Creating a Customer Avatar

It’s time to create your customer avatar! 

Do you want to know how I created my CC Desserts food truck avatar? You can follow my blueprint because I am going to show you my how-to process. 

(Haven’t heard of CC Desserts? Check out my article on “How to Choose a Food Truck Niche.”)

Are you ready to jump in? Here’s the menu.

Why is the customer avatar important?

How do I gather real data based off of real people?

Gather my Customer Avatar Research Data

My Customer Avatar Creation

The Process of Segmentation

Why is the customer avatar important?

Customer avatars enable me to write words that connect to customers’ hearts. 

If I don’t know anything about my customer, how can I talk to them personally or conversationally? And if I try to wing the conversation, something worse may happen. I may misunderstand them.  

To know my customer, I need a customer avatar.

But watch out! You should know customer avatars are not imaginary people backed up by imaginary data. 

They are based on real people with real data. 

This enables the copy (menu, website, or ads) to be customized depending on where customers are in the buyer’s journey. 

** Hint: Often there is more than just one customer avatar for a business. **

How do I gather real data based on real people?

This is the research process. And there are two approaches depending on where a customer is in their food truck journey.

1. You already have a food truck up running with serving customers. 
2. You do not have a food truck and haven’t served to a single customer yet.  

1.  You already have a food truck up and running with serving customers. 

If you have food truck customers, you are in luck!

Here are a couple of ways you can gather real data: 

• Have a conversation with at least five customers
• Ask your customers some questions
• Ask your customers for feedback (“What did you think of the meal?”)
• Go on Reddit 

2. You haven’t served to a single customer yet.

I know this may seem like a panicky situation, but I promise it does not need to be. In fact, it is possible that you already know your ideal customer well. (I realized I knew my ideal customer after reflecting!)

But here are some ways to gather your data:

• Ask this question: who in my life would love to buy an “x” (cupcake or cookie) from my food truck?
• Check out your competition’s website, food truck, and reviews
• Go on Reddit

Gather my Customer Avatar Research Data

Now that I have two research methods of gathering my data, I feel more prepared. So let’s ask the client avatar creation questions you’ve all been dying to hear. 

How do I make a customer avatar?!

Here is how:

1. What’s their name?
2. What’s their age?
3. What stage of life are they in? (child, teenager, young adult, adult, elderly)
4. What are their needs?
5. What do they want?
6. What do they value?
7. What’s their favorite dish and flavor?
8. What do they order?
9. What do they like about your food truck and food?
10. Why do they come to your food truck versus another food option?

With these questions in mind, I followed the #2 method of data collection. First, I asked myself: Do I already know someone who is my ideal client?

Yes! I have two friends from college who LOVE cupcakes and cookies. In fact, I know they would be my ideal client because of a specific memory.

I remember when they drove an hour, round trip, to a cupcake bakery after class. They mentioned the owner had won Cupcake Wars. When they arrived, they were bubbly with excitement. Their eyes lit up at the design of the store’s pink and white color scheme. (**Hint: Creating a buyers’ atmosphere.**) They entered with ooooh’s and ahhhh’s at the delicate and creative designs and flavors of the cupcakes. They ordered a dozen cupcakes to-go. But as soon as they purchased their chosen flavors, they cracked open the box. They could not wait a single moment longer. They each took a bite of their favorite flavor, red velvet, and smiled. 

These young women fit my profile avatar in many ways because they are foodies and cupcake lovers at heart. 

Next on my list of resource options is to check out my competition. Mine is the Fairycakes Food Truck. So, I went to the best place for food truck and restaurant reviews. 

Yelp!

These two reviews popped out to me because it revealed customer preferences, favorites, demographics, and their stage of life. 

Now, you don’t have to do all these steps. But if you want to go the extra mile, check out Reddit. There is actually a lot of potential on Reddit for customer avatars. Why? Because people who love baked goods flock to this underground forum. They share their thoughts, preferences, and feelings on everything cookies and cupcakes. 

