Scientists are power swimmers. They also love hiking, cooking, playing musical instruments, art or dressing up as Gru for their daughter’s Minion-themed birthday party…
At work, they are problem-solvers, sceptics, collaborators and explorers, mentors, writers and managers always seeking evidence to support their hypotheses and never satisfied with just taking things at face value. Scientists are also mindful of the ethical implications of their research, particularly in areas such as genetic engineering and animal testing. They often spend time teaching, presenting or writing and giving talks as a subject matter expert within their subject.
Creating effective buyer personas for scientists takes time because like most things, when you zoom in, and take a detailed look, the complexity reveals itself. By spending time on working to improve your understanding of your customers, you create increased opportunities for better sales and lead generation, stronger cross-functional collaboration within your business, reduced customer acquisition costs and better alignment of your content with the business goals.
If you’re a marketing manager in the Life Science, MedTech or Biotech sector, you’re dealing with an audience that cares more about accuracy and data than about flashy marketing. It’s not like selling t-shirts—we all know that you can’t just throw in some catchy slogans and call it a day. To reach scientists, you need a deep understanding of how they think, what they value, and how they make decisions, so let’s explore how to create detailed buyer personas that resonate with your scientific audience.
Gather insights from multiple sources
The first rule of building buyer personas is to root them in real-world data, not guesswork. Scientists are precise by nature; they like to solve problems, and they tend to look for proof to validate any information they interact with. The personas should be based on real individuals and reflect their unique characteristics, goals, and challenges.
Key elements of a buyer persona
- Demographics: Age, gender, education, and geographic location.
- Professional background: Research area, job title, and experience level.
- Goals and challenges: Key objectives, pain points, and decision-making criteria.
- Preferences and behaviours: Communication style, information sources, and purchasing habits.
- Motivations and values: Underlying drivers and beliefs that influence decision-making.
Grab a copy of our free persona development template here
Surveys and interviews
A great way to gather insights is by doing surveys and interviews with your current customers and prospects. Ask them about their roles, responsibilities, and the challenges they face in their work. You’d be surprised how much information scientists are willing to share if you just ask the right questions.
Qincade tip: Keep your surveys short and to the point. Scientists don’t have time for a 50-question marathon. Focus on key areas like their goals, pain points, and decision-making processes. Their workflows are critical to understand, they will tell you so much about timelines, possible optimizations, numbers of stakeholders involved in making buying decisions and where you can add value with your products/services. Our team will be happy to help you conduct surveys or run interviews. Get in touch to tell us more about your specific research challenge.
What to avoid: Don’t rely solely on internal assumptions or any ad-hoc feedback from one or two salespeople. And, just because you work with scientists internally, doesn’t mean you know exactly what the ones outside your business want and which factors impact their decision-making.
Analyze customer data
Dive into your CRM system and look at the data you already have on your customers. What are their most common job titles? Which companies do they work for? What types of content do they engage with the most? And what are the challenges and pain points expressed in the case description fields when tickets are raised with your technical support team or sales folk? This information can help you build a more accurate picture of your audience.
Qincade tip: Look for patterns and trends in the data. If you notice that most of your leads come from specific industries or regions, use that information to refine your personas and to question your strategy i.e. are you generating leads in the segment you want to go after, or do you need to make some changes to your lead acquisition plans?
What to avoid: Don’t ignore data that doesn’t fit your preconceived notions. Sometimes the most valuable insights come from unexpected places. Some of the best sources to gather unvarnished voice of customer data from include blog comments and social media replies, online reviews and forums, returns data, and our favourite – customer support tickets/chats.
Build your buyer personas
Once you’ve gathered enough information, it’s time to create your buyer personas. This is where you collate all your insights to paint a detailed portrait of your customer. In our experience, it’s not unusual for companies to have at least 5 distinct personas.
The basics
Start with the fundamental stuff—name, job title, company, and location. Give your persona a name that feels real, like Dr. Amelia Cruz or Dr. John Taylor. We like to add a photo to make the persona feel more real. Download our free buyer persona template here
Professional background
Go deeper into your persona’s professional background. What is their area of expertise? Are they researchers, lab managers, or executives? What does their day look and feel like? If they spend most of their day in the lab, they have tired feet, their backs ache, and physical discomfort is going to be something they have a visceral reaction to. This information will help you tailor your marketing messages to their level of knowledge, authority and more importantly their reality.
Goals, pain points and objections
Define your persona’s goals and challenges. What are they trying to achieve in their work, and what obstacles are they facing? Why might they not want to buy your products or services? This is where you can start to identify the value propositions that will resonate with them.
Qincade tip: Be specific about their challenges. Instead of saying “They need better equipment,” say “They’re looking for more efficient lab automation to reduce manual errors.”
What to avoid: Don’t be vague or generic. Scientists are detail-oriented, and your personas should reflect that.
Preferred communication channels
Identify how your persona likes to consume information. Are they avid readers of scientific journals? Do they prefer webinars or in-person conferences? This insight will guide your content distribution strategy. For example, a typical list of content outlets and types that a quality director at a biotech company might regularly scan would be:
- Genomeweb
- Labmate
- Labtube
- Industry and trade publications
- Laboratory news
Qincade tip: Include specifics, like which social media platforms they use or which industry events they attend regularly.
What to avoid: Don’t assume all scientists are the same. Some prefer what we might think of as more ‘traditional’ channels like print media, in- person events or email, while others fully function across numerous digital platforms and channels.
Validating and updating your personas
Buyer personas are not set in stone. As your business and audience evolve, your personas should too. Regularly validate your personas by checking them against new data, customer feedback and internal input from teams that directly interact with your customers in their day-to-day.
Qincade tip: Schedule periodic reviews to update your personas with the latest insights, inviting product and sales teams to participate. This ensures that your marketing efforts remain relevant and effective.
What to avoid: Don’t let your personas become outdated. If you find yourself using the same personas for years without updating them, it’s time for a refresh.
To wrap up, here are the top three takeaways for creating detailed buyer personas for scientists:
- Base personas on real data: Use surveys, interviews, and customer data to build accurate buyer personas. Avoid assumptions and focus on real insights. Need help with interviewing your customers? Qincade can do this for you, we will run interviews in blocks of 5 at a cost of 13 points.
- Create detailed professional profiles: Include information about your persona’s job title, expertise, professional goals and challenges. Make the persona as specific and realistic as possible.
- Regularly update and validate: Personas should evolve over time. Schedule regular reviews to ensure your personas reflect the current state of your audience.
By working through these stages, you’ll be able to create buyer personas that resonate with scientists and guide your marketing strategy effectively towards better ROI results. Good luck and remember—accuracy is key when dealing with the science crowd.
