrot. These customers are sociable and cheerful, easy to get carried away, and make impulsive decisions.

Steadiness — a pigeon. The pigeon customer is calm, patient, and tends to be constant.

Compliance — an owl. This customer compares, analyzes, and makes decisions logically.

Developing a Design Based on a Portrait of the Target Audience

Let's look at how a DISC analysis of your target audience can influence the design of your website.

Eagles

Eagles aren't noted for their patience, tend to be competitive, and are determined. It's important for an Eagle customer to show the distinctive characteristics of your product as soon as they enter the page. This consumer appreciates bright, high-quality images, the absence of unnecessary information, as well as the possibility of a quick and convenient purchase. Eagles are often wealthy people, so the design will favorably perceive deep, saturated colors and strict forms.

Pigeons

Caring and calm, pigeons are often hesitant and slow to make a decision. These consumers are quiet and modest; you rarely see feedback from them, but once they have chosen you, they will stay for a long time, as they value stability.

When choosing a product, these consumers focus on your expertise and authority, the reliability of the company, durability, or the indispensable usefulness of your products and services.

Parrots

Parrots are prone to impulsive purchases. They are energetic, sociable, and easily influenced by others, and therefore, they often get carried away by what is "on the hype." These consumers also like to declare themselves, so think about the fact that they have the opportunity to express their opinion, leave a review, and share on social media.

When developing the design, consider bright and unusual color combinations, add high-quality and memorable images, and introduce original and technological functional features to the site (for example, animation).

Owls

These customers are calm and reasonable; they can spend hours exploring the pages of your site in search of evidence in favor of buying a product from you. Such a consumer makes a decision to buy only when absolutely sure of it.

The main factors for owls are their ability to analyze, compare the product with a similar product, read reviews, and learn statistics. Don't hide anything from them, don't use unsubstantiated statements, support each fact with evidence, and you will be able to "win" the customer owl.