With these three subreddits, I have direct access to a range of real people providing real data. 

1. r/cupcakes

1. r/baking

1. r/food

My Customer Avatar Creation

Yes, it’s time to answer the questions now!  

1. What’s their name?
   1. Rachel
2. What’s their age?
   1. 20 years old
3. What stage of life are they in? (child, teenager, young adult, adult, elderly)
   1. Young Adult
4. What are their needs?
   1. Earn a college education to get a job in their desired field of choice.
   2. To pay the bills for food, housing, transportation and college.
   3. To spend time with family and friends 
   4. Have fun and relax
5. What do they want?
   1. They want to feel happy, calm and taken care of because living on their own for the first time is a huge challenge.
   2. They want to feel empowered as young adults.
   3. They want to eat delicious food and drinks. 
   4. They want to socialize at fun and cool places.
   5. They want to feel important and like they are making a difference.
   6. They want to feel financially secure. 
6. What do they value?
   1. Honesty
   2. Integrity
   3. Transparency
7. What’s their favorite dish and flavor?
   1. Red Velvet and Chocolate Cupcake
   2. Chocolate Chip Cookie
8. What do they order?
   1. Half a dozen or a dozen cupcakes
   2. One, half a dozen, or a dozen cookies
9. What do they like about my food truck and food?
   1. They like that they don’t have to drive far off-campus because that saves money and time. 
   2. They like that my cupcakes are never dry, but moist and flavorful.
   3. They like my cupcake decorations and themes. 
   4. They like that they can place an order for birthdays or special events for pick-up or delivery.
   5. They like how the cupcakes and cookies make them feel happy and at home— as if grandma had made them specifically for them. 
10. Why do they come to my food truck versus another food option?
    1. They come to my food truck because of the consistent quality delivered. 
    2. They also come because I offer discounts to college students every day and to everyone else on Fridays. 
    3. They like my wide range of flavors offered— especially the creative ones that are Disney inspired or seasonal.  
    4. They come to me because I am in walking distance and easy to get to. 
    5. They come to me because I am reliable and friendly. 
    6. They come to me because I offer tables and chairs with umbrellas for people to sit down, enjoy, and socialize. 

And that is a wrap on my primary customer avatar! Now it is your turn. 

Think about your ideal customer. Maybe it’s your customer who stops by every day. Or the one puts a smile on your face by complimenting your food on every order. Reflect on your observations and answer these questions to build your customer avatar. 

1. What’s their name?
2. What’s their age?
3. What stage of life are they in? (child, teenager, young adult, adult, elderly)
4. What are their needs?
5. What do they want?
6. What do they value?
7. What’s their favorite dish and flavor?
8. What do they order?
9. What do they like about your food truck and food?
10. Why do they come to your food truck versus another food option?

The Process of Segmentation

Wait there is one more section? Yes, and actually this is a very important topic. The reason I bring up segmentation is because I know that my customers will not solely be young college students. In fact, I can read from my own competitor’s Yelp reviews that this is true. 

When I think about my own CC Desserts, I imagine my baked goods will also attract returning parent students. In completing an additional customer avatar, I learned that these returning parent students may want to bring home cupcakes or cookies for their children. Why? Because they will be too busy to make cupcakes or cookies for an upcoming birthday while they are working and studying for classes. CC Desserts offers them a quick quality solution. 

CC Desserts may also attract another avatar from the college’s employees. For example, the English department may throw a freshman seminar and need cupcakes for a welcome celebration. CC Desserts allows for these orders to be made in advance. 

You’ll realize that the market is larger than just one customer avatar. All of these avatars are real and necessary to keep in mind while creating your food truck business. However, they mostly want the same thing. They just need slightly different things.

But don’t worry! Segmentation is a gradual process of application because it takes time to get to know your real customers. 

If you have any questions, contact Food Truck Lineup here. FTL would love to hear from you, even if it’s just a hi.