User is Always Right, The: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web

relatively easy to find users to interview, it doesn’t cost much (if anything) to talk with people in person or over the phone, and the potential for learning new things about your users is enormous.

Making data memorable is about packaging it in such a way that people will remember it when they are in a situation in which it would be useful.

Through talking with and observing users, you can gather a list of goals, attitudes, and behaviors that can become potential ways of segmenting your audience and thus defining personas.

information about actual behavior is most valuable, because it’s the most accurate.

Power users are better at coming up with new ideas and insights, since they are more engaged and emotionally invested.

Serendipity and surprise lead to insights, and those are best achieved by allowing the conversation to go wherever it leads.

there’s nothing better than going to where your users are, watching them for a while, and then asking them questions in order to gain new insights into who they are and how you can better serve them.

Personas put a face on user research in a way that turns data into the kind of knowledge that leads to better user experiences and better Web sites.

talk with non-customers as well, or even lapsed customers,