15 survey questions for B2B buyer persona success

No one ever built a successful buyer B2B persona framework by guessing. In fact, building your buyer personas without research is a great way to fail. If your buyer personas are off, your product will be off. Your message will be off. Your brand will be off. Your customer experience will be off. This all means your revenue will be off too.

Like they say: “Garbage in garbage out."

Building your buyer personas on a bedrock of reliable research pays you back. It harmonizes you and your customer. But how do you use research to accurately profile your B2B buyers?

B2B buyer persona research questions to ask

Here are 15 example questions you can ask in your research surveys, which is a critical step to creating informed buyer personas.

Determine how your persona fits into the buyer organization

1. Who do you report to?

Reporting hierarchy will help you understand the chain of command and budget approvals

2. What is your budget authority?

Budget authority will help you understand who can make or influence go/no-go decisions

3. What is your job title?

Job title is helpful for sales and campaign targeting

Evaluate the organization's positioning and objectives

4. Is your organization a top-three brand leader?

A brand leader has different needs and motivations than a brand underdog

5. What are your top goals?

Goals will help you align your product and messaging to your buyer’s needs

6. On what basis is your bonus awarded?

Bonus compensation is an indicator of organizational priorities

7. What are the most urgent problems in your role?

Problems are pain points you can solve

Understand how your persona gets their information

8. What search phrase would you type to learn more about [insert product]?

This helps you to plan your SEO and keyword strategy

9. Which materials do you look at to learn about [insert product]?

This will show you how to present your messages. White paper? Case study? Webinar? Event?

10. Where do you go to learn about [insert product]?

This will show you where to present your messages. Social media? Trade associations? Publications?

Find out what the persona looks for in a product like yours

11. How do you evaluate [insert product]?

Understanding the evaluation criteria for products like yours helps you close deals

12. How do you use [insert product]?

Predicting top use cases will help you optimize your product and pricing

13. What red flags do you look for before purchasing [insert product]?

Know the red flags. Avoid the red flags.

Understand how much the persona will willing to pay

14. What is the minimum amount of money your organization expects to spend this year on [insert product]?

This establishes a price floor for your products. Most useful if this data is filtered by organization size.

15. What is the maximum amount of money your organization expects to spend this year on [insert product]?

This establishes a price ceiling for your products. Most useful if this data is filtered by organization size.

Continue your buyer persona research

Creating personas is a crucial exercise for both your sales and marketing organizations at your company, this will help you craft your messaging, create prospecting playbooks and target your online media to your personas. To learn more about how to create personas, check out this post, How to Create Buyer Personas, or download our Ebook below.