Let’s be honest: bringing up personas when building a SaaS product can feel like hitting the brakes on momentum. Everyone’s fired up to keep building, and here you are asking the team, or maybe just yourself, to slow down for what sounds like a design exercise. But skipping personas is foregoing the research that should inform every decision you make. And that can cost your project far more down the line.
Personas aren’t some fluffy agency artifact. Done right, they’re the fuel for better product decisions, clearer priorities, and fewer wrong turns.
Why Discipline > Experience
Even experienced teams fall into the trap of thinking they know the user well enough to skip formal research. I get it—I’ve done the same. But experience isn’t a substitute for data. Users always surprise you.
David C. Baker nailed it in The Business of Expertise when he said, “Enjoy your work and be disciplined about the parts you don’t.” Creating real personas is rarely anyone’s favorite part. But if you do it right, it becomes the difference between designing for your assumptions and building with empathy.
Breaking It Down Into Smaller Missions
If “create personas” feels overwhelming, break it down:
- Interview just five users.
- Pull your top 10 queries from site search.
- Ask support for the five most common issues.
- Run a 3-question survey post-login.
It doesn’t need to be fancy. You’re not looking for perfection; you’re looking for patterns. And those patterns become personas.
The ROI Is Real
In Forrester’s The ROI of Personas, redesigns using personas saw up to 4x higher returns than those without. That’s not a gut feeling. That’s math. That's data.
So yes, personas take work. But they pay off in stronger strategy, better UX, and clearer product direction. I’ve never regretted taking the time to do them right.
Do the work. Quit the get-rich-quick, vibe-coding dream and solve real problems.
FWIW, I'm the co-founder of a SaaS developer tool and I used to own an agency that marketed digital products.
charpie•8mo ago
Personas aren’t some fluffy agency artifact. Done right, they’re the fuel for better product decisions, clearer priorities, and fewer wrong turns.
Why Discipline > Experience
Even experienced teams fall into the trap of thinking they know the user well enough to skip formal research. I get it—I’ve done the same. But experience isn’t a substitute for data. Users always surprise you.
David C. Baker nailed it in The Business of Expertise when he said, “Enjoy your work and be disciplined about the parts you don’t.” Creating real personas is rarely anyone’s favorite part. But if you do it right, it becomes the difference between designing for your assumptions and building with empathy.
Breaking It Down Into Smaller Missions If “create personas” feels overwhelming, break it down:
- Interview just five users.
- Pull your top 10 queries from site search.
- Ask support for the five most common issues.
- Run a 3-question survey post-login.
It doesn’t need to be fancy. You’re not looking for perfection; you’re looking for patterns. And those patterns become personas.
The ROI Is Real
In Forrester’s The ROI of Personas, redesigns using personas saw up to 4x higher returns than those without. That’s not a gut feeling. That’s math. That's data.
So yes, personas take work. But they pay off in stronger strategy, better UX, and clearer product direction. I’ve never regretted taking the time to do them right.
Do the work. Quit the get-rich-quick, vibe-coding dream and solve real problems.
FWIW, I'm the co-founder of a SaaS developer tool and I used to own an agency that marketed digital products.