A good technique for creating a customer profile is to start by imagining an individual who represents this group. This can done either as a pen portrait, a customer journey or both. Once you have created this you can add the information you have from the different sources above to enrich this.

Some examples from the commercial sector of this approach are at 

• http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters/customer-personas.html 
• http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/customer_storytelling_at_the_heart_of...

Example 

For example, for Norfolk’s Digital Challenge we created seven user journeys (http://www.my.norfolk.gov.uk/mynorfolk/user-journeys.htm) for the key groups we wanted to support plus the general public, and intermediaries working with these groups.

The starting point was a workshop where we got together representatives of those groups and people who worked with them and discussed what a “typical” person would look like. We gave them a name and invented a personal history for them – how they got to where they are. We could not, of course, cover all circumstances for all the people in that group, but it gave us a story which felt real and on which we could hang what we knew about the group. The power of story is very important in both getting under the skin of the needs of a group and in persuading others of the need to action.

We then did some work on identifying what the journey of John, Brian, Laura or the others would be. What services would they need? How would they get access to them now? What would their experience be in accessing these services? What would we like that to be like in future? The long version of these are at http://eoe.xarg.co.uk/mynorfolk/files/view/research-documents/My_norfolk...

We then converted that into seven cartoons showing what the future would look like. That then enabled us to identify what we needed to do to make that future real in the full Digital Challenge bid (http://www.my.norfolk.gov.uk/mynorfolk/our-bid.htm) . To make it even more real we filmed a video showing what life was like currently, but framing this with a vision of the future (http://www.my.norfolk.gov.uk/mynorfolk/video.htm).

As well as people’s views in the workshop, we tested the vision with single issue focus groups of the target groups to make sure what they told us was incorporated (http://www.my.norfolk.gov.uk/mynorfolk/research.htm)

Customer journeys

It is also useful to look at Customer Journeys. Customer journey mapping is the process of tracking and describing all the experiences that customers have as they encounter a service or set of services, taking into account not only what happens to them, but also their responses to their experiences. Used well, it can reveal opportunities for improvement and innovation in that experience, acting as a strategic tool to ensure every interaction with the customer is as positive as it can be.

Information on these is at

• http://www.westmidlandsiep.gov.uk/download.php?did=2107
• http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/public_service_reform/innovation/custome...

or the Circle of Need approach at

• http://www.chorley.gov.uk/circlesofneed

What data is available?

Once you have identified all the potential data sources you should create a table which says:

• Data description (what it tells you)
• Data source (where it comes from)
• Geospatial level (what is the smallest area covered)
• Data quality assessment (how accurate is it)
• Whether it is personal or anonymous data
• Any restrictions on use

That will then enable you to decide which data sets to use, the level at which you can carry out the analysis and what cross tabulation you want to achieve (for example what percentage of our customers also use another key service). A standard data table is included in the Project Documentation.