Buyer Persona
A research-based description of the person involved in choosing or buying a product.
A buyer persona describes a person’s role, goals, constraints, objections, and influence in a purchasing decision. A SaaS account may contain several personas: the user, internal champion, budget owner, security reviewer, and final approver. Each needs different information to evaluate the same product.
Example: A reporting SaaS sells into finance teams. The analyst needs dependable imports and fewer spreadsheet corrections; the CFO needs trustworthy decisions and predictable costs; IT needs access controls and integration documentation. The company writes different evaluation materials for those roles without pretending they are separate markets.
Watch out: A persona should help explain buying behavior. Invented hobbies, favorite colors, or stock-photo biographies rarely improve a B2B decision. Interview people about actual purchases and compare what they say with observed behavior. A buyer persona differs from an ICP: the ICP defines the account or customer context, while the persona explains the people operating within it.
Further reading: Jason Cohen: Selling to Carol.
Related: ICP, lead qualification.