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Customer psychology and segmentation

Why people buy

People rarely buy features. They buy because they want to: make money, save money, save time, reduce effort, reduce risk, avoid pain, gain control, gain status, belong, feel competent, feel safe, feel smart, create something, finish faster, comply with something, avoid losing something, or become the version of themselves they aspire to be.

Four layers of purchasing motivation. Every definition names all four for its primary persona:

FUNCTIONAL   "What does this do?"
ECONOMIC     "Is this worth the money?"
EMOTIONAL    "How does this make me feel?"
IDENTITY     "What does using this say about me?"

The identity layer is the one technical founders skip. A CIO buying governed agents is buying the story that they modernized responsibly. A Drupal lead buying a factory is buying the story that they are not the person who let the platform rot.

What the customer actually purchases

Distinguish and write all four:

THE THING        governed Drupal launch factory
THE OUTCOME      two governed sites live, evidence attached, no custom platform to maintain
THE EXPERIENCE   one accountable partner, visible progress, no surprises at audit
THE IDENTITY     the leader who modernized without a rewrite or a vendor lock

Examples of the translation:

  • Not project-management software; confidence the team is not falling apart.
  • Not automated backups; sleeping because recovery is possible.
  • Not an AI agent platform; more work completed without more headcount, with proof.
  • Not accessibility remediation; not being the defendant.

This is Jobs To Be Done thinking. Use it as a lens. Do not marry the framework or its vocabulary.

Ideal Customer Profile (B2B)

Derive, do not assume. Each row needs a source.

Dimension Question
Industry Public sector, higher education, healthcare, regulated enterprise, technology partner
Organization size Headcount, number of sites, number of agents or workflows
Revenue or budget Is there a line item this comes from
Geography Jurisdiction drives regulation and procurement
Technology Drupal version, hosting (Acquia, AWS, on-prem), GitLab or not, AI vendors in use
Maturity Has a platform team, has governance, has an AI policy
Regulatory environment WCAG, Section 508, HIPAA, FERPA, FedRAMP, EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF
Buying capacity Procurement thresholds, sole-source paths, cooperative contracts
Existing tools What they would replace, integrate, or keep
Organizational pain The visible symptom leadership already complains about
Trigger The event that opens the budget (see product-theory.md)

Persona map

The actual humans. These are usually different people and must be listed separately:

USER             operates the product daily
CHAMPION         wants it to succeed internally, sells it upward
BUYER            signs the order
ECONOMIC BUYER   owns the budget it comes from
APPROVER         procurement, legal, security review
BLOCKER          loses something if it succeeds, or owns the incumbent
ADMINISTRATOR    keeps it running after launch
INFLUENCER       analyst, peer, community, partner whose opinion moves the buyer

Example for a governed Drupal factory in higher education:

USER            content editors, web developers
CHAMPION        director of web services
BUYER           CIO or VP of marketing and communications
ECONOMIC BUYER  CFO or grant owner
APPROVER        procurement, information security, accessibility office
BLOCKER         incumbent agency, internal team that built the current platform
ADMINISTRATOR   platform engineer or hosting partner
INFLUENCER      peer institutions, Drupal community, Acquia or Pantheon reps

A definition that says "the customer" without this map is incomplete.

Objections by role

Write the top objection for each role and the proof that answers it. Security asks about data and agent authority; procurement asks about contract vehicle and exit; the blocker asks why not build it in-house; the economic buyer asks what happens to the money if it fails.