Identify Your Perfect Ideal Customer with this Customer Avatar Worksheet

I know you’ve heard it before. I know you understand the importance. But have you clearly defined your Perfect Ideal Customer (PIC)? Well, my friend – today, you are in luck! I’ve got a customer avatar worksheet that’s going to help you get crystal clear on your Perfect Ideal Customer!

What is a Customer Avatar?

Buyer Persona. Marketing Persona. Customer Avatar. Target Market. Perfect Ideal Customer.

These phrases are used interchangeably to describe the fictional, generalized representations of the buyer persona most likely to purchase from you.

When most people think of defining their customer avatar, they make the mistake of thinking (mostly) about their demographics, such as gender, age, location, relationship or marital status, income, education, employment, etc.

Today’s customer avatar (or as I like to call it – your Perfect Ideal Customer) needs to be more defined than that if you want to be effective in your marketing!

How Does a Customer Avatar Help You in Marketing?

Before you can sell anything effectively, you need to know…

WHO is your perfect ideal customer?
WHERE are they hanging out online?
WHAT are their challenges?
WHAT outcome are they seeking?

Ever tried to sit down and write some copy for your website and got stuck? Not because you don’t know what YOU want your Perfect Ideal Customer to do – you got stuck on what to write about because you don’t know how to communicate to them effectively. You don’t understand them on a deeper level.

Your messaging will sound like everyone else unless you do the work to understand your Perfect Ideal Customer truly and can connect with them more meaningfully.

How to Create a (Well-Defined) Customer Avatar:

STEP 1 – Name Your Perfect Ideal Customer
STEP 2 – Document Their Demographic Information
STEP 3 – List Out Their Challenges
STEP 4 – Identify How They Feel Now
STEP 5 – Document What Outcome They Are Seeking
STEP 6 – Where Are They Looking For Solutions?
STEP 7 – Make a List of Places They Hang Out (Offline and Online)
STEP 8 – List Influencers They Follow, Organizations They Are Part Of, Books They Read, Shows They Watch, Activities They Partake In

STEP 1 – Name Your Perfect Ideal Customer

When defining your Perfect Ideal Customer, I find it helpful to think about (1) the customer you worked with that thought, “If I had a business with a hundred of this type of client, my business would be amazing!”.

Write that name down (you can always change the name of your customer avatar later if you want to).

STEP 2 – Document Their Demographic Information

With that person in mind, write down their demographic information. This is the easy stuff…

What age are they?
Gender?
What’s their marital status?
Do they have children? How old are they?
What’s their occupation?
Income?
Level of Education?
Where do they live? What’s their location?

STEP 3 – List Out Their Challenges

Now, ask yourself, “What problem did your Perfect Ideal Customer struggle with before they met you (related to your products/services)?

STEP 4 – Identify How They Feel Now

How were they feeling?

STEP 5 – Document What Outcome They Are Seeking

What outcome were they seeking?

Remember, they didn’t want to buy your products or services…they wanted some outcome that your products and services would give them due to buying from you.

STEP 6 – Where Are They Looking For Solutions?

Where did they go to look for solutions?

Did they ask friends?

Did they search on Google?

Did they go to tradeshows or events?

Did they browse groups online?

STEP 7 – Make a List of Places They Hang Out (Offline and Online)

Now, identify what social platforms they are active on.

Facebook?

Twitter?

LinkedIn?

Instagram?

Snapchat?

TikTok?

STEP 8 – List Influencers They Follow, Organizations They Are Part Of, Books They Read, Shows They Watch, Activities They Partake In

Lastly, make a list of influencers they follow, organizations they are part of, books they read, shows they watch, and activities they partake in…basically, document everything you know about them.

Multiple Customer Avatars

By now, you probably think, “What if I have more than one avatar?”. You likely do – and that’s ok. Businesses with more than one product or service likely have more than one customer avatar.

The best thing to do is complete a customer avatar worksheet for each avatar you serve (or want to serve) in your business.

If you are new in business, I have some advice for you. Start serving the audience that offers you the quickest win (aka cash flow).

I’ve worked with a lot of entrepreneurs that are just starting and they try to “cast the biggest net” by working with several client types all at the same time.

It’s a huge mistake! And can cost them their business. Here me out…

As a startup, you only have time, resources, and money to attract your Perfect Ideal Customer. If you try to reach too many people simultaneously, your messaging won’t be as effective. You’ll be forced to generalize your messaging. You’ll blend in because of that. You’ll get overwhelmed. And you will run out of money trying to reach “everyone.”

Trust me – I’ve seen it many, many times.

The narrower your audience and niche, your marketing message and strategies will become more powerful and effective.

Negative Customer Avatars

Now, through this process, you might realize that you don’t understand your Perfect Ideal Customer as much as you thought you did. Do not fret, my friend!

Creating a negative customer avatar can be as beneficial as creating your customer avatar.

A negative avatar is a generalized representation of the persona you don’t want as a customer. Understanding who you don’t want to serve as a customer can sometimes make it easier to know who you want to serve. If you want to start here, which is a good idea, I’d suggest you think of that one customer who was a total nightmare to work with and document everything that made the relationship unsuccessful.

The key here is to not focus on personal characteristics of why the individual was not easy to work with, but rather on the reasons why they weren’t a good fit for your product or service—high prices, the probability of increased churn, not being properly equipped for long-term success, etc.

Learning More About Your Customer Avatar

Remember that your knowledge about your Perfect Ideal Customer will expand as you work with your customers. Be sure to update your customer avatar worksheet once a year to keep it up-to-date and current.

If you are new in business and don’t have much of a starting point, find your Perfect Ideal Customer and ask them if you can interview them. You can even pull out the customer avatar worksheet, re-craft the questions, and ask them directly! Use their words (not yours) when documenting their answers. When you use their words in your marketing and messaging, you can connect with them better. They will sense that you understand them (almost as if you were in their head).