Customer Persona & Empathy Map
Nobody asked for this product. Somebody noticed the behaviour behind it.
The business case
Keep the Change — Bank of America with IDEO · United States · 2004–2005. In 2004 Bank of America wanted more customers to open and keep current accounts. The obvious approach would have been to design a better interest rate or a new advertising campaign.
Why it matters
Nobody asked for this product. Somebody noticed the behaviour behind it. If the bank had run a survey asking customers what they wanted from a savings account, nobody would have described Keep the Change. Customers do not describe their own workarounds, because to them the workaround is just how they do things. The insight came from watching, not asking — and specifically from watching one clearly defined group rather than the general public. That is exactly what a persona is for: it forces you to design for one identifiable person whose behaviour you have actually observed.
What you will be able to do afterwards
- Why "everyone" is the most expensive customer segment
- Building a Persona Canvas from evidence, not imagination
- The Empathy Map — Think, Feel, See, Say, Do, Hear
32 screens, audio-narrated, with a quiz at the end.