Many companies describe customers, but do not always understand them
The buyer persona has become one of the most popular tools in modern marketing. Many companies use it to organize audience information, define ideal customer profiles and guide content, sales or advertising campaigns. In principle, this can be useful. The problem appears when the buyer persona becomes a superficial template that creates the impression of understanding without producing real insight.
Knowing that a customer has a certain age, lives in a specific city, works in a particular industry or consumes certain types of content may provide context. But these facts do not explain by themselves why that person buys, what problem they are trying to solve, which alternatives they consider, what creates doubt or what signals they need in order to trust.
Two people with similar demographic characteristics may make completely different decisions. They may have different priorities, different levels of urgency, opposite objections and deeper motivations that do not appear in a basic description. Understanding the customer therefore requires going beyond organized profiles. It requires understanding the situation in which the customer makes a decision.
The real challenge is not filling out a better template. It is learning to observe the market better.
The buyer persona is a tool, not a truth
The buyer persona is not useless. It can help synthesize information, align teams and prevent companies from communicating too generically. But it should be understood as an organized hypothesis, not as a definitive truth about the customer.
When built from real interviews, behavioral analysis, sales data, customer service feedback and market observation, it can become a valuable starting point. But when it comes from internal assumptions, clichés or the marketing team’s imagination, it can distort strategy.
The risk is that the company believes it understands the customer because it assigned a fictional name, age, job title and list of interests. That representation may look professional while still being strategically weak if it does not explain real decisions.
Deeper understanding requires more demanding questions. What is this person trying to solve? What is stopping them? What are they comparing? What do they fear losing? What evidence do they need before moving forward? What previous experience influences their current decision? These questions move the analysis beyond profile and closer to behavior.
Data about the customer is not the same as customer understanding
One of the paradoxes of modern marketing is that companies have more data than ever, but do not necessarily understand customers better. Digital tools allow organizations to observe clicks, searches, purchases, forms, abandoned carts, email opens and website behavior. All of this can be useful, but it only becomes knowledge when interpreted with judgment.
Data shows signals. Understanding appears when the company connects those signals with context, motivation and decision-making. A customer who abandons a page may be comparing prices, but may also be confused, distrustful or simply unable to find enough clarity. A user asking for more information may not need more data, but more confidence. Someone delaying a purchase is not always uninterested; they may be reducing risk.
This distinction is fundamental. Data-driven marketing should not be limited to accumulating metrics. It should help generate better hypotheses about what the customer experiences before, during and after the decision.
That is where customer understanding becomes a strategic capability, not merely an analytical activity.
The customer should be understood through the problem they are trying to solve
The Jobs to Be Done approach, developed and popularized by Clayton Christensen and other authors, offers an especially useful idea: people do not simply buy products or services; they “hire” them to make progress in a specific circumstance. This perspective shifts attention from who the customer is to what progress the customer is trying to make.
That distinction changes the way marketing is understood. A company should not ask only “who is my customer,” but also “what situation is this person trying to solve?” The same product may be chosen for different reasons depending on context. A digital tool may be purchased to save time, reduce errors, gain control, demonstrate professionalism or avoid a previous bad experience.
When a company understands the “job” the customer is trying to solve, it can design a better value proposition, communication and experience. It no longer limits itself to describing features; it can connect with the real reason someone is looking for a solution.
This also helps avoid a frequent mistake: assuming the customer buys for the reason the company considers most logical. Often, the real motivation sits beneath the visible answer.
Friction reveals strategic opportunities
Declared preferences matter, but they are not enough. People do not always explain accurately what they need, what they value or what prevents them from moving forward. For this reason, friction across the journey often reveals highly valuable information.
Where customers abandon, which questions they repeat, which objections appear in sales, which steps create delay, which channels they avoid and which alternatives they compare can reveal opportunities that surveys may not detect.
The customer journey helps observe this reality more clearly. It is not enough to know who the customer is. Companies need to understand how customers discover an option, evaluate alternatives, search for information, develop trust, face doubts and behave after the purchase.
In many cases, improving conversion does not require communicating more, but reducing friction. Clarifying a proposition, simplifying a process, improving a page, offering evidence or adjusting the message can have more impact than increasing advertising spend.
Segmentation must become more intelligent
Segmentation should not mean dividing the market into generic groups. Useful segmentation identifies real differences in needs, behavior, expected value and decision criteria.
Two customers may belong to the same industry and still require different messages because they are in different moments. One may be exploring options; another may be ready to buy. One may prioritize price; another may value trust, support or speed. One may need education; another needs evidence.
Modern segmentation must therefore combine data, insights and strategic judgment. It is not only about classifying people, but about understanding which differences matter in order to design better offers, communication and experiences.
When segmentation is superficial, personalization will also be superficial. When segmentation reflects real problems, marketing becomes more precise and less invasive.
Customer understanding connects the whole organization
Customer understanding does not belong only to the marketing department. It affects product, sales, pricing, distribution, customer service and overall strategy.
Product teams need to understand which problems are worth solving. Sales teams need to understand objections and decision criteria. Customer service detects friction that marketing and product teams should listen to. Strategy needs to know which segments have greater potential and where differentiation opportunities exist.
When this information remains isolated, the company loses learning. Marketing may communicate something sales cannot sustain. Product may build features the market does not value. Customer service may receive repeated problems without the organization turning them into improvement.
Customer understanding should become a cross-functional capability. It is not a pre-campaign activity; it is a continuous discipline of observation, interpretation and adjustment.
Final reflection
Understanding the customer is not about filling out a template with age, job title, interests and goals. It is about understanding what problem the customer is trying to solve, what progress they seek, what friction they face, which alternatives they consider and what signals they need in order to trust.
The buyer persona can be useful, but only when it forms part of a deeper process of research and learning. If it remains a superficial description, it can create a false sense of clarity.
In saturated markets, many companies respond to low conversion by increasing advertising, content or frequency. But sometimes the problem is not lack of visibility. It is lack of understanding.
Communicating more does not always mean connecting better. Understanding better, however, can change how a company designs its offer, positions its brand and builds real relationships with the market.
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