Customer Persona Template for Students

Customer Persona - Entrepreneurship Example

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Lesson Plan Overview

Template and Class Instructions

Lesson Plan Overview

"Everyone" is not a customer. A customer persona is a realistic portrait of one typical buyer, built from what students learned when they talked to real people. Personas keep a team honest: when an argument starts about a feature, a price, or an ad, the question becomes "would Maya want that?" instead of "what do I like?"

Many businesses have two personas: the user and the buyer. In the TagBack example, the student uses the sticker, but a parent pays for it, so a smart team builds a persona for the parent first. For a deeper look at how companies write personas, share our Personas for Product Development article with older students.

Before You Begin

Prerequisite: the problem statement from Spot a Real Problem.
Interviews: each student talks to at least three people who have the problem. Give them three starter questions: "Tell me about the last time this happened." "What did you do about it?" "What would you have paid to fix it?"
Time needed: 45 minutes after the interviews.
Assessment: every detail on the persona should trace back to something an interviewee said or did, not a guess.

The Six Parts of the Persona

PART	WHAT STUDENTS INCLUDE	EXAMPLE: TAGBACK BUYER
Name and Picture	A made-up name, a character, and a one-line description.	Maya, 41, parent of two middle schoolers, "the family's lost-and-found department."
Situation	Job, schedule, family, and money situation.	Works full time, shops online at night, has a tight back-to-school budget.
Goals	What they are trying to get done.	Keep her kids' things from disappearing; spend less on replacements.
Frustrations	What gets in the way, in their words.	"I've bought three water bottles since August." Marker names wash off.
Where to Find Them	Where they shop, what they read, who they listen to.	The school's parent newsletter, back-to-school night, class group chats.
What Makes Them Buy	Price, proof, or promise that would make them say yes.	Under $10, works on clothes, and doesn't show her child's phone number.

Extension

Grades 9–12: build a second persona for the user (the student) and list one way the two personas disagree. Then decide which one the business must win first and why.

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Template and Class Instructions

(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)

Student Instructions

Create a customer persona for your business idea using what you learned in your interviews.

Click "Use This Template" from the assignment.
In the center, give your persona a name and choose a character that fits them.
Fill in each part of the spider map: situation, goals, frustrations, where to find them, and what makes them buy.
Use at least one real quote from an interview.
Add scenes or items that show your persona's daily life.
Save and submit your storyboard.

Customer Persona - Entrepreneurship Template

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Copy This Storyboard

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 6-12

Difficulty Level 2 (Reinforcing / Developing)

Type of Assignment Individual, Partner, or Group

Type of Activity: Spider Maps

Copy Activity

Lesson Plan Overview

Before You Begin

Prerequisite: the problem statement from Spot a Real Problem.
Interviews: each student talks to at least three people who have the problem. Give them three starter questions: "Tell me about the last time this happened." "What did you do about it?" "What would you have paid to fix it?"
Time needed: 45 minutes after the interviews.
Assessment: every detail on the persona should trace back to something an interviewee said or did, not a guess.

The Six Parts of the Persona

PART	WHAT STUDENTS INCLUDE	EXAMPLE: TAGBACK BUYER
Name and Picture	A made-up name, a character, and a one-line description.	Maya, 41, parent of two middle schoolers, "the family's lost-and-found department."
Situation	Job, schedule, family, and money situation.	Works full time, shops online at night, has a tight back-to-school budget.
Goals	What they are trying to get done.	Keep her kids' things from disappearing; spend less on replacements.
Frustrations	What gets in the way, in their words.	"I've bought three water bottles since August." Marker names wash off.
Where to Find Them	Where they shop, what they read, who they listen to.	The school's parent newsletter, back-to-school night, class group chats.
What Makes Them Buy	Price, proof, or promise that would make them say yes.	Under $10, works on clothes, and doesn't show her child's phone number.

Extension

Grades 9–12: build a second persona for the user (the student) and list one way the two personas disagree. Then decide which one the business must win first and why.

Copy Activity

Template and Class Instructions

(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)

Student Instructions

Create a customer persona for your business idea using what you learned in your interviews.

Click "Use This Template" from the assignment.
In the center, give your persona a name and choose a character that fits them.
Fill in each part of the spider map: situation, goals, frustrations, where to find them, and what makes them buy.
Use at least one real quote from an interview.
Add scenes or items that show your persona's daily life.
Save and submit your storyboard.

More options

Copy This Storyboard

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 6-12

Difficulty Level 2 (Reinforcing / Developing)

Type of Assignment Individual, Partner, or Group

Type of Activity: Spider Maps

Copy Activity

How to Run the Customer Persona Activity in Storyboard That

Send students out to interview first

Give each student the three starter questions and have them talk to at least three people who have their problem, writing down real quotes.

Assign the Customer Persona template

Add the activity to your Teacher Dashboard and assign the spider map template. High school classes can make a second copy for the user persona the extension asks for.

Have students build the persona

Students name the persona, choose a character, and fill in situation, goals, frustrations, where to find them, and what makes them buy, using at least one interview quote.

Check details against interview notes

Open each storyboard from your dashboard and confirm each detail comes from an interview. Comment on any part that sounds like a guess.

Introduce the personas to the class

Teams present their persona in one minute, the way Maya is introduced in the TagBack example, and keep it handy for the journey map and pitch activities.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Customer Persona Activity

How do I grade a student customer persona?

Score the six parts (name and picture, situation, goals, frustrations, where to find them, and what makes them buy) 0–2 points each for a 12-point total. Award 2 only when a detail traces back to an interview, like Maya's line about buying three water bottles since August. Add a bonus point for including the required real quote.

How much time does the Customer Persona activity need?

About 45 minutes of class time, but only after the interviews are done. Give students two or three days to talk to at least three people who have the problem. Students who skip the interviews tend to describe themselves instead of the customer, so check that interview notes exist before anyone opens the template.

Should middle school and high school students build different personas?

Grades 6–8 can build one persona for the person who has the problem, often the student user. Grades 9–12 should separate the user from the buyer, as TagBack does: Jordan wears the label, but Maya pays for it. The extension asks older students to build both personas, name one disagreement, and decide which to win first.

How can English learners complete a customer persona?

Spider maps suit English learners because each part needs only a phrase. Provide a word bank for goals and frustrations, let students choose a character before they write, and accept interview quotes in the language the interviewee used, with a short English summary. Maya's persona works well as a model to read and label together first.

What questions extend the Customer Persona activity?

Ask teams to settle a decision using only their persona: would Maya pay $10 for a family pack? Would she trust a label that shows her child's name? Then have teams swap personas and spot any detail that sounds like a guess. Each guess becomes an interview question for the next round of customer conversations.