Know Your Audience:

A Web Designer's Guide to Understanding Your Ideal Clients

Understanding your audience (customers / clients) is key for any business - however much you might want (or hope) that everyone is your customer it's simply not the case and it's also MUCH easier to focus your attentions on people who really are prospects!

There are a few ways to get started on this journey so here is a very practical roadmap to really understanding your audience

1. Conduct Market Research: This is your detective work
   • Actions:
     • Create a free survey with 5-7 quick questions (could be google forms or something like Jotform)
     • Offer a small incentive (like a discount code) for completing the survey
     • Share the survey on your social media and email list - try and get it to as many people as you can
     • Aim to get at least 20-30 responses to start, this is a good enough number of responses to give you some actual insight and perhaps start to see some common themes.
2. Develop Buyer Personas: Meet your ideal client
   • Actions:
     • Get a piece of paper (or be all modern and do it on the computer!) and draw a picture of a person. Give your person a name and a face (literally – use a stock photo or even a photo of a real person you know is your ideal client).
     • Write a mini-story about their day, challenges, and goals
     • Print this out and keep it near your workspace
     • Use this persona to guide your content and design decision - is what you're writing or saying going to mean something to this ideal client!?
3. Identify Audience Segments: Break it down
   • Actions:
     • Create 3-4 distinct customer groups
     • List their unique characteristics and pain points - where does your product or service come into helping them out??
     • Develop a simple messaging strategy for each segment
     • Test different approaches to see what resonates
4. Map the Customer Journey: Help them find their way
   • Actions:
     • Draw a simple flowchart of how customers find you
     • Identify potential friction points in the process / places where people drop off or lose interest
     • Create a "quick win" for each stage of the journey
     • Add clear, compelling calls-to-action at each touchpoint
5. Analyse Website Analytics: Become a Data Detective (if you have a website already - if not this can come later!)
   • Actions:
     • Set up Google Analytics (it's free!) or get someone to help you do it.
     • Schedule a monthly 30-minute review where you spend time on your own business and just focus on this!
     • Look for your top-performing pages - revisit them and think about why they are performing so well, what can you copy and take over into other pages?
     • Note where visitors are dropping off - try and work out why it's happening.
6. Monitor Social Media Engagement: listen and learn
   • Actions:
     • Spend 15 minutes daily reading comments
     • Respond to at least 3 comments or messages and, ideally, respond to everything you can.
     • Take note of recurring themes or questions - use these as a basis for new socials.
7. Engage in Conversation: Be human
   • Actions:
     • You could create a weekly "Ask Me Anything" post - people are nosy and like to find out more!
     • Respond to every single comment
     • Share behind-the-scenes content
     • Use stories and reels to show your personality
8. Seek Feedback and Reviews
   • Actions:
     • Create a simple feedback form and make sure you always send it out!
     • Offer a small reward for detailed responses
     • Follow up personally with reviewers
     • Share positive testimonials prominently
9. Stay Updated on Industry Trends: Be interested in learning
   • Actions:
     • Subscribe to a few industry newsletters or even competitors  - be inspired by them!
     • Attend online webinar per month or training or even just networking
     • Share interesting insights with your audience
10. Iterate Based on Data and Feedback: Keep evolving
    • Actions:
      • Review your strategy every so often (quarterly if you're feeling organised, or just whenever you can if that's too much!)
      • A/B test one website element each month
      • Create a "lessons learned" document
      • Celebrate your improvements, no matter how small!

Pro Tip for Shopify and Squarespace Users: These platforms offer built-in analytics and easy-to-use tools to implement many of these strategies. Leverage them, or if you don't know how, ask someone who does!

Remember, understanding your audience isn't a one-time task – it's an ongoing conversation. The more you listen, the more your website will feel like a welcoming home for your ideal clients (or if you're not at the website point yet these actions will help you really get a feel for what your website should be like and can influence your design and structure!!)

If you're feeling overwhelmed don't worry! Start with just one action item first and grow from there.  

If you need help with any of this then just get in touch. I'm always happy to help, especially if you're ready to take this and implement it in a website project!