How to Create Form Fields to Identify Buyer Personas

Now that you’ve gone through the process of creating your buyer personas, what now? How do you determine what leads are associated with each persona so that you can better serve them appropriate and capitalize on the buyer personas? How do you know which persona a contact most relates to? I sought out these same questions when I first started creating form fields to identify personas. Doing a quick google search, I could find plenty of information on how to create personas, how to create form fields in HubSpot, and the importance of identifying which persona your leads fall under. I was not, however, able to find any information on what kinds of questions to ask to qualify leads for a specific persona. Since then, I have figured out how to tackle persona form field questions and now it’s time to share what I’ve learned.

Anytime one of your website visitors fills out a form, it gives you an opportunity to find out more information about them. In this case you want to associate them with one of the personas you've developed. In HubSpot, the form fields can automatically link a contact to your buyer personas. After you have identified which persona a contact belongs to, you can start to serve them specific emails and content for their unique needs and problems.

What Kind of Information Should You Ask?

Below, are some considerations for what kinds of information you can collect as well as appropriate situations for collecting that data.

Information Needed to Qualify a Lead

Ask yourself what you would like to know about this person so that you can better meet their needs. Consider some of the unique challenges and situations that differentiate your buyer personas.

The Amount of Information Asked Matches the Offer

You want to ask questions that don’t seem too intrusive or ask too many question relative to the offer. For example, you can ask visitors more information for a template download than a blog subscription. Since the offer is greater, the amount of questions required can reflect that.

The Kinds of Questions That Identify Your Personas

The information needed to qualify your lead into different buyer personas will be different for everyone. That being said, there is a process you can use to determine your personas through form field questions.

1. Identify the main difference between your personas. Go through your personas and start to take notes on what makes your personas different from one another. Start considering things like job role, biggest challenge, and their biggest goals.
2. Once you find the snippets of information that differentiate your personas, start thinking about what bits of information would be most useful to know about them. 
3. Figure out how you want to word your form field questions (multiple choice questions) and use those distinct persona qualities for the possible answers your visitors can choose from. Note, the selections should be reasonably sure to not offend visitors (see example below).
4. Determine the forms on which you intend to use the questions. Do you want to identify your persona from the start, or do you want to send a content offer later and gather the persona information at that time, having already secured their contact info?
5. Revisit your personas documents to determine if you want more detailed information on your list segments. Remember, your personas are a tool to draw generalizations about a group of contacts so that you can better serve them relevant content, so make sure to continually revisit those documents and further test and adjust your forms accordingly.

Form Field Example for Assisted Living Business

Form Field:

Which Option Best Describes You?

Drop Down Options:

I'm a senior who wants less responsibility with home ownership and help with food/chores.

I'm a child of a senior and am looking for a clean and safe place for my parent(s) to live.

I'm the spouse of a senior who needs additional care, and we want to remain living together. 

Using form fields in HubSpot can be a powerful tool to give you insight into your potential customers and to create manageable lists to whom you can present your content. In the bigger picture, buyer personas can transform businesses and increase sales. It’s not always obvious what questions should be asked in order to gain anything meaningful. If you’re asking only for general information that applies to all personas, how will that help you differentiate your prospects for marketing? Be thoughtful about what questions you ask on your form fields so that you can identify buyer personas. Once captured, those insights can be used in your marketing efforts to keep your marketing more personal and human... which is the most profound reason to use marketing automation. If you'd like to explore how to best deploy HubSpot forms to capture and take advantage of persona information, please don't hesitate to contact us.