HubSpot Marketing

JorieMunroe
HubSpot Employee
HubSpot Employee

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

Buyer personas can be created through research, surveys, and interviews — all with a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside your contacts database who might align with your target audience.

 

But like all data, even information you gather on your audience (your personas) can go out of date. After all, business models change, companies merge or shift direction, and your audience can (and likely will) evolve. In your professional opinion, how often should you audit and even update your buyer personas?

 

*To learn more about this, check out the Using Buyer Personas in HubSpot lesson via HubSpot Academy. 

904 Replies 904
SSprings
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

You should audit and update every 6-12 months.

0 Upvotes
afonseca45
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

Every 6 to 12 months 

igrandy
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

6 to 12 months 

0 Upvotes
LOrona
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

Buyer personas should be audited and updated every 6 months to 12 months. 

0 Upvotes
MAYoung
Participant

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

I agree. Every 6 to 12 months is perfectly fine. 

0 Upvotes
KLaset
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

The audit and buyer personas should be updated at least once a year. Depending on customer feedback and goals you want to reach. 

0 Upvotes
EAbel4
Participant

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

You should audit and update your buyer personas at least once a year, depending on the business. Sometimes earlier to keep up with changes in the market. 

0 Upvotes
ALimb8
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

I would say at least once a year to insure you are meeting the needs of the customers. It also depends on the industry and who you are working with.

Robert007
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

Auditing and updating your buyer persona must link some parts of the marketing plan. Establishing segmentation depends on the Goals you want to reach and then the priorities. In some cases, depending on the industries and the evolution of the market, it has to be at least once per year, but in other cases, it has to be twice a year. 

KGarcia02
Participant

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

I think it’s a good idea to audit and update buyer personas at least once a year. However, if there are significant changes in your industry or customer feedback, it might be worth doing it more frequently. Staying in tune with your audience ensures your marketing efforts remain relevant and effective.

FlorenciaTobar
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

Personally, I think it depends on the industry. But for SaaS companies or startups, it should change every time there's a new feature or new product. This allows to revise the actual business model and the new one, to see if it aligns with the objectives the brand is achieving and the new upcoming release.

gulsu
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

The frequency of auditing and updating buyer personas depends on several key factors, including the company’s needs, the industry sector, and the pace of change in available data. While these elements vary across businesses, a proactive approach is essential. Regardless of external or internal shifts, it is advisable to regularly review buyer personas at annual, monthly, and even weekly intervals based on the scope of each team’s responsibilities. For instance, marketing and sales teams may benefit from frequent updates to ensure alignment with evolving customer behavior and market trends, while broader organizational updates can occur annually. This multi-tiered approach ensures personas remain accurate, actionable, and aligned with the company's strategic objectives.

FarrahAbraham
Participant

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

For my teams, I love to update buyer personas daily; usually, when someone last speaks to a customer, they update their buyer persona so any member of the team can jump in and assist the customer with all the knowledge the team has. This can be multiple times a day, once a week, or annually. 

BZylka
Participant

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

How often buyer personas should be audited and updated depends on the industry a business is in and whether they are B2B or B2C. The company I work sells industrial supplies to both B2B and B2C.  For the B2B customers, it is important to be continuosly monitoring market trends for new opportunites so montoring industry news sources daily or weekly is important to keep on the cutting edge. B2C customer purchase trends are monitored monthly to determine which products are top sellers and if there are new customer segments emerging that create the need for updating or creating additonal buyer personas.

DAyala15
Contributor

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

Since we live in the communication era, likes, dislikes, trends, motivations and news fly by very swiftly, therefore we should keep up to date with the changes. Depending on the focus, approach or even industry you work in, you should update the buyer personas constantly and periodically. How often depends on your business, really. If you work with social media you should do it every quarter but if you work with factories or hardware stores you can do it every year, for example. 

harshadmpatel
Participant

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

You should audit and update your buyer personas at least once a year. However, it's ideal to revisit them more frequently, especially in fast-changing industries. Quarterly or biannual reviews can ensure that your personas stay relevant and aligned with shifts in market trends, customer behaviors, and your business goals.

Additionally, consider updating them whenever you notice:

  • Significant changes in customer feedback or behaviors.
  • Shifts in industry trends or technological advancements.
  • New products or services introduced by your business.
  • Expansion into new markets or regions.

Keeping your buyer personas fresh ensures your marketing and sales strategies remain effective.

Muneer
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

According to the market changes and upgradation.

0 Upvotes
SJain92
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

Buyer persona is one of the key metrics for business success. It is important to keep it up-to-date with the recent changes and updatation. There is no specific period according to which you update your buyer persona. It changes industries to industries. However, at least once a year, the business has to update its buyer persona to get the latest information about them. It will help them to target their audience and modify their strategy. Vice versa a company has to update its buyer persona with the changing business dynamics and strategy.

FrancescaO
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

I recommend auditing and updating buyer personas at least once a year. However, I stay flexible and update them more often if there are significant market changes, shifts in our business strategy, feedback from sales or customer service indicating changes in customer needs, or if our marketing performance starts to decline. Regular updates help me ensure our personas stay relevant and aligned with our evolving audience.

Victorhugo233
Member

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

To keep your buyer personas up-to-date and relevant, you should audit and update them based on how quickly your industry is changing:

 

High Velocity Industry: Quarterly review.
Moderate Velocity Industry: Bi-annual review.
Low Velocity Industry: Annual review.

 

Additionally, adjust your personas if you notice significant changes in your customer demographics, the market, or if your marketing campaigns aren't having the expected impact. Collect new data through surveys, interviews, and data analysis, and communicate changes to your team to ensure everyone is working with up-to-date information.

OCarter
Participant

How often should you audit and update your buyer personas?

At least twice per year as things are always shifting in industry and if there is a major shift or innovation that has influenced buyer behavior.