This explains what a behavioural archetypes are and how to do them

A behavioural archetype is a way to understand the patterns in how your customers think, feel, and act. It’s not just about demographics (like age or location)—it’s about identifying the deeper motivations and emotional triggers that drive your customers’ decisions. Think of it like building a character profile for your ideal customer, but instead of focusing on surface-level traits, you’re uncovering their underlying needs, values, and emotional drivers.

For example:

• Are they driven by convenience or connection?

• Do they feel more comfortable with a friendly, relaxed tone or a professional, no-nonsense approach?

• Are they looking for reassurance, excitement, or simplicity when they engage with your business?

Understanding these patterns allows you to predict how customers will behave and what kind of experience will make them feel good—and keep them coming back.

Why create behavioural archetypes for you business

Humans are emotional creatures, and decisions aren’t purely logical—they’re driven by how people feel when they interact with your business. Understanding your customers’ behavioural archetypes allows you to create better experiences by making customers feel valued, which encourages them to stay longer, spend more, and recommend you to others. It helps you sharpen your marketing by knowing exactly what to say, how to say it, and where to say it. You’ll make smarter business decisions because you’ll understand what truly drives customer behavior, allowing you to direct resources toward the things that matter most. Staying competitive becomes easier when you know what makes your customers feel good—you can adjust your approach before they start looking elsewhere. Most importantly, understanding behavioural archetypes gives you confidence. Instead of guessing what’s working, you’ll have real evidence to back up your decisions. Meeting your customers’ emotional needs means they’ll keep coming back—and they’ll tell others about you.

How do to create behavioural archetypes

Recruit your favourite customers for an interview: Start with customers you love working with—the ones who really get your business. If you’re not sure how to approach them, check out our guide on recruiting for customer interviews.

Create a discussion guide: That starts to explore different types of behaviours like how they feel when they interact with your business, what made them choose you over competitors or what would make their experience even better. See our customer interview guide for more on this.

Design your guide to explore different types of behaviour. Focus on:

• How they feel when they interact with your business.

• What made them choose you over competitors.

• What would make their experience even better.
  (See our customer interview guide for more on this.)

Conduct and record the interview: Document everything and write down exact quotes where possible — how they say it is just as important of what they say. Look at our collecting and storing data guide.

Make sense of the data: Look for patterns in the responses. Are similar words or feelings coming up? What’s driving their decisions? See our steps in sensemaking.

Create a behavioural archetype profile Complete our behavioural archetype template to map out the patterns you’ve found. A good archetype includes:

• Emotional drivers – What feelings motivate their behaviour?

• Barriers – What might stop them from engaging with you?

• Communication style – What tone and messaging resonates with them?

• Preferred experience – What kind of customer experience makes them feel good?

Once you have your archetypes, you can tailor your marketing, communication, and customer experience to match. That’s when the fun happens—when customers feel like you get them, they keep coming back.